Read Online Lone Tree by Bobbie O'Keefe - Free Book Online

and
conspicuously absent. Elizabeth had had no memories of her mother. Alice Ann
had died in an accident before her daughter’s first birthday. The following
pictures of Miles captured a face without expression, a man who’d lost much and
was hurting. The sadness seemed to reach out to Lainie.
    Her eye caught something at her side and she jumped.
Her gaze flew upward.
    “Oh...Miles. You...you startled me.”
    He stared at her, expression wooden.
    The album slipped. She got a firmer grip, then
closed it. “Excuse me for taking the liberty of looking through your pictures.
I hope you don’t mind.” She replaced the book where she’d found it, telling
herself there was no reason to feel guilty. Nosy maybe, but not guilty. The book
was right there in plain sight. She picked up her cup of cooled coffee, then
stood and faced him.
    “I hope I didn’t overstep myself. Do you mind that I
looked at the book?”
    His expression smoothed out. “It’s there to be
looked at. Don’t worry about it.” His gait was stiff as he walked behind the
sofa on the way to his desk. “Bad night. Arthritis wouldn’t let me sleep. Got
some new pills, so finally broke down and took one. Meanwhile I’ve got phone
calls to make. Might as well get that done.”
    She went to her own desk, booted up the computer,
and opened financial records software. Miles still signed the checks, but she
prepared them and was responsible for the records. As she worked, she kept an
ear tuned to Miles’s voice. He didn’t sound edgy, but she’d sensed strong
emotion in him when he’d found her engrossed in the album.
    After about twenty minutes, he once more replaced
the phone receiver. But instead of again thumbing through the rotary card file,
he got to his feet. Slowly he shrugged, rolled his shoulders, then he stretched
vigorously.
    “Ah,” he said. “Good pills.” He cast a defiant look
at the hall door, then at Lainie. “Nothing wrong with going back to bed. If
Rosalie asks about me, you tell her I said so.”
    She watched him leave, then shook her head.
Sometimes she thought she had a handle on her grandfather, other times knew she
didn’t, and hoped all the while that he didn’t have a handle on her.
    Smoothing strands of hair behind her ears, she
stopped in mid-motion. Abruptly she pulled out the desk’s bottom drawer,
reached for the phone book, and looked up the number of Jackie’s Style .
As she punched in the numbers, mentally she crossed her fingers. Yes, she
needed a haircut, but she was hoping for more than that from Jackie Lyn. Except
for Rosalie, Lainie was surrounded by masculinity. She yearned for a friend of
her own sex and age with whom she could put her feet up and just talk about
girl things.
    When she arrived for her appointment the next
afternoon, she discovered Jackie Lyn was good at her job. Better yet, she was
intuitive. After draping the protective sheet around her customer’s shoulders,
Jackie’s gaze met Lainie’s in the mirror.
    “Glad you called,” Jackie said. “Been thinking about
you out there with all those men. After a while, I bet it gets old.”
    “Oh, yeah. In fact, I was wondering if I could treat
you to lunch sometime. Er, dinner, I mean, unless supper would be better...it’s
more informal.” She laughed at herself. “Sorry. Guess I’m still mixed up with—”
    “Do you know how to make potato salad?”
    “Uh, yeah.”
    “Then bring a bowl of it to my house tomorrow
night—I’ll give you directions—and I’ll fry up hamburgers to go with it. Sound
good?”
    “Sounds great.”
    *
    Jackie lived in a small house on a side street
within walking distance of her shop. She opened the door and motioned for her
guest to come in. “Don’t stand there on ceremony, girl. I’m hungry.”
    Lainie sliced a tomato and onion at the counter in
the bright-white kitchen with light-green trim while her hostess fried
hamburgers. “Lot of folks say they’re better on a grill,” Jackie said. “But