Her Cowboy Billionaire Bachelor

by Liz Isaacson

  He rolled down his window once the car was out and driving off. “I need to go change,” he said. “Where should I meet you?”

  “The Sheriff is taking volunteers at the station,” Beau said. “They’ve got space heaters and blankets and chicken soup they’re taking to anyone who doesn’t have power.”

  “We’ve got another car a couple of blocks over to get to,” Graham said. “We’ll meet you over there.” He grinned at Liam like they’d be meeting up for a grand time and hopped back in his SUV.

  Liam navigated the plowed surface streets in town to go around the block and back up to Prospect Lake. The summer cabin sat at the top of that road, one of the farthest houses along the curve of the lake. Sure enough, it had been plowed all the way up, and he made it into his driveway and garage without too much trouble.

  He changed out of the clothes he’d slept in, if it could even be called sleeping. Knowing Rose was just a few doors down, on the same level, had kept him awake for quite a long time. She’d been very clear in her non-verbal communication that she wasn’t ready to kiss him.

  He wondered why. She’d even admitted to kissing two of the other men she’d dated in the past several months. Why not him?

  So he’d tossed and turned and wondered what was so abhorrent about him that she needed to get past. “Maybe she just needs more time,” he muttered to himself, same as last night. He put on a pair of jeans he’d barely worn and an undershirt that had seen whiter days. A sweatshirt went over that, and he’d wear his coat too, layering things on the way he’d learned as a boy.

  He had a pair of snow boots he’d bought when he’d come to Coral Canyon a month ago, but he’d never truly worn them for longer than it took to haul the trash can to the end of the driveway on Mondays.

  Once he was properly geared up, he drove to the Sheriff’s station, where dozens of people had shown up to help. He sat in his LandRover and marveled at them. At their small town spirit and how they were there to rally around each other and help.

  He wished Rose had come with him, but he didn’t want to cause a scene at the lodge. Everyone knew why he’d had to stay over, and while he wasn’t ashamed that he was dating Rose, he also didn’t want to discuss it with anyone. She’d been upset when he’d left, so he pulled out his phone and typed, Made it down the canyon okay. Changed and have real boots on now. I’m going to be helping to deliver heaters, food, and blankets to those without heat. Call me later?

  He hit send and got out of the SUV, surprised at how cold the air bit at his nose. That sun sure could be deceiving sometimes. He found Beau and Graham—which wasn’t hard as they stood a few inches taller than everyone else—and waited for his turn to get goods and instructions.

  “How do you like Rose?” Beau asked, as if he were talking about a new horse Liam had just gotten, or his new car.

  Liam gaped at him. “I—”

  “Oh, leave him alone,” Graham said.

  “What?” Beau asked. “She’s Lily’s sister, and he’s obviously interested in her.” Beau looked back and forth between Graham and Liam. “Right?”

  “Right,” Liam said and inched forward. Honestly, was it that hard to grab a list and then move on to get the supplies? He felt like the line should be moving four times as fast as it was.

  “It’s obviously very new,” Graham said in a stage whisper. “Leave him alone.”

  Liam had never been happier about a purchase before, but his new cowboy hat saved him as he angled his head and turned away from Beau. Then he couldn’t see him, and Beau didn’t get to look into his eyes either.

  “How’s the clinic coming?” Graham asked, and Liam was grateful he’d steered the subject away from Rose. Problem was, he didn’t want to talk about the clinic either.

  “Just fine,” he said. “I’m having trouble getting the medical staff I need.” He sighed. Maybe he did want to talk about this. Maybe he needed to find a way to talk about things more openly, instead of keeping them hidden, boxed up, private. Hadn’t Rose challenged him to do that with his job?

  And he hadn’t wanted to and hadn’t even told her much afterward.

  “Coral Canyon is a great place to live,” Beau said. “And there are a lot of new houses going in.”

  “Yeah,” Liam said. “But there aren’t very many outlying communities to draw from. Like, if I could lure someone from their job in Jackson to here, I think I wouldn’t have a problem at all. But if someone works in Jackson, they live there, and they don’t want to drive an hour one-way to come here.”

  “So you’re getting brand new people willing to relocate anyway,” Graham said.

  “I’m trying.” Liam finally reached the table and he listened as the curly-haired woman gave him a short list of five people. Names, addresses, phone numbers.

  “They all need a heater and blankets,” she said. “You’ll get those at the next table over. And they all need food. They get a loaf of bread and a container of soup, which is all at the far table. After you’ve delivered the items, come back here so we can keep track.” She smiled, though she’d probably said the same thing dozens of times.

  Liam moved to the next table over and started hauling heaters to his LandRover. Fifteen minutes later, he had all the items he needed and he got behind the wheel to see where his people were. Mulberry Street.

  Memories washed over him faster than he could close the floodgates. Oh, how he hated Mulberry Street. He and Lars had been riding their bikes home from the swimming hole way out on the east side of town one summer day. Liam had probably been sixteen years old, and certainly big enough to take on the Thompson twins.

  But they had slings and rocks, and he’d had to protect his six-year-old brother. He’d ridden down Mulberry Street loads of times over the years, but that summer, Terry Thompson had decided anyone who wanted to use his street had to pay a toll.

  And well, Liam thought that was stupid, and illegal, and he wasn’t going to pay.

  In the end, he’d paid with a black eye and two huge bruises on his legs from where the rocks had hit him. Lars had escaped unscathed, but only because Liam had taken the brunt of the attack. They’d lost their towels in the chaos, and his mother hadn’t been happy about that either. She’d packed them up and taken them back to Jackson that evening, straight to the emergency room there.

  Liam had been okay. Bruised, not broken. Humiliated, but not terribly hurt. He’d never really told his mother what happened either. Instead, he’d said he’d slipped and fallen when he was running off the rocks that the kids all used to dive into the swimming hole. She hadn’t questioned him further.

  He’d liked his emergency room doctor, and while he’d been toying with the idea of medical school already, that visit to the ER had solidified his career choice for him.

  Then he’d never not know what to do when he got hit with rocks again.

  His heart pounded as he rounded the corner onto Mulberry Street. The Thompson’s had lived in the house right on the corner, but the name on his list now was Hatch. He pulled into the driveway and collected the items that had been donated.

  The front door opened before he’d arrived on the stoop, and it was definitely Mrs. Thompson standing there. She was far older than he remembered, but her dark eyes were the same, as was the way she leaned in the doorway.

  “Hello,” she said pleasantly. “Thank you so much for bringing these things.” She probably had no idea what her sons had done that day. Or maybe she did. Liam honestly didn’t know.

  “Shirley Hatch?” he asked, coming up the last of the steps. “I have a heater, some blankets, and some lunch for you.”

  “Come in, come in.” She ushered him inside.

  “You are Shirley Hatch?”

  “Yes, sir. Right into the kitchen.”

  It was cold enough in the house for Liam’s breath to steam in front of him, and he wasted no time putting the food down and getting the heater set up. “It’ll click a bit as the oil inside heats,” he said. “I was told that’s normal.
I was also told that it’s best if you put it in a small room and keep the door closed. Maybe I should’ve put it in the bedroom?”

  “No, it’s fine here for now,” she said. “I’m sure the heat will be back on soon. They’re so fast at fixing things these days.”

  “Hmm.” Liam couldn’t help looking around the living room, which connected to the dining room and kitchen. There were no photos on the mantel, nor the walls. Not one.

  Odd, he thought. “Have you always lived here, ma’am?” he asked.

  “For fifty years now,” she said with a touch of pride in her voice.

  “I knew…well, I thought some twins lived here. About my age?”

  “Yes,” she said with delight. “My sons.” Her face fell. “Well, they used to live here.”

  Liam wanted to ask where they’d gone and if they’d still sling rocks at him if he tried to ride his bicycle down Mulberry Street. But he didn’t have to.

  Mrs. Hatch continued with, “They left years ago. Have never been back.” She moved over to the counter where he’d set the food and opened the twist tie on the loaf of bread.

  “Where did they go?” he asked.

  “With their dad. I guess they really did love him more than me, and when they were forced to choose, they chose him. None of ‘em have been back in at least twenty-five years.”

  Twenty-five years. The incident with the slings had happened almost exactly twenty-five years ago.

  “I’m so sorry,” Liam said, and he meant it. His training with Doctors Without Borders had taught him sympathy and empathy and how to be sincere about both.

  “Oh, it’s fine,” Mrs. Hatch said. “This soup is already hot, so I don’t need electricity to warm it up. And I’ll be fine with the blankets and the heater.”

  Liam cocked his head slightly, wondering if Mrs. Hatch was as sound in mind as she’d been previously. “Well, I have other deliveries to get to.” He tipped his hat to her, another good reason to wear the cowboy hat everyday, and headed for the door.

  “Thank you again,” she called after him, and Liam escaped the house. He glanced to the corner where the first rock had sailed from, and then he got the heck out of there. He didn’t want to relive those memories. Go through those feelings again. Talk about anything uncomfortable. The Murphy’s had never done that, and Liam didn’t want to start now.

  His phone chimed as he climbed in his SUV to go to the next house. How’s it going? Rose asked.

  It was as if the sky had opened again, only this time instead of snow, there was a heavenly choir of angels singing—and Liam knew.

  If he wanted to be with Rose, really be hers and have her be his, he’d have to share things with her. Good things, sure. But bad things too. He’d never done that before, and that was why he’d never felt close to any of the women he’d dated in the past.

  So he had two choices. Open up to Rose, or cut her loose.

  And the thought of never seeing her again—never getting to kiss her—had his heart in knots and his stomach jumping with nerves.

  He tapped out, I just had to take some stuff into a house of a couple of boys who threw rocks at me—literally—when I was a kid. It was horrible. Tell you all about it later, and hit send before driving next door for the next delivery.

  A sense of freedom filled his soul, and the rest of the deliveries went without a hitch. And with so many people helping, by the time he returned to the Sheriff’s station, all the names and supplies had been assigned.

  Can you leave that baby long enough to go to lunch with me? he texted, adding a smiley emoji to the end of it, so she’d know he wasn’t upset about her loving her nephew.

  Of course, she responded. Are you driving all the way back up here to get me?

  Of course, he texted, already with more bounce in his step. So it freaked him out that Rose wanted four kids. They didn’t have to decide right now. In fact, he needed to kiss her first before any major decisions were made, and he wasn’t even sure that would happen today.

  But he was hoping. And praying couldn’t hurt either, he decided as he made the turn to head back up to Whiskey Mountain Lodge.

  Chapter Eleven

  Rose carefully laid a sleeping baby Charlie in his bassinet and tiptoed out of Lily and Beau’s room. She found them in the living room, Lily’s head in Beau’s lap with her eyes closed. He stroked her hair and smiled softly at Rose as she paused in the hallway.

  “The baby’s asleep too,” she whispered.

  “Thank you, Rose.” Beau leaned his head back and closed his eyes too, and Rose wanted to take a mental snapshot and hold onto it forever. This was what love looked like. What a family looked like. What everything Rose wanted looked like.

  She turned away from Beau and Lily and went into the kitchen, pinching pains in her chest. She hadn’t waited as long as Lily to have children; she still had time. She told herself this over and over as she paced from one kitchen counter to the other.

  Liam was on his way back up to the lodge, and Rose felt the things she needed to say to him building under her tongue. Do you want children? You never said….

  How many do you want?

  Will you ever listen to me if I have concerns about things? Or will you just do what you want, when you want?

  It was better for her to know the answers to these things now, before she got in too deep with him. At the same time, she feared she already was in way over her head, and breaking the surface so she could breathe was still a long way off.

  Text me when you get here, she sent to him, suddenly thinking of it. Lily and Beau are asleep in the front room, and I don’t want to wake them.

  Will do.

  Rose stepped into the mudroom and put on her coat. She’d been using the deep eggplant puffy coat to go out with Daisy from time to time, and it would do for lunch. The sidewalks had been cleared, and she walked up to the crest of the small hill and looked into the bare branches of the trees.

  The wind had completely died, and it was so, so silent. Rose wasn’t sure she’d ever heard something so still, and so quiet.

  “Am I doing the right thing with Liam?” she whispered into the brilliant, blue sky, thinking that if there was anywhere on Earth to be closer to God than right here, she’d never find it.

  The breeze picked up, and she swore she heard a definite yes whispering through the limbs. She turned and headed around the side of the lodge to the front, where she could wait for Liam and not wake her family.

  She huddled on the porch, out of the reach of the wind, and the view on this side of the lodge was just as spectacular. The road was a black slash among all the white snow, and wound down the mountain until it disappeared.

  Trees stretched for miles and miles, and Rose took a deep, cleansing breath and said another prayer as Liam’s SUV came up the hill and into the parking lot. Her heart thumped in an irregular beat, and she was actually happy about it. She hoped she’d always be as excited to see him as she was right now.

  He pulled under the overhang and rolled down the passenger window. “I’m here,” he said with a smile, moments before Rose pulled open the door and got in.

  “It is freezing out there,” she said, her lower jaw shaking slightly. “Does this thing have a seat warmer?”

  “Right here, sweetheart.” He pushed a button and three orange lights glowed to life.

  “Thanks.” She grinned at him, noting he wore the cowboy hat again today, and he’d paired it with jeans and a sweatshirt, over which he wore his winter coat. Yet again, another completely different look than she’d seen on him before. And she still liked it.

  Sweetheart echoed through her mind, and she buckled her seatbelt and held her cold fingers in front of the vent. “Where are we going for lunch?”

  “There’s a great salad bar over in Dog Valley.”

  Rose looked at him out of the corner of her eye as he got the SUV moving. “Dog Valley? And where is that?” Her stomach tightened, as she hadn’t eaten breakfast that morning after the mini-c
onfrontation about going out in the snow to help people while wearing patent leather shoes.

  But he wasn’t wearing those shoes now.

  “It’s a little town about thirty minutes northeast of here,” he said. “You’ll love it. There’s this gift shop-slash-drugstore that has awesome stuff.”

  Rose giggled, wishing she didn’t sound so young when she did it. “Awesome stuff? That is so specific.”

  “You know, like notebooks and cute pens and cards and oh! There’s a soda fountain.”

  “It sounds like the owner doesn’t know what kind of store they have.”

  “It’s amazing. Trust me.”

  She wanted to trust him, and she did trust God, so she reached across the console between them and laced her fingers through his. “Liam, did it—were you freaked out when I said I wanted to have a lot of kids?”

  “Honestly?”

  “If we’re not going to be honest with each other, you might as well take me back to the lodge right now.” Rose couldn’t believe she’d said the words, but they were just there. And she did mean them.

  He gave her a look and smiled. “Good point. After all, you’d like to start having kids tomorrow.”

  “Technically, that would be today, and we both know that’s not going to happen.”

  “No?”

  “Liam.” She rolled her eyes. “We haven’t even kissed yet.”

  “Is that going to happen today?” He squeezed her hand.

  “I don’t know,” Rose said. “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Who says you get to decide?”

  She looked at him, finding the playfulness in his eyes though he only took them off the road for half a second. “Whatever, cowboy.” She added a laugh to it, but the truth was, she wanted to kiss Liam. Badly. She just didn’t want to bear the scar on her heart forever if things didn’t work out with them.

  In that moment, she realized she was almost desperate for one of her relationships to finally make it past the exciting, dating, first-kiss stage. Very few had in the last couple of years, and with Vi and Lily finding their forever partner, Rose very much wanted to as well.