Chapter 20
CHAPTER
TWENTY
Cash dang near dropped the casserole pan as he turned to put it on the countertop. Jet had brought Lark down the hall just as she was, and her hair flowed loose and wild around her face. Cash loved that and wanted to slide his fingers through it to tame it.
At the same time, he suspected the woman was completely un-tame-able. If he could figure out how to keep her in his life, she’d continue to surprise him each and every day.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Wade said as he rose from the barstool. He smiled at Lark with all the love of an older brother as he hugged her, and that gave Cash a moment to collect himself and right the tater tot casserole onto the trivet.
“I wasn’t sleeping,” Lark said. “I was just lying in bed.”
And yep, Cash had that picture in his mind now, as he’d practically yelled as he’d volunteered to go see if Lark was awake.
He kept his head ducked as he turned back to the stove to turn off the oven, something hot moving through him that he needed to control.
No woman he’d ever met had affected him this way before, and he employed his defenses to keep his thoughts and fears—and hormones—from roaring, the same way he did when he got in the saddle to be the heeler with a partner he barely knew.
He didn’t want to let them down, and he wanted to put on a perfect performance. The same thing applied here, with Wade, Jet, and Lark. Oh, especially Lark.
“…right, Cash?”
He turned, realizing he’d fallen into his thoughts. “Yeah, what?”
Jet slung his arm around Cash’s shoulders. “You’re incredible, you know that?”
Cash stiffened. “Where is this going?”
“I’m just trying to express my gratitude for you feeding me today.” He fell back a step. “This whole week, while Wade’s been galavanting around with his new girl.”
“I haven’t been gallivanting,” Wade said, sandwiching Cash on his left side. “But I want to say thank you too. When I get back to the house late at night, there’s always been something to eat.”
“Something good,” Jet said.
Cash grinned from Wade to Jet. “I like cooking. It’s something I can…get right.” He cleared his throat, not wanting to continue this conversation. “Now, come on. Everything is ready.”
“What kind of doughnuts are these?” Lark asked.
Cash turned and met her eyes. “My step-mom called them cowboy cookie crunch.” He grinned and stepped over to where he’d laid out the bacon, sausage patties, tater tot casserole, and yes, the doughnuts down at the end, where Lark stood.
“It’s a chocolate dough,” he said. “With a vanilla frosting with crushed cookie crumbs on top, and a vanilla custard filling.”
Lark’s eyes widened as he gave the synopsis, and when her lips tipped up, Cash sure wished he’d had a few more seconds alone with her in the bedroom. Now that he’d kissed her, he felt like he was drowning and only her mouth against his would give him the oxygen he so required.
He cleared his throat. “Should we say grace?”
“Yep,” Wade said while Lark continued to look like Cash had thrown ice water in her face. “Jet, you wanna say it?”
“Sure thing,” Jet said easily, and Cash automatically reached up to pull down his cowboy hat. He realized a beat too late that he wasn’t wearing one, and he quickly folded his arms and tucked his chin, letting his eyes fall closed so he could disappear into himself for a minute.
“Dear Father in Heaven,” Jet said. “We’re grateful to be gathered together today as family, and we’re so grateful for this place we have to gather in.
I know it means a lot to my momma and daddy that Cash is here to take care of the house, and we ask for a special blessing on our parents as they’re off serving in another country. ”
Cash sure did love being prayed for, and a sense of comfort and peace settled over his shoulders. He’d enjoyed living in this house alone, but now that he’d had company, he knew how much life this place could hold. How much it had given to Wade, to Jet, and to Lark.
“Bless us that we can move forward in our lives with clear minds and helpful hands, and bless us all to travel back home safely when the time comes. We’re grateful for the bounteous blessings Thou continues to pour onto each of us, and bless Wade in his efforts with Theresa, and bless me that I can get the right man hired for the new milking operation, and bless Lark that she’ll ace her finals and end with that four-point-oh she works so hard for.
Bless Cash that the construction happening on his ranch will get back on track and that he’ll have whatever else he needs. ”
Beside him, Wade coughed, and Jet took in a long breath. “Bless this food, and bless us to have a low-key day together. Amen.”
“Amen,” Cash repeated, and this time, he turned and took Jet into a full hug. “Thank you, brother.” He slapped him on the back a couple of times and stepped back, nodding. Their eyes met, and so much more got said between them.
Things about brotherhood, and gratitude, and Lark. Cash nodded, because the last thing he wanted was to hurt her. At the same time, Jet and Wade would be leaving in two days, and Lark in three.
And then what? ran through his mind. It ticked around him, and Cash couldn’t stand the thought of being alone in this house come Sunday evening.
He pushed the thoughts away, because he wanted to enjoy breakfast, and then he had to get to work on their Thanksgiving Day dishes.
Lark went through the line first, and Cash waited for Jet and Wade to follow her. He watched as Lark sat at the end of the table, her back to the sliding door they used to get to the hot tub, and when she looked up at him, he quickly reached for the last remaining plate.
He piled his plate with casserole, bacon, and sausage, and put his doughnut on a separate plate. By the time he looked back to the table, unadulterated hope ran through him that he could sit next to Lark.
Thankfully, Wade and Jet had left the head of the table for Cash, as he’d gotten quite used to sitting there and eating over the past few months. He slid his plate onto the table and pulled out the chair.
After he sat, everyone started eating, and Cash looked over to Wade. “When is Theresa getting here?”
“Two,” he said. “She’s going to her granddad’s this morning.”
Cash nodded and looked over to Jet. “And you’re going to get your grandmother?”
“I’ll have her back here by two, too.” He grinned. “Two too.”
Cash chuckled and popped the end of his piece of bacon into his mouth. He looked over to Lark. “And what are you going to do until dinner?”
“I thought I was helping you.” She lifted her doughnut to her mouth and took a big bite.
Cash stared at her, every cell in his body rioting against his defenses. They wanted to run wild and free, and his heartbeat bumped against the back of his throat. “You’ve got a little cream there,” he croaked out, his eyes glued to the custard clinging to the corner of her mouth.
Lark simply smiled at him, and oh, Cash couldn’t have that. He practically shoved a napkin at her, but Lark ignored it. He tore his eyes from hers. “Yeah, you’re on potato duty.”
He was roasting a turkey—nothing fancy like the fryers Uncle Tex had used—and doing mashed potatoes and gravy, yams with brown sugar and marshmallow crème, and roasted veggies.
To further his baking skills, he’d decided to do the rolls by hand, and he’d start on those immediately after putting the bird in the oven.
“At the risk of ruining breakfast and having sausage thrown at me, I’m wondering about the tree-cutting tomorrow.” He reached for his glass of orange juice and took a gulp of it.
“I can’t,” Wade said. “Theresa and I are going to decorate her place, and then I said I’d help in her classroom.”
“I don’t want to,” Jet said. “I want to wash all my clothes before I go home, and I have a couple of phone calls to make tomorrow.”
“I told you to wait to talk to Dave,” Wade said. “Now you’re dealing with this during the holidays.”
“I couldn’t stand working with Dave for another day.” Jet frowned back at him. “It’s fine. I’m calling a couple of guys to come in for interviews next week.”
Cash switched his attention to Lark while Jet and Wade bickered lightly.
He reached out and tapped the back of her hand with the tines of his fork.
“What about you, Songbird?” He raised his eyebrows, trying not to let his hopes get too high.
Her brothers had let him in on a little secret Cash hadn’t known: Lark didn’t enjoy the outdoors.
Cash couldn’t imagine spending his life inside, and he wondered what Lark thought she’d be doing with an animal science degree. He also couldn’t see her working for him in his cutting horse operation, in windy Wyoming, if she didn’t like being outside.
“I’ll warm up the truck before we go,” he said. “It’s about an hour to the lodge, and it’s not as far out into the woods as you think.”
“The woods?”
He grinned at her. “You have winter gear.” He’d actually really like to see her in that pretty cream-colored knit hat again.
“And they only let us cut down trees in a specified zone. It might be a quarter-mile out, and then we can pick, and then they have sleds for us to get the tree back. It would be fun.”
Lark started to soften, and Cash suspected he could get her to go with him with a few more incentives.
“We can head up the canyon after we get lunch in town,” he said.
“And I saw on social media that there’s a pop-up hot cocoa stand happening at the lodge tomorrow afternoon…
.” He left those invitations there and forked up a bite of ham, tater tot, cheese, and egg.
“Where would we go for lunch?” she asked.
“Wherever you want,” he said. “There’s a pretty great barbecue place I like, if you like pulled pork.”
“I like pulled pork.”
“There’s a good Chinese place too,” Cash said. “Pizza is always good. Oh—there’s a burger joint with incredible sweet potato fries.”