A Country Affair(31)

“Do you sing, Rorie?” Kate asked, leaving Clay and sliding onto the piano bench.

“A little, and I play some piano.” Actually her own singing voice wasn’t half bad. She’d participated in several singing groups while she was in high school and had taken five years of piano lessons.

“Please sing something for us.” Rorie recognized a hint of challenge in the words.

“Okay.” She replaced Kate at the piano seat and started out with a little satirical ditty she remembered from her college days. Skip hooted as she knew he would at the clever words, and all three rewarded her with a round of applause.

“Play some more,” Kate encouraged. “It’s nice to have someone else do the playing for a change.” She sat next to Clay on the floor, once again resting her head against his shoulder. If it hadn’t been for the guitar in his hands, Rorie knew he would’ve placed his arm around her and drawn her even closer. It would have been the natural thing to do.

“I don’t know the songs you usually sing, though.” Rorie was more than a little reluctant now. She’d never heard of this Greenwood person they seemed to like so well.

“Play what you know,” Kate said, “and we’ll join in.”

After a few seconds’ thought, Rorie nodded. “This is a song by Billy Joel. I’m sure you’ve heard of him—his songs are more rock than country, but I think you’ll recognize the music.” Rorie was only a few measures into the ballad before she realized that Kate, Clay and Skip had never heard this song.

She stopped playing. “What about Whitney Houston?”

Skip repeated the name a couple of times before his eyes lit up with recognition. “Hasn’t she done Coke commercials?”

“Right,” Rorie said, laughing. “She’s had several big hits.”

Kate slowly shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t think I can remember the words to her songs.”

“Barbra Streisand?”

“I thought she was an actress,” Skip said with a puzzled frown. “You mean she sings, too?”

Reluctantly Rorie rose from the piano seat. “Kate, you’ll have to take over. It seems you three are a whole lot country and I’m a little bit rock and roll.”

“We’ll make you into a country girl yet!” Skip insisted, sliding the harmonica across his mouth with an ease Rorie envied.

Clay glanced at his watch. “We aren’t going to be able to convert Rorie within the next twelve hours.”

A gloom settled over them as Kate took Rorie’s place at the piano.

“Are you sure we can’t talk you into staying a few extra days?” Skip asked. “We’re just getting to know each other.”

Rorie shook her head, more determined than ever to leave as soon as she could.

“It would be a shame for you to miss the county fair next weekend. Maybe you could stop here on your way back through Oregon, after your trip to Canada,” Kate added. “Clay and I are singing, and we’re scheduled for the square dance competition, too.”

“Yeah,” Skip cried. “And we’ve got pig races planned again this year.”

“Pig races?” Rorie echoed faintly.

“I know it sounds silly, but it’s really fun. We take the ten fastest pigs in the area and let them race toward a bowl of Oreos. No joke—cookies! Everyone bets on who’ll win and we all have a lot of fun.” Skip’s eyes shone with eagerness. “Please think about it, anyway, Rorie.”

“Mary’s entering her apple pie again,” Clay put in. “She’s been after that blue ribbon for six years.”

A hundred reasons to fade out of their lives flew across Rorie’s mind like particles of dust in the wind. And yet the offer was tempting. She tried, unsuccessfully, to read Clay’s eyes, her own filled with a silent appeal. This was a decision she needed help making. But Clay wasn’t helping. The thought of never seeing him again was like pouring salt onto an open wound; still, it was a reality she’d have to face sooner or later.

So Rorie volunteered the only excuse she could come up with at the moment. “I don’t have the time. I’m sorry, but I’d be cutting it too close to get back to San Francisco for work Monday morning.”

“Not if you canceled part of your trip to Canada and came back on Friday,” Skip pointed out. “You didn’t think you’d have a good time at the square dance, either, but you did, remember?”

It wasn’t a matter of having a good time. So much more was involved...though the pig races actually sounded like fun. The very idea of such an activity would have astounded her only a week before, Rorie reflected. She could just imagine what Dan would say.

“Rorie?” Skip pressed. “What do you think?”

“I... I don’t know.”

“The county fair is about as good as it gets around Nightingale.”

“I don’t want to impose on your hospitality again.” Clay still wasn’t giving her any help with this decision.

“But having you stay with us isn’t a problem,” Skip insisted. “As long as you promise to stay out of the kitchen, you’re welcome to stick around all summer. Isn’t that right, Clay?”

His hesitation was so slight that Rorie doubted anyone else had noticed it. “Naturally Rorie’s welcome to visit us any time she wants.”