Lauri Robinson Read Free Page A

pie
or some ice cream. You’re welcome to join us.”
    Though she wanted to leap out of her chair, Ester shook her
head. “No, they need some time getting to know you again, but they do have
school tomorrow, so please don’t be too late.”
    “We won’t,” he answered, planting his hat on his head. Without
another word, he was gone.
    Sitting there all alone, Ester wondered, yet again, what
Montana could possibly have that Iowa didn’t. This time, in a way, she knew the
answer.
    Brett.
    And that’s what had been missing in Cutter’s Corner the past
five years.
    She made sure to be at the door when they returned, but Brett
stopped in the front yard and after kissing Hannah and ruffling Jesse’s hair, he
simply gave her a nod before starting back up the road.
    “Time for bed,” she told the children, holding the door wide
and watching him walk away.
    A short time later, while braiding Hannah’s hair as the girl
chatted about Montana, all Brett had told her and their visit to the hotel,
Ester’s spine was ice-cold, but all of a sudden threatened to snap in two. “What
did you say?”
    Hannah twisted to look over her shoulder. Her big brown eyes,
so like her older brother’s, grew thoughtful for a moment. “That I had plum
syrup on my ice cream?”
    “No, after that,” Ester said.
    “Oh, that Lenore said she’d love to see Montana.” Hannah turned
back around for Ester to finish the braid.
    Flipping the hair with utmost speed while her teeth clenched,
Ester asked, “Did she join you for pie and ice cream?”
    Lenore Wicks had always had a crush on Brett, and practically
lived for the chance to rub Ester’s nose in the fact Brett had gone to Montana
without her.
    “No, she waited on us. She has a job at the restaurant now, but
she doesn’t really like it. She had to go to work, though, on account her folks’
house burnt the same time ours did.”
    “I see,” Ester said. “Jump into bed now. You have a test at
school tomorrow.”
    “I know. Good Night.”
    Ester paused as she bent down to blow out the lamp, her stomach
tying itself in knots. “Was Brett happy to see Lenore?”
    Already snuggled beneath the covers, Hannah shrugged. “I dunno.
He said he didn’t remember her living next door to us.”
    “That’s because she didn’t when he lived there.”
    “That’s what she told him. Good night, Ester.”
    “Good night,” Ester repeated, blowing out the lamp and leaving
the room. Jealousy—she knew that’s what it was since she’d felt it anytime Brett
spoke to another girl—was flaring hotter than it ever had before.
    * * *
    Unable to sleep, knowing Brett was staying in the same
hotel Lenore worked at, Ester was up long before the sun, and as soon as the
children left for school, she started up the road, set upon putting the other
woman in her place.
    Half a block from the hotel, she spied her adversary walking
out of the dry goods store. “Lenore,” she said, quite sternly.
    Dressed in a pale orange dress that Ester hated to admit was
very stylish and quite stunning, the woman spun around. “I thought you worked at
the hotel,” Ester said.
    “I do,” Lenore said. “The evening shift.” She fluffed the sides
of her hair so the golden curls fell over her shoulders. “I’m assuming you know
Brett’s in town.”
    “Of course I know he’s in town. I’m sure I was the first to know.”
    Lenore let out a derisive laugh. “Really? He didn’t mention
that when he and I had our little visit last
night.”
    Steam was about to shoot out of her ears. “You mean when you
served him and Jesse and Hannah pie and ice cream.”
    A bit of Lenore’s haughtiness slipped from her face.
    It was enough to give Ester a slight whiff of victory. “I
believe Brett and Jess each had apple pie and Hannah had ice cream, with plum
sauce.”
    Lenore’s lips pursed, but then a gleam appeared in her green
eyes. “How do you know Brett and I didn’t see each other after that?”
    Holding her ground for