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getting older in spite of herself. Women get a little thicker. You know.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “Four sisters,” Jack said. “It’s all women ever worry about—the size of their butts and boobs. And thighs—thighs come up a lot.”
    “She yelled at me,” he said, still kind of startled. Paul laughed and Jack just shook his head. “Did you tell her that?” Preacher asked. “About women getting thicker with age?”
    “Do I look like I have a death wish? Besides, I don’t think she’s getting fat—but my opinion about that doesn’t count for much.”
    “She wants salads. And fresh fruit.”
    “How hard is that?” Jack asked.
    “Not hard,” Preacher said with a shrug. “But I don’t stuff that pie down her neck every day.”
    A sputter of laughter escaped Paul, and Jack said, “You’re gonna want to watch that, Preach.”
    “She wants me to use less butter and cream, take a few calories out of my food. Jack, it isn’t going to taste as good that way. You can’t make sauces and gravies without cream, butter, fat, flour. People love that stuff, salmon indill sauce, fettuccine Alfredo, stuffed trout, brisket and garlic mash. Stews with thick gravy. People come a long way for my food.”
    “Yeah, I know, Preach. You don’t have to change everything—but make Mel a little something, huh? A salad, a broiled chicken breast, fish without the cream sauce, that kind of thing. You know what to do. Right?”
    “Of course. You don’t think she wants everyone in this town on a diet? Because she says it’s not healthy, the way I cook.”
    “Nah. This is a phase, I think. But if you don’t want to hear any more about it, just give her lettuce.” He grinned. “And an apple instead of the pie.”
    Preacher shook his head. “See, I think no matter what she says, that’s going to make her pissy.”
    “She said it’s what she wants, right?”
    “Right.”
    “May the force be with you,” Jack said with a grin.

Three
    T he first couple of weeks in Virgin River, Shelby had to make some adjustments she hadn’t expected. At the Booth household she was part of a family—an active, busy, very present family in which she was the fifth member. It was a new experience.
    When Tom came home from boot camp shortly after her arrival, for ten days of leave before going to West Point, the family grew again. Vanni and Paul brought the baby into their room and Shelby took the combination guest room/nursery so Tom could have his room back. And, if Tom wasn’t missing from the household, his girlfriend, Brenda, was present with him—they were inseparable. The Booth house was spacious, but Shelby felt they were packed in like sardines. She was used to having a lot of space in her tiny Bodega Bay house with just her mother. Periods of solitude. Quiet. There was no solitude now unless she went for a ride. And invariably, someone wanted to go with her.
    There was a new development that took Shelby by complete surprise; she never even smelled it in the wind. Vanni whispered it to Shelby one night when Tommy waswith Brenda and Walt was heading out the door. He said he was going for a beer, but Vanni said, “Beer, my eye. I’ll bet he’s going over to see Muriel and that beer takes a long time to drink. We won’t see him for dinner.” Then she winked. “Daddy’s got a woman.”
    “No way!” Shelby said.
    “Believe me,” Vanni grinned. “I suspected they were getting to be more than just neighbors, but then you arrived and Tom came home on leave, and he’s been sticking around a lot.”
    “Do you know her?”
    Vanni smiled. “Ever see that movie Never Too Late? ”
    “Yeah,” Shelby said, perplexed. “I loved that movie.”
    “Muriel St. Claire. She played the new divorcée.”
    Shelby gasped. “She’s here? ”
    “She bought the ranch downriver a little over a mile. She retired to Virgin River, is done making movies and is restoring the house herself. I’ve only seen Muriel and Dad in the same