Chapter 25
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Cash carried the box of food he’d put together for Lark out to her sedan, sighing as he looked up into the gray sky. Now that the Thanksgiving holiday had ended, he really needed to pull out his folder for his mentees.
He needed to do his laundry, and he needed to get his head back on the rodeo circuit, and he needed to text his mother in Utah and find out if she had time to visit with him. He really didn’t want to do that last one, as his mother truly did have a new life now.
Just like Daddy, he thought.
Cash turned away from the bitter thoughts, though they still rang true through his soul. At the same time, he knew his father loved him with a depth that couldn’t be comprehended, and he turned toward Lark as she grunted under the weight of something.
He hurried down the sidewalk to help her with Sweetie’s purse, as she also towed her suitcase behind her, the wheeled thing almost bumping into her heels. “I got it,” he said, taking her little dog from her. “I don’t know who I’m going to miss more—you or this tiny thing.”
He grinned at her and ignored the way she rolled her eyes. “I think it’s you, though she helps me take the best naps ever.”
“She’s a snuggler,” Lark said. “But I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that this week too.”
“You definitely have.” Cash opened the front passenger seat of her SUV and placed Sweetie on the seat. “I’m going to miss movie night so much.” His voice dried up on the last word, and all he could do was pray Lark hadn’t heard him.
He moved to the back of the vehicle and took her suitcase from her. After lifting it in and sliding it forward, he turned toward her. “I’m going to miss sitting with you in the hot tub.”
“You are not,” she said even as she wrapped her arms around him. “I know I was infringing on your downtime, and now you’ll be able to get back to it.”
“Lark, my love.” He sighed, because he had so many things he wanted to say. He knew he shouldn’t, and he simply gathered her as close as he could get her. Perhaps he could tell her this one thing….
“Nothing about you infringes on anything I want to do,” he whispered. “Okay?” He leaned down and swept his lips along the edge of her ear. “I’m going to need to hear you say it.”
“What do you want me to say?” she whispered.
“Well, since you won’t say good-bye.” He pressed a kiss to the soft spot just below her ear he loved with everything inside him.
“I want to hear you say that you know you’re not a burden to me.
That this was the best week of your life, and that you know it was the best one of mine.
That you’ll be back in thirteen days, and you’ll positively forget your swimming suit, so I can see those Care Bears again, and you’ll bring—”
He stopped when her laughter covered his words, and he joined his joy to hers. He chuckled while she giggled in his arms, and nothing could be more right in the world than holding Lark like this.
Lark held onto his shoulders and looked up at him. He reached up and swept her hair back off her cheek, pushing it gently over her shoulder. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
She sobered, her eyes searching his. “This was the best week of my life.”
He leaned down and kissed her. Something simple but profound at the same time. “And?” He dipped his mouth to the hollow of her throat as she pulled in a breath through her nose.
“I don’t even own a swimming suit besides the Care Bears.” Her voice came out as barely more than air.
“Lucky me.” Cash wiped his thumb over her bottom lip and then kissed her again. “And?”
“I’ll be back in thirteen days.”
“Lark.”
“Cashew.”
He lifted his head, though the scent of her skin made his head swim. “You’re not saying what I want.”
“I can’t speak for you,” she said. “So I can’t say it was the best week of your life.”
“I just told you it was,” he said. “And that’s not what I want to hear anyway.”
Lark sighed and stepped out of his arms. “I might not be ready yet, and I won’t have you pushing me.”
Cash’s heartbeat crashed, and then he caught her coy side-eye. He grinned and followed her to the driver’s side door. “One more kiss,” he begged. “And I want a promise that you’ll call me when you get to your apartment in Pocatello. A call, Songbird. Not a text.”
She rolled her eyes again. “Fine, I’ll call you when I get there.” She curled her fingers into his jacket collar and pulled him to within an inch of her face. “I’m working on believing that I didn’t bother your routine this week, and yes, you may have your kiss.”
With that, she touched her lips to his, sending an inferno through Cash’s every cell. He simply couldn’t get enough of her, and he felt certain a foggy cloud lifted off of them and into the cold air as he kissed his lovely Lark good-bye.
A couple of hours later, Cash sighed as the movie he’d put on to comfort himself ended. He clutched a pillow to his chest and watched the credits roll, feeling too emotionally drained to even reach out and touch the screen of his tablet.
He’d skipped his workout this morning, as he usually did on Sundays, and he hadn’t gone to church either.
No one had invited him for a Sabbath Day lunch, and he hadn’t even thought about food today.
He’d sent a lot of the leftovers home with Lark, and Cash groaned as he finally found the energy to heave himself into a sitting position on the edge of the mattress.
He’d lay down where Lark had last week, the one time she’d come in the master bedroom and taken a nap with him. He swore he could still smell the scent of her shampoo on the pillow, but that was most likely a delusion.
Still, he looked toward the hall, certain he could hear little Sweetie’s claws clicking on the hardwood in the hall. The Yorkie didn’t make an appearance, and Cash wiped both hands down his face, muttering, “You’ve got to pull yourself together.”
And something that had always worked for him in that department was a hot shower. He stripped off his shirt on his way to the bathroom, turning back when his phone rang.
The piercing sound of birdsong brought his feet to a complete stop, as he’d done one thing before collapsing into bed after Lark had left, and that was to program his phone with that ringtone for his now-absent girlfriend.
He practically lunged back onto the bed, scrambling across its width to get to his phone on the opposite nightstand. He managed to get it in his hand at the beginning of the third ring, and he rolled onto his back and swiped on the call by the end of it.
“Hey,” he said breathlessly.
“Cash, hey,” Lark said, and she sounded frazzled.
His thoughts flowed to a flat tire, or something she’d left here that she really needed in the next thirteen days.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asked.
“My grandmother’s pastor just called,” she said. “And I hate to ask this of you, but I don’t have anyone else.”
Cash got up off the bed again. “You have me, Larky. I can go check on her.”
“Would you?” Her voice turned wounded, and Cash hated the sound of it.
“Where are you, hon?”
“Just outside of Jackson,” she said. “I could come back, but there was a ton of traffic in town, and they had this wild road closure up by Jenny Lake that added twenty minutes to the drive already, and—”
“Hey, you don’t need to come back,” Cash said. “I’m forty minutes away, and if you think it’s more important than that, I can send my grandma over there right now.”
“That’s the thing,” Lark said. “With Grammy, you never know if it’s important or not.”
“What did the pastor say?” Cash stooped and picked up the shirt he’d discarded. He just needed his boots, hat, jacket, and keys, and he could hit the road. Oh, and his wallet.
“He said she didn’t show up with the cookies for their outreach program.”
Cash didn’t know what any of that meant.
“Cash, she’s been baking cookies and taking them to the church’s outreach program every Sunday for five decades.”
He put the pieces together quickly. “And she didn’t show up today.”
“No,” Lark said. “The pastor said he called her, but of course, she didn’t pick up.”
“Are we even sure your grandmother’s phone rings when someone calls it?”
“No, we are not,” Lark said. “So add that to the list of things you need to check when you get there.”
Cash headed out into the kitchen. “I’m on the way, and I’ll call you as soon as I figure out what’s happening.” He grabbed his keys and wallet from the drawer at the end of the island. “Will you have service?”
“It’s pretty good between here and there, yes.” Lark’s voice sounded tinny, and Cash’s heart tore for her.
“Babe,” he said, because he didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m fine.” Lark sucked in a long breath. “Really. I just didn’t want to leave, and this is one of the reasons why, and now it just feels even harder.”
“I know, hon, but you don’t have to shoulder this. Focus on getting home safely, and I’ll handle Grammy, okay?”
“Okay,” she said. “You’re right.” She exhaled loudly. “Okay. Thanks, baby.”
Cash put his cowboy hat on and grabbed his jacket from the hook, the nickname she called him—baby—ringing in his ears. She’d used it several times in the past few days, though he’d never called attention to it.
“I’m headed out now. More soon.”
“Yep. More soon.” Lark ended the call, and Cash got in his truck and started the drive to Coral Canyon. Just because he could, he called his grandma on the way through the apple orchards.
“Cash, darling,” she said when she answered. “What is up?”
He grinned at the way she spoke. “I’m on my way to you,” he said. “Lark’s grandmother didn’t show up for the outreach program, and she called me to go check on her. I was wondering if you and Gramps had plans for one of your three p.m. dinners, and if I might be able to crash it?”
She laughed, and the sound buoyed Cash’s spirits. “Yes, dear. You’re always welcome to crash our dinner.”
“What’s on the menu?”
“Your grandpa bought some steaks yesterday,” Grams said. “He’s going to grill those up, and I was going to bake off a couple of sweet potatoes.”