Chapter 38
CHAPTER
THIRTY-EIGHT
Lark rode the elevator to the ninth floor, her backpack with her swimming suit and a few toiletries feeling heavy.
She wasn’t sure why, as she and Cash had had a wonderful Christmas together, both at her house, privately, and then with his family at his parents’ place.
His grandmother had not come, and that had spared Cash a lot of anxiety.
She walked down the hall and knocked on Cash’s door. Cora had programmed it with a code, so he didn’t have to have a key, but he had not shared that with Lark. It didn’t matter, because he was expecting her, and he opened the door only a couple of seconds later.
“Hey, Songbird,” he said.
Lark grinned at him.
“Come on in.” He stepped back and welcomed her to the suite she’d seen only once before.
“Did you get your hot tub picked out?” Lark asked.
“Sure did,” Cash said. “And, more importantly, I got everything we need for our movie-watching afternoon.” He indicated the desk, which held a tin of her favorite popcorn combo—cheddar cheese and caramel—Dubai chocolate bars, and red licorice.
And surely, he had his favorite root beer in the fridge.
“Let me take your bag,” he said. “Or you can just drop it right there next to the couch.”
“I brought nicer clothes for the steakhouse,” she said, as he’d told her he had reservations for them, and then they’d be hot tubbing after-hours.
“What did you want to watch?” Cash asked, and he picked up the TV remote.
This felt like such a low-key date, and Lark really liked that. “I don’t care,” she said with a sigh, and she sank onto the chaise. “Oh, this couch is nicer than the one at my parents’ house.”
Cash chuckled and shook his head. “It is not. It’s kind of hard.”
“That’s just because you have a baby back,” Lark teased. “You like everything pillow-soft.”
He turned toward her, then faced the TV again, pulling it away from the wall and tilting it toward them. Then he pulled the blinds closed, so they wouldn’t be looking directly into the setting sun as they watched their movies.
He brought over the snacks, and sure enough, went into the kitchen to get his root beer and a bottle of water for her. “Can I sit by you, Lark, my love?” he asked.
Lark looked up at him with a smile on her face. “Yeah, I’ve been saving this spot for you.”
“You want to switch? I’ll sit in the corner and you can lay back against me.”
Lark did want that, and so she scooted off the couch and let Cash take the corner and stretch out his long legs on the chaise. Then she squeezed herself onto it with him, easily laying back against his chest as he draped one arm lazily over her shoulder.
“Oh yeah, I like this,” he said. “I’m gonna get a great nap this afternoon.”
She giggled. “Do you need a nap? What time did you get up?”
“Nine-thirty,” he said. “But there’s a trainer out here at Silver Sage, and he put me on a new weight-lifting regimen, and it is killing me.”
“Oh, is he?” Lark teased. “What? Your stunning muscles can’t handle a little more weight?”
He laughed, and she loved the rumble of it through her body too. “My legs are so sore.”
Lark grinned. “Mm.” She let him flip through a couple of movies before they settled on one. She didn’t care much what they watched, because she was also planning on taking a nap.
He got the movie started, and then sighed as he lay back again. “Yeah, this is real nice,” he said. “Lazy afternoon. Something great to drink. The beautiful woman I love in my arms.”
Lark nearly jumped out of her skin, and she sat up and twisted toward Cash all in the same motion. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
Cash’s eyes widened, and his face turned a deep, ruddy red. “Well, it’s not like it’s a secret, is it?”
“If it’s not a secret, say it again.”
A hint of defiance came into his eyes, and then he lifted his chin and looked her straight in the face. “I know it’s fast and it’s really new, but I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you. There. I said it.”
Lark opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out.
“I don’t want you to say it back unless you mean it,” he said. “And it’s fine. Even if you don’t love me yet, I’m pretty sure that’s where we’re headed. Am I wrong?”
Lark shook her head, because no, he was not wrong.
“Why are you so stunned?” He chuckled. “Lay back down.”
She did, turning this time to wrap her arms around his chest. She faced away from the TV now, but she didn’t care. She let his words flow through her and paint a warm, beautiful picture of their life together.
The woman I love.
“I’ve never had anyone tell me they love me,” Lark said.
“Do you believe me?” Cash asked.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Great,” he said. “We don’t need to make it a big deal unless you want me to.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s just new for me.”
“I hope it didn’t freak you out,” Cash said. “I’m really not trying to pressure you.”
“It doesn’t freak me out,” Lark said.
“Maybe we should talk about getting married,” he said, and that did send a little shiver of fear through Lark.
“Yeah, we should,” she said anyway. She’d already thought about marrying Cash—several times in the past, in fact.
She fell silent and rolled to face the TV.
Neither one of them spoke, so apparently they weren’t going to talk about marriage that day, or perhaps Cash simply needed a little more time for it to settle in his mind the way Lark did.
After a few minutes of staring at a TV she wasn’t watching, Lark sat up again and looked at him.
“I know you’ve got one cousin getting married in March and another in April.
Both of those could be snowed out, and I think with how big your family is, it might be kind of nice to have an outdoor wedding. ”
“Sure,” Cash said. “I’ll do whatever you want, Lark. I just want you wearing my diamond and saying ‘I do’ to me as fast as possible.”
Lark stared at him. “Cash, you are impossible.”
He blinked, clearly surprised. “What do you mean?”
“Why do you just say such wonderful things? I didn’t even tell you I loved you back.”
“Not yet.” He reached up and tucked one of her wild curls behind her ear. “But you will when you’re ready. What are you thinking? July?”
“It’s the warmest month in Wyoming,” Lark said. “My parents will be home, and I’ll have time to work with my momma on the wedding.”
Cash grinned at her. “I suppose I can wait until July.”
Lark nodded and lay back down in his arms, her mind buzzing now. Cash fell asleep a few minutes later, but Lark had so many thoughts going through her mind that she wasn’t able to join him.
New Year’s Eve arrived, and Lark spent most of the afternoon with Cash in her parents’ kitchen as they made a few snacks to take to the Young family party happening at the furniture store that evening.
Cash had told her it was the only place big enough to hold all of them without renting a facility, and his aunt owned the furniture store.
They arrived, and Lark carried in the tray of deviled eggs and plastic container of apricot kielbasa, while Cash grabbed the sweet items: oatmeal cookies and raisin-filled sandwich cookies.
The front doors of the store were unlocked, and Cash opened one of them and held it for Lark.
The moment she made it through the foyer and through the second set of doors, the sound of lively party music met her ears.
“To the left,” Cash said. “Aunt Hilde always sets up a living room area for us.”
Lark went the way he said, and in the back corner of the store, she found at least ten couches set out in an arrangement where they could look at one another and converse.
Four long rows of tables had also been set up in front of the Guest Services area, one of which held all the food.
Lark moved in that direction to put her and Cash’s offerings on the table.
She’d no sooner set down the tray of deviled eggs when she saw the mechanical bull.
“What is happening?” she asked.
Down the table, Cash set out the cookies. “I told you, Uncle Luke gets a bull every year.”
“I thought you meant a bowl,” Lark said, staring at the big plastic area surrounding the mechanical contraption. “Like a bowl of salsa.”
Cash laughed. “So when I said, ‘My uncle Luke brings a bull every year,’ you thought he was going to bring a bowl of salsa?”
“Who brought salsa?” one of his uncles asked. It was one of the twins, Gabe or Morris.
“No one, Uncle Gabe,” Cash said. “Though I guess it’s entirely possible that someone did, and I just don’t know about it.”
Gabe smiled at Lark. “Howdy, Lark. How are you on this last day of the year?”
“Just fine, sir,” she said. “And you?”
“I’m great,” he said.
Cash came to her side. “Why are you smiling so wide?” he asked his uncle.
“Because you’re here this year,” Gabe said. “And that means my boys aren’t going to beg me to ride that bull.”
Cash looked like his uncle had hit him with the mechanical bull, and Lark couldn’t help grinning about it. Then his uncle said, “Here they come. I hope you’re ready for this.”
“Ready for what?” Cash asked, and he sounded a tiny bit exasperated.
His uncle only smiled, and then, before Lark knew it, an entire army of children came clamoring up to Cash, all yelling his name.
“My daddy said you’d help me on the bull,” one of them said.
“That’s what my daddy said too,” another one said.
“So will you, Cash?”a third little boy asked. “Will you help us with the bull?”
“My daddy said I can’t ride it unless you help me.”
Boys and girls, most of them under the age of twelve, swarmed Cash, practically knocking Lark out of the way. He laughed and held out both hands. “You guys. You guys,” he said. “Let me breathe. This is all news to me.”
He looked over to the couch area where no less than five of his uncles sat with their wives, drinks in their hands and carefree smiles on their faces. No wonder Gabe was doing so fine. He got to sit back and drink lemonade and hot apple cider while Cash handled all the kids.