Page 16 of Never Fall Again

Landry walked up to Eliza and put her hand on her shoulder. “Baby, let’s not bother Mr. Quinn.”

That got a grumbled “She’s not bothering me. She’s asking questions. Showing off how smart she is.” He winked at Eliza. “You can ask me anything, Miss Eliza.”

Eliza giggled, and Mo grinned at her. At least, Cal thought Mo did. It was hard to see his mouth under all the facial hair. Meredith met Cal’s eyes, and hers were wet.

Leave it to a five-year-old to pull Mo out of his funk.

“Thank you again for allowing us to invade your space.” Landry directed her remarks to Meredith but included Mo and Cal with a wave of her hand. “We’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.”

“No rush.” Meredith clapped her hands. “Let me show you around.”

Cal should have stayed outside, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from trailing behind as Meredith gave them the lay of the land. Meredith’s home had two lofts. A small one that contained a twin bed and not much else. Eliza didn’t seem to mind at all. The other loft was more spacious, and unless he was very much mistaken, Landry was relieved to have her own space for the night.

When Meredith finished getting them settled, Cal didn’t linger. “Good night, ladies. If you need anything, holler.”

“Good night, Cal. Thank you.” Landry gave him a weak smile and closed the door.

He joined Meredith and Mo where they stood talking by Meredith’s car. “How’s Auntie J?”

“Tired. Dad came home around three this afternoon.” Meredith crossed her arms. “She told him tomorrow he needs to go to work and not come home until six.”

Mo frowned. “Tomorrow is Saturday.”

“I know. Mom said she didn’t care. That she was sure there was something he could do. He said he wasn’t going in on a Saturday. So now I’m going to have to deal with both of them tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to it.”

Mo crossed his arms and in that moment looked so much like Meredith that Cal had to fight not to comment on it. “He’s worried about her.”

Meredith leaned against her brother. “She knows that, but he’s driving her nuts. It’s a combination of Mom being annoyed that she can’t do what she wants to do and Dad hovering so much that they’re on each other’s nerves.”

“Anything we can do?” Cal asked.

“Give him a job that will keep him busy. Please. I’m begging you.”

“Might do that.” Cal pointed to Meredith’s door. “Landry wants us to build her house.”

“No kidding? Where’s she wanting to build?” Meredith asked.

Cal kept his eyes on Mo as he pointed to the river. “Right over there.”

Mo’s jaw clenched. “What?”

“Yeah. Shocked me too. Bronwyn sold Landry three acres. The house will be right across the river from my land.”

“Why?” There was a sadness in Mo’s question, and Cal knew Meredith had heard it when she shifted to put her arm around her brother.

“Landry’s looking for land that’s private but closer to town. She used the wordssafeandisolated.”

Mo frowned at that.

“I don’t like it either. Something’s up with her. She says she’s a widow, but when I was in her house earlier tonight, there were no pictures of the husband. None. I thought maybe she didn’t have any in the living area, but when we went back inside to check the windows, I was in both bedrooms. There were no pictures of a man.”

“What’re you thinking?” Meredith asked.

“I’m thinking there’s a lot more going on with Landry Hutton than we know. She’s running from something. But whether she’s the victim or the one who walked away from the dad, I can’t say for sure.”

Mo and Meredith shared a look, and somehow Mo must have gotten the signal to be the one to speak. “Man, we get it. But she’s not—”

“Don’t say her name.” Cal glared at Mo, but Mo carried on.

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