Chapter 7 #2
“Took you long enough to ask,” Lark said, clearly teasing. “I expected a lot more comments about it much sooner.”
“Hey, I can be a gentleman,” he said. “Maybe that could be my nickname. Gentleman.”
Lark giggled, and he opened his eyes to find her shaking her head. “I kind of like Cashew. What don’t you like about it?”
“A nut? Really?”
“It’s cute,” she said.
“That’s what I am?” He raised his eyebrows, disbelief tearing through him. “Cute? I’m a cute cowboy? My publicist would be horrified.”
That caused Lark to burst out laughing, and Cash marveled and reveled in it at the same time.
“Well, I had a few others on my list,” she said. “But I didn’t think Cha-Ching and Cold Hard Cash were very cute. And Banks and Bucks and Golden Boy all felt kind of lame.”
“My cousin has a horse named Golden Boy, so that’s not going to work,” he said. “Maybe not everyone can come up with the perfect nickname for someone.”
“You think Songbird is perfect?”
He gazed at her, his smile seemingly stuck in place. “Have you heard your laugh?”
Lark’s face turned perfectly blank, and it could have been the lights as they changed to red, but Cash was pretty sure her cheeks pinked up as she ducked her head in that adorable, flirty move she did. He wondered if she even realized what she was doing—and what it did to him.
He cleared his throat, trying to tame his thoughts and his emotions at the same time. “It’s a pretty laugh,” he said, trying to shrug it off. “That’s all I’m saying.”
Lark looked at him again, something sparking and electric between them, growing larger and larger the longer their eyes stayed locked.
“Have you always wanted to be a vet?” Cash asked.
“No, actually,” Lark said. “But my brothers have that farm down in Texas, and I thought I could work with them if I became a vet. And even if I didn’t, farms and ranches always need people with animal science expertise.”
“Do they?” Cash asked, as his research hadn’t netted him much information.
“Sure,” Lark said. “Cattle ranchers employ feed specialists to formulate specific diets that help their cattle grow the biggest. You know they sell their cattle based on weight, right?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” Cash said.
“Well, they do,” Lark said. “I can work in the veterinary industry without being a vet by working in pharmacies for veterinary medical companies. I can work in food safety and quality control at meat processing plants. There’s a whole branch of animal science that focuses on training too, like K-9 dogs or racehorses or marine mammals. ”
“There’s a K-9 dog training facility right here in Coral Canyon,” Cash said. “My daddy is friends with Ames Hammond, who owns it.”
“Yeah,” Lark said. “I know about it. He came to our elementary school a couple times when I was growing up.”
Cash nodded, trying to find a way to phrase his question without being too obvious. “Do you think I need someone with animal science knowledge at my cutting horse operation?”
Lark’s gaze flew to his, and Cash wondered if he’d just revealed far too much. Of course you have, he chastised himself.
“I mean, you could,” she finally said. “If they’ve done the training, they could help you train the horses, but they could definitely help you with the day-to-day operations.
Because we take business classes as much as animal knowledge courses as well.
There’s a track that works with the reproduction of animals, or they could function, like I said, as a feed specialist, and have contacts with your vets for the right types of immunizations and medications. ”
Cash found her so sexy when she talked so intelligently, and he let the jet pulsing against his right foot push his leg up, and he moved it over until his toes grazed the top of her foot.
She pulled in an audible breath, even above the jets, and Cash grinned at her.
“Maybe I’ll have to find me an animal science graduate,” he said, immediately hating his version of flirting.
He pulled his foot back into place as the wind blew across his face, reminding him that he was outside in the winter in Wyoming, and he needed to have his wits about him.
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Lark said. Either she didn’t recognize his flirting, or she didn’t think it was too lame. He leaned his head back again and gazed into the night sky he loved.
“Listen, Cash?” she asked. “I want to ask you something, and you can say no if you want.”
“All right,” he said, his heartbeat pulsing at him.
“It’s actually a couple of things,” Lark said, and he could tell her nervousness without having to look at her. “I can help make lunch tomorrow, because you said you were making extras for Wade and Jet, and I’m wondering if we can take some to Grammy too.”
“Sure,” Cash said, thankful the question was easy. “There will be plenty. I always make too much food.”
A beat went by before she said, “Thanks. And, um, I’m going to try and convince my grandmother to come stay here for the next week. And I think if she knows she’ll be fed well and have Sweetie nearby, that she’ll come.”
Cash opened his eyes and looked at Lark, not quite sure what to do with this development.
“I’d take her home on Sunday when I leave,” Lark said. “She could stay in one of the guest bedrooms on the main floor. My brothers will stay upstairs. You won’t have to give up the master suite.”
“All right,” Cash said, because how could he tell Lark no? He couldn’t imagine ever doing that.
The jets went off in one moment, and in the next, Cash could hear his phone ringing from inside the house—a special ringtone he’d given to his father.
His stomach fell through his body, and while Cash had put his daddy off plenty of times, for some reason tonight, he pushed himself up and out of the hot tub.
With water cascading off his body, he said, “That’s my daddy. I’ll be right back.”
He opened the sliding glass door with one hand and the towel warmer with the other, managing to get a towel out and thrown over his shoulders as he stepped into the house to answer the phone.
The end of the third ring sounded just as he swiped and then tapped to turn the speaker on.
With wind whipping across the back of his wet neck, Cash turned back toward the sliding glass door and pulled it closed.
“Hey, Daddy, what’s up?”
“I knew you’d still be awake.” His father chuckled.
“I’m surprised you are,” Cash shot back. “Do you know what time it is?”
“It’s almost ten-thirty,” Daddy said.
“Yeah. And what time do I get in the hot tub?” Cash asked.
“Well, you didn’t have to answer,” his father said. “I thought you didn’t take your phone out to the hot tub.”
He watched the glowing lights as they lit up the night sky from around the corner where the hot tub sat. “I don’t,” he said. “My first cycle just ended.”
“I’ll be quick,” Daddy said. “Faith is making a big vat of her hamburger stew tomorrow, and we heard from Bryce that you were making doughnuts, and she’s wondering if we can arrange a trade.”
Cash grinned, catching the joy on his face in the partial reflection in the glass in front of him. “Yeah, I’m sure that can be arranged. I’m making raspberry jam-filled doughnuts with either a cream cheese frosting or a white chocolate glaze. I haven’t decided yet.”
“We want whatever you make,” Faith called. “We just need one doughnut for each of us.”
“So you need a half-dozen?” Cash asked, his voice growing louder so his step-mom could hear.
“Yes, please,” she said. “I’ll fix you up with hamburger stew for a week.”
“Remember, I’ve got guests at the McClellans. Jet and Wade and their sister, Lark,” he said. And maybe their grandmother, he added to himself. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t want Lark’s grandmother at the house all week, and he’d need more time in the hot tub to riddle it all out.
“Well, we can come over around five or six,” Daddy said. “Maybe we’ll eat with you.”
“That won’t work, because we’re gonna be down in Coral Canyon then,” Cash said, realizing too late what he just said.
“We are?” Daddy asked. “Who’s we? And why will you be down in Coral Canyon?”
Cash’s pulse picked up the pace, sprinting faster and faster as he tried to find an explanation that didn’t involve him spending every second he could with the beautiful Lark McClellan. After a few seconds that felt way too long, he still had nothing, so he decided to go with the truth.
“Lark’s grandmother lives in the fifty-five plus community there,” he said. “And we’re going to take her dinner. We can stop by your place with the doughnuts after that and make the swap.”
“All right,” Daddy said, his voice pitching up at least an octave as he drawled out the last word. “Well then, I guess we’ll see you and Lark tomorrow night.”
“Yep,” Cash said. After he ended the call, he sighed and hung his head as he set his phone back on the corner of the table.
“Now all you’ve got to do,” he muttered to himself. “Is figure out how to prep Lark for meeting your whole family in less than twenty-four hours.”