Chapter 32
brODY
Banana: What do you have planned, Cowboy? Miss me already?
Me: Missed you from the moment I watched you leave.
I sent my original text as a long shot after my flight from hell back to Calgary last night.
Turbulence doesn’t usually bother me, but the sky was on a mission to punt us to the ground.
With a swirling stomach and a new appreciation for the ground, I strode out of the airport with one thing on my mind.
Annalise Heights.
We didn’t get enough time together at the wedding, and I want to make up for that.
Sending her off in her brother-in-law’s SUV was like having my favourite dessert drifted beneath my nose and being told I couldn’t take a bite out of it.
Except I did have a taste, and it was delicious. Still taste her two days later.
Even as I pull up in front of her house this morning, I’m desperate to see her. See her and feel her and kiss her. It’s like I’ve gone back in time and become a teenage boy again with a crush to end all crushes. My grandmother would never let up if she knew the way I’d been thinking recently.
I leave the truck running as I climb out and step over the snowy curb onto her clear sidewalk.
I’ve taken to shovelling for her, not wanting her to have to do it herself.
The appreciative grin she gifts me every time she steps outside and sees that her sidewalk is clear is more than worth the effort.
Christmas is fast approaching, and I’ve been itching to invite her to the ranch to spend it with me. It’s not my place, though. Not when she probably wants to spend the holidays with her family. The bond she shares with them isn’t one I would ever think to try and get in the middle of.
Anna’s already slipping out her front door and onto the porch before I’ve made it halfway up the sidewalk. Picking up my pace, I take the steps two at a time and take the key from between her fingers, locking up for her.
“I was going to do that myself,” she chastises me.
“When’s the last time I haven’t come up to your door?”
“Fair enough.”
I tuck her key back into the pocket of her jacket and dip my head to kiss her warm lips. She hums in the back of her throat before resting her hands on my chest and nipping at my mouth.
“Mornin’, Buttercup,” I breathe.
“Good morning indeed. Is this going to be my greeting every time you pick me up from now on?”
I take one of the hands lying on my chest and carefully lead her down the wooden stairs. “If I have anything to say about it, yeah.”
On solid ground again, she grabs my arm and leans into my side, our legs moving in time. The walk to the truck is too quick.
“Can I know what we’re doing today, or is it supposed to be a surprise?” she asks once I’ve opened the passenger door for her.
“I’ll tell you once you get your fine ass into my truck.”
Unable to help myself, I emphasize my point with a sharp smack to her left ass cheek. I watch with a twitching dick as it ripples beneath her tight jeans with the force, the sight damn near enough to tempt me to grip her hips and fit her ass right to my groin.
Anna’s squeak flies into the cold. My laugh is a throaty sound as she whips around to swat my arm. “We’re playing like that, are we?”
“Better get used to it, sweetheart,” I tease.
Even though she hasn’t tripped getting into the truck since the one and only time, I still linger at her back, waiting until she’s plopped safely onto the seat with her belt done up before going round to my side.
The truck is warm when I slide into my seat and turn the heat down a bit. Anna unzips the first inch of her jacket and shifts to face me.
“My fine ass is in the truck now,” she smarts, the corner of her mouth quirked.
Pulling the truck from the curb, I say, “So it is. We need to get you a pair’a boots before you can step back onto the ranch. A pair all your own.”
“You were serious about that?”
Risking a quick glance at her, I frown when I notice she’s frowning. “Why wouldn’t I have been? I want you around as much as possible these next few weeks. We’ve gotta start somewhere.”
“I believe you. I thought maybe you were just being nice.”
“I don’t have it in me to do things just for the purpose of bein’ nice, sweetheart. You’re here with me ’cause there’s nothin’ else I’d rather do today than spend time with you,” I say firmly, not leaving anything for her to contemplate.
The soft pull of her lips as she relaxes in her seat has me nodding to myself, pleased with the trust she has in me.
After turning out of town, I let her fiddle with the radio while I lift the top of the centre console to grab the brown bag of gingersnap cookies my grandma shoved in my hands this morning.
“Hungry?” I ask, offering her the bag.
Anna takes it gingerly, appreciation heavy in her features. The crinkle of the bag fills the cab when she slides her hand into it and grabs a cookie.
“Grandma?” She brings it to her nose and sniffs, hearts filling her eyes.
Taking the bag from her, I set it on top of the console and continue stealing looks across the truck as she bites into the cookie. “’Course it was. She whipped those up the moment I said I was seein’ you today. Stayed up way past her bedtime doin’ it too.”
“She’s incredibly sweet. Tell her thank you for me, please.”
I nod, my chest cavity suddenly feeling far too small for all the feelings I’ve got for this woman. “Eat up. There’s a spot I want to take you when we get to Calgary, but we got a couple hours still.”
“Before or after we find boots?”
“Before. It’s a drive-in that I used to go to all the time as a boy. I was thinkin’ you could get a banana milkshake.” I watch her for a reaction, far too pleased when, just as I expected, her cheeks flush a pretty shade of pink.
“I was waiting for you to start teasing me about that,” she mutters.
“Banana? Were you called Anna Banana as a kid?”
“My sister actually calls me that. I don’t know why I decided to have you use it as my contact name.”
My stomach pinches as I draw a deep breath. “My ma called me Bo. Not sure why I offered it to you either. Especially not before I knew a damn thing about you.”
“If you ever want to talk about her, Brody, I’m more than willing to listen.”
I tighten my grip on the steering wheel as we hit the highway, swarmed on both sides by snow-dripped pine trees.
Frozen mountain streams lie beneath, flanked by wire fencing meant to keep animals from wandering onto the road.
It’s beautiful, even in the winter when the grass is dead and brown beneath the heavy layers of snow.
The air is clear and crisp, so different from the polluted city air I’d grown accustomed to in Nashville.
It’s home, the root of all my childhood memories.
Clearing my throat, I give myself a gentle push.
“She loved horses. Loved them more than I thought possible. We bonded over that shared love and passion. There wasn’t a day we didn’t spend out in the stables together.
Every day after school, she’d be waiting by the fence to ride alongside my bus up the ranch road. ”
“She sounds incredible.”
“Yeah, she was. Sweeter than cotton candy but a rebellious risk taker. She loved horses a little too much. Wanted to heal the broken ones, even when they didn’t deserve it.” My throat is scratchy; every word I speak sounds garbled.
“Does she have to do with why you were so at odds around Sky?” she asks, always so observant.
“I stopped riding shortly after Ma died and my dad took off. Couldn’t bring myself to get close to them afterward.”
Anna fidgets in her seat, looking between me and the console separating us over and over again. When her leg starts bouncing, I smile weakly, a soft laugh collecting in my chest.
“Would you like me to rip the thing out and toss it out the window?” I ask.
She keeps her voice steady in a no-bullshit tone. “That would be great, actually. It’s a giant pain in my ass right now.”
“We can talk about this later, yeah? Today is supposed to be easy.”
And ripping open sore wounds isn’t exactly what I had in mind. Not even if the idea of having her help sew them shut again is tempting.
“Consider the subject changed,” she announces, ripping off a chunk of cookie. When she reaches over the console and holds it in front of my face, I go to take it only to have her pull it back an inch. “Open your mouth.”
I double blink but part my lips, letting her push the soft treat past them. Her following grin sends my heart into overdrive as I chew.
“This is one of my official Passenger Princess duties, babe. I’m at your service for the next two hours,” she sings, beaming proudly. “We should get a little sign for my seat so everyone knows what’s up whenever you’re out without me.”
I stifle my laugh, enjoying her possessive train of thought. “What would the sign say? Property Of Anna?”
“Something like that. Or Passenger Princess’s Only. Whichever you prefer.”
“I’m not sure Caleb would appreciate that sentiment, but if anyone could convince him, it would be you.”
“I appreciate that, but he seems like he’d be an alright co-pilot. Maybe we should try and find a double-sided sign. Passenger Princess on one side and Co-Pilot on another.”
I scratch at my jaw, glancing at her from the corner of my eye. “I’d leave your sign up for everyone. As far as I’m concerned, that’s been your seat since the first time you sat in it.”
If I didn’t have to pay attention to the road, I would have kept staring at her forever.
It’s especially hard to look away when her entire face lights up and she busies herself with her cookie, popping a piece in her mouth.
She licks along her pillowed bottom lip, collecting the crumbs, and I shift in my seat, growing hard in half a second.
“Open again,” she orders, and I jolt, snapping back to the road while hating how potentially bad my staring could have been.
I open my mouth without a second thought, and another piece of cookie hits my tongue.
“Do you think Cherry Peak will ever grow big enough to have need of a second hair salon?” she asks a beat later.
“I think potentially. Why? Are you wantin’ to open your own?”
“It was always a dream of mine. I thought I’d do it someday in Vancouver, but I realized after moving here that it’s probably not a very viable option. Not for a long while anyway.”
“The town has doubled in size since I was a kid. It wouldn’t surprise me if in a few years, it’s grown enough to need a second salon. Everyone needs their hair done, right?”
She laughs softly. “Yeah, that’s true. I’m just still learning all about small-town living, I suppose.”
“It’s different. I didn’t know anything different until movin’ to Nashville. After livin’ there for a few years, Cherry Peak felt odd. It was hard to readjust. Have some grace with yourself.”
It’s a far reach, but I drape my arm across the console and turn my hand over. The comforting weight of her palm against mine comes a moment later. I lace our fingers tight.
“Where do you prefer? Here or Nashville?”
There’s no hesitation in my reply. “It’s always been Cherry Peak. My love for this place has only grown as of late.”
I don’t explain further, and she doesn’t ask me to. There’s no need. Not when it’s already so obvious. If I never had to leave Cherry Peak again, I wouldn’t. And when the time comes that I do, I’ll be leaving half of myself here.
With her.