“Oh. I suppose that means we don’t have to play pretend today,” she said brightly.
“Nope.”
Her brows furrowed together. No response to that, either? It was almost like things were back to normal between them. And for some reason, it was sitting oddly on her. “Your sister went with them?”
He glanced over at her again. “No. She said that she’d just stay in her hotel room.”
“That’s no fun. Someone should take her out on the town.”
“You volunteering?”
“I am,” Brenna said with determination. “I should take her to meet Beth Ann and Miranda. I need to get my bangs retouched anyhow.” When he said nothing to that, she sighed and picked up her office phone, then cradled it against her shoulder while she looked up the phone number to the Peppermint House.
Emily Allard-Smith answered it on the first ring. “Peppermint House.”
“Hey, Emily, it’s Brenna from the survival school. Is Elise Markham there?”
“I believe she is,” Emily said, a softly rolling drawl in her sweet voice. “I made some cookies earlier and she came down and had a few. Hang on and I’ll ring her.”
Brenna’s stomach growled at the thought of Emily’s cookies. The entire town considered Emily the best baker in the county, and people tended to show up at her house just to see what she’d baked that day, including the entirety of the local sheriff’s department.
“Hello?” Elise’s voice was soft and breathy as she answered.
“Hey, Elise. It’s Brenna. I was wondering what you were up to.”
“Hi, Brenna.” Was it just her imagination, or did Elise sound a little disappointed? “I’m just . . . hanging out today, I think. I don’t have any plans.”
“Want to meet me and a few girlfriends for lunch? I can pick you up.”
“Oh, actually, that would be good.” Enthusiasm crept into Elise’s voice. “When we got the tour of the ranch from Colt, the sun was setting and so I wasn’t able to get a good feel for the lighting. The weather’s perfect today, though, so I wouldn’t mind circling back to a few spots if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all,” Brenna told her. “I’ll make sure one of the ATVs is prepped and ready to go.”
That got Grant’s attention. She watched his head jerk up from the computer screen, and he stared at her.
“Perfect,” Elise said, brimming with enthusiasm.
“I’ll pick you up in a half hour, then?”
“I’ll be here.”
Brenna hung up the phone and was surprised to see Grant scowling at her, his expression black. “What?”
“Why do you need to prep an ATV?”
“Oh.” She waved a hand idly. “Elise wants to look at the lighting at a few spots for her photo shoot. I told her I’d drive her around.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“I mean no. Those ATVs are dangerous.”
Uh, okay. “Well, they’re not cuddle-mobiles but I’m licensed to drive one, and we’ll wear helmets.”
“Elise is fragile.” He shook his head. “I forbid it. You shouldn’t drive them, either. Something might happen to you. There are hundreds of accidents on those things every year. Even a helmet isn’t enough to save you if it flips over and pins you underneath.”
Where was this safety lesson coming from? She’d ridden the ATVs dozens of times in the past few months and Grant had never had a problem with it. As far as Elise being fragile—the girl was tall and healthy-looking from what she could tell. Weirded out, Brenna stared at him a moment longer. “Okay,” she said after a long moment. “We won’t.” It was a total lie, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
He watched her for a few, then nodded. “Good. Thank you.”
She picked up her car keys and slipped out of the front door of the main lodge, a little troubled by Grant’s over-protectiveness. What did he mean that Elise was fragile? She seemed perfectly fine to Brenna. Strange. Maybe this was just more of Grant’s controlling. She rolled her eyes at the thought as she slid into the front seat of her car.
Weird situation, all around.
• • •
Brenna honked her horn outside of the Peppermint House, and Elise bounded down the steps a few moments later, her long, smooth hair fluttering in the breeze like honey-colored silk. She gave Brenna a shy smile and got into the passenger side of her car, a large Ziploc bag of cookies in hand. She passed it to Brenna. “Hi. Emily says hi and sends these along.”
“Are these lemon drops? Sweet. I’ll tear into these later.” Brenna grinned. “You ready to go?”
“Ready. Where are we going?”
Brenna gave her an evil grin. “I’m going to introduce you to my partners in crime, and then we’re going to sneak away into the woods.”
Elise gave her a puzzled look. “We are?”
“Your brother’s being weird.”
“Ah,” she said, understanding dawning on her face.
Brenna glanced over at Elise as she drove. “What do you mean, ‘ah’? What does that mean?”
Elise was quiet for a moment. Then, she said, “Nothing I can talk about, really. I’m sorry. If Grant hasn’t said it to you, I probably shouldn’t.”
Brenna frowned to herself. Grant had secrets? Secrets that he wasn’t telling her? That didn’t seem fair. She turned down Main Street and parked in front of Beth Ann’s adorable salon. Miranda’s beat-up truck was already there. Perfect. She hadn’t even had to call them.
The cowbell clanged on the door of Beth Ann’s small salon. A blond head poked around the corner of the decorative wall, and Beth Ann’s lovely face lit up in a smile. “Brenna! Hi! Come on in. Miranda was just getting her nails done and showing me some bridesmaids’ gowns.” She glanced at Elise and gave her a curious look, then looked back to Brenna.
Huh. Beth Ann had grown up in this town and she didn’t recognize Grant’s sister? “This is Elise Markham.”
Recognition dawned on Beth Ann’s face. “Of course! The missing Markham!” She gestured for the two of them to come sit down in the salon area. “I didn’t recognize you.”
“I thought you grew up in Bluebonnet,” Brenna told Elise.
The woman shook her head, looking acutely uncomfortable. “I went away to a private school.”