Page 35 of Cozy Cabin for Two
“You can tell them allnever.I’m staying right here. Sorry, Chris. I hope you don’t need me back in Virginia because Montana is my home now.” I squeezed Willow’s shoulder for extra emphasis.
“You know you have a home for life working with me.” Chris slapped my back. “Even though Will and Ryder and the guys back in Virginia miss you, you just keep on caring about this ranch, your crew, and the horses as well as you do.”
“Tell Will and Ryder the invitation to visit here is always open.” A lot of good times happened with them at that ranch. Back then, I didn’t take much seriously at first, more concerned with women and a good time after leaving the Army. But I grew out of that. Myconcerns these days were more about Willow and my niece.
Congressman Jennings stepped up and greeted Chris then. He introduced us and urged me to step aside with them. My boss schmoozed him about plans for the ranch, including a corporate retreat center and more. The coordinator position would be a perfect fit for Willow to have someday, and I’d lobby hard for her to get it. We could work and live here, give Ro the wide open space she needs to grow up, and be happy.
Because I was falling for the whole idea of happy, of forever, of together. Before Willow stepped foot off the bus, I was ready for a change, relishing my quiet life on the ranch, maybe entertaining the idea of settling down. But life threw a wrench in those plans with its own idea.
Willow and Ro took over my cabin and made it a home and stole my heart. And now I couldn’t imagine this ranch without them.
It was time for Nicoletta to sing on the little stage my men built yesterday. Knox and a couple of the guys had practiced all week to be able to accompany her with a guitar, a banjo, and some homemade drums—leather pulled tight across a couple of barrels.
While Chris and the congressman talked, my eyes tracked Willow as she escorted Nicoletta across thegrounds. People stopped the country star here and there for autographs and photos. Willow caught my gaze across the way and smiled.
With the excuse of checking on some horses, I left Chris’s side, positive that I had done enough schmoozing for the day. I also checked in with Knox and Colt and a few of my men, including the new guy who had started with us this week, a lumberjack named Miles. I envisioned many more cabins being built across the ranch this summer, and Chris was on board with the expansion.
All of us matched, dressed in black Stetsons and long-sleeved black flannel shirts with pearl snap buttons, and the ODRR brand embroidered on the chests. They all came from Ivy’s shop, of course, so we were easy to pick out as they worked their stations and showed off the animals and the things we did here.
I walked around, taking in everything we had built. The families in attendance seemed to enjoy this beautiful but chilly fall day outside. I’d say the pumpkin bowling game proved a huge hit with young and old alike, and so were the rubber ducky races set up in small galvanized tubs for the littlest munchkins. The lines for pony rides and petting the goats never stopped. The food went fast; the cookies were complimented, and every time I passed Ro and Eli’s table,they were serving another cup with smiles and giving me a thumbs up.
When I looked around at the crowded grounds, from people I knew to new acquaintances, I couldn’t be prouder of the community around us, and of the ranch’s role in it.
“How is everyone today? Look at this gorgeous crowd.” Nicoletta got on the microphone we borrowed from the bar in Forest Grove.
She riled up the crowd good and spoke from the heart with her story about our ranches and our mission to save the animals. She talked of her own rescued horse that she loved in Virginia, a gray horse named Fifty. In some ways, Fifty’s connection with Nicoletta mirrored Juniper’s with Willow.
Then she launched into her set of three songs. “Now, this first one I wrote with someone you might have heard of—Prima, the Rock Star Diva, when I visited her down in a sweet Kentucky town called Kissing Springs.” Yahoo’s and whistles echoed up from the crowd. “It’s a little country and a bit of rock and roll, and it goes somethin’ like this. A one, two, a one, two, three, four…”
Our homegrown trio behind her launched into the music and didn’t sound half bad. People sang and clapped along, and some danced, a grin on every face.
I tracked down Willow, nearly anxious until I spotted her beside the stage, with her beautiful golden hair in flowing curls down her back, and a smile with rosy cheeks on her face.
I closed in on her position. She had on those jeans that hugged her ass and the sexy red boots, and a pretty ivory sweater that showed off her chest. Too many other men eyed her more than once today. But her eyes were all mine. So I let them look, let them drool, and held myself back from kicking some asses. Because at the end of the day, she’d be back inmyarms, not theirs.
Before I could get to her, she must have received a phone call. She put one finger to her ear and the phone to the other and hurried away toward the barn.
Curious, I followed and found her in Juniper’s empty stall. Daisy was using her for some demonstrations in the arena, and so far, the horse had cooperated nicely. Between Daisy’s training and working with her, and Willow’s attention, Juniper was coming around to be a sweet horse.
I caught the tail end of Willow’s conversation as it ended. She startled at seeing me.
“Hi. Is everything okay?” I rubbed her arms and peered down into her face, concern written all over it.
“That was the superintendent of the school Iworked for in California. He offered me my job back because one of the teacher’s aides was in an accident and would be out for the year, recovering from some surgeries because of it.” She stared at the phone in her hands with a frown, as if it had just delivered the worst news ever.
I swallowed hard, my pulse rocketing. “Well, what did you tell him?”
“Nothing. He said he’d give me until Monday to decide before they offer the position to someone else.”
All the air left my chest, and I stumbled back as if she’d hit me with a force too hard. “Why didn’t you give him an answer? Why didn’t you tell him you weren’t coming back to California?”
She finally lifted her eyes, her head slowly shaking, giving me a look that said she was about to break my heart.
My mind raced. “Is it about money?” I ran figures in my head. Chris paid me very well to run this ranch, with excellent benefits, and deeded me the acre around my cabin. With all of that, I made plenty to support a little family here on the mountain. Would it be enough to keep her here?
“I need a job, Ash. I can’t keep living off of you and taking up your cabin, can I?”
My knees almost buckled, andI heaved as if someone had punched my gut. “Don’t go.” My voice creaked. “You said you like it here and that Ro is happy here. Hell, last night you told me we’d fall together and catch each other, right? Well, I’ve fallen, baby.”
