Sunrise Point (Virgin River #19)(28)

“She sounded just fine,” Maxie said. “Very happy, very friendly. She told me you’d said very nice things about me.”

“But what does she want?” he asked.

Maxie leaned toward him. “She’d like you to call her,” she repeated softly.

He just stared at her.

“I could leave the room,” she said, “But I can’t make dinner anywhere else, so why don’t you just go upstairs or out to the office.”

He still sat there for a moment, looking up at a silver-haired grandmother who was much shorter and always seemed much taller. “Right,” he finally said, picking up his laptop and heading for the office in the barn. And on the way he thought, How do I expect to hook up with a woman when I’m so dense?

And yet, he sat at the desk for a while before picking up the phone because the truth was, if Darla was in a place of grief and pain, he really didn’t feel up to it. He still had those moments over Pritchard that clouded his eyes and closed his throat. There had been about six marines trying to get him to the helicopter when he was holding on to life by a breath.

That was a year ago. She might be lots better by now even if he wasn’t. So he dialed.

“Tom!” she said excitedly.

“How did you know it was me?”

She laughed into the phone. “Caller ID, Tom. I assumed it was you and not your grandmother who was calling me. What a sweet woman, by the way.”

“Sweet,” he said.

“How have you been?”

“Fine. Good. Well, at least reasonable. You?” he asked with trepidation.

“Much better,” she said. “Much, much better than when you were here. I think seeing you and hearing about Bob and about the war and all that—I might’ve been a little emotional and maybe gave the impression I was going to be a wreck forever. Bob wouldn’t want that. I’m getting along very well, actually. In fact, I’m going to be in your part of the world—I’m taking a post-grad course at UC Davis, not all that far from your little town. I’ll be there for about eight weeks.”

“Post-grad?”

“A pharmacy course. It’s full-time and I’ll have studying to do, but I don’t have labs or classes on weekends and I figured while you’re picking apples, I could get a little reading done. That is, if you feel like getting together. I don’t want to impose.”

“That’s right,” he said. “You’re into pharmaceuticals.”

She laughed. “In a good way. I have a town house lined up—my company has been sending sales reps through this course for years and has a lease on a town house I hear is nice. I’ll be going back to Denver when the course is over, of course. But, I’ll be there next week and don’t have much going on. Want to come down? There are some nice restaurants around there.”

“Aw, we’re picking apples, Darla.”

“Well, gee. I knew that—I searched apple harvest in Humboldt County on Google. I could always come to see you. I’m sure there’s a motel nearby… .”

Yeah, he thought, I’m going to get right on the list of smoothest bachelors in the U.S. “Darla—we have more room than we need and Maxie loves having company. Just let us know when you’ll be here. It’s not fancy, but it’s homey. We don’t have a lot of restaurants, however. No nightlife here at all, in fact, but there are some really good views and the apple pie is top-notch.”

She laughed, a very musical sound, a very happy sound. No, he decided, she wasn’t coming to Virgin River to grieve and cry. She was coming to visit a friend. And Darla might be widowed, but widowed from one of the best guys he knew. And there hadn’t been kids yet. And she was older—twenty-eight or so. Smart, pretty, self-sufficient.

“I love apple pie,” she said.

“Do you like mountain vistas? Ocean views? Redwoods?” he asked, finding himself getting a little excited.

“I’ve never seen the redwoods.”

“Well, if you can get away from the books for a few hours, I know where they are,” he told her.

“I know it’s your busy season… .”

“I take a day off now and then. When can you be here?”

“I’ll get to California next week. I want to unpack a few things, check my class schedule and then I might be able to head up there on Friday. It’s not too far. A few hours, right?”

“Right. And cell phone reception is spotty, so don’t count on it, especially in the taller trees and mountains.”

“Tom,” she said, kind of seriously. “I emailed you. About three times. You didn’t answer. I was a little afraid to call… .”

“Aw, damn, I’m so bad about that. Darla, hardly anyone emails me and it’s all junk. I’m sorry. I haven’t looked lately.”

“But don’t you do business online?”

He laughed. “We’ve been doing business with the same people for years. We drive the truck into town, to the stores, unload the apples and hand over a paper invoice. Maxie is on the computer more than I am.”

“Well, that’s a relief. I thought maybe you were avoiding me.”

“Not a chance. This is one of the nicest surprises I’ve had in months.”

* * *