Finding Our Forever (Silver Springs #1)(24)

Chapter Eight

“Thanks for being willing to get together,” Darci said.

Cora was a little self-conscious about the fact that she hadn’t had a chance to shower this morning. When Darci called, she’d rolled out of bed and thrown her hair into a ponytail. She was still tired after being up until the wee hours with Elijah. “I’m glad you reached out,” she told Darci.

“I almost didn’t, but with school starting on Monday and my kids coming home tomorrow, I figured this would be the best time to get together.”

“It’s perfect. I haven’t had a chance to eat in Silver Springs yet.” Cora noted the number of filled tables. “This seems like a popular place.”

“It’s one of the best cafés in town, not that we have a lot of them,” Darci added with a laugh. “Do you know if Elijah got Doug home okay last night?”

Cora took a drink of water from the glass the waitress had delivered to her a moment earlier. “He did. I saw him as he was coming out of Doug’s house.”

“Did he say anything to you?”

She opened her menu, pretending to be preoccupied by choosing her meal. “Not really.” After what Darci had said about the way Elijah was looking at her last night, Cora didn’t dare admit to anything. Her face was heating up, threatening to give her away as it was.

Fortunately, someone walked by that Darci knew, drawing her attention. “Hello, Cal!”

“Cal,” a handsome, middle-aged man who wore a cowboy hat and boots, stopped, a look of pleasant surprise on his face. “Darci! I didn’t even see you there. How are you?”

She got up to give him a hug. “Better. Thanks.”

“That ex of yours isn’t still giving you trouble, is he?”

“Things seem to have settled down for the moment.” She slid back in the booth. “He’s met someone else, so that helps.”

He shook his head. “You’ve had a rough year.”

“It’s been a rough twelve years. But the divorce would’ve been worse without you.”

“I didn’t do much.” He glanced at Cora. “Is this a new friend?”

As Darci introduced them, she told Cora that Cal Buchanon owned a big cattle ranch not far from town. “He supplies New Horizons with beef, gives Aiyana a heck of a deal. Actually, he helps everyone,” she said emphatically. “Silver Springs wouldn’t be what it is without him.”

“Stop!” he said, obviously embarrassed. “I do my part, like everyone else. It’s very nice to meet you, Cora.”

“Likewise,” Cora said.

He chatted with Darci for several more minutes before tipping his hat to the both of them and heading to the cashier to pay his bill.

“Cal’s superrich,” Darci whispered. “And he uses his money to do so much for the community. I was serious when I said Silver Springs wouldn’t be the same without him.”

“You seem to know him well.”

“I do. He has a couple of houses on his ranch that he typically rents to his hands. He let me stay in one for free until I could get on my feet. Wouldn’t take a dime for six months.”

“Is that why you came to Silver Springs? You knew him from before, and he made you that offer, or...”

“No. I came to teach at New Horizons, like you. But the house that was supposed to open up in the faculty housing—the two-bedroom so that I’d have room for my kids—didn’t, and I couldn’t afford anything in town.”

“So how’d you meet him?”

“Through Aiyana. She jumped in to make other arrangements when the faculty housing didn’t work out for me.”

“How nice of her.”

“She’s generous, like Cal. And, from what I’ve heard, Cal has been in love with Aiyana for years, almost since the day she came here. I believe he took me in for her sake. But he’s been kind enough to befriend me, too.”

“He’s never married?”

“Not to my knowledge. He doesn’t even date. He’s waiting for her.”

“He reminds me of Sam Elliott with that gravelly voice and weathered face. Doesn’t she care for him in return?”

“I’m convinced she does. The way she looks at him...it’s as if he hung the moon. But she’s very private about her love life. If you ask her about Cal, she’ll make some glib comment about how he’s a great guy but she’s too old to get married for the first time.”

Aiyana was only forty-nine. Cora knew that from the documents provided by the private investigator who’d taken her on pro bono. “Do you ever see them together?”

“I run into them all the time. He supports anything her boys participate in so he comes out to the ranch a lot. And he sends her flowers or chocolates at least once a month. I wish I could find a guy as devoted to me as he is to her,” she added wistfully. “My ex only cared about himself.”

Cora had no business asking, but she was so curious about her birth mother that she couldn’t stop herself. “Do you think they’re sleeping together?” she asked, lowering her voice to a whisper.

Darci’s mouth twisted as she considered the question. “Don’t know, to be honest. When I lived out at his place, she never stayed over, not that I could tell. And I’ve never known him to sleep at New Horizons. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Like I said, Aiyana’s very private about that sort of thing. She’d never let on, even if they were intimate.”