He shrugged. “I figured I’m going to have to up the ante. If I don’t want you saying I’m just full of bullshit.” He ran a hand down her arm until he reached her hand. He held it. “I thought the tree would look good on that sunny side of the house. You could see it from the porch. In fall when the leaves turn yellow, it’ll make the trim on the house stand out.”

    “Tom...”

    “It’s fifteen feet,” he said. “You’ll have to help me get it out of the truck.” He moved a little closer to her. “Kids aren’t home, huh?”

    She shook her head.

    He lifted a hand to her hair and let his long fingers sink into her thick curls. “I’ve wanted to do this,” he said. He gently let his lips hover right over hers. “I do think you’re beautiful, Lola. Inside and out. Do not cry. My ego can’t take it.”

    “You’re courting me,” she said.

    “Uh-huh. It’s not going to be that much of a courtship. We have six kids between us. Three in college so far. We’ll be lucky if we have time to make out on the porch now and then.” He gave her a brief kiss and she let her eyes drift closed. He kissed her more deeply. He let go of her hand and slid it around her waist, pulling her closer. It made him moan, a soft purring sound. Then she felt his tongue and she was the one who moaned.

    She embraced him and moved under his lips. She thought, I’m sunk now. It is now officially too late for me.

    “I love the way you taste,” he whispered. “And you feel so good in my arms. Just like I knew you would.”

    “Hmm,” she said, not opening her eyes.

    He gave her another kiss, a very thorough one. Then a brief one. “Gotta stop now,” he whispered. “Grrr.”

    “Me, too.”

    He pulled back slowly. “Should we pull that tree out? While I can still walk?”

    “Okay,” she said. “I’m a little weak in the knees, though.”

    “We’ll be okay,” he said. “Except, I’m going to want to kiss you every day.”

    “Okay,” she said.

    They broke apart and turned to go down the walk. Standing on the sidewalk was Trace. He was wearing cleats, carrying a bat and baseball mitt, all dusty and dirty and sweaty. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. “You’re kissing Mr. Canaday,” he said. “Why were you kissing Mr. Canaday?”

    Lola shrugged and smiled. “Because I like him. And he bought me a tree.”

    “Wow,” he said. He hit his cleats with his bat, knocking off some dirt. “Wait till I tell Cole.” Then he walked up to the porch, passed them and opened the front door.

    “Hey!” Lola said. “Go around to the back door and take off those dirty shoes!”

    “Oh,” he said. “Sorry. You kinda shook me up for a minute.”

    “Maybe you could give me a hand with that tree?” Tom said. “It’s pretty heavy.”

    “Sure,” he said. “Jeez.” He dropped the bat and glove, heading for the truck. “Should you be kissing my mom?”

    “Well, we’re both single and over twenty-one. And we’re good friends.”

    “Yeah, but she’s my mom,” he said.

    Lola winced inside. Trace was a great big kid, as tall as Tom and almost as broad in the shoulders, but he was her baby.

    Tom put a firm hand on Trace’s shoulder and gave it a little shake. “Well, kiddo, she’s not going to stop being your mom, so relax. Let’s put the tree over there by the end of the porch. It’s gonna look so nice there.”

    “You gonna plant it?” Trace asked him.

    “Not tonight. Tomorrow. I have chores tonight. It’ll keep till tomorrow. And you’ll survive this crisis.”

    * * *

    Sierra wanted a little fluff-up before traveling to Michigan. She thought it might help her in the confidence department. Maggie confessed that she liked to get her hair done by a favorite, pricey hairdresser in Denver, but in a pinch she’d been known to drop into the local beauty shop and they did a fine job at half the cost. She recalled a woman named Rhonda had done her hair.

    “I could do that, but I don’t know... Connie’s ex-fiancée works in there,” Sierra said.

    Maggie got an impish grin on her face. “You don’t want to get a look at her?”

    “I’ve seen her! She’s incredibly pretty.”

    “Well, you could spend an hour in the shop and see what she’s like. But I don’t think you should let her cut your hair!”

    “She probably won’t even know who I am. Connie hasn’t mentioned telling her about me.”

    “Then do it,” Maggie said, a little gleefully. “And report back.”

    She made an appointment for the afternoon with Rhonda. She asked for a few blond streaks and a trim of her ends. She was a little nervous about this bit of sneakiness. But she never could have prepared herself for what she found. Rhonda’s chair was beside Alyssa’s. And in Alyssa’s chair was Neely.

    “Well, hello stranger,” Sierra said.

    “Sierra! What a coincidence! I was just going to give you a call!”

    “I guess you’ve been pretty busy lately,” Sierra said. She was not nearly over being brushed off after that whole friendship seduction.

    “I have, but I’m afraid it’s been a real nightmare,” Neely said. “A good friend’s teenage son was in a terrible accident on 24. She lives in a little town south of Vail and it wasn’t far from her house. He was just seventeen and was critical, taken to Denver by helicopter to the trauma center. Brandon barely hung on for two weeks before he died and I’ve spent almost all that time sitting by his bedside. I didn’t think I’d ever recover!”