Sunrise Point (Virgin River #19)(93)

“I hope you get back this way.”

Coop took another drink of his coffee, put down the cup and reached for his wallet.

“Nah, I’m not taking your money. It’s just a cup of coffee between friends.”

Coop put out his hand. “I think maybe that could’ve worked out, if we’d had more time, if we both weren’t so damn stubborn. Well, if you weren’t.”

Jack took the hand and grinned. “I’ll be checking in with Luke to find out how you’re doing. And if you get back here, we’ll scare up some poker.”

“I’d like to beat the hell out of you at something,” Coop said.

“Happy trails, man.” Coop turned to go and Jack said, “Hey, Coop—that was nice, that you stopped by. Thanks for that.”

“Yeah, anytime. Watch out for my friends, Jack.”

“You don’t even have to ask. Call if you need help.”

* * *

It was early afternoon when Maxie walked into her kitchen. She found Tom sitting at the table, eating cold casserole right out of the dish. She smiled at him and asked, “Hungry?”

He pushed it away and said, “Sit down, Max—we have to talk about a couple of things. Sensitive things.”

She sat warily. “Yes, I had a very nice trip, thank you for asking.”

“This might be a little hard for you at first, but you’re going to have figure out how to get along with the idea—I’m going to marry Nora.”

Her eyes widened in shock. Her mouth hung open.

“Right away. Well, as right away as she’ll go along with. Now, I know that’s not what you expected me to do, marry some woman with a couple of kids—a couple of kids by some loser who’s in prison—but this is how it’s going to be. I think, despite the fact her life has been pretty rocky up to now, she’s a solid person. She’s a very moral, decent person. She might’ve had a few little errors in judgment along the way, but a lot of that has more to do with the hard knocks of her childhood, something I only know a little bit about… .”

“Tom, I like Nora,” she said.

“I know, I know. That’s obvious. But liking her as an orchard worker and friend and as my wife—those are different roles. And I know that your life has been very different from hers, Maxie. You’ve been more mother to me than grandmother and I know the woman who raised me has a really rigid moral code… .”

She straightened her spine in shock. “Rigid moral code…?”

“You were so damn strict, the apples ran for their lives! I always planned to marry a woman a lot more like you, but this one just tripped me up!”

“Tom, Nora is—”

“I’m just telling you before I go one step further, you can’t judge her against your old-fashioned standards. You can’t condemn her for having a couple of kids without a husband or anything related. We accept her one hundred percent, just as she is.”

“Tom! You think I would judge her for that? You know that your grandfather and I—”

“I know, you had to get married—you’ve been honest about that. This is pretty different, but I don’t care. I wouldn’t care if she had six kids—I need her in my life. I’m not giving her up.” Then he laughed suddenly. “Damn, doesn’t this just have stalker written all over it?” He rubbed his hand down his face.

“Tom, have you not paid attention? We didn’t just have to get married, we—”

“I’m telling you, it doesn’t matter to me, so it can’t matter to you, because I’m bringing Nora and the kids to live with us. We could get our own house but if I’m going to work this orchard, I—”

“No, Tom, I absolutely don’t want you to find your own house and leave me on the orchard in this great big house,” she said, but she wasn’t sure he was listening to anything she said. He appeared to be just about deaf and blind and a little crazed. “Tom. Tom, look at me. Has Nora agreed to marry you?”

“No, but she will because she has to. They’re kicking her out of her house and she thinks she’s moving to Stanford to live with her father, but I’m not letting her go,” he said. “I’ll find a way to make it up to her if she wants to go back to college… .”

“We do have colleges,” Maxie said, mesmerized by her grandson’s passion. “I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“Probably because I’ve never been like this before. I knew I was falling for her but I thought I had time to get used to the idea of becoming a husband and father overnight. Man, I don’t need time—I only need one thing.”

“Can you slow down for just one second?” Maxie asked calmly. “Can you please listen to me?”

“Don’t try to reason with me, Max, because I—”

“Tom! Shut up! Listen to me!” He sat still and focused on her. “Better. You still look a little dazed, but better.”

“I didn’t sleep at all, and I was already running on very little sleep.”

“I understand, now please try to hear me. You have to calm down and see if you can lose that lunatic edge. No one’s going to marry you if you continue to sound completely insane.”

“I might be a little insane,” he said. “I sure feel that way.”