Wildfire Omens (Wildwood #1)

Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Rhett

I woke up before dawn the next morning, a content smile on my face. Cheyenne hadn’t actually promised me anything in return, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t expect her to. This was new, and she was right—it was more complicated for her.

For me, it was the simplest thing on earth. I had Cheyenne back and I had a second chance at life. I wasn’t going to screw it up.

She was still sleeping, but I was ready for coffee, so I slipped out of bed and left her there while I went to turn on the pot. But when I opened the bedroom door, I could already smell it.

Sure enough, there was a hot pot already made. I grinned, realizing Cheyenne must have set it up on a time delay so it would be ready when she got up. Efficient. I liked it.

I poured myself a cup and, on impulse, poured her one, too, in the mug she’d kept tucked away in the back of the cabinet. I carried it back to the bedroom and set it gently on her nightstand, then got back into bed with mine.

She stirred and opened her eyes, smiling. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, beautiful.” I tucked her hair behind her ears and marveled at how gorgeous she was. I loved her like this, with her hair all a mess and her eyes still soft and sleepy. It was a version of her that the rest of the world never got to see. I felt damn lucky to be the man who got to wake up next to her.

“Do I smell coffee?”

I nodded. “Brought you a cup.”

She glanced over at the nightstand, then stilled. “Oh.”

“You kept it.”

She sat up, pulling the sheet with her, and took the mug into her hands, staring at it. “Yeah, I did. It was special.”

“Yes, it was.” I reached for her hand, interlacing her fingers in mine. “And now we get to make a whole lot of special together.”

She smiled. “Yeah.” Then she sighed.

“What is it?”

“You know… At first, I grieved for the time we lost. But…”

“Yeah?”

“Will it hurt your feelings if I tell you that part of me is glad you left?”

I shrugged. “Will it hurt your feelings if I tell you I’m glad I left, too?”

Her face flushed with relief. “Don’t get me wrong. I do hate that we missed so much. But I also know that I would never have joined SAR if you had stayed. Between that and living independently in Wyoming at such a young age… Well, I learned things. It made me stronger. More confident. And I like who I am.”

“I like who you are, too. I liked you then, but I like you even more now. And I’m still glad I left, because if I had stayed and worked the ranch all these years, I’d be a miserable, unhappy person.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, nodding. “That’s something else I was thinking about last night, after we talked. I got so nervous yesterday about the pressure of dealing with Walker. I can’t imagine you having to deal with that day in and day out for years.”

“It would never have worked,” I admitted. “But I still wish Gran would have told you the truth. Maybe we could have made it work long-distance.”

She shook her head. “No. I would have moved to be with you. And who knows? Maybe it would have been wonderful and I would have built something amazing for myself there, too. Hard to know how it all would have played out. But I know for sure I wouldn’t have what I have now.”

“We can’t change the past. But we can decide what the future looks like.”

She took a long sip of coffee, her smiling eyes peeking at me from over the mug. “What if I don’t want Vegas?”

“I told you. I made you a promise, but there’s no pressure for you to make me one.”

She shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. I’m not ready for promises, Rhett. But…someday, if I do feel ready… I don’t want to do it in Vegas. I want to do it in the woods. Or on a cliff. Or beside a waterfall, or even at the ranch. But not in Vegas.”

I grinned. “We’ll do it wherever you want. Whenever you want.”

She gave me a little smile. “On another topic, I feel like I should give you a heads-up. Your mom is going to pull you away this morning to go shopping.”

“Shopping?” My face blanked.

She nodded, a teasing look on her face. “There’s a secret event coming up at the ranch, and your mom said you’re not allowed to wear any of the five outfits you brought.”

“She counted my clothes ?”

“Apparently, yes. While you were in the hospital. According to her, nothing you have is appropriate for her party. She pulled me away last night while you were talking to Travis and filled me in.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m so sorry my tuxedo didn’t fit into the saddlebags of my bike. It’s a good thing we live in a big city, where I can easily replace it at one of the many high-end shops in our shopping district.”

She tossed a pillow at me. “One, do you even own a tux? Second, she didn’t say you had to wear anything like that. She requested a decent dress shirt and a pair of casual slacks.”

“Of course I own a tux.” I tossed the pillow back to her. “Bought it for Cole’s wedding, ’cause Mom insisted. Which was stupid, because it turned out to be a casual backyard thing and he wasn’t even wearing one. Haven’t worn it since. What is this event, anyway?”

“A surprise birthday party for Beth. Naomi started planning it before you even got to town. She’s doing a fancy tea party on the lawn. It’s supposed to have Little Women vibes or something like that.”

“Ugh.” I threw my head back and groaned. “That sounds terrible.”

“Beth will love it. It’s her favorite book.”

“Pretty stupid of her to love a book where her namesake dies,” I muttered.

Cheyenne laughed. “That’s not why she loves the book. You know her. She really should have been born in a different era. Just be glad your mom settled on slacks and a dress shirt. She originally wanted us all in period costume.”

I groaned again. “Costume? Fine. I’ll stop complaining about dressing up. But no dress shoes. I’m wearing my boots.”

“Me too,” she said, winking. “In fact, after we get home tonight, maybe that’s all I’m planning on wearing.”

I put my coffee away, no longer in need of it, and grabbed her instead.

We pulled up to the ranch right in front of an old beater car. The car pulled in on my side; then a familiar figure got out. Shock was all over his face when I climbed out of the truck.

“Jimmy. Long time no see. How the hell are ya?” I stuck out a hand. I’d decided to play it friendly. I wasn’t convinced he was the one behind Dad’s fall—I still thought Thomas was the most likely culprit for that one—but I was going to keep a close eye on him just the same. Easier to keep an eye on him if he felt comfortable around me.

He stared at me, confused, then took my hand and shook it. “Um, hi, Rhett. What are you doing here? I thought…”

“I came back to town a week ago. Or longer, now that I think of it,” I said, chuckling. “Time’s a little fuzzy for me right now.”

“But what are you doing here ?”

“Heading to work, just like you.” I clapped him on the shoulder.

He was still staring at me. “I thought you were dead.”

“Dead?” My face jutted forward in surprise. “Oh, I guess you heard about the accident. Nah, I’m fine.” But the way he was staring at me was making me feel damn uncomfortable.

Cheyenne walked around the truck, glancing at each of us in turn. She shot me a questioning look. I’d filled her in on Travis’s theory, but she was adamant Jimmy would never do something like that.

“Hey, Jimmy,” she said, squeezing his forearm. “Glad to have you back. I’m proud of you for telling Naomi the truth about the money.”

“Yeah.” His face turned bright red. “I’m real sorry about that. Nothing like that will ever happen again, I promise.” His eyes shifted from her to me then back again.

I put a heavy hand on his shoulder. “We all make mistakes. But you got a second chance. I know something about that.” I glanced at Cheyenne, who gave me a knowing smile.

“Yeah,” Jimmy said, uncertainty painting his features. “A second chance. Exactly. Well, I better get to work. Don’t want to make Travis mad by being late.”

He walked off, and I looked back at Cheyenne. “Did that seem weird to you?”

She frowned. “Yeah. Yeah, it did.”

I got in a good couple hours of work, enjoying the feel of pushing my muscles again, before Mom pulled me away.

“I hate shopping,” I groaned as we headed toward the main house.

“I know. And after seeing Cheyenne’s face when I told her the plan, I realized forcing you to shop would be a terrible idea. So you’re off the hook.”

“Thank God.” I let out a breath. “So you’ve made peace with me wearing my normal clothes to the party?”

Mom threw her head back and let out a loud laugh. “Hardly. But Travis agreed to let you borrow some of his clothes for it. You guys are about the same size.”

“I’m bigger than him,” I muttered under my breath.

Mom rolled her eyes. “Come sit with me while I prep the afternoon meal. You can make yourself useful by peeling potatoes. Deal?”

“Deal.” And probably a good idea, considering the headache that was threatening to blow up again.

I opened the door for Mom and followed her inside. She motioned for me to sit at the bar, then grabbed two giant bags of potatoes and plopped them down in front of me. She pulled out a giant bowl and a peeler and handed them over.

“Wow,” I said, eyeing the bags. “That’s … a lot of potatoes.”

“Twenty pounds,” she confirmed. “I’ll admit I was happy to steal you away for a while. Peeling potatoes gets old.”

“So do most of the jobs around here.”

She pulled out a cutting board and began chopping onions. “You still feel that way?” There was a tinge of disappointment in her voice.

“Yeah,” I said slowly. “I do.”

She kept chopping, never looking up. “Seems like you and Cheyenne are getting along pretty well.”

“Seems like someone’s dead set on playing matchmaker.”

She dropped her knife and looked like she’d been caught in the cookie jar. “I’ve been doing no such thing.”

“Really?” I shot her a skeptical look. “We own a dozen cabins and you couldn’t come up with a single place to put me except Cheyenne’s house? You just happened to hire Jimmy back and gave him the loft right when I was physically capable of managing it again? I may have been too slow to realize what was happening at first, but my head’s getting clearer every day.”

She flushed red, but when she saw my grin, she relaxed. “Alright, fine. But I wouldn’t call it playing matchmaker. Just … giving fate a push, that’s all. The question is: Did it work?”

“I guess you’ll have to wait and find out.” Truth was, I was dying to tell her. But until Cheyenne was ready, I had to keep my mouth closed.

Mom gave me a knowing look. “I see. So that brings me to my next question. You know you have a job here at the ranch if you want it. But it seems your attitude about that is about the same as it always was. So…”

“I’m starting my own business here in Wildwood.”

She smiled. “Well, okay, then. Have you talked to Cheyenne about that?”

“I have.”

She held up both hands. “I’m not trying to change your mind. You need to do what you want to do. But it can take a while for a business to become profitable. If you’d like to work here in the meantime—even part time—you can.”

“I’m not planning to leave you guys in a lurch,” I said. “I know it will be a while before Dad is back in the saddle, and I promised Travis I would stay on while he works some things out in his own life. You can use me as long as you need me, as long as we all know it’s not forever.”

“I understand and agree,” she said, nodding. “And I mean it when I say we’re grateful you’re going to hang around and help out. I have a proposition for you.”

“What’s that?”

“With Jimmy back, Travis finally has some help. I could really use Beth in the kitchen, and Jonathan hates the trail rides and would rather work cattle. Why don’t you take over as Cheyenne’s partner for now? It will be easier on you physically while you recover. Plus, it will make your time here on the ranch more enjoyable.” She winked at me.

“Playing matchmaker again, are we?”

She grinned. “I think the match has already been made. I’m simply offering you a job that benefits everyone involved.”

“I’ll take it,” I said, tossing a freshly peeled potato into the bowl. “As long as Cheyenne approves it, that is.”

“Based on how starry-eyed she was yesterday, I’m pretty sure she’ll be thrilled,” Mom teased.