Chapter 7
“How could we have already been on the road more than two weeks?” Joelle muttered as Ford parked the vehicle across the street from the hotel in Florida.
“What was that?” Ford asked.
“I was thinking that the past two weeks have gone by so fast,” she answered.
“Happiness does that,” Sharlene said as she slid the door open and got out of the bus.
“Nita, you and Billy Joe stop dilly-daddlin’ around.
Get on out here and smell this ocean air.
Soon as we get checked in and have our stuff in our rooms, I’m going to the beach. ” She headed toward the hotel office.
Billy Joe climbed out and stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath, and took a step toward the path that led straight to the beach. Nita grabbed his arm and pulled him the other way.
“You can’t get there before us. We’ll all go together,” she said and dragged him toward the office. “You kids get the luggage out of the back. Oh, my goodness! I see a laundry right across the street. Sharlene did good when she chose this one.”
Sharlene waved keys in the air as she hurried across the parking lot.
“Y’all are going to love this place. We’re in the first three rooms over there.
” She pointed to her right. “Bottom floor. Let’s get going.
I can’t wait to put my toes in the sand.
” She handed off keys to Billy Joe and to Sharlene.
Ford winked at Joelle, then got out of the bus. “I think that’s our cue to get out and take the baggage out for them.”
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could unload our own mental baggage like that?” She followed him to the back of the trailer.
“I haven’t got as much now as I had when we left,” he said with a grin.
“Me either,” she agreed, “so maybe we’ve been chasing dreams just like they have.”
“Think we’ll get rid of the rest of it while we’re here?” he asked as he set everything they needed out on the ground.
Billy Joe rolled the ladies’ luggage over to them and then popped the handle up on his suitcase. “Get rid of what?”
“Learning not to sweat the small stuff,” Ford answered.
“It’s all small stuff when you get to be my age,” his grandfather said with a chuckle. “Learn that at your age, and you’ll be happy every day. Make up your minds what you want out of life and never look back with regrets.”
“That’s really good advice,” Joelle said as she followed the three older folks down the sidewalk to the rooms, “but not so easy to follow.”
“Amen!” Ford agreed. “However, I think I’m making progress, thanks to you.”
“You. Are. Welcome,” Joelle said with a semi-bow. “Glad to be of help, but that goes both ways, Mr. Holt, so thank you for sharing this trip with us.”
Ford shook his finger at her. “We have slept together, Miz Cheadle, so I think we can be on a first-name basis.”
Joelle laughed out loud. “Lower your voice or your grandpa and my aunt will have us standing before a justice of the peace. Are you taking your suitcase to Billy Joe’s room? Or are you going to save trips back and forth and move it into mine?”
“Might as well put it in your room since that’s where I’ll end up anyway,” Ford said and then added, “If that’s all right with you.”
She opened the door into the room, and left it standing in the entrance as she explored the rest of the place. “Holy smoke! This is an apartment or condo, not a hotel room. Look, Ford, there’s a bedroom plus two bunk beds, and a living room and full kitchen.”
Ford had already opened the drapes and the sliding glass doors. “And a view of the ocean and swimming pool, our own private patio, and would you look at those waves?”
The excitement in his tone was so contagious that Joelle rushed over to stand beside him. “This is my favorite of all the bucket-list ideas. I’m going to change into my bathing suit, do a couple of laps in that pool, and then see if that gorgeous white sand is as nice as it looks. Want to join me?”
He crossed the room in a few long strides, grabbed the handle of his suitcase, and threw it up onto the bottom bunk bed. “You can have the bedroom. I’ll change in the bathroom.”
Joelle took her luggage into the bedroom, opened it up, and dug through it until she found her two-piece bathing suit.
She didn’t think twice about shucking out of her clothing and putting it on—until she stood before the long mirror on the back of the closet door.
She turned sideways and then all the way around and peered over her shoulder at her backside.
“What was I thinking?” she groaned. “Ford is going to see me in this and think I look fat.”
Stop it, the niggling voice in her head scolded. He’s slept right beside you when you were wearing a nightshirt and bikini underwear.
She flipped her blond hair up into a ponytail, took one last look at herself, and headed out into the living area. The bathroom door was open, and Ford was nowhere in sight, so she wandered on out onto the patio.
“Come on in. The water is so warm,” he yelled from the pool.
No one else was in the pool or even sitting in the lounge chairs surrounding it, so there wasn’t even strength in numbers to cause her to hesitate.
She turned to the left, through a gate, and down a couple of steps and noticed the rest of their traveling party was already walking toward the water.
“Looks like our bucket-list folks have beat us to the beach.”
“They waved at me as they went by and said they might get in the pool later this evening after supper,” Ford said without taking his eyes off her.
Joelle was shocked when she stepped into the warm pool and sat down on the middle step. “This is heated!”
“Yep, and it feels wonderful after driving all day,” he told her. “And by the way, you are stunning.”
“You look pretty dang good yourself,” she said with a smile.
Keeping her hands to herself wasn’t easy when the dark hair that covered his chest beckoned for her to reach out and touch it.
Even though he’d slept beside her every night for the past two weeks and two days, he’d always worn pajama pants and a loose-fitting T-shirt, so she hadn’t realized just how muscled up he was, or how broad his shoulders were.
“Do you work out?” she asked.
“Haven’t in a while, and I suppose if I take Grandpa up on his offer, I won’t need to lift weights or run several miles a day. I’ll be tossing hay bales and chasing cows,” he answered. “You’re every bit as toned as I am. How often do you hit the gym?”
“Every day after school,” she admitted. “But like you say, I won’t need to do that anymore since I’ll be doing ranch work.”
“Have you told Sharlene?” he asked as he swam over and sat down on the step beside her.
“Not yet. I want to wait until we start home. Don’t ask me why. I can’t even answer that for myself, but it just seems to be the right time,” she answered. “Are you going to make up your mind before we go home?”
She wanted to blame the warmth of the pool on the slight heat in her cheeks, but that wouldn’t be honest. The electricity between them seemed to heat the water up another twenty degrees.
He covered her hand with his and the heat rose even more.
“I’m still teetering on the fence, but I feel myself falling over on Grandpa’s side.
I’m too young to do nothing. I’ve tried and tried to think of something I want to spend the rest of my life doing, but… ”
“Make up your mind and don’t ever look back or regret your decision, like Billy Joe said,” she reminded him.
He nodded and looked at her without blinking.
She felt as if she were drowning in his dark-brown eyes, and yet at the same time, she could have sworn he was seeing into the depths of her soul.
Her left hand trembled, but the right one that he had laid his hand on was steady as a rock.
A fluttering in her chest made her breath catch, and her pulse raced.
For a minute, she thought he was going to kiss her, but then he blinked and turned away.
“What is this between us, Joelle?” he whispered.
“Attraction,” she answered honestly.
“Where do we go with it, and what do we do about it?” he asked.
“What do you want us to do with it?” she fired back.
“I want to ask you out on dates, to get to know you even better than I do now, and yet, if I decide not to stay in Whitewright…” He stopped midsentence.
“Why start something that has no future, right?” she asked.
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Exactly.”
“I would never want you to make a decision about staying on the ranch or not because of me,” she said, even though at that moment she would have given anything to know that he would be that close to her for the rest of their lives.
“That kind of choice has to be for yourself so that you won’t look back and wish you had done something different. ”
“How did you get to be so smart?” he asked.
“I’m not that little teenage girl who thought you hung the moon and stars and that the sun just came up every single morning to shine on you,” she teased.
“I’m flattered that you ever thought that about me but, honey, you aren’t that girl for sure.” His gaze started at her ponytail and traveled all the way down to where her toes rested under the clear water.
Her pulse had barely settled from the staring contest, and now it was racing again. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Can’t help it,” he said with a grin. “You are beautiful, but it goes beyond physical beauty.”
“Are you flirting with me?” Joelle asked.
“Tryin’ too, but I’m more than a little bit out of practice.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
“I don’t believe it for one minute. You are definitely not out of practice,” she whispered.
She fought the desire to touch the place where his lips had been and see if it was as hot as it felt.
Suddenly, she either had to get some space between them, or she was going to drag him back to the room and lock the door.
She stood up, pushed off from the step, and did a complete lap with him right beside her the whole way.
“So, I’ve still got it?” he asked when she started out of the pool.
Joelle turned to face him. “Don’t ever doubt your effect on women, Ford.”
“I don’t care about other women. What about you?”
“You’ve still got it,” she said with a nod. “So much so that we better get down there on the beach with our crew so that we’ll have some chaperones.”
He stepped up out of the pool with water sluicing off him, and she was reminded of those Greek god statues. Oh, yes, sir, he still had it. No question about that—at least in Joelle’s opinion.