Even as he sought answers for Janey’s unexpected presence, he heard Melissa’s sharp intake of breath behind him. Before he could turn around, the car door slammed with enough force to rock the sturdy vehicle on its tires. He knew what that meant. He forgot all about Janey as he tried to get to Melissa before she got the wrong impression and took off in a snit. Correction, she already had the wrong impression. He just had to stop her.

“Melissa,” he protested just as the engine roared to life. “Dammit, we need to talk. Don’t you dare drive away from here!”

He might as well have been talking to the wind. The order was wasted. She’d already thrown the car into gear, then backed up, spewing gravel in every direction. He slammed his fist on the fender as she turned the car, shifted again and headed away from the house at a pace that would have done an Indy 500 driver proud.

“Terrific,” he muttered. “That’s terrific. Not five seconds ago, I actually believed she was starting to trust me and now this!”

“Cody,” his father warned, nodding toward the girl who had stopped halfway down the sidewalk.

Sure enough, Janey looked as if he’d slapped her. Cody raked his hand through his hair and tried to get a grip on his temper. It wasn’t the teenager’s fault that his personal life was a mess. He crossed to Janey Treethorn in three strides and looked into a face streaked with tears and eyes that were as wide as a doe’s caught in the cross hairs of a hunter’s gun. His anger dissipated in a heartbeat.

“Janey, don’t cry,” he said softly, pulling her into a hug. “Shh, baby, it’s okay.”

“I’m s-sorry,” she stammered. “I didn’t mean to mess up everything.”

“I know,” he soothed, awkwardly patting her back as he cast a helpless look at his father. Harlan shrugged, clearly as bemused by this turn of events as Cody was.

“It’s not your fault,” he told her, even though he very much wanted to blame her for ruining his fragile truce with Melissa. “Come on, let’s go inside and you can tell me why you came all this way. Does your dad know you’re here?”

“Ye-es-s,” she said, sniffling. “Your father called him last night.”

Cody’s heart sank. Obviously, Janey had run away from home, if last night was the first Lance had heard of her whereabouts. His former boss was probably fit to be tied. Janey was the least rebellious of his daughters. If she had pulled a stunt as crazy as this, the other two were likely to drive him completely over the edge. Lance needed a mother for those girls and he needed her in a hurry.