Page 26 of Ghosted Cowboy
June rushed over, her face pale with mortification. "Oh honey, I am so sorry! I don't—that shouldn't—" She whisked the plate away. "Let me get you something else right away. Mac and cheese, fresh from the kitchen, and some hot rolls. Dinner's on the house, both of you."
She returned quickly with a steaming plate of comfort food. I managed to eat, though my appetite had disappeared.
"Could be a kitchen mistake," Ransom said quietly, watching me. "But after today..."
He didn't need to finish. After the curtain rod, after Mason showing up at my house, everything felt like a threat.
He reached across the table. "Let's think this through. Who would want to scare you off this production?"
I forced myself to focus. To think. "Mason. He's been at the theater for every incident. Won't take no for an answer. Shows up at my house uninvited."
"Brooke." Ransom squeezed my hand. "Jealous about the role. Desperate. Broke. June said she was arguing with the director about deserving recognition."
"What about Dee Dee Crenshaw?" I added. "She’s a real estate agent who keeps pressuring Gran to sell the shop. She made some comments about 'accidents' happening to old buildings."
Ransom frowned. "That could be considered a threat."
"Maybe. But these incidents are all aimed at me, not Gran or Midnight Curiosities." I thought about Saturday morning. "And there's Laurel Hayes—she's the librarian, plays the fortune teller in the show. She had this... vision, I guess? Went into a trance and said 'betrayal wears a familiar face.'"
"You think she knows something?"
I shook my head. "Laurel's always been a bit of a misfit, but I think she was just trying to warn me, not scare me off."
We sat there, fingers linked across the table, trying to make sense of it all. The mac and cheese was comfort food—warm and filling—and slowly my appetite returned. Ransom ate his burger, both of us quiet, lost in thought.
By the time we finished, exhaustion had settled deep in my bones.
June waved us off when we tried to thank her again. "No charge tonight, honey. I'm just so sorry about that steak."
Outside, our footsteps echoed on the empty sidewalk as we walked to Ransom's truck. He opened the passenger door for me before climbing in on his side. But instead of starting the engine, he turned to face me.
"Come home with me."
My pulse jumped. "To the ranch?"
"To your house. To mine. I don't care where, as long as you're not alone tonight." His hand found my thigh in the dim interior and squeezed. "Please, Rainey. Especially after today—I need to know you're safe. I can’t risk losing you again."
The vulnerability underneath his words made my defenses crumble. This wasn't just desire talking—though I could see that too, in the way his eyes darkened when they dropped to my mouth. This was fear. Real fear that what we’d just begun to re-discover could disappear for good.
I nodded. "Stay with me tonight."
The drive back to Maple Street took less than five minutes, but it felt like forever. Ransom's hand stayed on my thigh the whole way, solid and real. When we pulled up to my cottage, he killed the engine but didn't immediately move.
"You're sure?" he asked. "About this? About us? I don’t want you to feel pressured—regardless of what we’ve already shared this week."
I thought about Gran's words. About Josiah saying you never get over your first love. About second chances being rare and precious.
I thought about the last five years—the emptiness, the wondering, the way I'd convinced myself I was fine when I'd really just been existing.
I thought about Tuesday night in the theater, about feeling alive again for the first time since he'd left.
"I'm sure," I said. "Are you?"
Instead of answering, he got out and came around to open my door. His hands spanned my waist as he lifted me down, then slid up to cup my face.
"You've had my heart since the moment I first laid eyes on you, Rainey Bell," he said, his voice rough. "Never stopped being yours."
"Then take me inside," I whispered. "And show me."
