36. Bailey
Bailey
S tabbing the thermometer into the slice of meat, I checked that it was close to rare. One thing I could never forget about Lettie was that she liked a red piece of meat. She’d order the dang thing still moo’ing if she could. I liked my steak, but I preferred it cooked to some extent.
Grabbing it with the tongs, I pulled it off the grill to set on the clean plate I had ready. My mother’s scalloped potatoes were inside in the oven with ten minutes left on the timer, and the salad was prepped and ready for dressing.
I didn’t have to go all out with this dinner for Lettie. Hell, she’d be happy with to-go tacos from the Mexican joint in town. But I needed her to know I was taking this seriously. I didn’t want her to think all I wanted was a hookup. What I wanted was far from that.
I wanted her to take my damn last name.
Nothing with Lettie and me was ‘too fast.’ If anything, we took things way too fucking slow. I’d been falling in love with her throughout our whole lives, and the last thing I wanted to do was lose her again because I didn’t make my intentions clear enough this time around.
This was my second chance with Lettie, and I’d be damned if I fucked it up.
But that didn’t mean I’d be proposing to her tonight. Sometime in the future, of course. Tonight was to prove to her that we could be more than just childhood friends crushing on each other.
It was no secret she felt the same way. She may think she was hiding it well, but I saw right through the walls she tried to put up, and I was determined to break them down one by one.
I could win her over and figure out a way to keep this ranch in my parents’ name. They needed more land in order to grow more, which in turn would bring in more profit. But the acreage around this part of Idaho was going up in price each day.
We weren’t the only ones falling on hard times, though. The locals were feeling it just as hard. The Bronsons had the rescue bringing in extra funds on top of the money Reed and Callan brought in for them, so they were better off than the lot of us.
We’d figure it out. We always did. But tonight wasn’t about that.
After another minute, I pulled my steak off the grill, dialed the knobs down, and kept the lid propped open before heading inside with the plate of steaks. Using the toe of my boot, I slid the slider door shut, then set the plate on the island to slice the steaks.
There weren’t too many five star restaurants around Bell Buckle, but this would come pretty darn close to one. My mom’s scalloped potatoes and these steaks? Could never go wrong with that.
I sliced through the meat with a knife. My mouth salivated at the thought of digging in. Hopefully, Lettie got here soon because I was starving.
The timer for the potatoes rang out. I spun around, grabbing an oven mitt and opening the door. I pulled the glass dish out, turned off the oven, and set them on the stove to cool while I dressed the salad.
I drizzled the honey vinaigrette over the summer salad containing strawberries, corn, avocado, and an assortment of other vegetables to bring the dish together. It sounded like an odd combination, but once Mrs. Bronson talked me into trying a bite a few summers ago, I was hooked.
Grabbing the potato dish, salad, and plate of steaks, I walked back out onto my porch. I carefully went down the porch steps and headed for the white gazebo I’d built about a hundred feet from my back porch a couple years ago.
It was nice to come out here after a long day on the ranch and enjoy a beer. I’d purchased more high-end outdoor furniture for the gazebo since the roof protected them. The chairs were far more comfortable than what I had on my back porch, so this was my go-to spot ever since I completed it.
I arranged the dishes on the white tablecloth to fit in between the array of candles I’d set out.
After adjusting a few things, I stood back, checking off my mental to-do list to make sure everything was perfect.
Salad fork, dinner fork, knife, spoon, plates, water, wine...
I forgot the damn napkins.
Making sure I had foil over all of the dishes in case pesky bugs decided to ruin all of my hard work, I headed in the direction of my parents’ house on foot.
I’d moved into their in-law unit on the property shortly after I’d turned eighteen. It was convenient with working on the ranches, and rent was decent, so I never thought about leaving here.
Thinking about it now, it may seem odd that I was still technically “living at home” at the age of twenty-seven. It was the same property, just not the same house. That counted for something, right?
It’s not like I sat around playing video games in my parents’ basement. I worked my ass off every day, rain, snow, or shine. Working was like my therapy. Keeping my hands busy kept my mind from spiraling.
When I found out Lettie left Bell Buckle, I’d mucked stalls, filled water buckets, swept the barn, cleaned the damn cobwebs from the rafters. Anything you could think of doing on a ranch, I did it, and I didn’t stop for sixteen hours.
My hands were to the point they were nearly bleeding, but I knew if I stopped, the thoughts would take over. The overthinking. Was it me? Did she hate me that much, after everything we’d been through?
Unfortunately for me, there’s only so much the human body can handle. I hit my breaking point physically, which in turn made me hit my breaking point mentally.
Lettie may never understand how much her leaving affected me, but now that she was back, I was past that. I wanted this new beginning with her, regardless of the past.
For all I knew, she may have been running from her mental breaking point, too.
Making it to their house, I headed inside and found my mom doing dishes in the kitchen, my dad beside her drying off each one she handed him.
“Hi, sweetie,” she said over her shoulder.
“Hey, Mom. Do you happen to know where those light blue napkins are?”
She handed my dad a plate before turning off the sink and facing me. She wiped her hands on a rag, drying them off. “Oh, you’re bringing out the fancy napkins, huh?”
I frowned to hide the smile that tried to creep up on me. “Just need some sort of napkin, Mom.”
My dad set the dish in the upper cabinet and closed it. He faced me, folding the dish towel he’d been using, as my mom dug through a drawer in the corner of the kitchen.
“Finally putting that gazebo to good use, I see,” he said.
“What do you mean? I hang out in there all the time,” I defended.
He chuckled. “Drinking beer in the thing ain’t breaking it in, Bailey.”
My mom closed the drawer a little too hard, an obvious smile pulling at her lips despite the look of shock she wore at my dad’s comment. “Eddie Cooper, you did not just insinuate that Bailey needs to-”
I held up a hand to stop her. “Please don’t put words to it, Mom. We all know what he was getting at.”
And if I got lucky, that would most definitely be happening tonight.
Hell, I considered myself lucky that she even said yes to a date with me. She probably thought I was too damn dumb to set up a proper date all on my own. She was sure to be surprised when she showed up tonight.
My mom crossed the kitchen, holding the napkins out to me. “Wash them before you return them, please.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’d stay longer, but I have to get back before some coyote decides to dig into a nice steak dinner. Made your recipe for the potatoes.”
She pulled me in for a hug, her head barely reaching my chest. “I always knew you liked that girl. ‘Bout time you admitted it.”
I laughed. “I didn’t admit anything. ”
She pulled back, an eyebrow raised. “You may have gotten away with fooling me when you were a kid, but not anymore, Bailey. I know love in your eyes when I see it.”
My mom was good at jumping into people's personal business. She also loved love, so it wasn’t a surprise to me that she was happy that I was finally showing interest in a woman. My eyes had always been on Lettie. I’d just been waiting for her to look at me the same way, too.
I looked over her head at my dad, mouthing, “Help me.”
He chuckled again, shaking his head as he headed toward the living room.
My mom smacked my arm with the dish towel my dad had set on the counter, a big smile on her face.
“Thanks for the napkins.”
“Of course, honey. Let me know how it goes. And bring Lettie by for dinner sometime. I haven’t seen her in forever.”
I bent to kiss my mom’s cheek. “That is if she doesn’t run for the hills after tonight.”
“Ah, you two will be rollin’ around in the hay in no time,” my dad said from the brown leather couch.
“Eddie!” my mom shouted at him in disbelief.
Oh, if only he knew.
I walked back out their front door and headed in the direction of my house, the napkins shoved in the back pocket of my jeans. I’d opted for no hat tonight, solely due to what Lettie had said to me at the bar in Montana.
“Stop covering those eyes. ”
“Why?”
“They’re beautiful, is all.”
If she hadn’t said that, I’d be wearing my dirt-and-sweat-coated cowboy hat. It was like a safety blanket at this point. Without it, I felt naked.
After I’d asked her over to dinner earlier today, I’d got to work on decorating the gazebo as soon as I’d left the Bronsons’ ranch. I’d hung fairy lights from the roof to line the arches, set up the table with candles, flowers from the field, and a tablecloth.
I’d gone the whole nine yards, power washing the concrete slab it sat on, getting the cobwebs all swept away, and dusting the dirt off the railings.
Everything I did when it came to Lettie was spur of the moment because I lost my damn mind around her, and if I had to be honest, I didn’t want to find it. But tonight would be different. I needed her to know how serious I was about her.
As I approached my house, I noticed Lettie’s SUV was parked out front on the gravel driveway, the headlights off. Seeing that she wasn’t with her car, I walked around back.
Coming around the side of the house, I stopped in my tracks at the sight of Lettie standing there, her silhouette lit up by the fading sun and the lights decorating the gazebo.
Her caramel-colored hair was loose, hanging down her back and almost reaching the hem of her jeans. Her shoulders were bare, the dark orange top she had on barely held on by a knot, showcasing her back to me.
She looked like an angel standing there with the lights in front of her.
If this was as good as tonight got, seeing her standing there, the clear surprise shown in her posture as she was unaware I was behind her, I’d be completely content.
After all those years apart, Lettie was here. Back in my orbit.