Epilogue
T he longer the night went on, the louder the music got. Jake didn’t mind, mostly. Loud music meant he didn’t have to talk to anybody, and he wasn’t in the best of moods these days.
Which wasn’t anybody’s fault, but until he got his shit together, it was far better to keep his mouth shut.
Thankfully, it was pretty easy to do it at home. The to-do list was almost done, with the things that still needed to be accomplished to get High Water operational under control by the end of January. There would be no holding back after that. Jake could not wait. He needed more to occupy his time because…
Just because.
Lying to myself is such a mature option.
He finished his beer, making his way across the floor to where the rest of the family had started their New Year’s Eve gathered around a high top.
Jinx had asked if she could spend it with Sasha at Silver Stone ranch. With the girl happily celebrating with her friend, all the adults had been free to go out for the night.
Petra and Aiden were bundled together like the lovebirds they were. Jake couldn’t find it in him to be annoyed at how sickeningly sweet and happy they were. His brother deserved an amazing woman, and Petra was that.
Declan was on the dance floor. He never danced more than once with anyone, but he was in high demand because he apparently actually knew how to lead. Plus some nonsense about him being a golden retriever kept being mentioned, which sent Petra’s friends into gales of laughter.
Jake figured everybody needed to get the fuck off social media for a while.
He couldn’t help it. He took a quick scan around the area, looking for the other women who inevitably appeared when Petra was around. No sign of them, and he wasn’t sure if he was happy or annoyed that he was considering if he was happy or annoyed they weren’t there.
Petra shook him by the sleeve and leaned in close. “Who are you looking for?” she shouted.
“An ear doctor,” Jake told her.
She grinned. “Good one. My doctor isn’t here tonight. She offered to work a shift at emergency in Diamond Valley. But Tansy’s around somewhere.”
Jake nodded, forcing a smile as he gave her a thumbs-up.
It shouldn’t happen. That flare of excitement in his belly at the mere mention of that woman’s name.
Of course, the next second he saw her, twirling on the dance floor in the arms of a short cowboy who was unsuccessfully trying to grow a beard. It almost hurt to watch them, but Tansy held her smile intact in spite of the number of times she was jerked in a new direction as her partner failed to keep them from colliding with others on the full floor.
A waitress brought Jake his beer and he firmly turned his back on the dancers and gave the girl a twenty along with a wink. “Keep them coming.”
She sparkled then flitted away.
He spent the next hour pretty much doing that. Smiling, and drinking, and nodding, and wondering over and over why he was so damn attracted to that woman.
The music broke off briefly and a deep voice boomed over the speakers. “It’s time, folks. Join me as we get ready for the final stroke of midnight and welcome in the new year.”
The countdown began.
Ten, nine…
Jake found himself twisting on the spot, focusing on the smiling faces around him. Good people who had begun to be more than simply neighbours and acquaintances, but real friends.
Eight.
Seven.
To Jake’s left, his brother Aiden tugged a laughing Petra close, ignored the clock, and planted a huge kiss on her.
Six.
Five.
Jake kept turning and came face-to-face with Tansy. Infuriating, dangerous, confusing Tansy.
Four.
Three.
The cowboy next to Tansy opened his arms as if inviting her in to celebrate the New Year, and Jake lost all sense. He darted forward, nabbed Tansy by the wrist and twirled her straight into his arms.
Two.
One.
“Happy New Year!”
The cry went up from all around them, but all Jake could do was stare into Tansy’s shocked face.
Then he couldn’t see what she was thinking because his lips were on hers and he was kissing her. Thoroughly, and deeply, and it was a damn good thing that they were in the center of a crowded room because she was kissing him back. She clung to his neck and lifted her legs, and the next second she was wrapped around him like a wayward rope on a fence post, and it felt so fucking amazing.
Jake resisted the urge to stumble them somewhere private. Instead, he kept kissing her as his entire body strummed with desire. When they finally broke apart, gasping for breath, Jake was stunned.
Infuriating to the core, Tansy grinned. “See? Sometimes spontaneity is fun.”
He focused on staying upright as she shimmied her feet back to the ground. He needed to say something, anything. Maybe even apologize.
Nope, couldn’t do it.
“Thanks for the great start to the new year. I’ll see you around.” Tansy patted his cheek then vanished between one breath and the next.
Jake stood there and tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.
He was still trying to decide the next morning as he stared at the coffee maker, willing it to spit out liquid faster.
Ten o’clock, and no one else had appeared in the house yet. He figured Aiden and Petra had a good reason to be MIA—with Jinx out of the house, they’d spent the night in their new apartment. They were probably still cozied up together. Declan was up, but still in the barn.
Jake was regretting his New Year’s Eve choices more than a little, and he stood by the coffee maker and drank an entire cup before refilling and easing his way to the table.
He stared out the window and watched as an old beat up minivan turned off the highway and down the drive. Probably somebody dropping Jinx off after her night away.
Well, to hell with it. New Year’s Day. It was time to set some goals. That’s what people did on New Year’s Day, right?
He nabbed his notebook and turned to a fresh, clean page. He wrote GOALS at the top and a set of numbers to the side, one all the way to ten. He stared at the page for a moment then in the first spot wrote down, crisp and clear…
1. Learn to be more spontaneous.
What the fuck?
He all but glared at the journal. That was not what he wanted to write. That wasn’t what he’d been thinking about at all, and he pressed his hands to his temples, begging for the pounding to die down.
Tansy’s fault. The word she’d used the night before had still been echoing in his head.
He examined the notebook page with disgust. Everyone had their quirks, and he was honest enough to admit this was one of his. Either he crossed it out or he ripped out the damn page, neither of which sat well. He decided to just leave the damn sentence there for now and let it be annoying.
Someone knocked on the door. Jake was already on his feet even as he checked the time. New Year’s Day and they had a visitor?
Oh. What if it was Danielle? What if somebody else needed their help?
He hurried forward and jerked the door open, staring down in shock at a wildly grinning Tansy. She held a plastic container toward him, jamming it into his hands.
“What’s this?” he demanded.
“Welcome to High Water brownies,” she announced happily, slipping past him and hauling a rolling suitcase after her.
She closed the door then turned back, tugging the container from his fingers. “Thanks. Those are for me.”
“You said they were welcome brownies,” he repeated.
She nodded eagerly. “They are. You don’t know how to bake that well, and I wanted brownies. Since I’m now living here, they’re welcome home, Tansy brownies.”
She twirled and headed farther into the house.
Jake shook his head, trying to get her words to settle in his brain and make sense. Nope, wasn’t working.
He stomped after her into the kitchen. “What do you mean, you’re living here?”
She put the brownies on the counter before twisting to face him. She brushed her hands together as if knocking off crumbs then thrust one forward. “Declan and Petra hired me. Hi, I’m your new live-in cook.”
I hope you enjoyed this story for Aiden and Petra. Thanks so much for reading, and if you do have a few minutes to leave a review for others, I’d appreciate it.
Next up are Tansy and Jake. Opposites attract in a huge way as Jake tries to learn to be more spontaneous…and Tansy continues to learn she’s worthy of love. All her well-kept secrets are going to come out in A COWBOY’S TRUST .
Go back to the book that started it all, A RANCHER’S HEART , the first book in the Heart Falls world. Caleb Stone has given up on love, but the new nanny, Tamara Coleman, might just make him change his mind.