Chapter Twenty-One
N atalie sat on her front porch Tuesday evening, sifting through items she’d salvaged from the basement and reminiscing.
Outside, temperatures had cooled back down into the mid-seventies, with enough of a breeze to keep the heat—and any lingering sewer smell—at bay.
The insurance adjustor had passed her information onto a local remediation company, which stopped by earlier this afternoon and scoped out the work needing to be done.
If she was lucky, everything would be professionally cleaned or replaced by the end of the month.
Now if only putting her heart back together could have that same short turnaround.
Yesterday, her heart had run the full gamut of emotions—anger, shock, denial, fear.
Today, it just hurt. She could tell from Sam’s texts that he was struggling with the abrupt ending to their time together, too.
And while she wanted so badly to tell him not to worry, she’d be there soon enough, that wasn’t a promise she could make, not when she didn’t seem to own her own darned schedule.
That particular frustration had prompted her to send an email to her boss first thing this morning.
It was time to stop trying to please everyone else and instead advocate for herself.
Yes, she’d been highly flexible with her schedule these past few years, and she appreciated that he considered her one of his go-to employees, but she was looking to put down some roots and travel less.
He’d written back, thanking her for her honesty.
The rest of his email had helped further ease her concerns.
Well, on the job front, anyway. She still wasn’t sure how things were looking on the relationship side of things. Before today, Sam had been texting her all throughout the day as he was able. Today, he’d sent a brief Good morning, sunshine text and had gone silent ever since.
Maybe he’d gotten busy. Maybe they’d had another emergency—was that a common occurrence out west? Norah hadn’t seemed overly shocked by that whole sinkhole thing. Heck, maybe Natalie staying close to home was the safer, smarter path to choose after all.
The trouble was, Indiana no longer held the path that called to her heart. She was thinking a little bit differently today.
After emailing with her boss, she’d taken a gift card to her uncle, thanking him for all his help this past weekend.
He insisted she shouldn’t have and that it was no trouble; she hugged him tight and told him to have fun shopping with Aunt Sara.
Natalie stayed and shared stories from Montana, then headed home to get back to cleaning and sorting.
And, admittedly, waiting for Sam to text or call—neither of which happened.
Julianna had called midday, however, which turned into a surprisingly pleasant conversation.
Not only had she done as Natalie asked and spoken to Steven about her former boyfriend’s possible interference with the River Bend Resort project, she’d also gotten with their IT department and pulled Brice’s old emails and digital files.
There had been more than enough evidence to prove that the Marietta project had been undermined, so that wouldn’t be held against Natalie as a failed project.
That had explained Steven’s email from earlier.
Even more surprising, Julianna had offered to drive up from Indy and help with the cleanup. Natalie had nearly fallen over with surprise. She’d promised to let her sister know if she still needed help by the weekend, and then made plans to get together after she returned from Greensboro.
Who knew? Maybe a little workplace drama was enough to shake up their sibling relationship and get it headed in the right direction.
“Whoa. Okay, I’m gonna want to hear that whole story,” Cyn said when she’d called on her afternoon break. “I’ll bring over wine after work. Probably be around six.”
Natalie had laughed. “Sounds good. And don’t cook—we’ll order takeout.”
“ Pfft , we’ll get our meals delivered. You’re not in Montana anymore, girl.”
As if Natalie needed yet another reminder.
Though, the more she thought about it, the more certain Natalie was that her not being in Montana was what was holding her back from being happy at home. Not the cleaning, not the mess. She was missing Sam and his family and the scenery and, yes, even the horses—from a distance, of course.
Dang it, Sam needed to hurry up and text back so they could have this conversation already. The waiting was starting to eat at her nearly as much as the question mark hanging over their future.
Yes? No? Maybe?
On a sigh, she plucked another box nested within a bigger box—seriously, this was bordering on ridiculous with all these darned boxes—and peered inside.
Natalie smiled as three small hand-painted Christmas ornaments came into view.
Her grandfather had made them for his three children, but when he passed, Natalie had asked for them.
These, she was going to keep somewhere special.
Would she get to see Sam and his family before Christmas? Goodness, she couldn’t imagine there wouldn’t be time before then. What she didn’t know was if he would even still want to see her by then.
Natalie’s gaze went to her cell phone for the dozenth time this hour. Still no update from Sam. Where was he, anyway?
“I reckon I shoulda called first,” said a deep voice from her front walk, “but that’s not something I’m used to doing where I come from.”
*
Sam had his Uber driver drop him off a block away, wanting to surprise Natalie. He’d watched her as he’d approached, drinking in the sight of his city beauty. Lord, he’d missed her.
At his comment, she looked up, her head turning in his direction. This was it, the moment of truth. Would she be glad to see him, or would her reception be lukewarm?
On a squeal, she launched off the porch and came running, crashing into him so hard that he nearly lost his Stetson from the impact.
“Sam! I can’t believe you’re here!”
She wrapped her arms around him and damn near squeezed the life out of him. His heart swelled. There was nothing lukewarm about this reception.
“Howdy, darlin’.”
He lifted her chin and kissed his girl soundly. She moved closer, her body curling into his. After a moment, though, she drew back, her brows pinched together.
“But I don’t understand. What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “When a little lady needs help, a cowboy should step up.”
“Wait—did you get on a plane ?”
“Sure did. Took some coaxing by my fearless daughter, but here I am.”
“I’m so proud of you!” Natalie wrapped her arms around him once more. “Remind me to thank Madison when I see her next.”
Sam liked hearing that. He kissed the top of her crown, savoring her lavender scent. “God, I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you, too. Funny how someone I just met can feel like someone I hate to be without.” She raised a hand to his cheek. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get a chance to tell you goodbye.”
“Me too. Unfortunately, we were both chasing emergencies that day.” His gaze shifted to her house. “How’s it going here?”
“Better, I guess. Restoration company stopped by, looked over everything, and came up with a game plan.” She shook her head. “Unfortunately, after they left, I realized they can’t fix what it needs to feel like home.”
“Really? What’s the fix?” Sam asked.
“You.” A grin stretched across her pretty pink lips. “I’ve been dying to come home and enjoy my house for months, but it wasn’t until you showed up on my sidewalk that it actually feels like somewhere I want to be.”
Those backflips he’d wanted to do when they learned about the ferrets? Natalie’s confession just about made him do one now. But since she hadn’t said she was moving west, he decided to play along for another minute before he started begging in earnest.
“No?” His gaze shifted to study her home. “It looks like a pretty nice place to me.”
“Oh, it’s a great home, for the right person. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer the same views that I had in Marietta.”
Sam liked where this was going. He met her gaze once more, the excitement in her eyes giving him the courage to keep going. “You know, if there’s one thing we have in Montana, it’s plenty of rooms with a view.”
“Really? Do you think you could maybe reserve one of those rooms for me? I won’t need it right away, since I’ve got one more project to finish up before I shift into my new remote role at work.”
Hot damn. “You got the promotion?”
At her nod, he picked her up and spun her around, whooping like his grandfather. “Woohoo! Sounds to me like it’s time we do some celebratin’.”
Natalie laughed. “This—this is what I love about you. All the support and celebrating.”
“You love me?” He set her down carefully, warmth like he hadn’t known in years radiating through his chest.
She reached up to tug on his Stetson. “Yes, cowboy, I sure do.”
“I love you, too, city girl.” He cupped her cheek. “Been afraid to say it for a while now, didn’t want to scare you off for coming on too strong.”
“ You coming on too strong? I was the one falling into your arms on day one!”
Sam brushed a thumb over her cheek. “I knew you were a force to be reckoned with from the moment we walked in that night. Just didn’t know it was my heart that you’d eventually win.”
“And here I’d been worried that you’d hate me forever.”
“Just the opposite. Thank you for bringing this lonely old heart back to life.” He kissed her long and slow. “Now how’s about we commence with some overdue celebratin’?”
“Okay, but we gotta move this party inside,” she said, taking his hand and leading him toward the front door. “We’re not in Montana right now, buddy. Here, we’ve got eyes everywhere.”
A car horn honked from the street. Sam and Natalie turned together to find a small SUV pulled up along the curb, its passenger side window down.
“Call me tomorrow,” the woman inside called. “Wine time can wait!”
Natalie waved and laughed. “Thank you, Cyn!”
Sam tipped his hat toward the stranger, glad she wouldn’t be delaying their celebrations. Because they had a whole lot to celebrate before he headed home Friday. His girl loved him and was ready to move west. Could anything really top that?
“Told you so,” Natalie said, blushing. “Now how ’bout I show you some Hoosier hospitality before this place goes on the market?”
God, he loved the sound of that. And damn, he loved her.
“Lead the way, darlin’. I’ll go anywhere you want me to go.”