Hidden Summit (Virgin River #17)(61)

“Well, hi,” she said, brushing off her knees.

“Hello,” the older woman said. “I’ve been meaning to get down here to say hello. I’m Adie Clemens and this here is Nora and her babies. Nora forces me out of the house almost every morning.”

Leslie lifted her eyebrows. “Is that so? I’m Leslie.” She put out a hand to the older woman first, then the younger.

“Doc Michaels said she should walk every day and if I don’t walk her, she manages to forget. Nice to meet you.”

“Are you two related?” Leslie asked.

They looked at each other and laughed. “No, I’m just a thorn in her side,” Nora said. “Adie’s blood pressure and cholesterol have come down since she’s been eating less pound cake and walking. And now that spring is officially here with summer right around the corner, the girls and I sure can use the vitamin D. Your flowers are so beautiful. Adie and I have admired them every morning since you planted them.”

Leslie surveyed the yard with a longing in her heart. “My boyfriend, Conner,” she said. “This was his idea of bringing a girl flowers. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“The young man with the great big pickup truck?”

“The same. We work for the same construction company. I assume your husband works around here?” she asked, looking at Nora.

Adie laughed. “Not a husband between us,” she said, trading smiles with Nora. “Maybe that’s why we lean on each other a little bit.”

“I work part-time at the clinic and will work more part-time at the school when they open up. They’re going to do summer school with preschool just to get started and test the waters. Adie and Martha Hutchkins sometimes keep the girls for me.”

“She’s excellent with children,” Adie said, giving her arm an affectionate pat.

“I apologize. It was silly of me to assume…”

“No worries, I probably would’ve assumed the same. This is Berry,” she said, ruffling her little toddler’s curls, “and this is Fay Lynne. You have the most wonderful front porch. Best one on the block. And the weather is so great—we should christen it with some lemonade and cookies one of these afternoons. Are you up to some old lady chatter?”

“Excuse me, madam,” Adie said indignantly, drawing herself up to her full five feet.

Nora just laughed. “Like I said…”

And Leslie immediately thought, a friend in the neighborhood sure wouldn’t hurt, especially right now when she was feeling too alone. “I would love that. I usually get home by five. Six if I stop off at Jack’s for dinner or takeout.”

“Ah, Jack’s,” Nora said almost wistfully. “Back in the days before motherhood, I had been known to stop at a tavern or two. I vaguely remember....” Then she laughed.

“I would love to have you over to test the porch. Invite Mrs. Hutchkins and Puff,” Leslie said.

“We’ll be in touch,” Nora said. “Come on, Adie, let’s log those miles! See you later, Leslie.”

She watched them go and thought that Nora couldn’t be twenty-six, and here she was, a mother of two with no husband. Of course she hadn’t asked if there was a man somewhere, but she got the impression there wasn’t.

And then she heard the phone in the house ringing and dashed for it. Only two people called her—her mother and Conner.

“Hey, baby,” he said in his low, sexy voice. “I caught you before work.” He laughed. “Caught you alone without work crews in the trailer, so you can talk dirty to me.”

“Conner!”

“I’m alone at the moment, which is hard to manage around here. What are you wearing?” he teased.

“Oh, stop,” she said with laugh. “Tell me about Katie and the boys.”

“Ah, the boys—not a real quiet pair, that’s for sure. We’ve been doing a lot of wrestling and I think my sister is about to throw us out of the house. This is a small house, about the size of yours—just two bedrooms and a small living room, which we manage to fill up completely when the three of us are rolling around on the floor. And they get wound up and can’t settle down. She’s gone to run them around the park to see if she can wear them out a little. She took the day off today to spend time with me and to cook a nice dinner for me and her boss…the boss she says is keeping things very professional while she’s working up a crush on him. I’m going to get a chance to look him over.” Then he chuckled again.

“You sound…you sound so wonderful,” she said. But the image she conjured of him hugging his younger sister and rolling around on the floor with his nephews made her wonder how he was going to make himself leave them. “It must feel so good to be reunited with them.”

“They should have me completely worn out by Sunday, when I leave. Speaking of Sunday—are you checking the news?”

“I look online every day,” she said.

“They published my name before the preliminary hearing, but I haven’t seen it again in reference to the pending trial. And no picture. At least not yet.”

“Why would they publish your name?” she asked with a tinge of anger.

“It’s not malicious, Les. It’s part of public record. They needed the name of the witness to get the search warrant to collect all the other evidence. It was news. Once something like this happens to you, you begin to notice things, like the names of victims published, if they’re not minors. I’m just grateful they haven’t run a picture yet, because I look an awful lot like Danson Conner. And if I can keep all my Virgin River friends from figuring this out before the trial…”