NATALIE HANOVER
"Saturday."
"Saturday! Ugh. Please do not tell me I'm stuck here for the entire weekend."
"You're stuck here for the entire weekend." Natalie tweaked Sylvie's nose. "And yes, you're still too young to go to the drive-in movies."
"I'm fourteen! Stop treating me like a child."
"Honey." Natalie took Sylvie's hand and squeezed it. "You'll be forty-two years old and I'm still going to tell you which drawer I think your socks should go in. I love you, kiddo."
Sylvie issued a long, dramatic sigh in only the way a teenager could. Then she said, "I love you, too, Mom." She got up from the table. "I'm going to call Melissa, so she can tell me about all the fun I'm going to miss this weekend. Again."
"I weep for you," said Natalie.
Sylvie rolled her eyes, and flounced away, cell phone already in hand as she climbed the stairs.
If Natalie believed for a minute that Dr. Hart had a chance to win the ridiculous challenge, she wouldn't have agreed to four days of hell. She needed that money to keep her family afloat.
She was mere hours away from the college degree that would bring a job, thus security and money, to her family.
But last semester's leftover scholarship money had bought Mike's soccer uniform, Sylvie's braces, and Andie's daycare.
Her part-time job at Fitz's grocery store had ended yesterday. Susan had paid her for the appearance on the show. Natalie now had $543.27.
Natalie shrugged off her thoughts. All five cats, strays who had been adopted by Andie, were mewing plaintively under the table. Natalie poured food into their bowls. Their cries turned into crunching sounds and purring.
Natalie left the kitchen and went upstairs. When she couldn't find Mike playing on the computer in the family room or annoying his sisters, she figured he was holed up in his attic-room.
Natalie went to the hall and gazed up at the plain wooden door in the ceiling. She pulled the dangling neon green rope.
The door swung open and a ladder dropped down. She climbed the ladder and poked her head through the black hole.
Half the attic was used for storage, but a couple of years ago, she and the kids had renovated the other half for Mike.
There was plenty of room downstairs for him, but his love of astronomy and his need for privacy made the attic a perfect place for her intelligent, reticent son.
"Mike?"
"I'm here."
His voice floated from the darkness. Dusk had faded into night, but Mike hadn't turned on a light. Natalie sighed. That did not bode well. She crawled up, stood and walked across the room.
Mike was curled on his bed, looking out the window at the starry sky. Natalie sat on the bed and grabbed his sneaker.
"Hey, sweetie. What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
During the years since Michael's death the edges of her grief had softened. Memories of her husband had been buffeted and smoothed by time. She almost didn't remember how bad their relationship had been. Five years ago, they were on the edge of divorce when he died in a car accident. The same accident that killed her half-sister and left her two extra children to raise: Mike and Andie.
"What's wrong, Mike? Why aren't the lights on?"
"I don't want them on. I wanted to look at the stars, okay?"
"Okay." Natalie let go of his shoe. "Did you watch the show today?"
"Yeah. Is that guy really coming to our house?"
"It's no big deal. Four days and he's gone. And we'll have some extra money—maybe to buy that lens for your telescope you wanted?"
He finally looked at her and she saw the interest blaze in his green eyes. "Really? What if he wins?"
Natalie laughed. "Do you really think he will?"
Mike shrugged.
"Dinner will be ready soon." Natalie rose from the bed. Mike didn't look at her. "It's going to be fine," she said with too much pseudo cheer.
He didn't reply, turning his gaze toward the window.
***|***|***|***|***
GARRETT HART
Garrett parked the SUV and looked out the front windshield. Wind whipped the long blades of grass that stretched for miles around the farm.
He'd spent the best five months of his life here on this little patch of Oklahoma soil. His father had gone to jail for yet another DUI and his maternal grandmother had invited him to live with her.
He was fifteen. He attended Mirror Falls High School, not that anyone in this town would remember him. He'd done his best to be invisible, mostly because he'd learned that making friends was always temporary. His father made sure of that. Even in Mirror Falls, where Garrett had felt safe for the first time in his life, his father managed to ruin everything.
But there had been one bright spot.
Natalie Moore.
Well, now she was Natalie Hanover.
Three kids, he mused. She looked amazing. Still that same beautiful smile and quick wit. Still kept her brown hair in a ponytail. Still wore jeans and T-shirts and sneakers.
Michael Hanover had been a lucky man. Even if he was a douchebag.
When he heard that Natalie had married, he felt like his heart had been ripped in two.
Garrett still couldn't believe this place belonged to him. He opened the Bronco's door and got out. A rough bark barely prepared him for Rigby's greeting. The big German shepherd jumped up and put his muddy paws on Garrett's shirt.
"Down, Rigby," Garrett said in a firm voice as he leaned forward. The dog dropped to all fours.
"Sit."
The dog complied instantly.
Garrett grinned. He pulled a treat out of his jacket pocket, and gave it to the dog. "Good boy, Rigby."
Rigby was friendly and wanted to please, and he was smart. Rigby had come with the property. Garrett had found the dog starving and alone in the run-down barn which wasn't too far from the run-down five-bedroom house.
Luckily, he was rich enough to rebuild everything on the property.