Justin had a bowl of cereal and three cookies for breakfast the next morning, but he hadn’t taken coffee to the cabin so he stopped by the big house. Levi and Cade were sitting at the table with papers in front of them. Justin’s first thought was that Levi wanted to change the house plans one last time before the foundation was laid. He poured a mug of coffee and pulled out a chair, and then he realized they were looking at the whole ranch, not just house plans.
“Glad you finally made it,” Cade said. “This is an aerial map of the Longhorn Canyon. And this one is of the Johnson ranch, which borders ours.” He cut the two maps and put them together. “As you can see, Canyon Creek runs right through the Double H place like it does ours, so there’s water.”
“We’ve talked about adding his place to ours if the opportunity ever came up.” Justin sipped his coffee and traced the thin line of the creek with his fingertip. “Has he made up his mind to sell?”
“He has, and he’s giving us first chance before he puts it on the market. You want to live in that house?” Cade pointed to the small frame structure shown in the picture.
Justin pointed to an area at the far corner of the ranch, about a mile from the cabin as the crow flies. “No, and tell the truth, I’m not really sure that this is something we should do right now. We’re short on hired hands anyway, and that place is going to take a lot of work. Every single bit of the fencing needs to be replaced.”
Levi nodded. “Justin has a good point. I heard the reason he’s selling is because he can’t get good hired hands.”
“So do we make an offer or not?” Cade asked.
“I vote no,” Justin said.
“I agree. It’s just too much for us to take on right now, but maybe if it doesn’t sell in the next year, we can see about it,” Levi said.
“Speakin’ of that, two hired hands called in sick today, so I’m on the fencing crew until dark. See y’all this evening.” Justin settled his hat on his head and started out the door.
“Whoa!” Retta yelled from the kitchen. “I’ve got a sack lunch made for each of you. Gloria and I’ve got to go talk to the CPA, so we’ll be gone at noon.”
Justin’s phone rang on the way from house to pasture. When he saw that it was Emily, he answered it on the second ring.
“Hey, Emily.”
“I forgot to tell you something about the party. The relatives who live close by usually come in and drop their cards into the residents’ Valentine boxes earlier than that evening. If everyone tried to put them in right before or during the hour of the party, it could get really hectic. Not that you have to bring cards, but if you want to, then plan on doing so a day or two early,” she said.
“If I bring them this evening, will you go have ice cream with me?” he asked.
“Yes, but don’t y’all usually have supper at six?”
“What time do you get off?”
“Five thirty,” she answered.
“I’ll be there right before that. Just don’t tell my mama that I ate ice cream for supper,” he teased.
“I never tattle, except on my brothers,” she said. “See you this evening then.”
“Yes, ma’am, you will.” He could have danced a jig if he hadn’t been in a moving vehicle. Emily had agreed to go with him for ice cream that evening, and then after the party for coffee. The Sunday date would wind up being number three instead of number one, the way he figured it. He turned on the radio and sang “Honey Bee” with Blake Shelton at the top of his lungs.
The day went fast and the hired help was more than glad to quit at four thirty that afternoon. Justin reached the center with ten minutes to spare, and two boxes of cards in his hands. He punched in the numbers Larry had given him and was on his way to the long table full of decorated Valentine boxes when an orderly came through the room.
“Hey, you need some help with those?” he asked.
“No, it won’t take me long,” Justin answered. “But you might point me in the direction of Larry’s room.”
“You mean Larry of the Fab Five or Larry Deacon?”
“Of the Fab Five,” Justin said.
“I’m going that way. Want me to tell him to meet you here?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Justin had just finished putting a card into Emily’s box when Larry rounded the corner with a big manila envelope tucked into the bib of his overalls. “Here you go. Hey, here comes Emily.”
“Perfect timing,” Justin said.
“Y’all goin’ somewhere?” Larry’s eyes twinkled.
“For ice cream,” Justin said out of the side of his mouth. “Hi, Emily. Are you ready?”
“Have fun.” Larry waved as he hurried down the hall.
“Don’t run,” Emily called after him.
He threw up a hand in a wave over his shoulder.
“What have you got there?” She glanced at the big yellow envelope.
“Larry had some papers he wanted me to look over,” he answered.
“Think we might go to the Dairy Queen for a burger and a shake? I was so busy that I didn’t take time for lunch, and now I’m starving,” she said.
“Sure. I haven’t had supper either.”
“I’ll meet you there. It’s on my way home, so I might as well take my car.”
Nikki was right about kill it or cure it, Emily thought. Maybe he’d do something stupid that would end it in one evening, and she wouldn’t be attracted to him anymore. She needed to get this whole thing under control—one way or the other.
Justin must’ve taken a back-roads shortcut because he was leaning against the fender of his truck when she pulled her car into the lot. Before she could turn off the engine, he’d opened the door for her.
“Thank you,” she said politely as she slid her long legs out of the car. “I can already smell the burgers cooking.”
His hand went to the small of her back. “Smells pretty good, don’t it.”
It’s not a date, she told herself. I’m still wearing my scrubs. It’s just a couple of folks going out for food. But oh, my, that woodsy cologne he’s wearing smells so good.
She decided on a bacon cheeseburger with double meat, fries, and a chocolate malt. He laid a bill on the counter before she could even get money from her purse, and said he’d have the same. The cashier gave him a receipt with their number on it and started to hand him the change.
“Keep it,” he said and handed Emily a self-serve drink cup. “Booth or table.”
“Booth, please.” She stopped long enough to draw up root beer.
He did the same thing and followed her.
“Since this is not a date, I’ll pay half,” she said.
“You can buy next time.” He slid into the seat across from her. “It’s been a day. Some of our hired hands are out with the flu. I hope no one gets it at the center and the party gets spoiled.”
“Me too. It would be a shame if some of the residents couldn’t attend,” she said. “Are you replacing wood with metal?”
“Basically we’re tightening up what we’ve got. It tends to need that after a hard winter,” he said.
“Bull tight.” She remembered what her dad and grandpa said when they were doing the same job.
“You know a lot about fencing,” he said.
Before she could answer, their number was called and Justin went to get their food. She couldn’t take her eyes off his broad shoulders and the way his body tapered down to the snug-fitting jeans.
Kind of like that do you? It was definitely her mother’s voice in her head.
“Oh, hush,” Emily whispered.
Justin brought the tray to the table and popped a french fry into his mouth before he even removed the paper from his burger. “To answer your question. We’ve still got a lot of wood posts from back when my granddad had the ranch. They’re in bad repair, so we’re trying to replace everything with metal. It’s hard work, but it’ll save hours every spring when that old wood starts to rot. You ever do any fencin’?”
“A few times,” she admitted. “Couldn’t let my brothers show me up.”
“Three brothers. Got any cousins?”
“Oh, yeah. I come from a pretty good-size family. How about you?”
“Yep. Do you get homesick?” he asked.
Sure she got homesick to see everyone, but only for a short while. Not enough to move back and have her brothers meddling in her life, or her mother trying to fix her up with every bachelor in the Texas panhandle.
“You’re takin’ a long time to answer,” Justin said.
“I had to think about the question a while. I miss the sunsets out in the panhandle, and I miss my folks, but am I actually homesick? I’m not sure,” she answered. “People who ache to go back home must not really want to leave.”
“Why did you want to leave? Were you running away from or to something?” Justin asked.
“Explain that.” She squeezed ketchup onto her fries.
“Were you running away from ranching in general, or were you running to a job that you wanted to do, and you thought you couldn’t have both?” he asked.
She held up a finger, glad that she had a mouthful of food so she didn’t have to answer right away. When she swallowed, she said, “Never thought of it like that. I knew I wanted to work with people. And someday I hope to work with kids again—that is if I ever leave the center. So maybe I was running to something. But it never dawned on me that I might have both.”
“Why not? Claire is going to live on the Longhorn Canyon, and she has a quilt shop in Sunset. She loves having a dog and cats and animals around, but she has no desire to live on the ranch like Retta does. You do know that Retta takes care of all the book work and the payroll?”
“I kind of figured that out when she and your mother were talking about the taxes. For a place the size of yours, that would be a full-time job,” Emily answered.
“Pretty much, but she loves to cook, so she does that, too. We have a housekeeper who comes in once a week. Retta wouldn’t have time for that, too, and with the new baby coming, we might have to hire a part-time cook.” Justin squirted ketchup over his pile of fries. “Did you like going to your grandma’s place when you were a kid?”
“Yes, I did.” It was one of those little white lies. She’d actually lived on the same huge ranch as her grandparents until she went to college. When guys knew that she was part of Big Sky Ranch, things changed—they looked at her with dollar signs in their eyes instead of love.
“Ever think of ranchin’ full-time?” he asked.
“I love the day-to-day stuff on a ranch. I like hauling hay, feeding, and even pulling a calf when I need to, but I’d hate to do Retta’s job. Sitting still behind a desk is not for me.” She toyed with the straw in her milk shake.
“Me, either. We’re all glad that Retta does that job now. Cade took over the books right out of college, but he hated it,” Justin said.
“You design houses. Ever think of doing that full-time?” she asked.
“No, ma’am. That’s just a hobby. Ranchin’ is what I love,” he answered without hesitation.
Emily slid out of the booth. “We should be going. Thanks for supper.”
He did the same and took her hand in his. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
She expected him to open the door, but instead, he caged her with his hands on top of her car. “I was serious when I said I think of you all the time,” he drawled.
Before she could smart off, his lips were on hers and her arms were around his neck. His hands were around her back, and every kiss was hotter than the last. Finally, just when she was about to pull him inside the car, a truck pulled up and an old guy yelled, “Get a room.”
“Guess that’s our cue to call it a night,” she said.
“One of these times, we aren’t going to get interrupted,” he groaned.
“Maybe this is fate’s way of telling us to slow down.”
“If it is, she’s doin’ a damn fine job of it,” he said.
She slid behind the wheel and watched him make his way to his truck and drive away, wishing the whole time that he could have taken her home and walked her to the door. Then she could have pulled him inside to see where those kisses could lead.