“I thought there was nothing you wanted to say. Of course, maybe if you tell me, you’ll feel better. That’s how it works sometimes. Sharing the load goes a long way toward making it seem a little lighter.”

Her shoulders slumped dejectedly as she picked at the frayed edge of her cut-off jeans. “You’ll get mad.”

“So it has something to do with me?”

She nodded, looking miserable.

“Is it me and your mom?”

Her head gave an almost imperceptible little bob. “I think she likes you,” she mumbled finally. “She says she doesn’t, but I can tell.”

Harlan considered the observation a promising sign. He didn’t tell Jenny that. She obviously disagreed.

“Would that be so terrible, having your mom like me?” he asked instead, hoping to get to the root of her displeasure. Did she resent the possibility of a replacement for her father? Was it just him in particular she disliked? He had a feeling the answer might hold the key to his future.

“It’s not that exactly,” she admitted. “I mean, you’re okay, I guess. A little bossy, but okay. It’s just that my mom and me, we’ve been a team ever since the divorce. We don’t need anybody else.”

“Maybe I do,” he said quietly.

The concept seemed to intrigue her. “What do you mean?”

“Just that it’s been awful quiet around here the past year or so, ever since my wife died. My sons are all grown and living their own lives now.”

“Maybe Cody and his kids could move in with you,” she suggested, either in an attempt to be helpful or an attempt to get her and her mother off the hook.

He could have given some glib reply to that, but he decided she needed honesty from him. She needed to be treated like an adult, at least on this issue. “Oh, the truth of it is, Cody and I would butt heads constantly. And Melissa should be able to run her own house the way she wants without worrying about the way things were always done around here.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “That could be a problem, I guess. So how come you like having me and my mom around so much?”

“For one thing, you’re a pretty special kid, in case you didn’t know. I knew it the second you climbed down out of that truck of mine, spitting mad and taking your own foolishness out on me.”