Chapter 25
Sutton
While I wait for Blair and Star to finish, I keep myself busy by working on my phone. I just finish clearing my inbox when I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and see the two women hugging before Blair steps out of the shop.
Sliding into the passenger seat, she closes the door behind her and turns to face me.
That’s when I see it, the change in the way she’s carrying herself.
All of the indecision and tension I’ve been worried about the last few weeks is gone and has been replaced with what I can only describe as a crystal-clear mind.
“How did it go?” I ask, reaching over to touch her. I knew the Call was an all-encompassing thing that can affect everyone physically and emotionally. I just never knew I could miss someone when they’re temporarily not by my side.
“Good. Real good.” She doesn’t say any more, just covers my hand with hers and runs her fingers over my knuckles, sending goosebumps over my skin. “Sorry we took so long. I guess we’re due at the diner now, huh.”
As she says that, my stomach grumbles loudly, making us both laugh. “Guess you just said the magic words. We can be late though if you want to go somewhere and talk?”
Her warm gaze roams my face. “We’ve got plenty of time for that later, doctor. How ‘bout we go eat with Wy and his family. I’m starving.”
I lean over and slide my hand around the back of her neck, flexing my fingers against her silky soft skin before touching my lips to hers with a smile. “Then let’s get my girl fed.”
Moving my truck down the street to the Loaded Hog Diner, I get out and round the hood, opening Blair’s door and helping her down to the sidewalk. “My gentleman.”
“Mom wouldn’t let us be any other way.”
As soon as we step inside the diner, we spot the Bull Mountain Ranch crew gathered at an extra-large booth at the far end of the room. Curiously, Star somehow beat us here and is already sitting next to Landry.
Working our way around the group, I introduce Blair to everyone she hasn’t met yet–Toby and Dee, Rhett and Cora, and finally Lee and Colt.
“You’re the one who sees the future in your dreams, right? Like a movie?” Blair asks Lee.
She nods. “Heard about that, have ya? It kind of freaked me out at the beginnin’, but now that we’ve all finished our Call journeys, I just have normal dreams.” She rubs her rounded stomach. “As normal as they can be when you’re pregnant and cravin’ too much cheese at night.”
Blair laughs. “My sister has crazy dreams when she’s pregnant. Some of them were wild.”
“I’m not surprised,” Lee replies with a grin.
“And you know Star, obviously. This is her husband, Landry,” I say, shaking the man’s hand before Blair does the same after me.
“You’re the one who never gave up,” she tells Star’s soulmate.
He frowns just for a second before his eyes light up and a slow-growing smile appears. “That’s me.” He stares lovingly down at his psychic wife. “What can I say? When you know, you know.”
Having met everyone, we claim the last two spots in the booth, Blair sliding in next to Mags before I take the end seat.
“Was startin’ to think you two were goin’ to be late,” Red says. “You don’t want to miss out on my wife’s world-famous Corned beef hash.”
“Believe me, Wy’s made it back home and Red’s brought us plenty of freezer meals every time he visits,” I say. “I’ve been lookin’ forward to eatin’ this all day.”
“More like all week. He’s had my mouth watering just from his description of it,” Blair adds.
Red laughs. “Then don’t let us stop you. Ladies first.”
After we’ve all gorged ourselves on the diner’s delicious offerings, we all sit back and break into small conversations with those around us.
I catch Starchild’s gentle gaze across the table and try to get a read on her. That’s when a thought hits me out of nowhere. She knows something I don’t. I instantly feel more off kilter and out of control than I have in months–ever since the reading of my grandfather’s will, come to think of it.
What did the tarot reading say? What did she say to Blair?
Did she tell her she’s meant to stay in Timber Falls? Or that there’s some other path for her that means we’ll be leaving my family…my mountain?
What about Gramps’s legacy? I freeze at that, having not thought about it until now. My entire body turns to stone. What about the inheritance clause? We’re supposed to all stay at the ranch for two years before it officially becomes ours… will we lose it if I leave?
I shake my head to myself. I can’t–won’t–be the reason my brothers don’t get to keep the ranch. It’s ours. It belongs to all of us. It’s our birthright… our spiritual home.
Tugging my hands under the table, I twist my fingers together, realizing I’m sweating like it’s a hot summer’s day and not fifty Fahrenheit outside.
That’s when my vision starts to tunnel, the room feeling impossibly small… stifling. Suddenly every breath I suck in becomes harder to hold, my chest squeezing impossibly tight.
“Hey. Sutton, it’s OK” Blair says, her hands gripping my jaw and holding it in place until she’s all that I can see.
“Slow, deep breaths, yeah?” She turns to Mags and talks to her quietly, all the while, slotting one of her hands between my clammy ones to lace our fingers together.
The contact grounds me and like always, she’s the salve I’ve always needed.
Slowly, the pressure holding my body hostage starts to ease.
If ever there was proof that this woman–my One–was attuned to me, this is it.
Mags looks over to me with a soft, understanding gaze. “Sure thing,” she says, waving her arm out toward the door. “Take the back door, past the restrooms and you’ll see there’s some stairs that lead up on top of the book shop. The sky should be clear, so you’ll get a beautiful view up there.”
“Thanks,” Blair murmurs before turning back to me. “C’mon. Let’s go get some fresh air.”
“I’m OK,” I say, my shaky voice giving me away.
She leans close and drops her voice to a whisper. “You’re not and that’s OK too. Let me take you somewhere so you can catch your breath and we can talk.
Five minutes later, having followed Mags’s instructions to a T, we walk out onto the rooftop of the two-storey brick building that’s not only home to the diner, but the town’s bookstore and post office.
“Mags wasn’t lying. It’s truly beautiful up here,” she says.
“It hasn’t got a thing on you,” I say, loving the way her gentle eyes meet mine before she slowly narrows them.
“That was cheesy as hell, doctor.” Her twitching lips make me want to kiss her quiet. But that has to wait because now more than ever, I need something… anything…. just some idea as to where we’re headin’. Literally.
Blair moves in close and loops her arms around my neck, her fingers toying with the hair on the back of my head. Closing my eyes, I rest my forehead against hers, taking her lead and matching her breaths. In… out… in…out…
“It’s going to be OK, Sutton,” she says quietly.
“I wasn’t trying to upset you by not telling you what Star had to tell me.
You’ve got to know I’d never want that. I’ve just been working through some things in my head, but you’re not one of them.
I don’t think us is something we’ll ever need to worry about.
I know what I want and that’s you. It’s always goin’ to be you.
I’ve just been feeling torn between where to go and what to do. ”
I nod, staring deep into her soulful blue eyes, the same ones I want to look at for the rest of our lives together.
“Can we take a seat?” she says, tilting her head over to a hanging swing not that much different from the one I have back at home.
Once we’re settled, I lift her legs over mine so that we’re as close as can be. “Thank you.”
“For what?” she asks.
“Bringin’ me up here. Recognizin’ I was spiralin’ and knowin’ just what I needed to stop it.”
“Sutton, I love you. I’m going to spend the rest of my life with you. It’s my job to look after you just like you’re always looking after me. We’re equal partners in this.”
I nod, still staring at her in wonder. The girl of my dreams is now the woman I get to call mine. Whatever I did to earn the mountain spirit’s reward of her… I’d do it all again in a heartbeat just for moments like this.
We fall quiet, my hand stroking back and forth over her denim-covered thigh, the move soothing me and helping to settle my mind.
“Where do you want me to start?”
I lift my head and look her straight in the eye. “Are we stayin’?” I rush out, needing an answer to my most pressing, worrying question.
A slow growing, soft and breathtaking smile appears.
“I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, while I was falling in love with you, the mountain, the ranch–hell, the town too–became home.
It’s where you belong, and my place will always be by your side.
So yes, we’re staying as long as you want to. ”
I wrap my arms around her and pull her in for a crushing hug, letting out a huge sigh of relief.
Something occurs to me and I gently push her back, framing my hands on her waist. “Wait, you’re not just doin’ this for me, are you?”
She shakes her head. “My career has been the center of my life ever since I left Idaho. I’ve let ambition and my determination to be the best at what I do, dictate everything.
When Uncle George offered me the chance to go to Timber Falls, I figured I’d see how the other half lives and hopefully either discover that I love my life and go back to it or realize that something had to change. ”
“And what’s that?”
“I need you, Sutton Cooper. I need my career too though. I may have been searching to find my passion for medicine again, but I never lost my love for helping people, and that’s what I want to do moving forward.”
I frown. “Is there a job at the hospital for you?”
Blair smiles. Beams, in fact. “That’s the crazy thing. At my meeting with Tabitha, she listened to my presentation and agreed with all of it. Then she blindsided me with an offer.”
“That’s great, gorgeous. What is it?”
“Head of the hospital.”
I do a double take, not sure that I heard her correctly. “What?”
“Yep. Tabitha wants to retire and wants me to take over her position. That’s not the only shocking part.”
“OK…” I say slowly. What else could there be?
“Her and Uncle George are in love and they’re both moving to Florida! Can you believe it?”
My eyes bug out of my head. “No way.”
She nods. “Uh huh.”
“Wait… doesn’t that mean you’ll be my boss,” I say, a slow creeping smirk tugging at my lips.
Blair leans in close, touching the tip of her nose to mine with a grin matching my own. “I’ll be your boss’s boss,” she says huskily before kissing me soft and slow.
My fingers flex against her waist before I wrap my arms around her back and pull her into my lap, deepening the kiss once again.
When we finally come up for air, we do it breathing each other in. All of my panic from the diner has vanished into thin air. Somehow, I now know it won’t come back either. Not this time.
I don’t have to give up any time with Blair or the mountain, and she doesn’t have to give up her career either. She’s just pivoting.
“I love you,” I whisper against her lips, holding her tight and feeling more at peace than I’ve ever felt before, bar none.
“Love you too,” she says, wiggling her butt in my lap. “Now, as much as I love being up here with you,” she kisses me again, “I really want to try some of Mags’s blueberry pie before we hit the road.”
I shoot her a grin. “I better take you back downstairs then. Can’t have my One goin’ hungry now, can I?”
“Happy One, happy life?”
I shake my head. “Happy you, happy me. Forever.”
Checking the time, I know we need to hit the road now if we’re going to get home by midnight.
Red is standing next to me, Blair, and Wyatt on the sidewalk when Mags walks out of the diner with a cooler in her hand.
Wyatt takes it from her with a huge grin on his face. “Aww Mags, you shouldn’t have,” he says, hugging her into his side before letting her go.
Her eyes catch mine. “We know our boy eats a lot. Figured I’d help you out. This stuff here will keep him happy for a long time.”
“He’s not exactly a boy now, Mags,” Red says, his gaze like gooey caramel.
“He’s always goin’ to be our boy, Redmond. It doesn't matter if he’s eight, eighteen, or eighty.”
“I’m standin’ right here, guys,” Wyatt replies dryly.
“Not sure I’ll be here to see him turn eighty, but I love the sentiment,” Red says, taking Mags’s hand and pulling her into him just like his son did. He dips his head and lays a big fat one on her upturned lips. “Love the way you love our boy.”
“Love you too, husband. Now, stop tryin’ to steal what you’re gettin’ later anyway and let me say goodbye to our guests.” Mags looks our way and winks.
Blair and I chuckle at Wyatt’s gagging noises.
“On that note,” Wy says, “guess we better hit the road.”
We bid everyone farewell and when I give Mags a hug, she turns her head so she’s right by my ear. “Happiness looks good on you, Sutt. Just remember, this journey is a marathon and not a sprint. Enjoy the ride as much as the destination. Yeah?”
I nod and step back, glancing over at Blair before grinning back at Mags. “That’s exactly what I plan to do.”