Chapter 18 #3
She kissed him there, lingering enough to make him groan, then went back for their drinks and sat down with him.
They talked as they ate, filling each other in on the progress of their day until they’d finished their food, and she’d cleared the table, but then they stayed, still planning for the day ahead.
“The hydrogeologist is going out to the house site sometime tomorrow. If he can’t find a good water source there, then we’ll have to choose another location, but I feel confident about it,” Gunner said.
“Oh… You were asleep when I first got home, and then I forgot to tell you. The appraiser for this house will be here tomorrow around eleven. I will be here to let him in and for the duration of his inspection. The inspector is coming tomorrow afternoon. The day is going to be a hassle for you, but we’ll be getting it over with at once.
It’s actually part of my job as a Realtor, and I left Gene a note letting him know I’m working virtually until you’re much better.
He was out of the office all day today showing houses, so it’s not an issue.
I can do all the research they need from my laptop as easily as the PC on my desk… If that’s alright with you?” she added.
Gunner was listening, thinking of the days ahead when this was all behind them when he realized that the light coming through the stained-glass window behind her was bathing her in a multi-colored aura. A kind of heavenly halo. She might not be an angel from heaven, but she’s sure my angel.
Then he realized she’d just asked him a question.
“Of course it’s alright. It’s all coming together, isn’t it, Holly? Moving out of this house and building our new one. Going home to Crossroads.”
She nodded. “I never thought about how much I would miss Crossroads until I was gone. Yes, I have a good job. But I never had a life outside of work. I didn’t like the party life.
I guess I was too much of a country girl to see the point in watching everyone else get drunk and make fools of themselves, so I quit accepting the invitations.
I liked my own company better than what was offered to me here.
Time passed. I got in such a rut that the only thing I had to look forward to was eating dinner in front of the TV and then going to bed.
I always missed the noise a family makes, and you were the last person on earth I ever expected to see at Whole Foods.
Even after I recognized you from that distance, I still couldn’t believe it.
Do you know what old song was playing in the background when I saw you? ”
He shook his head. “I don’t think I was even aware there was music.”
“‘Then Came You’, an old Dionne Warwick song from before we were even born. One of my mom’s favorite oldies.
There’s a line in the song… ‘I never knew love before…and then came you.’ It was like getting hit with a bolt of lightning.
I couldn’t move. I forgot to breathe. And then you started walking away, and I moved from shock to panic.
I couldn’t lose sight of you until I saw you as the man you had become, and you saw me. ”
“And the rest is history,” Gunner said. “It took me about five minutes to get past thinking of you as the kid and realizing what a beautiful woman you’d grown up to be. Following up was the best impulse I ever had. Now, I cannot imagine life without you.”
She sat for a few moments, watching the expressions changing on his face, before she spoke. “You have quite a gift, Gunner Kingston.”
He arched an eyebrow. “If you mean running headfirst into situations without thinking of the dangers, I would agree.”
She shrugged. “Well, there’s that, too, but no. You make love with your eyes and your words before you ever touch my body. You give of yourself before you ever take from another.”
It wasn’t until her face blurred before him that he felt real tears in his eyes. Neither pain, anger, nor betrayal had ever made him cry, but love just did, and without warning.
Holly saw his tears, and then the flash of panic that followed, and calmly got up to refill their glasses. By the time she came back the tears were gone. But when she turned to walk away, he reached for her with his good arm and pulled her close.
His head was below her chin as she stood within his embrace. “It’s hard to let down the walls you don’t even know are there, isn’t it, love?”
“I never asked you to marry me. I just asked you to love me. That was selfish as hell. Trusting a woman was always like a foreign language to me. I knew there was a need to be able to communicate, but I didn’t know how to conjugate the verbs or which adjectives to use.
Until the last time I went to Whole Foods.
There I was, minding my own business in the cereal aisle when I heard this voice behind me and turned to see who was calling my name, and it was like watching my whole future roll out in front of me.
A spurt of panic followed, wondering if you were unattached.
Then another spurt of panic that you’d still see me as just a friend when I wanted you to see me as more.
We’ll pick out rings before we leave Dallas, but will you marry me, Holly Dillon? ”
She was nodding through tears. “Yes, please, and thank you,” she said. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her senseless.
* * *
That night she slept tucked up beside him with his hand against her back and dreamed of home, and the glorious sunrises and sunsets, and the sounds of coyotes yipping on the hunt, and the horses on her daddy’s ranch, and her mother standing on the porch waving goodbye as she drove away, and she woke up crying.
Gunner woke at the sound and rolled over. “Holly, darlin’, are you okay?”
“A good dream went bad,” she said. “I’m good. I’m good.”
Frustrated by the restriction of bandages on his right arm, he got up and circled the bed to sit beside her. “I’m sorry, baby…so sorry. You go wash away your tears and I’ll go start the coffee. I can do that much without making a mess.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there as soon as I get dressed.”
“You don’t have to do that on my account,” he said and then grinned.
She rolled her eyes. “You are incorrigible.”
“So that means I can’t go commando to make breakfast?”
“Like I said…incorrigible,” she said, but she was laughing, and only later realized he’d said and done all that to erase the bad dream.