On Sunday, Luke woke early and rode back down to the bed and breakfast. Then he took his truck back to the Children's Home and picked up Lazeras. The boy was beside himself with excitement over getting to spend the day with Luke. Luke was pretty excited himself. He was looking forward to the two most important people in his life meeting each other. The two of them picked up a picnic lunch from the store before heading back to the bed and breakfast. Then they mounted up on Luke's horse and rode up to the cabin. Luke enjoyed having Lazeras on the horse with him.
When they got to the cabin, it was early afternoon. Dakota came out to meet them as soon as she heard the horse. Lazeras looked uncertainly up to Luke, but Luke just smiled at him and handed him down to Dakota. She didn't even sit Lazeras on the ground - she just pulled him up on her hip and started talking to the boy. Luke listened as she told Lazeras who she was and how glad she was to meet him. Lazeras played with her curls while she talked to him. When she finally sat him down, she dropped a kiss on his forehead. Luke watched as Lazeras followed Dakota into the cabin. It appeared that she had yet another loyal follower.
Dakota had waited on them for lunch and the three of them picnicked in the yard. Luke showed Lazeras all of the work that he and Dakota had done during the week. Although the little boy had no idea how much labor it had all entailed, he acted suitably impressed and paid attention to all that Luke told him.
Luke had brought Lazeras' swimsuit, so the three of them went down to the creek and played in the water for awhile. They had splash wars and spent awhile lounging in the sun. Then it was time to go back to the bed and breakfast. Dakota had packed everything up during the morning, so now all they had to do was to load up the horses. Lazeras chose to ride the first part of the trail on Luke's horse, then he asked to ride with Dakota.
It was close to suppertime when they finished unloading the horses and rubbing them down. Luke didn't really want the evening to end just yet, so he suggested that they stop by the pizza lodge in town to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the Children's Home. Lazeras practically jumped out of his skin with excitement. First he wanted cheese pizza, then he wanted pepperoni, then he wanted sausage, then he wanted pepperoni with sausage. And that was all before they even got to the restaurant!
Luke ordered two medium pizzas, one with pepperoni and one with sausage. Lazeras beamed his approval, then asked for a quarter to go play one of the video games. Luke gave him two and watched as he chose his first game.
"He looks like he's had a good day," Dakota said.
Luke grinned, "Yeah, I can't remember too many days like this when I lived at the Home. The week-ends were always really long. Saturday wasn't too bad, but by Sunday night, all you could do was pray that Monday came quickly. It was too quiet since a lot of the boys went away on Sunday to visit friends or extended family."
Lazeras turned and waved at them before he moved on to his next game. Dakota smiled back at him. "Luke, he's a beautiful child. He looks just like you. Your grandfather must have had some potent genes to have two grandchildren look so much alike. Are you thinking about getting more involved with Lazeras?"
Pursing his lips, Luke looked from Lazeras to Dakota. He said, "I sure want to. I was just thinking that maybe it would be easier if I wasn't doing it alone. I was hoping that you might be inter - "
Luke was interrupted by the flash of human flesh that landed in his lap, "Luke, Luke! I won an extra turn and then I got to go up this mountain and there was this boulder and out from behind it came this bad guy and I jumped up and hit him in the head with my walking stick, then - "
Laughing at Lazeras' joyous account of his brief video game, Luke hugged the boy to him. When Luke started to finish his earlier sentence to Dakota, the pizza arrived. Resigning himself to having to wait, Luke resolved to continue the conversation later.
The pizza was delicious and Lazeras was one tired little boy by the time that they dropped him off at the Children's Home. Even though he was getting whiny, Luke still had trouble handing him over to the Dorm Dad. Lazeras gave Luke a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek then turned and did the same to Dakota. He then giggled and ran down the hall toward his bedroom.
With a sigh, Luke dropped his arm around Dakota's shoulders. "I guess the week-end's over." The two of them walked quietly back to the truck, just looking up at the stars and thinking about all that had happened over the last few days.
Dakota broke the silence after they were both in the truck. "Luke, thank you so much for helping me this week. I couldn't have done it without you."
Luke looked over at her and wrinkled his brow. "I hope I was more than just a handy man, Dakota. I didn't go with you because you needed a hand laying flooring. I went because I wanted to be with you."
Even in the dark, Luke could tell that Dakota was blushing. He smiled to himself and shook his head. Even after all that they had been through, she still blushed when he tried to tell her how important she was to him.
Luke pulled the truck into the parking lot at the diner, beside Dakota's car. Both of them tensed up when they recognized Wiley Stone, Senior leaning against the wall of the darkened diner. When he recognized them, he pushed off from the wall and sauntered over toward them. Luke braced himself for what he expected.
"Evenin'," Wiley said as he neared Dakota and Luke. "Dakota," Wiley said, "I've been meaning to speak to you and I guess it's only right that Rydell be here to hear me. I owe you an apology and I ain't too proud to say that I'm sorry. I ain't treated you right since you got here to Sterling and I regret that."
If a strong wind had swept down the street at that moment, it would have knocked Luke right over. He couldn't believe his ears. From the look on Dakota's face, she felt about the same. Right then, though, the jingle of the bell over the door of the diner caused them all to look in that direction. Ruby was coming out, locking up for the evening. When she finished securing the door, she walked over toward their group. Wiley reached out his arm and pulled Ruby to his side. Clearly bewildered, Luke and Dakota both stared at the couple.
Wiley smiled down at Ruby before looking back at Dakota. "Like I said, I'm sorry for the way I acted. Now, Ruby and me has some . . . uh . . . some errands to run, so we need to be going."
As the two of them turned to walk away, Dakota seemed to find her voice. "Thank you, Wiley," she called after them. Wiley just waved his hand over his shoulder and kept going.
"Well, Dakota, if I hadn't heard that with my own ears, I wouldn't believe it," Luke said.
