Sunrise Point (Virgin River #19)(52)

He almost said, “Are you sure it wasn’t me?” but he caught himself. Instead he said, “Shhhh.”

Every once in a while Tom stole a look at Maxie. She held her book in her lap and her head tilted down, her glasses on her nose, as though she might be reading. She didn’t even bob. Every so often she’d emit a soft little snore. He had never envied a person more—he’d love to catch a little nap, or at least check the score of the baseball game. But he didn’t dare.

The movie ended, Darla heaved a heavy, satisfied sigh and Maxie stretched. She closed her book, removed her glasses and while the credits were running she said, “Lovely, Darla. I’m all in. I think I’ll just go ahead and head for bed.” She stood up and smiled at them, so cozy on the couch. “Why don’t you two enjoy another movie?”

The traitor, Tom thought. She was going to pay for that.

Darla just smiled, which was lucky for her. Tom was annoyed enough by the movie selection that if Darla had said something cheeky like You slept through the whole thing, Tom was never going to see her again. He could be perturbed with Maxie, but everyone else better mind their manners.

Then came Saturday. As Tom had explained, he had to work. He had his part-time crew in, working overtime, at least until early afternoon. He drove the tractor or truck or forklift by the barn and house several times and caught sight of his grandmother in her garden or picking apples off the small trees or lower branches. She was hearty and healthy, but they had agreed she was going to stay off ladders, at least for the most part. She baked, visited with workers, brought lemonade to the break room in the barn, put out cider for anyone who would like to take a gallon home.

Darla mainly sat on the porch lounge with a book in her lap. Well, hell, she had said she had to work as well, and this must be her work—he had no cause to judge or complain.

“We got a fence issue, Tom,” Junior said.

“Now what?”

Junior scrubbed off his cap and wiped a rag over his thin hair. Junior had started out here over thirty years ago when he was a teenager and stayed on. He was one of their few year-round employees. Since Tom had known him he’d served a tour of duty in the Army, married and divorced and was now on his own. He had two grown children and was by far one of the finest and most dependable men Tom had known. He was damn sorry about the family issues and even more sorry Junior was mostly alone except for seeing his kids now and then.

“I just happened to see it,” Junior said. “Kinda close to the house—tore down the cyclone mesh. I’d like to get it back up today. If one of Maxie’s pies gets snatched off her cooling tray on the porch, she’ll kill that old bitch with her bare hands.”

Tom chuckled despite himself. “That bear?”

“Who else? Wunt elk or deer or bobcats.” He pronounced wasn’t as wunt. “Only a bear with a family is gonna go to so much trouble as that. So damn heavy, all ’em, they broke it down tryin’ to get over. And wunt a person—they’d climb over, no trouble. Not like we got barbed wire on top.”

“She’s starting to get on my nerves,” Tom said. “Costing me way too much in fencing. I see two possible solutions here—either she heads for hibernation with the kids pretty soon or I’m going to have to sit up late, catch her and shoot her. It’s come down to that.”

“I’ll do that if you want,” Junior said.

Tom grinned. “Maybe we bag that bear together?”

Junior grinned in response. “I’m into that idea.”

“Buddy’s working today. Pull him off the trees and get him to help on the fence—I have stuff to do.”

“Sure thing.”

Tom went around the perimeter to look at it even though he wasn’t going to work on it. Sure thing, it wasn’t torn apart so much as bent over. Same as always. It looked like a few heavy bears attempted to climb the fence and it bent under their weight. The poles that held up the cyclone fencing flattened and the metal wire collapsed. It was a bigger pain to repair than if someone had taken wire cutters to it and opened it up. With this kind of damage, more of the fencing had to be removed and replaced, more support poles replaced.

He checked more of the perimeter and saw a couple of familiar legs up on a ladder. He slowed, killed the engine and heard humming. “Hey, apple girl,” he yelled.

She laughed and came down a couple of steps, her bag nearly full. “What’s up, boss?”

“Got another bear scare. Damn things broke down some more fencing.”

Her eyes got wide. “They aren’t in here, are they?”

“Nah. One thing about bears, they’re kind of hard to hide in daylight. They’re big and clumsy.”

“Shew. Try not to scare me.”

“You’re working this weekend, huh? What about Jed?”

“He’s coming up tomorrow afternoon, which usually means he’ll be here tonight. I think he spends the night over at the Best Western in Fortuna. I’ll work till lunchtime tomorrow, then he’ll come over. He wants to take the girls to the redwoods and coast on a picnic before it gets too cold.”

“Nice,” he said. “I guess it’s working out.”

“So far,” she said. “I’m trying not to let the fact that he’s given me so much influence my opinion of him. Know what I mean?”