She handed him the card.

MADELINE KELLER

LOAN OFFICER

“Were you going to buy a new truck?” She was teasing, but her smile disappeared when he turned the card over.

Again the word NEXT was written on the back.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“Listen, you get to your sister’s, and you just stay there until I call you. Got it?”

“Yeah. John, you’re scaring me.”

He turned to leave. “Someone is playing games here, and I’ve about had it.”

Arianna drove out to Regan’s place, but the good mood she’d been in was slipping. Why had John been so upset?

Regan answered the door when Arianna rang the bell, but she could hear Spencer crying in the other room. Regan flung the door open and was off and running through the house.

“Is he okay?” Arianna shut the door and followed her.

“He’s hungry. I think he’s getting a cold, and his mother is a bit frazzled.”

“Why is that?”

Regan scooped up Spencer and then pointed across the room. Red crayon covered the white wall in big circles.

Arianna tucked her lips between her teeth to keep the smile from forming or the laughter from erupting.

“And where is Van Gough?”

“In his room.”

“May I?”

“Yes, but if you promise him anything, I’ll kill you.”

“Would I do something like that?” Now the smile formed on her lips, and her sister’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll just go talk to him. You feed the baby and calm down.”

She started up the stairs. “It’s a good thing I’m here. What would you do without me?”

She could hear Tyler in his room, and she opened the door slowly. “Hey, big guy.” He ran right to her, and she scooped him up. She sat down in the big chair in the corner and held him tightly to her. “Did you color on Mommy’s walls?”

Tyler shook his head.

“It wasn’t you?”

He shook his head again.

“Hmmm. Is mommy paying too much attention to Spencer?”

He didn’t answer, but Tyler lifted his head and looked at her.

“Do you think she’s forgetting to play with you?”

This time he nodded his head, and Arianna pulled him in tightly.

“You and I have a lot in common, kiddo. Your mommy is my little sister. And sometimes my mom had to take care of her, and she forgot to play with me.”

Tyler held her tight, and she thought she might cry if she didn’t continue talking. “I had an auntie who would come over and play with me when my little sister and my little brother were born. That way I didn’t get bored.”

Tyler sat back and looked at her.

Arianna kissed him on the nose. “Would you like to play?”

He crawled out of her lap, took her hand, and led her to the Thomas the Tank Engine set on the floor. This was where she would spend the next hour until Tyler finally fell asleep on the floor, and she then laid him in his bed and covered him with a blanket she remembered Regan having as a child.

When Arianna made it downstairs, Regan was asleep on the couch, and Spencer was asleep in the bassinette next to her. She didn’t know just being home with two little kids could wear out an adult, but Regan was proof that it was harder than it sounded.

Arianna went about finding supplies to clean off the wall. Once the crayon had been removed, she started picking up the kitchen and washing dishes.

Poor Regan. Perhaps, she thought, she should forget the theater until all the kids were grown, and she should just help her sisters every day. If Regan was as much a wreck as she looked to be, Arianna couldn’t even imagine how Simone was holding up.

Another hour had passed, and Arianna had brewed a pot of coffee. She heard Spencer stirring in the bassinette, so she picked him up. Tyler had woken up, and she’d gone to get him, too.

They’d agreed to do some coloring, in a coloring book, and sat down at the table.

Finally, Regan stumbled into the kitchen.

“I guess I was tired.”

“Like I said, what would you do without me?”

Regan wiped her eyes, but Arianna was sure she was wiping away tears. “I don’t know. Thank you for coming out.”

“My pleasure. Besides John is all worked up over something. I’m better off here.”

Regan kissed Tyler on the head and sat down at the table. “How are things going at the theater?”

“Good, but I guess someone stole the lock box and that had set him off.”

“Zach said someone sabotaged the other build site, too.”

Arianna pursed her lips. John hadn’t mentioned that.

Perhaps that was what he’d been talking about, someone playing games. No wonder he wasn’t in a very good mood.

John had headed straight over to Zach’s office, but one thing he should have learned over the years is that you call first. Zach had taken the day to fly to Oklahoma to survey a new build site. He no longer took long extended trips, only day trips.

Mary Ellen looked up at him from her desk. “Do you want me to get him on the phone?”

“No. I’ll talk to him when he gets back. It can all wait until tomorrow.”

“Everything on track at the theater?”

He rubbed his chin. He’d forgotten to shave. “It’ll be done on time. I’m sure if I get it done early, she’ll already have a show ready to put on, too.”

“I think it is wonderful what you all did for Arianna.”

Just the mention of her name made him happy. “She’ll make it great. Just let Zach know I was here if he calls.”

John then headed to the other build site to see if things were still on track to get those fixes done. Arianna had texted and said she was still at Regan’s and would be staying to help with dinner. He figured that would give him a few hours to see to everything.

By the time he’d checked out the area that had been red flagged, it was five-thirty. The crew had gone home, and he headed back to the trailer. He finished up a few reports, gathered his coat, put his phone in his pocket, and headed out to his truck.

Just as he opened the door to his truck, the door on the trailer slammed.

John turned around and looked. The lights were off. The site was empty.

He walked back up the steps and opened the door.

That was when he was hit from behind. His head spun as he fell to the ground.