Rainier Drive (Cedar Cove #6)(63)

During their last call, Linnette had told him how much it dismayed her, but Cal hadn’t responded. Instead, he’d changed the subject.

They never argued. Cal would walk away from a disagreement rather than talk about it rationally. It didn’t help, she told herself, that he had a difficult time controlling his speech when he was upset, which only made him more disinclined to discuss problems.

“What about you and Chad?” Linnette asked again, rather than focus on her own relationship. “You talk about Chad and I’ll discuss Cal.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Why aren’t you going out with him?” Linnette didn’t understand it.

Gloria shrugged. “Should I be?”

“No, I guess not,” Linnette said reluctantly. And yet the two of them looked at no one else whenever they were together.

“If anyone isn’t interested in Chad, it’s me,” Linnette said on the off-chance Gloria was denying her feelings out of misplaced loyalty to her.

“Then why are we discussing him?”

“Because I know how he feels about you.”

Gloria increased her pace, and Linnette had to struggle to keep up. “Hey, slow down, would you?”

“Not if you want to talk about Chad.”

Linnette frowned, blinking as the sweat slid down her face. “Am I missing something here?”

“No.” Gloria’s response was much too quick.

Linnette was nearly panting in her effort to keep pace with her sister, who seemed to be trying to break a world speed record. “Maybe it’d be best if we didn’t talk,” she suggested, breathing heavily.

“Maybe,” Gloria agreed and immediately slowed to a kinder pace.

“This was supposed to be a lazy mile,” Linnette reminded her.

Round two was completed, and two more remained. It would be a miracle if she managed four full laps.

“A lazy mile doesn’t mean we’re going to crawl,” Gloria snapped.

“You’ve had more practice at this than I have.” Linnette tried not to sound apologetic.

“I thought we weren’t going to talk.”

“I have to talk.” Linnette couldn’t stop, much as she’d prefer to. If she did, then all she’d think about was how much her body didn’t want to do this. Her calf muscles were about to spasm. Her face burned, her stomach had begun to churn with nausea. “How often do you come out here?” she asked.

“Every day. I run between three and five miles.”

Linnette groaned. “You just said that to make me feel bad, didn’t you?”

Gloria laughed, raced ahead, then spun around and ran backward, facing Linnette. “Hey, are we having our first sisterly disagreement?”

If she’d had the energy, Linnette would’ve laughed, too. “Yeah, I think we are.” Seeing that she was holding Gloria up, she gestured for her to run on. “Leave me,” she panted. “I’ll walk these last two laps.”

“You sure?”

“Go, before I require resuscitation.”

Gloria grinned and took off at a speed that would’ve caused Linnette to have a cardiac arrest. As she’d promised, she continued walking, astonished at Gloria who literally ran circles around her. Actually, now that she was moving at a relaxed speed, Linnette found she didn’t object to exercising.

Without Gloria there to distract her, though, her mind was free to roam. But the subject in the forefront of her thoughts was an uncomfortable one.

Cal.

While his mission was undeniably noble, he’d seemed too eager to get away from Cedar Cove—away from her. Her brother, Mack, had warned her that she was suffocating him. At the time, Linnette hadn’t been willing to listen, but now she felt she had to give his words some heed.

When she rounded the last curve, Linnette was surprised to see Chad standing outside the fence, watching them. When he looked in her direction, she waved. He returned her greeting, but his gaze immediately went to Gloria. In that brief moment, Linnette saw such longing in his eyes that it took her aback.

She didn’t know what to think. Was it possible they were already involved? Yet that didn’t make sense. Chad would’ve mentioned it, she was sure, since they worked together every day.

Gloria was certainly closemouthed, but Linnette resolved to mind her own business from now on. She couldn’t figure out what was happening in her own relationship, so she hardly felt qualified to diagnose the problems between Gloria and Chad.

After the evening meal at Lonny Ellison’s Wyoming ranch, where they were staying as guests, Cal found Vicki outside, standing at the corral. He hesitated before joining her. They’d been working together twelve and fifteen hours a day for two weeks now. His new feelings had crept up on him unawares. She’d been around Cliff’s ranch from the time he’d hired on, and they’d always been friendly but nothing more. He wasn’t sure when it’d happened, but Vicki had become someone who mattered to him. Maybe it had started the week he left, when they’d met to make plans for this trip….

Vicki ignored him and rested her arms on the top rung. She stared straight ahead as several of the mustangs dashed around inside the pen, snorting at their unaccustomed boundaries, kicking up dust and generally letting their displeasure be known.