Part 23 (1/2)
”Are you referring to his Grizzly Adams impersonation?”
”Who?”
Charles shook his head. ”It was a television show long before your time.”
”Whatever. Do you think he'll resign from the bench? Mom says no, that this is a temporary brain cramp and that he'll be back to work just as soon as he's had time to forget about Desai and Sandberg.”
Charles thought about it for a moment. ”I tend to agree with your mother. She knows him better than anyone. That said, I've always thought there was something beyond ambition to your father's desire for the bench. That may be the missing puzzle piece here.”
”Hmm.” Chase didn't say any more because the game resumed and Colorado put together a great scoring drive on the nationally ranked Longhorns. Following the touchdown and after exchanging high fives with his granddad, he settled back into his seat fairly happy with his world. During halftime, however, when his mother wasn't around to serve homemade sandwiches and snacks like usual during family game-watching gatherings, his thoughts returned to his parents. ”I do understand why they'd want to live in the mountains. I can't imagine living anywhere else. Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to work in a field that would allow me to live in the mountains. It's weird, Granddad. I always felt like I was letting Dad down because I didn't want to be a lawyer like Stephen does. Now it's like Dad has come over to the dark side.”
”Your father always understood that your dreams and desires went in a different direction than his. Who knows? Maybe you, rather than your brother, are the son who most takes after his father. It'll be interesting to watch and see what Mac decides.”
”Or what Mom decides for him,” Chase said with a rueful snort. ”She's gone just as crazy as Dad. She might throw down an ultimatum. It's like they've got some weird role reversal thing going on.”
”Alison reminds me more and more of her mother every day.”
The resumption of football interrupted further observation about Chase's parents. To Chase's amazement, the Buffs did make a game of it, and they entered the fourth quarter down by a field goal. With less than a minute left in the game, the score tied, and the Buffs driving, Chase and his granddad were so intent on the game that they almost didn't hear the doorbell. When Chase did hear it, he ignored it.
”Go answer that,” his grandfather said.
”Not now! Whoever it is can wait.”
Just then, the Longhorns called a time-out, so Chase made a rush for the door. In a hurry, he didn't bother to check the peephole before yanking the door open. He didn't recognize the woman standing on his parents' front porch. ”Can I help you?”
”I'm looking for Mackenzie Timberlake.”
Hearing the crowd noise swell, Chase glanced back over his shoulder. ”Come on in. Follow me.”
He dashed back to the theater room, all but dismissing the visitor from his thoughts as he arrived just in time to see Colorado let fly a pa.s.s toward the end zone as time on the clock ran out. An orange jersey and a white jersey went up, and two pairs of hands reached for the ball. Someone caught it, but at first Chase couldn't tell who.
Then he saw the referee's hands signal a touchdown, and he shouted, ”Woo-hoo!”
Charles Cavanaugh pushed to his feet and yelled, ”Touchdown!”
”Game over! We did it, Granddad! We won!” Chase and his grandfather exchanged more high fives and hoots and cheers. Eventually both men noticed the woman who had joined them.
”May we help you?” Charles said.
”Oops.” Chase winced. ”Sorry, I forgot.”
”That's okay,” the woman said, a touch of the South in her voice. ”I obviously came at an inopportune moment.” Glancing at the television, she added, ”I'm always glad to see the Longhorns get beat. I'm an Oklahoma fan myself.”
”I'm really sorry I abandoned you, ma'am,” Chase said. ”You're looking for my father?”
”Mackenzie Timberlake is your father?”
”Yes, ma'am.”
She smiled and met Charles's gaze. ”And he called you Granddad. Isn't that handy!”
”Pardon me?” Charles asked, his tone suddenly suspicious.
The woman made a sweeping gesture toward Charles and Chase. ”You're family.”
Next she put her palm against her chest. ”I'm family. I'm Mackenzie's aunt Sally. I need to speak with him about his mother.”
Ali sat in a rocking chair in Nic Callahan's house, cuddling one of the sleeping twins against her breast. She, Sage, Sarah, and Celeste had volunteered to babysit for Nic and Gabe and their guests from Texas, Gabe's brother Luke and his wife and three children, so that the two couples could enjoy a meal at the Bristlecone. At this moment in time, after a relatively wild couple of hours, all five children were asleep, thank G.o.d.
”That's another problem with the new Bristlecone,” she said. ”It's not a family restaurant, and Eternity Springs is a family kind of place.”
”Aren't you just Little Ali Suns.h.i.+ne tonight,” Sage observed, snuggling Nic's other daughter in a second rocking chair.
”I'm sorry. I know I'm grumpy, but Mac is driving me crackers. He told me today that his leave of absence is over in less than two weeks, and nothing I say can convince him that resigning is the wrong thing to do.”
Celeste looked up from the embroidery she was doing on a quilt square. ”In that case, have you considered that perhaps it is not the wrong thing to do?”
Ali went quiet for a long minute, then said, ”That's just about all I think about. My problem is that I know my husband very, very well. I know how hard he worked and all that he sacrificed to earn this job. He talks a good game when it comes to walking away from it, but I don't trust it. I learned the hard way that buried resentment is terribly destructive for a marriage.”
”You think that's what would happen?” Sarah asked.
”Maybe not right away, but eventually, yes. If he does this, there's no going back when he changes his mind. Unfortunately, a federal judges.h.i.+p isn't something a person can walk into and out of at will. So one day he'll wake up from this midlife crisis, look around, and blame me. We'll be worse off than before because he'll be the one stewing instead of me, and I can deal with it better.”
Sarah, who was also working on a quilt square, accidentally jabbed her thumb with a needle and winced. ”So what are you going to do? Tie him up and deliver him to the courthouse to resume his job?”
”I don't know what I'm going to do.”
”I know what you should do,” Celeste said. ”You should have faith in your husband. Trust in him and in his love for you.”
”I do,” Ali protested. When Celeste looked over the top of her cheaters at her, she amended, ”I try.”
Celeste shook her head. ”That lack of faith is what is holding you back from full happiness. You do realize that, don't you?”
”Can we change the subject, please?”
Sage grinned and let her off the hook. ”Tell us what's happening at the New Place. I understand Mac has been a regular worker bee in the restaurant.”
Ali rolled her eyes. ”He's a wild man. He's remodeling the place top to bottom. When he's not working on the remodel, he's poring over house plan magazines and pestering Gabe for ideas. He wants to start building a house up near Heartache Falls next spring.”
”Gee,” Sage said, a gleam of amus.e.m.e.nt in her eyes. ”I'm disappointed for you. I understand that life in a yurt can be very romantic. By the way, I've been meaning to ask-how did that harem costume you borrowed go over?”
”Harem costume?” Sarah and Celeste said simultaneously. Celeste added, ”Well, she does live in a tent.”
Sarah shot Sage a curious look and asked, ”What were you doing with a harem costume?”
”That's another story for another time,” Sage answered, smiling smugly. ”On that note, if you guys think you have it handled here okay, I need to be going. I have a date tonight.”
”Oh, yeah? Who with?” Ali asked.
”A paintbrush and canvas,” Sage replied with a sigh. ”My next show will be here before I know it.”