Home on the Ranch Page 7

  “I’m fine.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Now who’s fibbing about not being hungry?”

  He huffed a little laugh. “Busted.”

  Ella set the bag on the edge of the porch. “Be right back.” She went inside to where she’d seen a stack of patchwork quilts. Hoping the sight of one didn’t upset him, she grabbed it and a couple of bottles of water she’d stored in the fridge, then went back outside.

  “Seems if we’ve got a picnic lunch, we ought to really have a picnic, don’t you think?” She descended the steps, leaving the bag filled with the food for him to carry, and walked toward a spot under the trees at the edge of the yard.

  As she spread out the quilt on the ground, she tried to tell herself this was no big deal, that she wasn’t allowing herself to be pulled into Verona’s plan. This was simply two people, coworkers of a sort, eating a meal at the same time at the same place—no different from when they’d eaten pizza at Gia’s after a hard day of work. But there was that part of her that did think this was romantic and perhaps wished it could be more. It would be nice to at least be able to explore if more could develop between them, but it didn’t make sense to go down a road she knew led to a dead end.

  Austin stopped at the edge of the quilt and looked down at her. “You can eat inside, where it’s cooler.”

  “No, this will be fun. I haven’t had an actual picnic like this since I was a little girl.”

  When Austin finally sat across from her, she questioned the wisdom of being this close to him. How was she supposed to concentrate on eating food when he was what really looked yummy?

  “Smells good,” he said.

  It took her a moment to realize he was talking about the food. Yeah, this meal was going to be a challenge to get through.

  She started pulling carefully wrapped food from the bag and arranging it on the quilt between them.

  “So what did you do to get on Verona’s matchmaking list?” Austin asked.

  Ella looked up from where she was placing what looked like a container of corkscrew pasta on the quilt. “You mean other than not have a ring on my left hand? Nothing. Be glad you’re leaving soon.”

  A brief look passed across Austin’s face that Ella couldn’t quite identify, but it did something funny to her middle.

  “You say that like I’d think the pairing was awful or something,” he said.

  What was he saying?

  “No, but I think people ought to get to choose who they want to pair up with, don’t you? Plus, Verona often jumps in without all the facts. Like she couldn’t possibly know if you have a girlfriend back in Dallas.”

  Had she just said that? Did it sound like fishing to him as much as it did to her own ears? Trying not to let it show that she was worried about what she’d just said, she pulled out thick sandwiches and a container of various berries.

  “Maybe I should start the rumor that I do.”

  Rumor? Did that mean he wasn’t dating anyone? That thought made her ridiculously happy when it shouldn’t matter at all.

  “Oh, sure. Throw me under the matchmaking bus.”

  “It’s every man for himself.”

  Her mouth dropped open, and when Austin laughed she grabbed a strawberry and threw it at him.

  “Hey, that’s a perfectly good strawberry,” he said as he bobbled then caught it in his hand.

  “Be glad something heavier and pointier wasn’t handy.”

  He just smiled and brought the strawberry to his mouth. When he took a bite then licked the juice from his lips, she knew the universe was torturing her for some reason. Because, man, was she jealous of that strawberry.

  Austin grabbed one of the sandwiches, and she couldn’t help but watch his hands as they made quick work of the paper wrapping. She imagined those hands rubbing down the horse in the barn, handling the reins as he rode out among the herd of cattle, clasping the hem of that white shirt and pulling it over his head to reveal the mysteries that lay beneath.

  Skimming over her naked flesh.

  Good grief, her hormones were having a no-holds-barred party.

  “Mmm, this is pretty good,” he said as he held up the roasted turkey sandwich. “Maybe we should mess with Verona so she’ll bring us one of these lunches every day.”

  Ella snorted. “This is good, but definitely not worth encouraging her. We do that and she’ll be announcing our engagement in the paper.”

  She might be joking on the outside, but something about saying those words made Ella feel jittery inside, as though part of her maybe even liked the idea. How much sense did that make, thinking of happily-ever-after with someone she’d just met? That’s right, none at all.

  They fell into silence as they ate, just as they had at Gia’s, and Ella was surprised at how comfortable it was, even though she was still hyperaware of her intense attraction to Austin, especially when he leaned back on one elbow and stretched out his long legs.

  She glanced over at him and caught him rubbing the pad of his forefinger across one of the swatches of cloth making up the quilt.

  “You remember that fabric?” she asked.

  He glanced up in a way that made her think he hadn’t realized that he’d been transported back in time.

  “Yeah. It’s from one of my grandmother’s blouses. I remember this old dog we had pulled it out of the laundry basket and turned it into a chew toy. Never one to waste anything, she cut up the rest of the fabric and put it into quilts like this one.” A slight smile tugged at the edge of his mouth, one that was part fond memory and part sadness. “You two would have probably gotten along like two peas in a pod.”

  She got the impression he’d had some sort of falling out with his grandparents, but he’d still loved them. That he would say what he did touched her more than he’d probably intended.

  “So what would you make with something like this?” He poked the quilt with that same finger.

  She thought about it for a moment then ran her hand over a section that was less worn. “I’d take the better parts and make things like throw pillows and pin cushions. I’d have to study how first, but I bet I could make a jacket out of it, too.”

  “What would you charge for products like that?”

  Again, she had to consider his question before tossing out figures.

  “And people pay that?”

  “Yeah. Handmade quilts are popular, even if they’re no longer used as quilts.”

  “Then I’m glad you’re taking all this stuff.”

  “Because it will be given a new life?”

  “Yeah, I guess. And help you build your business.”

  Warmth spread throughout her chest. “Thank you.”

  He shrugged. “It’s better it be used than just sit stacked in corners for decades.”

  There it was, that layer of frustration that had been apparent from the moment he’d shown her into the house.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  When he met her eyes, she thought for a moment he’d say no. But instead he gave a slight nod.

  “Your grandfather seemed like a nice man, and yet you don’t want to keep anything that has to do with your grandparents. I gather you had a strained relationship because of the hoarding?”

  “By the time I moved away for college, yeah, things were pretty strained. I couldn’t understand why they were so resistant to getting rid of stuff, and they didn’t understand why it all bothered me.” He placed the uneaten portion of his sandwich on the wrapper and looked toward the house. “It was embarrassing, for one thing.”

  “Because you couldn’t have friends over.”

  He glanced at her, seemingly surprised that she understood.

  “After my dad died, we went through some pretty lean years,” she said, remembering all too well that burnin
g desire to grow up and move out on her own. “When we first moved to Texas, let’s just say our apartment was a dump. I used to get off the bus at the public library and walk from there because I didn’t want anyone to know where I lived.”

  “But things turned around?”

  “For a while. My mom got remarried. We moved a lot as my stepfather tried one thing and then another, unfortunately not really succeeding at any of them.” Ella moved her pasta salad around with her plastic fork. “I think seeing that is part of the reason I want my business to succeed so much.”

  “From what I’ve seen of how driven you are, you should.”

  She smiled. “I appreciate that.”

  Only a few days ago, Ella would have said all she really wanted was to build a successful business doing what she loved and to eventually get a little place of her own. Now, as she sat eating a picnic lunch with Austin, she realized that there was something else she wanted, too. But it was the one thing she couldn’t have no matter how hard she worked.

  Chapter Six

  Over the next few days, Austin worked on prepping the rest of the exterior of the house for painting and was surprised he didn’t mind all the manual labor. In fact, he found his body craving it, as if he’d been denied food for a decade and had suddenly been plunked down at a king’s feast.

  He knew he had to go back to Dallas, his job, his life, but with each passing day he could feel more of himself reattaching to this ranch. With every step he took toward being able to list it for sale, the more the idea of letting it go didn’t sit well. He found himself adding to his to-do list, prolonging the time necessary to complete the tasks. He wasn’t so blind that he didn’t realize part of the reason also had to do with Ella.

  Since that first day they’d eaten the picnic Verona had brought them, they’d fallen into eating lunch together, either sitting on the front steps or sometimes back on the old patchwork quilt under the trees. He knew it would be much more comfortable in the air-conditioning, but he didn’t want to spoil this time he was able to spend back on the ranch by going inside and seeing all the things that had driven him away.

  Their lunch conversations since that first day had been about easier topics than the past—everything from the fact that neither of them had pets, mainly because they were too busy to care for them, to favorite ice cream flavors. Even though he grew more attracted to her each day, it also felt as if they were becoming good friends. He had friends in Dallas, but none of them knew much about his background. The fact that Ella now knew more than all of them put together and didn’t appear to think any less of him only made him feel more drawn to her.

  Which he knew was a bad idea. He couldn’t start something with her when he wasn’t staying. It might be nice to take this side trip down memory lane, to revisit the parts of his youth he’d enjoyed, but the reality was that his job wasn’t going to wait forever. He had responsibilities, commitments he couldn’t just ignore or pass off to someone else while he played rancher.

  “You seem deep in thought,” Ella said from where she sat cross-legged on the opposite side of the quilt.

  “Just wondering what color I should paint the house that would make it appealing to potential buyers.” He looked over at her. “What do you think?”

  She cocked her head at an angle and stared at the house. “What about a limestone-type color? It would match a lot of the actual stone exteriors of houses around here.”

  He directed his gaze at the house where he’d grown up, trying to imagine it a color other than the dusty greenish-brown it had always been. Finally, he nodded. “I like it.”

  “So you’re really going to sell the place?”

  “Yeah. You sound surprised.”

  She leaned back on her palms. “I kind of am. You’ve relaxed a lot since you’ve been here. I even heard you whistling while you were working earlier.”

  “It’s nice to have a break from my normal routine.”

  “No, that’s not it.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

  “Remember what I said about being able to peg people? You love this place. Maybe it has some stressful, perhaps even unhappy memories, but you seem at home here.”

  She was echoing a voice that had begun to whisper at the back of his mind the past few days, but it had to be nostalgia trying to tempt him into believing that he could go back, could do things differently. But what was done was done, and soon this ranch would fall into that category.

  “I won’t lie and say that it doesn’t have some appeal, but I can’t just give up everything I’ve worked for. Ranching isn’t an easy job. It’s hard to make it work financially.”

  “Your grandfather made it work.”

  “Did he? He would have had to sell off the herd this year just to make the tax payment on the ranch.”

  “Oh.” Ella looked out across the pasture. “Will you sell the herd with the ranch?”

  “If the buyer wants the cattle, yeah, that would be easier. If not, I’ll try to sell them to another rancher.”

  “How big is the ranch? Wait, never mind. I’m not good at being able to even picture how big an acre is.”

  “I can show you if you’re willing to help me string a bit of fencing.”

  “Wow, you’re taking this free-labor thing a bit far, don’t you think?”

  He laughed. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  Ella leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her upturned knees. “I could do that, provided you realize I have no idea what I’m doing. Not a lot of call for learning how to string barbed wire living in base housing.”

  And so after they finished their lunch, he put work on the house on hold and loaded the supplies he needed into his grandfather’s old pickup truck. He retrieved an extra set of work gloves from the barn and handed them to Ella. She slipped them on and they swallowed her hands.

  “Well, these are all kinds of sexy.”

  Man, he wished the woman wouldn’t say the word sexy, because it had him thinking about peeling off those gloves along with everything else she was wearing and stretching her out on that quilt in the shade.

  Maybe asking her to go with him had been a really bad idea. Nope, no maybe about it.

  “You’ll be glad you have them in a few minutes.”

  When they slipped into the old pickup, the cab smelled like his grandfather—a combination of the aftershave with the faux forest scent, leather and lemon hard candies. Austin couldn’t remember a time when his grandfather didn’t have those candies close at hand.

  As he drove along the dirt road that skirted the edge of the ranch, he remembered how many times he’d taken this same path for the same reason. Only those times he’d been in the passenger seat, where Ella now sat.

  “So, how’s it going in the house?” he asked, needing to talk about something that would take his mind off how beautiful she was without even trying. It was as if each day he saw her more clearly, her beauty increasing.

  He needed to get the ranch ready to sell and get the heck out of Blue Falls before he gave in to his attraction and did something that might cause her to knock him into next week.

  “Fine. I can speed up if you need me to.”

  “No, that wasn’t why I asked.” If she worked any harder, she was going to collapse or drive off the side of the road on the way home. So why was he dragging her out to the back of the ranch to string fencing?

  Oh yeah, because he liked being around her. And he was evidently selfish enough to add to her long day just so they could spend more time together.

  “How long before you have to leave?” she asked.

  “I’ve got another week of time off, unless some logistical emergency arises.”

  “I don’t know how you do it, going into an office where someone else dictates when you work, when you eat,
when you can go home. I just don’t think I’m built that way.”

  He had to admit that making his own schedule, even if he was working hard, had been nice the past several days. It might require long days, but there was a freedom in ranch work that he’d managed to forget. Returning to working within four man-made walls was going to be more difficult than he would have imagined.

  “It’s not all in an office. I travel, spend time on job sites.”

  “Somehow I doubt an oil field is as pretty as it is out here.”

  She had him there.

  “How long has this ranch been in your family?”

  He rested his arm along the edge of the open window, breathing in the scent of sun-baked earth. “I guess you could say three generations, though my mom never really had much to do with it.”

  “Shame to see it go, though I guess that happens all the time.”

  True, but it still didn’t prevent the knot that started forming in his chest. He tried not to think about another family living in his childhood home, riding across these pastures, taking in these views. It didn’t seem right, and yet holding on to a place he didn’t intend to work didn’t make much sense.

  When they reached the area that needed a new string of barbed wire, he stopped the truck and hopped out. By the sound of the closing door, Ella had followed suit. When a few of the herd grazing nearby looked toward them, Ella stepped over to the fence.

  “Hey, there. Aren’t you some handsome fellas.”

  Austin chuckled. “You do know they’re going to end up as steaks on someone’s plate, right?”

  “Shh,” she said as she motioned for him to be quiet, then looked back toward the cattle. “Don’t pay him any mind. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

  An unexpected light feeling filled Austin’s chest. It was almost impossible to feel down with Ella around. Considering the sadness she’d endured with her father’s death and the subsequent years of lean times and constant moving, it was a bit of a miracle she was so cheerful and fun to be around. In that moment, he wished things could be different. Wished Dallas were closer to Blue Falls so he could take a chance and ask her out. He’d still be far enough away that should she shoot him down, he wouldn’t have to see her. But if she said yes? Then they could make dating work.