Page 73 of Extreme Romancing in Idaho

“Antonio Marcus Johnson.” Nora turned her attention away from me and glared at Tony. “Are you determined to leave me sooner than the good Lord says? You know I was just reading that article about how Idaho has the most deaths on our rivers. More than any—”

“Call it my final wish. I want to do something more exciting than bumping over rocks in a tractor. I dreamed of going to the Highlands, but that’s not going to be possible, so the least I can do is float down the river on a raft.”

Nora’s rigid posture relaxed the more Tony went on. “Fine, you old goat.” Her voice got all wobbly and she wiped at the base of her eyes.

“So, what do you say?” Tony asked.

It wasn’t enough; I had to keep their rather clutzy daughter alive after she’d basically forced me into helping her. No, now I’d either have to say no to a dying man’s wish or take on the responsibility of getting him on and off a raft without further damaging him.

Why the hell not? “Let’s do it.”

Tony let out the cutest old man whoop at my answer.

“But you have to finish helping me get these pipes put back together.”

“Lead the way.” Tony gestured with his hand toward the sink. “You better be better at white water rafting than plumbing, or we’re all gonna die.”

Chapter 28

Angie

Food.Ineededfood.Only an hour into my shift, my stomach gurgled like an active volcano. I’d managed to avoid running into Remi for a few more days, but it was getting difficult with him practically living at the farm. He was everywhere. The stable. The garden. The pasture. The fields. The toilet. Remi. Remi. Remi. Remi. Remi. Fracking man was going to drive me batty.

Gabby sat next to me, twirling in her office chair. I’d taken over for her, but like usual, she stayed behind to catch up on the happenings in my life before she went home. She lived alone and only had the hospital as a social life. Lili lounged next to Gabby in a rollie chair while Ryan and I filled in our notes about the babies we’d examined. All of us had our blue medical masks covering our chins.

My phone buzzed on the counter next to my laptop. It was Dan.

Fourteen days can’t go by fast enough. I hate that work gets in the way of me seeing you.

We’d discussed marriage several times, but I couldn’t let myself think about the possibility of a proposal. We’d talked of our future, about how many kids we wanted, our ideal home … of his goal to be married by his fortieth birthday this fall. He wanted kids and didn’t want to be too old to play football with them in high school.

We’d been together for almost three months, he’d met my parents a few times, and still, I hadn’t slept with him. Dan only knew the person I pretended to be. How could I be intimate with him without confessing everything? If I came clean, he would surely abandon me, and I could kiss his possible marriage proposal goodbye. I couldn’t tolerate liars. Why should he?

Our relationship was disjointed. It was too serious too fast, yet he was my only viable option for making Papa’s dream come true, so I pressed forward.

I gnawed on my lip. Dan was on a work trip, taking some execs on a skydiving tour. We’d had to postpone our next grand adventure for another two weeks. Dan had something big and secret in mind after I’d told him my dirt bike was out of commission after a gnarly wreck, which was true. He’d immediately suggested BASE jumping the bridge. When I’d made up that lie, I hadn’t understood the hundreds of skydives you had to accomplish before even qualifying to attempt your first BASE jump. I’d assumed all you had to do was strap on a parachute and go for it.

Thankfully, I got Dan to back off that train easily enough, but he mentioned we could go canyoneering since I enjoyed it so much. I couldn’t exactly tell him I’d lied about Deer Creek Falls. Whatever he had planned would have something to do with heights. If anything went wrong while hanging from a rock ledge … I could die. I thought back to my failed dirt biking attempt. I’d only sustained a few bumps and bruises, a scratch here and there after wrecking, nothing serious.

The pain of my crash was nothing compared to the ecstasy of Remi’s kiss. Anytime I had a quiet moment to myself, I’d find myself reliving that moment. Dan’s kisses paled in comparison to the way, with one touch, Remi lit me on fire.

Remi’s plea for me to be safe came back to me. It was one of the first times he’d looked at me without a selfish thought. He hadn’t wanted to take advantage of me or find a way to buy my land. He looked straight into me, genuinely worried about my wellbeing. Not because of some land-deal falling through.

No. He cared for me.

And yet, he’d still find any way to get his hands on my land. Plus, he didn’t believe in monogamy. He couldn’t give me or Papa what we wanted most, what I’d been dreaming about since childhood. Finding someone to spend the rest of my life with. Someone who would love me like Papa loved Mama.

Therefore, Remi’s attention, no matter how sincere, couldn’t be trusted. True, I didn’t loveloveSmoot yet, but those feelings would grow even after marriage.

I texted Smoot back.

I can’t wait.

My finger hovered over the send arrow a second before I pressed it. The pressure of my tangled lies tightened my chest.

His response came quickly.

Are you at work?

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