Always Dakota - Debbie Macomber [14]
Matt drove out of the yard and was halfway down the driveway when he glanced in his rearview mirror. Margaret stood there unmoving, her hand still against her lips, staring after him.
“That’s it,” Matt said aloud, shaken and bewildered by his own actions. “I’m not coming back. Not for anything.”
Calla Stern had expected her troubles to be over when she moved in with her father in Minneapolis. Her mother and Dennis Urlacher had publicly announced their engagement and hadn’t even bothered to let her know beforehand. Although she supposed if they had approached her, it would have been a wasted effort. She wanted nothing to do with Dennis, and no way did she want to be part of their perfect little family. Not in this lifetime!
Calla had always disliked Dennis. If it wasn’t for Dennis, she told herself, her parents might have reconciled when she was younger. She detested them both—Dennis and her mother—for the things they’d done, sneaking around, pretending no one knew they were having an affair. When Calla learned that her mother wasn’t even divorced at the time, she’d felt sickened by their disgusting behavior. Later, she’d been insulted and furious that they’d decided to get married and completely excluded her from their plans. Obviously they didn’t want her in their lives. Well, that was fine with her; Buffalo Valley was such a hick town and she’d wanted to get out of there, anyway. So it seemed fitting that she’d run away the night Dennis and her mother announced their engagement.
Living with her father, however, had turned out to be less than ideal. She’d been five when her parents separated, and her memories of Willie Stern had been hazy. Over the past eleven years he’d sent her the occasional postcard and intermittently kept in touch. Without realizing it, Calla had placed him on a pedestal—from which he’d quickly tumbled. Her view of Willie Stern had completely changed by the end of her first week with him.
Despite that, she still felt she’d had no choice. After her mother decided to marry Dennis, Calla had packed her bags, borrowed her grandfather’s truck and driven into Grand Forks, where she caught the bus to Minneapolis. It would be an understatement to say that Willie was surprised by her sudden appearance on his doorstep, but he’d let her move in with him.
For the first time in conscious memory, Calla had the opportunity to live in a real city with shopping malls, brand-name clothing stores and a school with more than twenty-five students. She didn’t need to order an outfit on the Internet or from a catalogue but could walk into a store and try it on in a real dressing room. She had the opportunity to meet lots of other kids her own age, not just a handful. It didn’t matter that her father had been such a bitter disappointment. Soon after her arrival she’d run away from Willie’s place, but when her mother and Dennis came to collect her, she’d chosen to go back with her father rather than return to Buffalo Valley. She could put up with Willie more easily than she could accept the idea of Dennis Urlacher as her stepfather.
“You get those floors mopped?” Jason Jefferies asked.
Jason was only a year older than she was, but he was the manager of the BurgerHaven where Calla worked part-time. “Didn’t you notice? I finished half an hour ago,” she said, unable to contain her sarcasm.
“Don’t give me attitude,” Jason snapped. “I got three friends who’d jump at the chance to work here. You give me a reason to fire you, Calla, and you’re outta here.”
“Yes, sir,” she said with a falsely sweet smile. Much as she hated to admit it, she needed this job. Her father’s income was erratic, its source questionable. And he sure didn’t share it with her. The reverse, in fact. Not waiting for a response, she turned and walked away.
Willie wasn’t the only disappointment Calla had to face. The high school back in Buffalo Valley had twenty-five students. Twenty-five. The one she attended in Minneapolis had over three thousand