Chapter 18
Chapter eighteen
Cole
Icouldn’t believe what I was seeing.
I’d spent all afternoon out sweating my balls off and just stopped at the house to get changed and see Grace before heading into town when I couldn’t find her.
After a quick shower to wash off the dust, dirt, and sweat, I changed into a pair of jogging shorts and a T-shirt before heading out to the barn.
I found her all right.
She was sitting on a stool, reading a book to the calf.
For a moment I stood back and listened to her read. It wasn’t what I was expecting. In fact, it was the absolute opposite of what I was expecting. She might as well have been reading porn.
I cleared my throat as I approached, not wanting to startle her.
“Oh, shit, Cole. You scared me,” Grace admonished as she jumped up from her stool, knocking it over.
“Interesting choice of reading material,” I offered with a smirk.
“It was just …”
“Hey!” I held my hands up in surrender. “I’m not judging. If you want to read mommy porn then more power to you. Just let me know which bits tickle your fancy. Maybe we could recreate a scene or two?”
“We’re not discussing this,” Grace declared embarrassed.
“Oh, we are.”
“No, Cole. We’re not. What are you doing here anyway?”
Grace was adorable. Sitting in the barn reading porn to the poddy calf. Dressed like that, she almost looked like she belonged. With her jeans, tennis shoes, and one of my button-down shirts that she’d knotted at her hip, the girl could easily pass as a farmer. Or maybe even a farmer’s wife.
All day as I’d worked my mind had been elsewhere, and I knew it.
Ben’s call was on replay. He didn’t say much.
I think he was surprised when I answered, but it was what he didn’t say that had me worried.
He was calling Grace for a reason, and I wasn’t entirely convinced it would do her any good to hear it.
Then when I found out he’d been messaging and calling her, my fury bubbled.
I didn't know what he wanted, but in the pit of my gut, I knew I could lose her. She could choose him. And as much as I wanted her to stay, she needed to be happy. If that meant returning to the city and working for some asshole who didn’t appreciate her or didn’t understand what he had, then I’d suck it up, kiss her goodbye, and wish her the best. I’d deal with my pain later.
Grace was what mattered. What she wanted, where she was happy, that’s all I wanted for her.
I was still trying to figure out a way that she could be here with me, but I didn’t have the puzzle solved. Not yet anyway.
“I went to the house looking for you, but you weren’t there,” I told her.
“No. I thought I’d hang out with Daisy.”
“Daisy?”
“She needed a name.” Grace shrugged as she reached over the gate and let the calf nuzzle against her hand.
“And you chose Daisy?”
Grace spun around to face me, folding her arms under her boobs, propping them up and distracting me. If only one more button was undone …
“What would you have chosen then, huh?”
“I dunno. I don’t usually name my cows.”
“Well, that’s just sad. Cows need a name too.”
“Fine. What about prime rib or maybe brisket?” I suggested, watching as shock transformed Grace’s face.
“Brisket? Really? You’d call this sweet little girl, brisket?” Grace was stunned and it was the cutest thing ever. She knew I was a farmer and did farmer things as she liked to put it, but suggest naming a cow brisket and she was losing her mind.
“Well, I wouldn’t name her.”
“Daisy loves her name,” Grace declared with an adorable stomp of her foot.
“Then Daisy it is.”
“I think it suits her,” Grace told me as we both leaned on the gate and looked down at her. I had a feeling this poddy calf could be the answer I was looking for. Or at least part of it.
“I need to head into town to pick up some supplies. Feel like a drive?” I invited.
“Sounds good. Do we have time to stop by the house first?”
“Sure.”
“Let’s do it then. I just need to grab my purse.”
“What do you need that for?” I asked.
“Because if we’re going into town then I want a brownie from the Clever Cookie,” Grace told me.
Together we walked out of the barn, hand in hand. It felt oddly familiar and right. Like it was something we should do every day. “You should really look at buying shares in that business. Half the town raves over the brownies.”
“Like you don’t inhale them when I bring them home?” Grace countered.
“Fine. They’re pretty good,” I admitted. “But I prefer the snickerdoodle cookies,” I confessed.
“I don’t know who you are,” Grace teased with a shake of her head and a giggle.
Taking the opportunity, I scooped her up and tossed her over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry before smacking her ass.
“What was that for?” Grace questioned as she held fistfuls of my shirt.
“It was there,” I offered vaguely as I stepped through the gate and into the yard behind the house.
When I set her down, Grace wove her arm around my waist. “You should get chickens,” she declared, and I had no idea where that came from.
“Chickens?”
“Yeah. How awesome would it be to have fresh eggs every day?”
“Chickens are a lot of work,” I told her, but her idea did have merit. Besides, it wasn’t like I didn’t have the room.
“And a baby goat! Oh, we should get a baby goat!”
“Okay, okay. Calm down, Doctor Dolittle. Let’s just get Daisy through the first week then we can go from there,” I tried to reason but Grace’s enthusiasm was infectious.
“Fine,” Grace pouted, and I chuckled. This woman was something else and I couldn’t imagine ever letting her go.
We made it to town and after a stop at the Seed and Feed to pick up what we needed for Daisy and a few other things, we visited the Clever Cookie. While I took a call, Grace chatted animatedly to Morgan, the owner, before finally emerging with a stack of boxes.
I ended my call and pocketed my phone before taking the boxes from her. “How many are we feeding?” I teased as I set them in the truck.
“I was hoping we could stop by the B&B on our way home,” Grace mentioned off-handedly as she chewed on her fingernail.
The fact that she just called my place home meant she could ask for the moon right now and I’d find a way to give it to her. If she was even considering calling my place home, I was a step ahead right now.
“Absolutely,” I assured her, pulling open her door and helping her in.
We pulled down the drive and it was chaos. It was so busy at the B&B that I almost felt guilty for commandeering so much of Grace’s time. If she was needed here to help her sisters, then this is where she should be.
“Wonder what’s going on?” she asked as she jumped from the car and rounded the hood waiting for me.
“Let’s go find out,” I suggested.
We were halfway across the lawn when Grace stopped and spun on her heel, almost wrenching my arm right out of its socket. “I forgot the goodies,” Grace explained before dropping her hold on my hand and jogging back to the truck.
A moment later, she was back at my side carrying a navy box filled with something that smelled delicious.
We walked up the steps together, and I pulled open the screen door.
As the bells overhead jingled announcing our arrival, someone called out. “Be there in a second.”
“It’s just me,” Grace replied.
“In the kitchen,” the voice came again.
Grace handed me the box as she started down the hall, and I followed along like a love-struck puppy.
We turned the corner and stepped into the kitchen, and I could barely believe what I was seeing. It was like a tornado had ripped through here. The countertops were buried beneath trays of baked goods, dirty bowls, glass jars of flour and sugar, and Georgia looked ready to pass out.
“What’s going on?” Grace asked, her voice trembling as she took in the scene before us.
“Give me a second,” Georgia told her as she bent over and pulled something out of the oven only to cuss like a sailor who ran out of rum.
When she stood again, she pushed her hair off her sweaty forehead and slung the towel over her shoulder.
“Georgia?”
“It’s nothing. We just have an event tomorrow that I’m really behind on. It’ll be fine.” She waved it off.
I watched as hurt etched itself all over Grace’s face. Her sister was drowning and rather than asking her for help, she was pushing herself to her limit.
“Let me help,” Grace offered softly.
“I’ve got it. Gabriella is just finishing off changing over the rooms then she’ll be back to give me a hand,” Georgia explained.
Grace turned and left the room without a word, leaving me alone with a flushed and flustered Georgia.
“She just wants to help,” I tried to explain.
“I know,” Georgia sighed heavily. “And I’d love an extra set of hands …”
“Then why?”
“Look, Cole. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. But you seem to make my sister happy, so I’m going to trust you. Which means I’m asking you to trust me.” Georgia didn’t mince her words.
“I want to.”
“Then do it. The last thing I want to do is upset Grace and drive her away—”
“That’s what you’re doing you know,” I pointed out.
“What?”
“She thinks you don’t need her. That you and Gabriella have it all sorted and she’s in the way.”
“What the fuck? Of course we want her here. That’s what this is all about,” Georgia exploded, waving her arms around.
I didn’t understand. I was definitely missing something.
“I don’t get it,” I told her honestly.
“Look, I need you to trust me and take Grace back to your place. Give me twenty-four hours and things will look different. I promise.”
I didn’t really have a choice. All I could do was make sure Grace was okay and try to soothe the sting. Maybe I’d distract her with a poddy calf who liked to listen to mommy porn.
“Twenty-four hours,” I agreed, hoping I wasn’t making the wrong call. “I better go find her,” I offered.
“She’s upstairs in her room. Packing,” Gabriella interjected.
“Packing?”
“Said something about knowing where she’s not wanted and was last seen stuffing her things into her bag.”
“Oh fuck,” Georgia swore, yanking the towel from her shoulder and throwing it down on the counter.
“Cole, can you look after her until tomorrow?”
“I’ll look after her a lot longer than that if she lets me,” I declared, setting the box of desserts Grace had brought for her sisters on the corner of the counter.
I might not understand their plan but if my girl was hurting, then it was my job to make it better.
Even if it meant going along with whatever they were up to. At least for now anyway.
“Cole!” I heard my name being called.
I headed down the hall to find Grace waiting at the top of the stairs with two suitcases beside her.
I immediately started climbing the stairs.
When I reached the landing, I saw the salty tear stains streaking down her cheeks and shook my head.
I didn't know what Georgia and Gabriella were up to, but it better be worth it.
“Come here,” I told her, pulling Grace into my arms and letting her cry on my shoulder. As sobs wracked her body, I wanted one of them to come clean. Instead, they both stood at the bottom of the stairs looking guilty but staying silent.
Once her tears subsided, I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her tears away.
“You okay?”
“Can you please just take me home?” Grace pleaded.
I nodded before letting go of her and picking up her suitcases. They weighed a ton and were straining the zippers, but I wasn’t about to say anything and complain. I wasn’t completely stupid.
Grace led me down the stairs and without saying a word to her sisters, opened the screen door for me.
Once I carried her cases through, she kept going, not pausing to even look back.
I hurt for her. She was already worried about fitting in and finding her place and this felt like a kick in the guts.
I just hoped the girls knew what they were doing.
If they fucked it up, they could very well lose their sister for good.
I loaded everything in the truck as she climbed in. When I went to close her door, the look on her face broke my heart.
“You ready to go?” I asked.
Instead of an answer I got a sniffle and a slight nod.
I closed her door and rounded the hood before sliding behind the wheel.
Standing on the porch Georgia and Gabriella looked worried.
They should. Right now, though, I couldn’t muster any sympathy for them.
I knew they had good intentions, and whatever they were up to, they were hoping would help, but right now, twenty-four hours seemed like a lifetime.
I fired up the ignition and rested my hand on the back of Grace’s seat as I started to reverse down the drive. “Let’s go home, pretty girl. Daisy’s probably wondering where you are.”
“You think?” Grace asked meekly, looking up.
“If she isn't, I bet she’s dying to know what happened to Dante and Flick in that book you were reading. I know I am,” I teased, and as her cheeks tinged pink and a smile tugged at her lips, I knew she wasn’t broken.
Maybe a little bruised, but Grace was tough.
Even if she couldn’t see it, she’d bounce back, I knew she would.