Chapter 19
Henry
Bailey was sleeping in Amelia's bedroom, and Henry was awake and sitting on the couch when the door opened. The guy at the door couldn't see Henry and had no idea he was in there, but PJ (who had been sleeping on the couch at Henry's feet) jumped up and ran to the door the instant it opened.
"What are you doing out, you little escape artist? Get down."
"Are you Caleb?" Henry asked, standing up and speaking in a voice deeper and more serious than usual.
"Oh, my gosh, you scared me!" the guy said, exclaiming with a hand to his chest. It was a young man, and he was standing near the door when Henry showed himself. His face turned red, and he made a look of confusion.
"Are you taking care of the dog, bro?"
"You mean PJ?" Henry asked, annoyed.
"Yes, this dog. You're not the person who lives here, are you? Caleb said it was two girls."
"No, I do not live here. I just came by. You're not Caleb?"
"Me, no. I'm Matty. Caleb's my boy, though. That's why I'm doing this for him. Did you already let the dog outside this morning? Are you taking over? I could show you where the food is. Did you find it?"
"Wait a second, where's Caleb? I thought he was going to have the dog with him—that the house would be empty."
"No, the dog's here," he said hesitantly, looking at Henry like he wasn't making sense. "And you're here."
Henry would have liked very much to have popped that guy in the face with his fist in that moment, but he kept his composure.
"I know the dog is here and I'm here," he said. "But I was under the impression that it was going to be with Caleb for two months while his owner is out of town."
"Oh, yeah, I know, but Caleb had to go out of town, so I'm the new babysitter." He laughed. "Are you renting this place or something?"
"No, the owner is… my friend."
"Oh, well, yeah, this works out great, then. It's honestly a hassle for me to do it. If you're going to be here, you could take over."
"What's a hassle? Caring for the dog?"
"No, no, that part of it's fine. The dog's sweet.
It's not that big of a deal. It's just feeding it and letting it out to pee twice a day.
The thing is, I live and work in Broadmoor, and it's a thirty-minute drive for me to get over here.
That's the part that sucks. I'm coming over here twice a day, morning and afternoon.
To be honest, I just did it once yesterday, and he's obviously fine.
Don't tell Caleb, because he said I should try to come twice. "
Henry's heart sank at the thought of PJ being in a kennel all day and night.
"When's Caleb coming back?"
"Four days. There are just two left, though, after today. He had to run down to LA. I'm on day two, so all I have left is tomorrow and the next day. If you're going to be around for a couple of days, I could just tell him someone else is doing it."
"And what exactly do you do with the dog?"
"Oh, he's good at staying in the kennel. I just let him out to pee and feed him. I'm here for like five minutes, max. The biggest hassle is driving here, like I said. But if you're going to be here anyway..."
The guy was looking at Henry like he was trying to sell him on the idea of taking over. Henry's patience had been tested from the minute he came inside.
"Yeah, I'm going to look after the dog," he said calmly. "I don't actually have your friend Caleb's number, though. If you'll give me that, I'll call and work it out, no problem."
The guy breathed a relieved sigh and let his shoulders slump dramatically as if it was a gigantic weight off his shoulders. "Oh, thanks so much, bro, yeah, of course I'll give you Caleb's number."
It was 10am when Bailey woke up and came out to the living room.
Henry had already been on a long walk with PJ.
He wasn't much for sitting around and watching television in the middle of the day, but his work at the farm was not remote, so he had nothing productive to do while he was waiting for his sister to wake up.
He was hanging out with the dog and watching sports recaps on television when his sister walked out there.
PJ jumped up and went to meet Bailey, and she grinned sleepily as she stooped down to pet him. "Hey, you little fireball. You're still here?"
"He's ours now," Henry said.
Her gaze snapped up to meet his.
"Not ours, but… what I mean is that we're in charge of him. If that's okay. I hope it is."
"Till when, for the rest of the trip?" she asked. She walked toward the couch to sit next to Henry, and she called the dog over. He hopped up there, and Henry watched as Bailey started loving on him, rubbing behind his ears.
"Longer," he said.
"What's that mean?" she asked, looking confused.
"I'm taking him back to Montana with us. We are. I hope you're okay with it."
"What? Yes, I am, but how?"
"On the plane," he said. "I've already been in touch with the airline."
"You're coming home with us," she said in a cooing tone, petting PJ some more. "What happened? Did the guy come by?"
"No, but his friend did. He said Caleb went out of town and left him in charge of the dog for four days. He told him to come by twice a day."
"Whoa. When will the other guy be back?"
"He'll get back before we leave, but I'm not leaving PJ with him."
"What's Amelia going to say?"
"I really don't know. I think she'll be happy.
I'll keep him with me. I left a message for that guy, Caleb, but I haven't heard back from him.
I won't act like I'm mad. I'll just say I'm taking PJ back to Montana to finish the movie with Amelia.
I'll tell him not to tell her—that I want to make it a surprise. "
Bailey continued to rub behind PJ's ears. "Oh, my goodness, you little handsome thing. You're coming to Montana wif us?"
"Are you sure you don't mind?" he asked her.
"Why would I mind?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I don’t know. I know how excited you are about the trip. I don’t want to put a dent in it."
"You're not," she said. "Why? Does it mean we can't go anywhere while we're here?"
"No, no, not at all. We'll just kennel him when we leave. He's been on a walk already this morning. And I threw the frisbee with him, too, which is fun. You're going to love doing that. But anyway, he's good now if you want to get dressed, we'll go explore a little bit.
***
San Francisco was amazing.
Henry shared quality time with his sister that was much needed for both of them.
She shared details about her feelings and told him things about her life, her hopes and fears—things he had never known about her before.
He knew she was in a good place and that she was going to be okay, and that was a gigantic weight off his shoulders.
The time spent with his sister was priceless. They would both cherish their experience in California, but after three days of being there, Henry was ready to go home.
He missed the ranch. That didn't surprise him.
He was a little taken aback, however, by how much he missed Amelia.
It had only been a few days, and he was absolutely aching to be next to her.
They had talked while he was away, but she had no idea about PJ.
Every time Amelia crossed his mind, he felt something in his heart—something significant. Henry was sure that he loved her.
It was early to feel that way, but it was the truth. He had first felt something for her that day in the church over a year ago, and his feelings had done nothing but grow since then. What they had was rooted in God, and that was more important than anything else.
Amelia was an amazing person, and he saw the fruit of that all over her house.
He was drawn to her in so many ways. He loved how she was smiling in her photographs.
He loved the way she had opened her home to them.
There wasn't a single thing he didn't love about this woman.
She was a jewel. Henry worked in a barn, surrounded by dirty animals and other men, and Amelia Banks was like a sparkling jewel in the otherwise matte brown landscape of his life.
She was beautiful, and precious, and he wanted to be with her always—to cherish her and protect her.
He could not wait to see her. She had no idea that PJ had come to Montana with them, and he was excited to surprise her.
It was mid-afternoon when Henry and Bailey finished their trip and made it back to the ranch.
They had been there for a few hours, but Amelia still had no idea.
She was filming a scene today and had been busy doing that all day.
It was five o'clock now, and he was finally walking over to her trailer.
He left PJ in the barn. Henry had taken a shower when he and Bailey first got back to the ranch.
He ate a peppermint on the way to her trailer.
Henry wasn't normally the type to care about how fresh his breath was, but nothing was normal about his feelings for Amelia.
California was far away and nothing like Montana. Henry's whole life was centered around this ranch and his horses. But as he walked to that trailer to see Amelia, it occurred to him that he would leave it all.
He thought about asking her to stay in Montana, and he hoped she would do it, but ultimately, he would leave if that was what it took to be with her.
Henry couldn't believe that he was thinking of that, but it was the truth.
He would do whatever it took. If Amelia wanted him, he was hers.
He would make it happen and stay with her, even if she needed to be in California.
He smiled at the thought of it. He didn't want to pick up his life and move, but he could live anywhere as long as Amelia was there, and that made him happy.
Henry couldn't even believe the feelings he was having and the thoughts that were going through his own mind.
He knocked on the door of her trailer, taking a deep, calming breath and telling himself to be patient.
Amelia opened the door and smiled at Henry, and his heart might as well have jumped out of his chest.
"Hi," he said, smiling back at her and doing his best to pretend he wasn't in a gigantic hurry to have her in his arms and never let her go.
She motioned for him to come inside, and he looked around cautiously.
Henry used the steps to make his way into the trailer.
It was small enough that he could see at a glance that they were alone.
"Where's Ty?" he asked, since she could have been using the restroom.
"She went into Butte to eat dinner with some of the others."
"You didn't want to go?" he asked, staring at her and feeling like he was barely able to keep his hands to himself. He made a fist to distract himself. "How did the scene go today?"
She smiled at him with a little smirk before she answered. "Can I have a hug? I missed you. That's why I didn't go. I wanted to see you."
"Please," he said, without hesitation, taking her into his arms.
They held onto each other, and Henry breathed a sigh of relief. She smelled amazing, and it felt like heaven having her close. He was close to saying something to pour his heart out, but he didn’t even know where to begin. "I brought you a souvenir," he said.
She pulled back and looked at him. Her eyes were glossy—full of tears. It wasn't from what he said about the souvenir… she was tearing up before he ever said that.
Henry could not stop himself from kissing her. He leaned in, and she knew what was happening because she leaned in to meet him. He put his mouth on hers, and it was perfection. He had missed her so much he could hardly think straight. What was happening to him?
Her hand came up, and she touched the side of his face. They kissed gently twice, three times, and then four, five, six—gentle, slow kisses.
He pulled back, and she stared up at him. She blinked, and a tear fell out of her eye and ran down the front of her cheek.
"Oh," he said, wiping at it gently with his thumb.
"It's just that I'm happy," she said, quickly turning and wiping at her cheek with the back of her hand.
"I love you," he said. He didn't know why he said it. He didn't plan on saying that. He felt it, but he never dreamed he would say it out loud. It had just come out of his mouth when he saw the tear. He opened his mouth again to try to backpedal a little and explain that, "What I meant was—"
"I love you, too, Henry," she said simply.
She buried her face in his chest, holding onto him. Henry realized as he held her and looked down at the top of her head that they both meant it.