CHAPTER SIX
“See the trough there by the side of the barn?” Boone pointed, and she nodded. “Let’s pull up there and we’ll give them some water before they head out again.”
He clicked his tongue, and Sassy ambled toward the trough. He gave a light tug on her reins. She stopped and immediately lowered her mouth into the water.
Luna and Patience trotted up next to them.
“Whoaaa.” She gently pulled on the reins, and the horse came to a slow, smooth stop next to Sassy.
“You’re such a good girl, yes you are.” She leaned forward and patted the side of Patience’s neck.
“You were right. She did take good care of me today.” She draped the reins loosely around the saddle horn so the horse could dip her snout into the water.
“She’s great with newbies.” Boone swung his right leg over, dismounted, and moved over to help her down.
Luna beat him to the punch and climbed down on her own.
He was disappointed at missing out on the chance to put his hands on her again. He really enjoyed the feel of her beneath his fingers, against his body, hell, pretty much anywhere. But he didn’t want to risk losing the progress he’d made with her today and was prepared to take things nice and slow.
“Did you guys have fun?” Calliope jogged over with Lucas close behind.
Small puffs of dust billowed up with each step of their boots on the ground.
“Oh, my gosh! Calliope, it was so incredible!” Luna practically vibrated with excitement. “I hope I get to do it again sometime?” She turned and gave him a hopeful look.
“You can come out anytime you want.” He’d enjoyed their one-on-one time together a lot and wanted more of it.
Boone had become fast friends with the rest of the team, but as much as he loved hanging out with them, it was different with Luna.
During their ride up to the ridge, she’d shared all about how she came up with the idea for the bio-patch, built a prototype in her bedroom, then Caleb helped her find someone who would manufacture them.
Since he was also an electronics whiz and understood the role they played in their line of work, he was the perfect advocate to have in her corner.
Boone was floored when she told him she signed her first contracts with OSI and the Department of Defense on her nineteenth birthday.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, her skill with a computer was otherworldly.
She shared a funny story about hacking into her high school’s database to see test scores.
A move her sister had been none too happy about.
Luna spent a few minutes excitedly telling them how amazing the ride was, how beautiful the view was, and how sweet Patience was. She made no mention of the weeping willow tree.
Boone had planned to take her up there, and her reaction upon seeing it was everything he’d hoped it would be. Knowing she understood how special it was to him meant a lot.
“We’ll let them drink for a few minutes, then I’ll adjust the stirrup length for you, Calliope.”
His sister was a couple of inches shorter than Luna, so they would need to be brought up a bit. Calliope wasn’t the type to get all butt-hurt about her size. She had learned to turn what some might perceive to be a weakness—especially in their business—into a strength.
They chatted until Boone was certain the horses had taken in enough water, then he handed Sassy’s reins to Lucas.
“You’ve ridden before, so you should take her.” He quickly added, “Not that you can’t handle her, Calliope, just that she sorta prefers guys.”
“Relax, dude. I’m just glad I’m getting to ride at all.” She accepted Patience’s reins from Luna, wedged her foot in the stirrup and hopped up to swing her leg over before settling into the saddle.
Boone adjusted the stirrups for her and checked the tightness of the girth straps on both horses.
“You can just follow that path over there, and it’ll take you up to the ridge.
” He pointed toward the same trail worn in the grass that they’d taken.
“The view up there is amazing. You’ll see a stream about halfway up.
Go ahead and let the horses stroll into the water for a drink.
It’s not too deep in that section, so there’s no need for you to dismount. ”
“Sounds good.” Lucas clapped Sassy on the neck a couple of times.
“You take good care of Calliope like you did me, okay?” Luna stroked her hand down the front of Patience’s face, kissed her on the cheek, and stepped back. “Have fun.”
They gave a wave over their shoulder as they headed toward the main pasture and onto the path.
“I could use something to drink. How ’bout you?” Boone picked a piece of straw off her shoulder and tossed it aside.
“Sure.” She blushed, wedged her hands in her back pockets, and walked next to him on their way to the pavilion.
“I’m glad you had fun riding.” And that she’d confided in him.
“It was amazing.” She visibly relaxed when talking about the ride. “I’ll admit, I was a little bit nervous, but Patience”—she gave him a sideways look—“and you made it less scary.”
He’d love for her to join him more often. But it might be too soon to throw that out there.
“It must’ve been so great growing up with horses.” Luna’s gaze traveled to where Lucas and Calliope were just beginning to disappear from sight. “And growing up surrounded by so much land must’ve made you feel so safe and protected.”
That was an interesting statement. No doubt a by-product of what she’d been through.
“It was.” Boone had loved being in the military, but he’d been happy to take a job that allowed him to spend some of his down time ranching—even if only on a small scale.
“Ranching requires a lot of hard work and dedication. It teaches a lot about responsibility and what it means to have another living creature depending on you. And not just animals. Ranch hands, their families, hay growers, feed suppliers, all kinds of local businesses depend upon the rancher for their survival.”
“Sounds like a lot of pressure. It must have been difficult for your family.” She was such a sweetheart—she sounded genuinely concerned.
“It was at times, but it’s all worth it.” He loved ranching and was lucky to work for OSI. He could do the two things he loved—work to bring down scumbags and work with the land and with animals.
“Being able to come home to my own place after an especially tough op—there’s nothing like it in the world.” The only thing that would make it better is coming home to someone special.
“Are you planning to get any cows to keep here?” Luna’s brows crunched together, and she looked up at him. “Should I call them cows or cattle?”
She was so damn cute.
“Either one works.” She made him smile, and he thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her. “And, yes, I plan to have a few head of cattle in the near future.”
Her face lit up. She shifted to stand in front of him and stopped dead in her tracks.
“Can I be here when they arrive? Pleeease?” She laced her fingers together like she was praying. “I would love to see them.”
“Sure.” Seeing how excited she was, Boone was tempted to call his dad and have him send out a few right now.
“Oh, yay! I can’t wait.” She bounced on her tippy-toes, then started toward the pavilion again.
“When we lived in an apartment, we weren’t allowed to have pets.
I look back on that time and have no idea how Dawn did it all.
Even with the inheritance we got from our grandparents, going to medical school, holding down a job, keeping a roof over our heads and food in the fridge had to be tough.
On top of all that, she had to deal with me.
” She gave a self-deprecating chuckle. “She’s a superhero. ”
“If you asked her, I’m sure she would do it all over again.” He couldn’t imagine not having his parents in his life.
“You guys wanna play some cornhole?” Eddie had a beer in one hand and was tossing a beanbag up and catching it in the other hand.
“Sure.” Boone risked taking her hand and was pleased when she tightened her hold. “Let’s go kick their butts.”
She stared up at him with those big eyes of hers, and they stood there, still as stone, staring at each other for who the hell knew how long.
He loved the beautiful pink that flushed her cheeks just before she looked away. But she kept hold of his hand, and they walked in silence, side by side, as they made their way back to where the others waited.
“Can I get you something to drink, Luna?” Hawk lifted the lid on the cooler. “There’s beer, a couple kinds of soda, some white wine, and bottled water.”
“I’d love some white wine.”
“I’ll run inside and grab a wineglass for you.” Boone reluctantly released her hand and started toward the house.
“That’s not necessary.” She stepped over to the table and grabbed a small, clear plastic cup. “This works fine.”
“You sure?” He pointed over his shoulder. “I have some acrylic wineglasses inside that my mom gave me as a housewarming gift.”
She’d told him they were a nice option to have whenever he entertained outside.
“Oh, well, if your mom got them for you, then I’d be happy to use one.”
“Charlotte, would you like one, too?” he asked.
“Sounds fancy,” she said. “Sure, I’d love one.”
Luna followed him across the grass and up the steps. The spring on the screen door screeched when he opened it for her.
“That sound reminds me of the porch door at our house in San Francisco.” Luna glanced back at the door.
“For three years, Dawn scrimped and saved every extra penny she had until there was enough for a down payment. We would drive around looking at all of these awesome neighborhoods with nice houses and kids playing outside. My sister spent hours scouring real estate listings and made offers on a few houses that were rejected. Finally, one day, someone accepted our offer.”
She stepped into the kitchen and stopped short. “Oh, my gosh. I love this kitchen so much.”
“Thanks, it’s the first room I renovated.” When he bought the property, he hadn’t given much thought to the old farmhouse. He’d only been interested in the great piece of land that came with it. “This house still needs a lot of work, but I’m in no hurry. My original plan was to tear it down, and—”
“Tear it down!” She gave him an almost dirty look and sounded absolutely appalled by the idea. “Why would you do that? It’s such a neat old house.”
That’s how the building inspector felt. Though he’d used a word other than neat when describing it.
“My original plan was to build something new, but then I learned about the history of the original homestead and how the family that owned it lived here for a couple of generations until they moved out west to a bigger piece of property in Colorado.” Boone thought of his own family’s spread and the legacy his folks were building and couldn’t bring himself to end the legacy another family had started with this house.
After determining the bones of the old place were solid, he’d changed his mind.
“As you can see, I decided to keep the house and am doing some of the renovations myself.” He walked across the kitchen.
“Right here, there used to be a wall separating the kitchen from a dining room.” He swept his hand sideways where the kitchen was open to the main space.
“I knocked it down to open this up more.” He told her about the large master bedroom with attached bathroom he’d added to the main floor.
“There’s another bathroom down here and one on the second floor, along with three more bedrooms. I can do most of the renovations, but I leave the plumbing and electrical to the experts. I don’t mess with that stuff.”
“You’re way ahead of me. I know nothing about doing renovations.
” She slowly strolled around the kitchen, ran her hand along the dark brown, quartz countertop with flecks of gold and beige as she took in the natural pine cabinets.
“I just love the choices you’ve made in here.
The dark countertops are so pretty with the lighter cabinets. ”
“Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit—my mom helped with some of that.” His mom knew him so well, and he trusted her to make design choices that suited his personality. “Here, I want to show you something.”
She followed him over to the doorway leading to the cellar and pointed at some pencil marks on the wood.
“Are those what I think they are?” she asked.
“If you think they’re height markings, then yes, that’s exactly what they are.” He’d discovered them when he was painting all of the trim. “From what I can tell, they’re from four different kids. I saw that and couldn’t bring myself to paint over them.”
“That’s so cool.” Luna leaned in for a closer look and straightened.
“I love older homes. It’s like you can almost feel the people who lived here before you.
” She looked out across the large open area adjacent to the kitchen.
“I think it’s awesome that you didn’t tear it down.
And I especially love that you didn’t paint over those marks. ”
“I’m glad you like it.” He reached up to the top shelf, grabbed two acrylic wineglasses, and handed them to her. “Here ya go.”
“Wow, they look like glass.” She tapped her fingernail against the acrylic. “You sure you want us to use these?”
“Definitely. And I’ll have to take a picture to send my mom. She’ll be thrilled.” He chuckled as he closed the cabinet. “Dad teased her when she gave them to me, but she insisted I would need them someday.”
“And she was right.” Luna tapped the rims of the glasses together.
“She usually is.” Boone’s dad was always quick to admit when his mother was right and he was wrong. “I’m actually very lucky to be close to both of my parents.”
“That’s so nice.” She seemed to turn inward.
“My mom suffered from migraines and manic depression—these days it’s called bipolar disorder.
She was closed up in her room a lot, and on her rare good days, my dad would get her out of the house and they would be gone until late in the evening.
” She blew out a puff of breath and focused on him.
“My mother and father only had eyes for each other. So I never really knew either of them the way a child should know their parents. Dawn had to fill the giant parenting gaps they left behind.”
Boone moved closer to her but without crowding her. “Well, your sister did a great job, because you are an amazing woman, Luna.”
She laid her palm on his cheek. “Thank you.” Then she gave him a crooked smile. “Come on, let’s go see if we can beat those guys at cornhole.”