Chapter 36
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX
Lark set the pan on the burner and stepped back, bending to see how to light the flame. “Cash makes this look so easy,” she muttered, her bad mood swinging wildly through her. She’d hated waking up alone in this house for the past five days—and today, Christmas Day, had soured her even further.
Still, she was determined to have something ready for breakfast when Cash arrived. He’d said he’d be there “that morning” to celebrate the holiday with her privately before they went to his parents’ lakeside mansion to eat dinner and give his gifts to his younger siblings.
She knew how to fry eggs and brown up spam, and she’d gone to town after her interview with Bailey McAllister to get the golden potato rolls Cash loved from the family bakery on Main Street.
He’d wrinkled his nose and chuckled when she’d asked him about the Kraft cheese slices versus real cheese. “Always real cheese, Larky,” he’d whispered just before kissing her again.
He’d come to pick her up for two dates since moving out, and Lark missed the way she saw him all day, and cuddled with him on the couch while they both fell asleep, and yes, hot-tubbing with him.
Lark didn’t really understand why he couldn’t just stay in the master bedroom. The house felt cold and hollow without him there, and the burner clicked a couple of times before finally lighting.
Satisfied that she’d managed to use her mother’s complicated stove, she turned back to the island, where she’d put the dozen eggs and can of spam. She blew out her breath and picked up the carton of eggs.
After setting those next to the stove, she added a bit of butter to the pan and opened the skinny cabinet between the stove and fridge to get down the salt and pepper.
Lark wasn’t the greatest chef in the world, but she’d existed on eggs as her main source of protein while at college, and she could prepare them in a variety of ways.
She realized then, that she should’ve started with the spam, as eggs weren’t good cold, and she should probably wait entirely until Cash showed up.
Lark sighed as she flipped off the burner, extinguishing the flame immediately. She planted one palm against the counter next to the eggs and exhaled again. “What am I doing?”
“Are you cooking?”
She jerked away from the stove as if it had spoken to her, spinning toward the sound of Cash’s voice. He stood in jeans and a black leather jacket at the corner of the kitchen, and Lark definitely took in the white plastic grocery sacks in his hands.
“Yes,” she said, blinking at him. “Kind of.”
Cash grinned at her and entered the kitchen, moving to the patch of countertop on the end above the dishwasher. He put his groceries there, glanced into the sink, and turned toward. “I thought it was implied that I was coming to make breakfast.”
“Was it?” She tilted her head, some of her bad mood evaporating at the mere sight of him. “You didn’t even tell me what time you’d be here, and you don’t exactly get up early.”
He stepped toward her. “I guess I thought it was implied.” He glanced at both sides of the kitchen where she stood, clearly seeing the can of spam, and then focused solely on her. “Mm, Merry Christmas, Songbird.”
Cash had such an easy way about him, and he could make every action and word feel natural. He took her into his arms effortlessly, drew in a deep breath from the top of her head, and ran his hands up her back to her hair.
“You’re delicious when you’ve not gotten ready yet.” He spoke in a whisper, and the words he said, combined with how he said them, made warmth slip across her skin and down into her core.
He pushed his hand through her hair. “I love your hair when it’s wild like this.” He leaned down and took another deep breath of it. “It shows me who you really are.”
“It’s a little out of control this morning,” she said. “I need to get it cut.”
“Mm, I don’t think so.” He touched his lips to her cheek, immediately dropping his mouth to hers. “I like it just like this.”
He kissed her then, and it could’ve been the holiday magic, or the scent of his cologne, or the fact that he’d shown up before nine o’clock, but Lark’s mind swam as she lost herself to him.
After several long moments, he pulled back. “I brought stuff for breakfast.”
“I was going to make you a cheesy, melty spam-and-egg sandwich.”
“That also sounds amazing,” he said. “But I feel like I heard you say you wanted something baked and delicious.”
“I never said those exact words.”
“I hear what you say and what you don’t say, Songbird.” He swept a kiss along her collar and then threaded his fingers through hers. “Come on. I’ve missed this kitchen, and I don’t want you to do anything today.”
Lark stumbled after him as he led her out of the kitchen and toward the living room. “You’ve missed the kitchen?”
Cash chuckled as Lark dropped onto the couch with an irritated scoff. He crouched in front of her, and because she had two operating eyes with twenty-twenty vision, she swore she found love in his gaze.
“I missed you too, Lark-my-love.”
With those perfect words simmering through her blood vessels, he straightened and went back into the kitchen. Lark watched him move around the space with power, efficiency, and grace. He put her pan in the sink and instead, set the oven to preheat.
“What are you making?” she asked.
“My momma always made quiche on Christmas morning,” he said, his voice almost achieving the nonchalance Lark was sure he’d attempted to pull off.
She got to her feet and walked over to the bar, sliding onto a stool there so she could be closer to him. “Your momma, huh?”
His gaze flitted past hers. “Yep.”
“You don’t talk about her.”
“No, not much.” He turned his back on her. “Her parents are here in Dog Valley, actually. Well, her momma, still. My grandpa died a couple of years ago.”
“Here?” Lark’s eyebrows went up. “Really?”
He drew in a breath as he put a cube of butter in a bowl and slid it into the microwave. “Yeah. Carrie and Mason Peters. My daddy made sure I saw them all the time growing up.” He picked up the salt and pepper Lark had already gotten out, then opened the fridge to pull out the gallon of milk.
He put his gathered ingredients on the island in front of her, his preferred area to prep, mix, and work. Then he moved down past the sink to where he’d deposited his groceries. “I was going to do bacon and cheese. Is that all right?”
“Why won’t you look at me?” she asked.
Cash moved his plastic bags amongst much rustling to the counter in front of her. “I can look at you.” But he didn’t.
“Cash-honey,” she said.
He sighed and continued taking out the frozen pie crust, a container of pre-shredded Fontina cheese, and a package of bacon. “Listen, I should’ve told you, but I…well, I didn’t. And my parents don’t always entertain more than my daddy’s side of the family.”
Lark waited, her breath washing shallowly in and out of her mouth. “But?”
“I told my dad that we were bringing your grandmother, right?”
“Yes,” Lark said.
“And I guess he took that as a sign that he should invite my grandmother. So Grandma Carrie will be at dinner tonight.”
“Okay,” Lark said, still not seeing the problem. “It’s one person, Cash.”
“She’s….” He ducked and pulled a cutting board out of one of the drawers in the island cabinets. “She says hurtful things,” Cash finally said. “I don’t really like being around her, and I certainly don’t want to subject you to her.”
Lark watched as his fiercely protective streak ran across his face, a smile forming on her own. “Do you think she won’t like me?”
“No,” he said.
“No, she won’t?” Lark’s eyebrows went up. “Why not? I’m going to shower and get ready before tonight.”
Cash finally met her eyes, the concern on his face adorable. “She’ll like you, but she’ll have a comment about your hair, or your sweater.”
“I wasn’t planning to wear a sweater,” Lark said.
Cash rolled his eyes. “Or whatever.” He pulled a knife from the block and deftly opened the package of bacon with the tip of it. “It sounds like she’s complimenting you, but it’s always said with this tone of surprise. Like, ‘Oh, Cash is here?’ as if I’ve ignored her and everyone else for years.”
Lark sensed he needed to talk through this, so she simply watched as he cut the bacon into bits before turning to the stove and setting a bigger pan over the burner she’d been planning to use.
“Or she’s said, ‘You look so cute, Faith. I don’t know how you do it,’ as if my momma is a hag, wearing sweatpants and dirty T-shirts all the time.”
Lark nodded when he swung his attention to her. Just as quickly, he picked up the cutting board of raw bacon and turned to the stove. He scraped the bacon into the pan, where the wonderful sound of hissing lifted into the air.
“And I’m sure she’ll say something about the ornament I made this year—she always comments on that—or what I got for the littles.”
“What did you get for them?”
“I was actually hoping you’d help me wrap it all up.” He turned back to her, all his boyish charm on display.
Lark smiled and nodded. “Sure, baby. I can help with that.”
“Everything is out in the truck,” he said. “I figured we had time.” He took the packaging off the pie crust, read the directions, and moved to put one of them in the oven.
“Cash,” Lark said quietly. “I can’t help feeling like there’s more to your…disconcertion over your grandmother being there tonight.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t sound happy, and he didn’t offer anything more.
Lark slipped from the barstool and went into the kitchen, where he stood in front of the stove with a pair of tongs, breaking apart the pieces of bacon. She linked her arm through his and leaned into his shoulder.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because, if she’s there, my father’s focus will be on her,” he said. “And Faith will be anxious, and the little kids don’t understand all the back-handed comments, and I just sit and stew.” The words flowed out of him with surprising force, and Lark’s heart ached for him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But you won’t be alone this year.” She looked up at him, noticing the way Cash went completely still.
Lark had been conversing with Cash, getting to know him, and listening to him talk about his family, his past relationships, and his hopes and dreams, for a few weeks now. But she didn’t realize until that moment that Cash had felt utterly alone in his life. Inside his huge family. Everywhere.
“I’ll be there,” she said. “And I’m with you, so even if your daddy isn’t paying attention to you, I will be. It’ll be fine.”
He ducked his chin toward her. She gave him her best smile, so many other things she wanted to tell him brimming just down in her throat. But he said, “Thank you, Lark. That means a lot to me.”
“Of course, Cash-honey, my king. We’re together.”
“I maybe have a bit of an issue about always coming in last,” he muttered, finally going back to his task of crisping up the bacon.
Lark nodded, her own emotions storming through her. “I can relate. I’ve come in last to everyone my whole life.”
Cash nodded, his jaw working.
“So we’ll put each other first,” Lark said, hardly believing she could get the words out. She’d always been able to speak her mind with Cash, but speaking with her heart didn’t come as easily.
“That sounds nice,” Cash whispered.
“What else are you worried about?”
“That my gift for you is lame.”
“Baby, you’re a National Rodeo Champion, with a lot of money. I’m sure your present isn’t lame.”
“That reminds me,” he said. “You said you’d tell me about the job interview today.”
“You transitioned from presents to my job interview in one breath?”
Cash grinned at her. “I don’t want to discuss the range of my insecurities today.”
Lark moved away and picked up the eggs. “Can I crack these?”
“All twelve of them, please,” he said.
“I got the job,” Lark said as she flipped open the lid on the carton.
“Bailey said I can be a veterinary assistant, which will be anything that Bailey and her vet techs don’t have time for.
She said she’d talk to me about pharmaceuticals and nutrition and treatments, and if I want to get my vet tech certification, she thinks it’ll be pretty easy. ”
“That’s great, Songbird.” He wore his happiness on his face and it rode in his voice.
She got out a bowl and started cracking the eggs. “So we’ll eat and then do presents?”
“Yes, please.” Cash joined her at the island, and they moved away from the difficult conversations and into an easy rhythm of working together in the kitchen to put together their Christmas breakfast.
Lark needed this kind of security and safety, and she prayed with her whole heart that she could actually be first in Cash’s life for a good, long while—and that her present for the cowboy who bought whatever he wanted would at least make him smile.