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it by saying something away from the phone to someone else.
    And since he never did answer her question, Shannon let it drop so she could persist with what she needed to get through to him. “I’m sorry, Wes, but you need to break the news publicly. And isn’t sooner better than later? Don’t you want to get it out there and get it over with so it will be genuinely old news and forgotten by election day?”
    â€œRumsons aren’t quitters, Shannon. If there’s any chance—”
    â€œBut there isn’t,” she said as kindly as she could. “I’m not an undecided voter who needs to be swayed, Wes. This really is just a no.”
    â€œBecause of that Beverly Hills deal,” he accused. “When it comes to a Bigger Life, Shannon, wiping the noses of movie stars’ and moguls’ kids can’t compare to being—”
    The hanger-on to Wes’s Bigger Life?
    Shannon thought that but she didn’t say it. What she said was, “The Beverly Hills deal was also not the reason I said no—I told you that, too. It’s just a new avenue I may take. But no matter what, Wes, you need to have your public relations group get on the announcement that there isn’t any engagement. Even people in the boonies of Northbridge think I’m going to marry you.”
    â€œThen let’s not disappoint them.”
    Shannon closed her eyes, dropped her face forward and shook her head. “Wes…”
    â€œAll right, I have to hang up, too,” he said as if their exchange had involved something different than it had. “I’ll check with you in a couple of days to make sure you’re still okay. But if you need anything—anything at all, day or night—”
    â€œI know I can call you. I appreciate that.” Even though she also knew that rather than reach him, her call would automatically be rerouted to his voice mail or his secretary or his campaign manager—depending on how many numbers she tried—and that there would never be an immediate callback. Like when her grandmother had died so suddenly…
    They said their goodbyes and Shannon hung up.
    With a quick glance at the time, she grabbed her car keys and went out the apartment’s door and down thesteps to her car—freshly back from the local garage where it had required a new starter.
    Wes’s call was making her late. Dag had said she could come by her grandmother’s house anytime to see what he was doing with the place and to pick up what remained of her grandmother’s things, but it was already after four and she was afraid he would give up on her. And she didn’t want that.
    Behind the wheel, she turned the key in the ignition and was pleased to see that the repair had been a good one—the engine started on the first try.
    On her way to what was formerly her grandmother’s place, she kept an eye out for Dag’s big electric-blue truck coming in the opposite direction, just in case, and that was all it took to replace thoughts of Wes with thoughts of Dag.
    Until she turned onto the road that led to her grandmother’s house and it came into view.
    The two-story wedding cake–shaped farmhouse was the home her grandmother had come to as a bride. Shannon’s eyes filled with tears when she suddenly pictured her grandmother sitting on the big front porch, snapping green beans fresh from the garden.
    She missed her so much….
    She missed them all so much….
    But even though the memories of being at that house brought on some pain as Shannon parked in front of it, she wasn’t sorry she’d come. To her this was still her grandmother’s house no matter who owned it on paper and she did want to touch base with it one last time.
    Then the front door opened and Dag McKendrick appeared behind the screen. And somehow seeing him bolstered her and made it easier for her to actually go through with it.
    As she turned off