Chapter Two
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When they reached the makeshift dance floor, and he turned to take Jo in his arms, Hunter found her watching him. His chest tightened in an unfamiliar way when he took in the curve of her cheek and the arch of her brow. Jo was so untouched. So fresh in the face of the world’s ugliness. Her gaze met his and she held it, fearless. She reminded him of the fierce Greek goddess Artemis. Poised. Powerful. Dangerous.
And oh, so beautiful at the same time.
She could be a match for him, Hunter thought. As improbable as it seemed, this young woman—this young warrior—could be exactly the woman he could share his life with. Strange how a series of events kicked off by his best friend’s marriage falling apart had led him here.
Holding Jo lightly with one hand at her hip and the other clasping hers, he moved her around with the other couples. She was light on her feet. Graceful. Womanly in an altogether unstudied way.
“You’re worried about your friend,” Jo said suddenly.
Hunter nearly stumbled. How the hell had she known that?
“And you’re… interested… in me,” she added with a private little smile that hinted at depths unplumbed. Jo had a sense of humor. A wicked one, he’d bet.
“I am interested in you, but what man wouldn’t be interested in a pretty woman? And I am worried about my friend, but I don’t know how you figured that out.”
“It isn’t important. Caring is a good thing.” She pronounced it like a wise edict, and it was, Hunter mused. If more people took the time to think about people other than themselves, it might spare a lot of trouble in the world.
“I thought Alice was the one who was supposed to see the future.”
Jo stiffened in his arms. “She is. I don’t see the future.”
He kept swaying. “You guessed about my friend. Out of nowhere.”
He could almost feel her trying to form a lie. When her shoulders slumped, he guessed she’d decided to tell the truth. He was curious to hear what she’d say.
“I just… feel what people feel in the present.”
Hunter hesitated, losing the beat for a moment, as he took that in. She couldn’t be for real. Could she? He’d been joking about Alice.
“Everyone?” That sounded awful. And wouldn’t the military love to know about a trick like that? Had the General ever thought about his daughters’ abilities that way? He filed the question away for later. He felt sure Jo must be talking about hunches, not something truly quantifiable. He wasn’t sure if he believed it Alice’s visions either, although Brian and Connor seemed to.
“No. Usually, it only happens if I touch someone.” She smiled that wry little smile again. “And now you know more about me than anyone else does.”
“Really? Your sisters don’t know you can sense things?” He tried to keep his voice neutral, as if they were discussing something like the weather or a football game. Something actually real.
She shook her head. “I don’t like to talk about it. It’s… hard.”
“I can imagine.” He kept dancing, wondering if Jo believed her own words.
“You don’t believe me.”
Hunter swallowed. “That’s an easy guess. You’re talking about something that defies logic.”
“Mother.”
He frowned. Why had she said that? Unbidden, thoughts came into his mind. Love, confusion. Pain. That old desire to understand the woman who’d given birth to him.
“You’re feeling sad that you and your mother aren’t closer. Hurt that she’s kept secrets. Love mixed with confusion over the past.”
Hunter backed right out of her arms. They stood still in the middle of the swirling crowd, until Jo approached him again. Reluctantly, he took her hand, placed another at her waist and started dancing again.
“How’d you do that?”
She shrugged.
“If you haven’t told anyone else, why tell me?”
She looked thoughtful a moment. “You can keep a secret, can’t you?”
He nodded. He supposed he could. Without thinking, he tugged her closer.
With a sigh, Jo leaned her head against his shoulder.
Every nerve in his body came alert. It had been too long since he’d held a woman. Suddenly he couldn’t hold a thought in his head.
“Down, boy,” Jo said.
“Jesus.” Hunter pulled back. “That’s not fair.”
Jo laughed, a bright, cheerful sound he immediately wanted to hear again. “Don’t worry; I’m taking it as a compliment.” But she kept a distance between them.
This was going to be even more difficult than he’d thought.
Hunter was really something, Jo admitted to herself. She was more aware of his nearness than she should be. The pressure of his hand at her hip, the way he guided her around the floor and the width of his shoulders under her fingers all tugged at her senses. His crisp shirt had tickled her cheek when she’d rested her head against his chest, and the faint, clean scent of his aftershave made her want to breathe him in.
Jo searched for something innocuous to say to bring them back to solid ground. He was right; it wasn’t fair that she could read the desire in him, but it was a heady sensation to know a man like him could be aroused by someone like her. It made her want to give him a chance. After all, she was perfectly safe at the moment. This was her house, her friends, and she was the one who could sense his feelings. Besides, she’d send him packing soon. Right after he’d built her a house.
“What do you think of Chance Creek? Have you been here before?” she asked.
“No. Never been to Montana. I’m from Alabama.”
“That explains the accent.”
He nodded. “I’m actually toning it down.”
“Are you?” She realized she was smiling, and that gave her a turn. She was enjoying herself far too much. Wasn’t he supposed to be the enemy? Hadn’t she just sworn she’d never fall for another man?
Somehow she was having a hard time remembering her promise.
“You bet.” He swayed with her. “You have a lot of sisters.”
She laughed. “I’ve noticed, believe me.”
“Must be kind of nice having a close family, though.”
“I guess so.”
Hunter pulled back. “You guess so? That doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement.”
“I’m the youngest,” she explained. “That means I have four sisters who think they can boss me around. And now two of them have husbands. Brian and Connor are nice enough, but what do you bet they start acting all ‘father-knows-best,’ too.”
“I don’t think they will.”
“I do. That’s why I need my own place.”
“Understandable.”
She tilted her head up. “Why are you really here?”
She thought he’d feed her a line, but he surprised her again. “I need a clean slate,” he admitted. “Had some trouble in my last assignment. Your father’s given me a chance to show him I can do something right.”
Jo digested this. “So you’ll build me a house?”
“A trial house.”
“With running water, a full kitchen and a bathroom. And a washer and dryer.” If she had to run in and out of Two Willows, she might as well stay in her current room.
“With all of those things,” he assured her smoothly, although she swore he’d hesitated about that last bit. “What do you say? Will you let me stay long enough to do that?”
Jo surveyed him. This felt like a trap, but if she kept her head, she could get a place of her own and still get rid of him when he was done.
Suddenly, a blur of black and white fur bounded through the swaying couples and jumped up eagerly to put his paws on her long dress.
“Max! Sorry, he’s still learning how to behave,” Jo told Hunter when the puppy leaped up on him next.
Instead of backing off and fussing about paw prints on his good jeans, Hunter crouched right down and let Max sniff him, laughing when the McNab licked his face. “He’s friendly.”
“He is. He’s Connor’s dog; he’s supposed to stay indoors in one of the bedrooms during the wedding.”
“You don’t want to stay indoors, do you?” Hunter asked the puppy. “You want to have some fun like everyone else.”
He stood up when Connor came to fetch the happy puppy away. “Sorry about that, Jo.”
“No worries.” She bent down to give Max a quick cuddle. “It’s all right, boy. I’ll come play with you later.”
“Look at his tail,” Hunter said.
She had to smile. Max’s tail was wagging a mile a minute, as if he hoped the display of excitement would change his owner’s mind about shutting him back inside.
“That’s a good dog,” Hunter said.
Jo’s heart warmed. She couldn’t help it; she was a sucker for people who liked dogs.
“Okay,” she said, wondering if she was making a big mistake. “You can stay.”
Dogs. The way to Jo’s heart was through dogs. Or maybe all animals. Hunter wasn’t sure. He was sure that he wanted to find the way to her heart, though. In the short time he’d known her, she’d surprised him more than most women did in months. Her open smile was a revelation. The way she lavished love and attention on Max made him want to be the recipient of similar overtures from her.
Happy. She was happy. And he ached to feel that way, too.
Hunter realized for the first time how unremittingly grim his life had been for months now. Worrying about Marlon. Worrying about his own future. Wishing he could tell everyone he hadn’t let them down—
But knowing if he did he’d let down the friend who’d once saved his life.
He’d been too long in an untenable position, but now things were looking up, because he was attracted to the woman he was supposed to marry.
That had to be good, right?
He was a long way from knowing if they were compatible, though. Or if his attraction could turn to something more—or if she was at all attracted to him.
He caught her looking at him from under her lashes. Yeah, she was attracted to him. At least a little.
He was glad he’d taken the time to clean up a bit before he’d arrived for the wedding. He felt good in his skin, and those surreptitious glances she kept sending his way assured him his confidence was working on her. In truth, he’d worried that she’d take one look at him and slam the door in his face when he washed up on her front stoop. There was that age difference, for one thing.
Dancing with her now, he didn’t feel that difference as acutely as he’d feared he might. He was simply a man, and she was a woman, and God knew exactly what he’d been doing when he invented slow dancing. Jo fit in his arms so comfortably they might have been partners for years. He wondered if that would ever be the case. Would they look back together on this night years in the future and think about their first dance together? How would Jo remember it?
Would they tell the story to their grandkids?
If they did, he wanted that story to be good.
“Jo Reed.” He bent down to move his lips close to her ear. “I intend to get to know you real well.”
Jo stiffened, just for a moment. Then she tilted her head back and laughed. “In the Biblical sense, no less!” she exclaimed.
Hunter dropped his hands and stepped back so fast he nearly trod on another couple. He’d forgotten she could read him like that, and she was right—he’d been thinking about…
Hunter stepped forward, tugged her into his arms again and swirled her away. “You’re incorrigible.”
“And you’re brazen. You don’t even know me.”
“Oh, yeah? I know something.” Time to give her a dose of her own medicine. “You were thinking biblically yourself just a minute ago.”
The flash of shock that crossed her features gave her away, and the bright red flush that followed confirmed his wild guess. She tried to pull out of his arms, but he tightened his hold on her.
“Settle down. So we’re both human, so what? It doesn’t mean either one of us is going to jump the other one. Right?”
He thought she might lose her cool, but instead Jo laughed again. “Right. You’re safe from me.”
“I don’t think so.” Hunter ducked, and Jo’s fist bounced off his ear, but her jab hadn’t been serious.
He liked this—goofing around with Jo. Having fun—for once.
“The question is, am I safe from you?” she retorted, but she was smiling.
“The answer is no. Not in the slightest.”
And he kissed her.
Her lips were still tingling from that kiss when Jo met up with Cass in the kitchen several hours later. Sadie and Connor had left for their honeymoon to India. They’d spend a night in Billings and fly out first thing in the morning. Their guests had drifted away until it was only family left.
And Hunter.
After dancing with him several more times, Jo’s nerves were tuned far too tightly to let her rest—even if he hadn’t kissed her again. Once was enough. It was a nice kiss. A thorough kiss. One that promised far more to come if she was interested.
And she was interested, she admitted to herself.
But she’d have to think about that later, because they’d said good night after she’d shown him up to the guest room, and then she’d come back down to clean up, knowing she wouldn’t sleep for hours.
Unfortunately, cleaning up meant facing Cass.
And Cass didn’t look at all happy.
Jo knew the set of her sister’s shoulders too well to doubt what Cass was feeling. She headed toward the back door, thinking to go outside and fetch in more of the dishes from the buffet dinner.
“Has it really been that bad?”
Cass’s question stopped her short. Jo knew exactly what she meant. “Of course not—I appreciate everything you’ve done since Mom died,” she began.
Cass cut her off. “But you want out. You want your own place.” The quaver in her sister’s voice nearly undid Jo.
“I just need some space.”
“Why? Because I’m too overbearing? Because you think I’m a bitch?”
“Cass!” That wasn’t it at all, except sometimes… sometimes Cass did interfere far too much.
“I know it’s true. You hate me for trying to parent you, but who else was there to do it? Do you think it was fun for me all those years? Watching out for everyone? Trying to keep this place together? Trying to be Mom?” She laid a hand on her flat stomach, and Jo knew she had to be thinking of her unborn child. Was she worried about being a real parent?
They’d all disliked the women the General had sent as surrogate mothers to watch over them, and they’d united in their efforts to run them off the ranch. That had left Cass to take up the slack. Which maybe hadn’t been fair.
“I don’t hate you. Not at all, but I don’t need a mom anymore—”
Cass wiped her hands on a kitchen towel and stalked out of the room without another word.
Jo didn’t follow.
She knew she’d hurt her sister, but she was twenty-one and it was far past time for her to stand on her own two feet, no matter what Cass thought. That didn’t have to diminish what Cass had done in the past. Or what she’d do in the future. Cass was about to be a mother in her own right; that’s what she should focus on.
Jo sighed and was about to head outside when her sister stalked back into the room.
“Here’s the thing; you do need a mom. You need people around you. You’ve been through too much to be living on your own. You can’t go through two attacks and a… a…”
“Killing,” Jo supplied.
Cass went pale. “Jo, that’s not what happened—”
“Yes, it is,” Jo said matter-of-factly. “I killed a man. A man who was trying to kill you. I don’t feel bad for that.”
“Yes, you do!”
Jo stared at her. This was the problem in a nutshell. Cass felt so close to her she genuinely couldn’t tell the difference between their feelings. It was Cass who felt bad about it—Cass who was traumatized. Not her.
Not anymore.
“You know what I mean,” Cass said, a little more quietly. “Yes, it was the right thing to do—that doesn’t mean it didn’t affect you.”
“You’re right; it did affect me. It was terrifying. I was in shock afterward, and I needed to process it, which is why I went to the counselor.”
“And why you’ll keep going,” Cass interjected.
“Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m more at peace with it than you think,” Jo told her. “You can’t use what happened as an excuse to control me anymore.” It was a low blow, but she stood her ground.
Cass’s expression crumpled. “Is that what you think? I try to control you?”
“Don’t you?” Jo challenged her. They needed to clear the air. “I want my own place. And Hunter’s going to build it for me. If you don’t like that, too bad.” She swallowed, knowing she was about to go too far. Knowing she had to if she was ever going to stop being the baby of the family. “You aren’t my mother, Cass. So get out of my way.”
When Hunter rose early the following morning, he found Jo in the kitchen, trying to sneak out without being heard. The white cat, Tabitha, was eating from her food dish in the corner. Jo raised a finger to her lips, and Hunter followed her out onto the back porch and shut the door behind him.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to wake Cass. She’ll be up soon, anyway. We kind of had a fight last night.” Jo leaned against the porch railing. In jeans, a T-shirt and battered boots, she was dressed for work this morning. She wasn’t wearing makeup and she looked softer today. More real, somehow. The sun glinted on her auburn hair, picking out strands of gold in it. Hunter wanted to reach out and touch it, curl a lock around his finger and give it a playful tug, but she looked too serious for that to be appropriate.
They hadn’t kissed again after the first time. He’d wanted to when they’d said good night, and he had a feeling she’d hoped he’d try, but he’d held back, wanting to do things right.
“What about?”
“The house. She can’t understand why I want to move out.” Jo surveyed the gardens, carefully not meeting his eye.
“She’s having a hard time backing off, huh?” He’d seen that with the Franks as they’d grown up. The older ones never seemed to understand that the younger ones were adults, too.
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“Give her time; she’ll come around.”
“I don’t need to be bossed around anymore.”
“You can’t prove to someone you deserve respect by running away, you know,” he countered, then wished he’d kept his mouth shut. Jo wasn’t some new recruit in the Navy. She was the woman he was supposed to marry someday.
Jo’s expression hardened. “Fuck you.” She clattered down the steps and strode away from him in a flash, her ponytail swinging, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she was hearing his words echo in her mind and cursing him again—because now she was running from him.
Hell.
Not a good start.
Hunter considered going after her, but the door opened behind him and Cass came out. She took in Jo’s receding shape and sighed. “She’s pissed at me.”
“She’s pissed at me, too.”
Cass handed him a glass of orange juice and crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s right, though; I do treat her like a baby. I just don’t know when she grew up. I swear to God she was fourteen the other day.”
“You’re like a mother to her.” He took a sip of the juice. Freshly squeezed. Nice.
“Which isn’t fair to either of us, because I’m not Mom.” She rested a hand on her belly briefly. Caught herself and moved it, blushing a little. “Not her mom, anyway.”
Hunter tried to consider his next words more carefully than he had his prior ones. “Maybe it’s time to back off and let her choose her own way, then.”
Cass turned on him. “She’s been put in harm’s way twice in the last two months. She was nearly killed—we all were! So pardon me if I don’t want her living—and sleeping—in a house out there all by herself when for all we know someone else could come after us!”
Hunter nodded. She was right; this wasn’t the best time for Jo to be living on her own.
But she wouldn’t be. Not if he could help it.
“No—don’t even say anything.” Cass held up a hand when he began to answer. “I don’t want to hear your plans. You just listen to me. You put Jo in danger, and I will make your life a living hell. I will skin you alive and roast you over hot coals. I’ll—”
“I got it—I got it.” Hunter set the glass on the railing and backed away. “I’m not here to hurt Jo. I promise.” He made it down the steps and angled toward the barns.
“Prove it,” she yelled after him.
So Hunter thought she was a baby, too. Resentment burned Jo’s throat at the automatic way he’d fallen into advising her, just like everyone else on this ranch, as if she couldn’t reason things through for herself. Maybe she was the youngest. Maybe she’d made a few mistakes. That didn’t mean she wasn’t ready to lead her life her own way. How was she to learn if she didn’t try?
Max padded into the barn on silent paws, and shadowed her as she moved through her morning chores, going through the equipment, taking stock, making repairs and keeping a list of things they might want to replace before winter. The dog was probably missing his owner already while Connor was on his honeymoon.
She didn’t acknowledge Hunter when he joined her, too, but he stuck close, moving to help her after a bit when he’d figured out what she was up to. Together they got the work done more quickly, but Jo refused to even look at him, let alone say a word.
She would have preferred to go riding, her favorite way to shake off a bad mood. They kept a stable of horses at Two Willows, and Bright Star, a roan mare, was her favorite. She loved to ride into the wilder areas of the ranch and pretend she was all alone—an old-fashioned explorer on the trail before the whole continent had been mapped and paved with roads. Too often people confounded her, but Bright Star never did. The mare could sense Jo’s moods as easily as Jo could sense hers. Together they moved through the landscape until Two Willows’s beauty worked its magic on them.
She couldn’t go riding until her chores were done, though. Safety first, Jo thought wryly. Not that things seemed very safe around the ranch these days.
To his credit, Hunter kept his mouth shut and followed her lead, and Jo couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles bunched and flexed under his shirt as he moved, the way his competent hands got each job done with a minimum of fuss but a maximum of masculine attractiveness.
She knew he wasn’t doing that on purpose; it was just the way he was. Strong, competent—
Hot.
She was glad he couldn’t really read her reactions to him. That would be embarrassing.
He’d done a good job of guessing at them last night, though. She remembered the easy way they’d moved together on the dance floor, and couldn’t help regretting that things had already become complicated. Hunter was an interesting man; far more interesting than anyone else she’d met.
The way he watched her made her aware of the differences between them. She’d always prided herself on being competent—and strong, too. Next to Hunter, she felt petite, which she was but didn’t acknowledge very often. She felt aware of her own curves; probably because Hunter seemed aware of them.
He didn’t say a word she could fault him for, however. Didn’t make a move that crossed a line. Just worked hard—
And appreciated her. Silently.
It felt good to be appreciated, she admitted to herself.
By the time her phone buzzed in her pocket she was vibrating with awareness. Somehow his quiet, confident movements had touched something inside her that left her—wanting. Wanting what, she wasn’t sure. Something carnal, she supposed. She was as much of an animal as all the other critters on the ranch. Stick a male and a female together for long enough, and watch what happened.
She pulled her attention back to the work at hand, stuck a hand in her pocket and pulled out her phone. “Hello?”
“Jo? It’s Megan. I’m back in town. Got time to grab lunch with me today?”
“Hell, yeah.” Megan Lawrence was her best friend, the one woman who got her all the way. She’d seen right through Sean from the start and had made her feelings clear. Megan had never met Grant, unfortunately, being out of town most of the time he’d been around. Maybe if she’d been in Chance Creek, things wouldn’t have gotten out of hand.
What would she think of Hunter? Jo squashed the errant thought. She didn’t care what Megan thought, because even if she did appreciate him appreciating her, his stay here was only temporary. She couldn’t let him make her forget her resolutions. She’d put up with him until her house was built, then send him packing.
Megan’s invitation couldn’t have come at a better time. She needed to get away from Two Willows, from Cass—and from this man who was getting under her skin. She agreed to meet her friend in town, and hung up to find Hunter frowning at her.
“You’re leaving?”
“For a while.”
“I just got here,” he pointed out.
“It’s not like I invited you to Two Willows.” She’d mean the retort as a joke, but Hunter’s frown made her think he’d taken it seriously.
“I didn’t come here to put you out,” he began.
“I was kidding.” Why was she apologizing to him? She’d spoken the truth; it was the General who had arranged to throw him in her path. After Cass’s and Sadie’s marriages, she couldn’t pretend not to know what he was doing. The General wanted control of the ranch and he was using the men he sent to accomplish that.
Which made Hunter the enemy, she reminded herself. She was supposed to keep her distance, not babysit his feelings.
“I’ve got a job to do here,” he said. “Build you a house. The best one I can manage. Try to convince you to let me build you an even better one come spring. I’m not going to push you into doing anything you don’t want to do.”
If he stayed here at Two Willows all winter, she’d be lost, Jo realized. He represented a risk even in the short term. She shouldn’t be interested in men at all after the past few months, but her heart didn’t care about should.
It cared about Hunter. Already. Even though she’d known him less than twenty-four hours.
“Whatever you came here for, you’re wasting your time,” she snapped, suddenly sick of trying to figure it all out. “Meanwhile, I’ve got work to do. And when I’m finished, I’m going to town.”
Two hours later, after finishing her chores and going back to the house for a quick clean-up, she sat across a booth from Megan at the Burger Shack, having left Hunter to fend for himself back at the ranch. By the time she got to the restaurant, she was ready to stop thinking about her own troubles and listen to some gossip.
“What’s new?” she asked as she unwrapped her burger and took a big bite.
“Not much. Except I’ve got this client from hell. He doesn’t know what he wants. He’s looking at property all over the place with no rhyme or reason, so Sharon’s dumped him on me. Ten to one he’ll turn out to be a looky-loo who doesn’t buy a thing. But I’ve still got to traipse all over town showing him everything.” Megan’s usually sleek updo had frayed around the edges, leading to tendrils that softened her careful, businesslike look. Jo knew Sharon was a senior member of the real estate company Megan worked for. She had a way of palming off bad prospects on Megan.
“I’m going to get a house soon. A small one.” Too late, Jo wondered if she should spill that news.
“A house? Can I be your realtor?” Megan brightened.
“I’m building one, actually. With help.” She set her burger down and concentrated on her fries. “The General sent a man to help me build something, and I told him that’s what I want. Since it’s late in the year, we’ll build a small, temporary house for now, and next year I’ll start a real one.”
“Wait, your dad sent you a man?” Megan nibbled on a fry. “That sounds interesting. He wouldn’t be the tall drink of water you were dancing with last night at Sadie’s wedding, would he?”
“How do you know about that?”
Megan gave her a look. “It’s a small town, and I went to Linda’s Diner for breakfast. I heard it from three different people.”
Jo stifled a groan.
“The General’s been sending you and your sisters a lot of men lately, come to think of it. Cass and Sadie each got one. And if I’m not mistaken, they married theirs.” Megan pretended not to be sure.
Jo rolled her eyes. Megan had been at Cass’s wedding. “He did and they did, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
“What’s he like up close?”
“Hot.” Jo’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Megan, he’s…” She fanned herself. “I don’t know—trouble.”
Megan laughed. “That sounds about right, given the way you look now.”
“But I’m not supposed to be interested in men.”
Megan grew serious. “Hey, you’ve had a run of bad luck, but that doesn’t mean—”
Jo snorted. “Run of bad luck? The last two men I’ve dated have tried to kill my family. That’s more than a run of bad luck!”
“Okay, settle down and eat.” They both did so in silence for a minute. “Is it possible the General has sent a man he thinks won’t try to kill you?” Megan kept a straight face only for a few seconds before she dissolved into laughter again. “I’m sorry; that’s awful. I can’t believe I just made a joke.”
“I can,” Jo said, biting back her own smile. “The worst thing is, it’s actually funny—and actually true, too. And it’s not fair; the last person I want to be beholden to is the General.”
Megan sobered. “You and your sisters aren’t kids anymore, Jo. You shouldn’t treat your father as an enemy. He’s just a guy doing his best, don’t you think?”
“His best hasn’t measured up very well.” Jo didn’t want to talk about the General. She had no sympathy left for him. He’d walked out on them when they’d needed him most—when she’d needed him to make sense of the world after her mother died. She might have been able to forgive him for that lapse, but not for all the surrogates he’d expected them to accept in lieu of their mother. Or the men who’d come to run the cattle operation and ran roughshod over her and Lena. That was unforgivable.
“Maybe he’s trying to fix that.”
“Maybe.” This was too sensitive a topic to debate with anyone—even Megan.
“Tell me more about the house. Have you designed it yet?” Megan seemed to sense she wanted to talk about something else.
“No,” Jo admitted, willing to meet her friend halfway. “Not sure I know where to start.”
“I do. With house plans. Look.” Megan pulled out her phone and showed Jo where to find sites full of plans for various houses. “Figure out the square feet you want, and then search for that. You’ll find a million photos and drawings. Then customize something for yourself. You want to be able to show this… Hunter… exactly what you want. You can look up building codes, too—to be sure you’re doing it all right.”
“That’s a good idea.” Jo’s fingers itched to take the phone and start on the project right away. Of course she should design her own home. She knew exactly what she wanted.
“And then there’s the floor coverings, the paint, the tile in the bathroom, the backsplash in the kitchen…” Megan began to flip through sites to show Jo the possibilities. “Subway tile has been big, but there are also all these glass tile choices that are pretty amazing. And look at this—”
The more she talked, the more Jo’s heart sank. “I don’t know a thing about interior design.”
“Don’t you watch house shows on cable TV?” Megan asked her. “Come on, every woman who hires me as a realtor knows about subway tiles.”
“I don’t really watch TV.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Hurry up and eat. We’ll make a quick stop at Renfrew’s and start looking at a few things. You need help. The one thing I’ve learned about renovations and building projects is you’d better be decisive, or someone else will.”
Jo’s thoughts immediately flashed to Hunter. He was definitely the decisive kind. So was Cass. Megan was right; she had to make up her own mind or she’d get railroaded.
Having plans and decisions to make was a good thing. It would keep her mind off the events of the past couple of months—
And keep her from falling for Hunter.