That was enough. She certainly wasn’t going inside, and it already seemed as if she’d caught too intimate a glimpse of the space, with its unmade bed and the discarded shoes next to it. It was the first remotely messy thing she’d seen in the house, since everything else there was even tidier than her own cottage, but maybe he’d been in a hurry to come down and be with her.
Hoping for a repeat of last night? Possibly. Then again, he hadn’t made a single move yet. Or maybe his thoughts didn’t start running along those lines until later in the day.
She took in a breath, then made herself turn around and go back downstairs. From outside she could still hear the roar of the snowblower, so clearly Lucas wasn’t done yet with the driveway. All right, then she’d head on back to the family room. Television wasn’t something that interested her much, although she should be able to find something useful, like a weather report. The app on her phone could have supplied her with some of that information, but a live weather report would probably be more detailed.
Now that she had a plan, she went on into the family room, still in her stocking feet, and found the remote on the coffee table. Naturally, the television was still tuned to a sports station, but she surfed until she found a weather channel. They were talking about the weather on the East Coast, so she had to hope they’d eventually track westward and give some hint as to what might be happening next in Arizona.
In the meantime, she spied some photos sitting on one of the side tables that flanked the sofa, and went over to pick one up. It showed Lucas and an older woman with iron-gray hair cut in a chin-length bob. Their smiles were so identical that Margot guessed the woman must be his mother. Another photo showed a much younger Lucas and the same woman, this time with her dark hair as yet untouched by any gray. He looked so young that Margot wondered if the picture had been taken while he was still in college. His style was certainly far more casual than it was now — untucked flannel shirt, faded jeans.
“Snooping?” came his voice, clearly amused, and she turned around to see him standing in the doorway, holding the red and white ski cap in one hand and fluffing his hair with another.
“I’m sorry — I thought I’d try to check the weather, and I saw the photos — ”
“It’s okay,” he replied with a grin. “If I didn’t want people looking at them, I wouldn’t have them sitting out, right?”
“I suppose so.” She couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d been doing something illicit. Or maybe it was just that she really had been snooping upstairs a few minutes ago. “Is that your mother?”
“Yes.”
No pictures or mention of a father. Well, it wasn’t as if she didn’t have some experience of that. “Does she live close by?”
His expression clouded for just the briefest second, and then he shook his head, smile still in place. “No, she lives in Tusayan with her girlfriend. That’s up by the Grand Canyon.”
He said it in such an offhand way that at first the words didn’t quite penetrate. Then, not knowing what else to say, she replied, “Oh.” Goddess, that sounded awful….
Maybe she actually had winced, because Lucas gave a chuckle and went on, “It’s fine. She’s been out for about twenty years. Of course, it probably would’ve been better if she’d figured all that out before she married my father, but….” He trailed off, shrugging.
“And he’s…?”
“Here in Flagstaff. He remarried a couple of years after the divorce, so I have two half-brothers and a half-sister and a whole bunch of nieces and nephews.” His attention shifted to the television, where the forecasters were now discussing an early freeze in the South. “Any news on the weather? It’s getting darker out there again.”
“Not yet. I guess our part of the country is last on the list.”
“Then I’m going to run up and take another quick shower, if you don’t mind.”
She gave him a quick look. Some of his hair was sticking to his forehead, and she could see a sheen of sweat on his skin. “I have a feeling I’d mind more if you didn’t take a shower.”
“Well, I definitely don’t want to offend. I’ll be back down in a bit.”
He headed out after that, and Margot attempted to return her attention to the TV. For a moment she wondered if he’d been disturbed by her asking about his mother, but she didn’t think so. He seemed to have taken the whole thing in stride, just as he did just about everything else.
She couldn’t help wondering if she’d be able to answer his questions about her parents with the same aplomb, should the topic come up. Well, she’d just have to hope it didn’t.