“Don’t worry. As I said, I’ll give Terri a call on my cell,” Katie said, zipping open her purse and scrounging for her phone. “She can either pick her up at my place or I’ll run her home. It’s no big deal.”

Mason, it seemed, couldn’t deny his daughter anything, and in a matter of minutes the change of plans was arranged and Dee Dee remained with Katie and Josh.

Nonetheless, Mason wasn’t pleased as they left the hospital. “Damn that woman, why can’t she make a plan and stick to it?” he muttered, then shot Bliss an apologetic glance. “Not your problem.”

“I don’t mind.”

He ran stiff, frustrated fingers through his hair. “Terri’s talking about moving again,” he admitted, once they were walking across the parking lot. Heat shimmered in waves from the hot asphalt and the air was still even though it was late afternoon.

“Where?”

“The San Juan Islands, I think, or Chicago. It depends on Bob.” He slid his aviator glasses onto the bridge of his nose and she couldn’t see his eyes, but his entire demeanor had stiffened.

“Bob is—”

“Her fiancé or live-in or whatever you want to call it. He’s older, has kids my age and . . . Oh, hell, I don’t like the situation. I moved down here to be close to Dee Dee, have a little more influence in her life, and wouldn’t you know, Terri’s decided to take off again.” He opened the door of the truck and helped Bliss inside. The vinyl seat was hot to the touch even though he’d left the windows cracked, and an angry yellow jacket was buzzing loudly, pounding its striped body against the windshield. Mason slid behind the steering wheel, swatted the bee out the open window, then twisted on the ignition.

Bliss glanced at the clinic and sighed.

Mason slid a glance her way as he eased through the parked vehicles. “Your dad will be okay, you know.”

“How would I?” she asked.

Mason snorted. “John Cawthorne’s too stubborn to give up the ghost that easily.”

“You didn’t see him after the heart attack in Seattle.”

He couldn’t argue. Didn’t.

“It scared me.”

“I didn’t think anything scared you.”

She let out a hard laugh. “If you only knew.”

They drove back to the ranch in silence as the sun lowered over the western mountains. A tiny breeze kicked up and crickets began their twilight songs. Mason parked by the garage and walked her into the house. It was odd being alone with him here, in her father’s home, and she suddenly felt tongue-tied and awkward.

The house was too close, too reminiscent of another time and place. She helped herself to two sodas and carried them outside to the back porch. Shadows lengthened across the lawn.