Page 46 of The Last Dance You Saved
As we crested the hill, a cell phone tower came into view in the distance with the top lit up in warning for low-flying planes. I puzzled over it for a minute before I realized it was on Harrington land. It was on the far corner where the property butted up against the two-lane highway, hidden from the house but clear as day from the lakeside of the property.
“What the hell is that?” I asked.
Fallon leaned forward between the seats, glancing from me to what I was staring at.
“Another of Uncle Adam’s ideas. We leased the land to the cell phone company. The nice thing is, it means we have a great signal now, even on the lake.”
“Jesus Christ,” I grumbled. “It’s a damn eyesore.”
Fallon laughed. “Spence hated it. He said Grandpa Kade was probably turning over in his grave, but what needed to be done, needed to be done. It brings in a solid income every year. Money we can actually count on that isn’t subject to changing prices of hay and cattle.”
She sat back, and I had a hard time focusing on the road as the damn tower faded from sight in the rearview mirror.
I didn’t know if I should applaud Adam for his ingenuity in looking at other revenue streams for the ranch, or if I wanted to strangle him for destroying the land and the peace that came with it. If Spence hadn’t died, I wouldn’t have known about any of it. Wouldn’t have cared.
Now, something in my chest ached over all of it. The change. The loss.
I loathed how the land could still work itself into my bloodstream after years of trying to cleanse myself of anything and everything to do with it.
I parked the rig next to a handful of other vehicles the ranch owned, thinking about insurance and registration, and how much money was being forked out each year just to keep it stocked with the equipment needed to simply run the damn place.
Numbers ran amok in my brain, ways to improve the profit, ways to turn the ranch around. I had to fight to put it all aside just as I had earlier when I’d seen the Hatleys’ plans laid out on Adam’s desk. I needed to do something to stop the spiral before it got out of hand, before I found myself making promises to my daughter I wasn’t sure I could keep.
My plans to get lost in a dark-haired dynamo would do more than just get the craving for her out of my system. It would shut off my brain for a few hours while I thought of nothing but discovering every inch of her, while I made her beg just like I’d promised when she’d ganged up on me with the girls.
I watched as Sadie strode toward the house with a confidence I’d seen crumble for an instant on the boat when we’d been mulling over the scars the world had left on our bodies. I was hungry to experience more of both sides of her—the sassy strength and the open vulnerability.
I lifted the ice chest onto a shoulder, dumped it over outside the back door, and then stepped inside to find her and the teens in the hall. Fallon’s face still held a happy smile when she said to Sadie, “We’ve got cookie dough ice cream. Would you like some?”
Another thing Fallon knew I couldn’t stand. Who puts something like cookie dough in ice cream? It gave me the shivers just thinking about the mix of textures.
“Thanks, but I really think I want to shower off the lake and get some rest. It was a long day, and I told your mom I’d help her start setting up for the wedding tomorrow.”
It felt wrong to be using Sadie as unpaid help. I wondered just how much she did back home between the ranch and the bar. Sometimes it was hard to remember she was twenty-three. She should barely be out of college, spending days learning a new career and nights out on the town with friends, flirting, dancing, living up those last few days of limited responsibility.
The demon in my head reminded me I’d never lived that way, especially not once I’d left the ranch.
“Do you want ice cream, Rafe?” Maisey asked with a shy smile so opposite of Fallon’s whirlwind of energy.
“Fallon knows I won’t eat that nasty excuse for ice cream,” I said, softening the words with a wink.
Fallon snorted, and Maisey’s grin grew. They started off down the hall, but then at the last minute, Fallon came running back. She threw her arms around me and hugged me tight, murmuring into my chest, “Thank you for tonight.”
She smelled like the lake and sunscreen, and it filled my heart until I thought it might crack wide open. I hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. “Thanks for reminding me of all the things I loved about summers here.”
She let me go and spun around, returning to her friend and nearly running for the kitchen.
My heart was in my throat as I turned and caught Sadie’s eyes. They were watery, as if the scene with my daughter had affected her as much as it had me.
She looked away, rubbing a hand over her opposite arm and shifting on her feet.
She was nervous.
Of all the things I wanted from Sadie Hatley, nerves weren’t one of them. I wanted the defiance and breathtaking passion I’d seen in her before. I needed the sexy taunt that had stirred my blood and had me offering something I never had to anyone—a trip to my penthouse. While the women I’d spent time with had seen the inside of a hotel suite, it had never been mine.
I closed the distance, entering her space and caging her against the wall. I twisted a lock of ebony silk in my fingers and tugged at it, not enough to hurt but to make a point. “We have unfinished business, Tennessee.”
Heat flooded those vivid eyes. I could easily drown in them. And tonight, that was exactly what I wanted. Needed. A respite from thoughts that would only crack open more scars if I let them.
