Castle Rock Read Free

could wield a paintbrush so delicately, creating paintings with clarity and grace. His blue eyes, now so vague, must in reality see more than most ever did of the incredible variations in color that made the New Mexico landscape hauntingly different.
    As Will sat down, he looked toward her, and his openly adoring gaze made Serena feel sad.
    She wished things could be different. She did love Will—like a brother. And that’s all there was to it.
    She smiled at him and abruptly his face lit up. As Millie brought in their lunch, he leaned close to Serena. “I’ve got some things I’d like to show you, some things I’ve just done.”
    â€œI’d like to see them, Will.”
    â€œMaybe after lunch . . .”
    Uncle Dan broke in, “Will, I’ve been meaning to check with you. The phone bill shows a half dozen calls from the ranch to New York. Serena said she hadn’t made them. I think there’s been some mistake and . . .”
    â€œOh.” Will hesitated, looking uncomfortable. “It’s not a mistake.”
    Uncle Dan lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “If you made the calls, that’s fine.”
    Will tugged at his thick reddish beard. “Yeah, I’ve talked to New York a lot lately.” He flushed. “Thing about it is, I may be able to set up a show there.”
    â€œIn New York?” Uncle Dan asked interestedly.
    Will nodded slowly.
    Serena felt sure suddenly that Will was lying. She had known Will for so long, he and Julie. She knew them . . . Serena put down her fork, reached for her ice water to try and ease the dryness in her throat. Before last summer, she would have said she knew Will and Julie so well that nothing they ever did could surprise her.
    But had Julie’s actions really surprised her, a small cold voice asked within? She knew Julie, yes. Beautiful Julie, small and delicate and blonde, with a kind of beauty that took your breath away. But Serena knew what lay behind that lovely face and bubbly smile, knew the childlike self-interest that could be so shocking. Was it any wonder that Julie had thrown herself at Peter?
    Serena drank, but the tight ache in her throat didn’t ease.
    Almost . That was a word to conjure with. Lost kingdoms, lost lives, lost loves. It was always a mistake to cling to almost . And didn’t the outcome mean that Peter was not the man for her?
    But Serena had thought he was the man for her, and that was what hurt so much, what made her wary now. Peter’s turn from her to Julie made her wonder if she could ever be sure of anyone. In her mind, she remembered Jed and the look of pleasure in his eyes when she came near.
    â€œSerena, don’t you think that’s right?”
    She looked blankly at Will, realizing she hadn’t heard a word he had said, but his expression was familiar. It was the same look he had given her through the years when he was out of his depth and needed help.
    â€œOh, I agree, Will, I certainly do,” she said quickly.
    His blue eyes smiled at her, then he looked back at his uncle.
    Dan McIntire was nodding slowly. “I can see the justice of what you say, Will, and we shouldn’t stand in the way of science. But I’ve never wanted to have a lot of strangers roaming around the ranch. Of course, these archaeologists could learn a lot from our ruins—”
    Serena smiled to herself. Her uncle was fiercely possessive of Castle Rock Ranch, even to the point of calling the Anasazi ruins “our” ruins. They had been there, of course, long before the first Europeans entered the desert and mesa and mountain country peopled by the Pueblo Indians. The Anasazi were America’s first apartment dwellers, their adobe complexes built into sweeping curves in the sides of golden sandstone cliffs from CE 700 to 1300, the height keeping them safe from foes and predators. The great culture waned after 1300, brought down, many archaeologists, believed, by