by Parker, Ali
I wondered if Connor told his sister the story on their way home. When responding to my email Abigail was polite, and didn’t say anything to make me think he had. But I could be wrong. Maybe I was just overthinking the whole thing.
When I drove into the small town, I realized just how charming it was. Before, I’d only seen it at night and had only seen the dance hall and the diner, not much else. It was actually a nice medium sized town with lots of businesses, the kind that were owned by families instead of big corporations. I kind of liked that.
Following the directions, I drove out of the town and into the country. It was then that I saw the grand arching gate that said Dawson Ranch on it. I drove over the cattle guard and down the dirt road. I could see the ranch compound at the end of it. The grand Victorian house was beautiful, just like in the picture. But there were several other buildings on the land. There was a very large red barn, a stable building, a bunch of corrals and pens, and a few silos. It was a picture perfect ranch, and it made me ache to not have grown up at such a place.
When I met Mr. Dawson, he was very much what I expected, the grand patriarch of the family. He was a kind gentleman, a true cowboy. And he was relinquishing control and entrusting me with more than I might have expected, putting his house in my hands. I admired that.
When Connor’s brothers came over onto the porch I immediately knew there was going to be trouble and I felt extremely embarrassed. They recognized me as the woman that had slapped their brother. I was just thankful that their father wasn’t on the porch when they said it, but wondered if they would have in his presence. They were being very brash about it and I could feel my face turning bright red as they laughed. I guess Connor had not mentioned that I was the new interior designer, the same woman from the dance hall. I almost wished he had told them and prepared them in advance, rather than having them realize it when they saw my face. But I also noticed that Abigail wasn’t aware that Connor and I had a brief history, and she did not seem pleased.
Now, I was forced to do my work in this strange and awkward situation. Something I’d never had to experience before.
“So, this is the kitchen. This is where I was thinking new appliances, but I’m not sure what color to go with. We’ll need a new refrigerator and new dishwasher for sure. Not sure if we should keep what we already have in this classic white color, but I was thinking brushed stainless steel would be more modern-looking,” Abigail said, leading me into the kitchen.
“Yes, that would look very nice. The white is classic, but as you said it is a little outdated. The brushed stainless steel is also easier to keep clean and doesn’t show dirt and fingerprints the way the white does. Just something to think about there. But what I could do is make up a design with both the white and the stainless steel, that way you can see how they both look,” I said.
“Great, we’ll also need a new table and chairs in this kitchen. This one has seen its day. But we do like a farm table style. So if we could find something like it that is also sturdy and it can stand up to these brothers of mine, we would like to replace it as well.”
“Abigail was also talking about painting this room a different color,” Connor said.
I just looked at him, not really wanting to even acknowledge him. I was still furious over being embarrassed by his brothers, even if it wasn’t his fault. I just nodded my head in agreement.
“Yes, my brother is right. If you have paint samples I would love to go through them and get your ideas on color,” Abigail said.
“Of course,” I said, putting my bag on the kitchen table. I pulled out paint samples and Abigail and I began to put them against the wall, figuring out which colors would go best. But as I was doing it, I could feel Connor’s gaze on me. My body felt warm while he was looking at me. I didn’t know what to do, and couldn’t do anything. A part of me liked that he was checking me out so much, but the professional side of me knew that it shouldn’t be happening.
About an hour later we finished up and I walked out onto the porch.
“Thank you for having me. I will draw up some designs with budgets and have them for you on Monday. You have a very lovely home and ranch here.”
“Thank you,” Abigail said. “I really appreciate you coming out.”
“Well, would you like to see the rest of the place before you go? I can take you around and show you. We have a barn and stables, and more. There’s a lot going on. It would give you more of a feel for the place.
The idea of being led around such a vast ranch by Connor made me panic a little, thinking of all the nooks and crannies where he might try to kiss me. A part of me thought it would be romantic, and I did want it to happen. I yearned for it, in fact. But the more professional part of me knew that I shouldn’t.
“Maybe next time? I would like to see it eventually, but I have to get back to the city. I’ve got a lot of work to do. Thank you again for having me,” I said, shaking Abigail’s hand, and then his. Turning, I quickly walked off the porch toward my car.
I opened my car door, set down my things and was ready to get in.
“Ma’am? I mean Lydia—” I heard Connor say as the jogged over to my side. His sister just stood on the porch staring at us, and didn’t seem happy that he was coming after me.
“Yes, Mr. Dawson? Did you have another question?” I said, trying to remain professional.
“No, not a question. I just wanted to apologize.”
“Apologize for what?”
“About my brothers. They are idiots. They never should have said what they did in front of you like that. It was my fault completely. I should have told them you were coming and who you were—I mean the connection to the dance hall and all. That way they wouldn’t have been surprised when they saw you. I feel like an idiot for letting that happen. It was certainly not my intention, and I’m really sorry,” he said. I could see sincerity in those light green eyes, and he actually looked kind in that moment. He didn’t seem like the brash bar brawler that I had encountered at the dance hall. Maybe there was more to Connor Dawson than I’d been thinking.
“Thank you for apologizing, but it’s not a big deal, really. I already forgot about it. I will talk to y’all about the designs real soon,” I said, getting into my car. He held the door for me and then closed it. It was definitely a gentleman cowboy move that I wasn’t expecting.
I drove away from the ranch, thinking that I’d had no idea how big the family would be when I got there. I knew Whitney had said there were brothers, but I hadn’t put together that the guys he’d been standing with at the dance hall that night were his brothers. It was all becoming clear now. No wonder they had such a big home.
Driving back toward the town, I was feeling good. I was feeling super excited about design work again for the first time in a while. I had been doing the same old city office spaces for men mostly for almost two years straight, but this project was completely different. I felt really alive as I drove away from the ranch and into the small town, deciding I would stop and get a bite to eat at the small diner where Whitney and I had eaten after we left the dance hall that night. I was ready for a milkshake and an order of fries, Whitney’s favorite when she was young. That way I could sit there and go over the notes I had just taken at the Dawson home, and fill in anything I’d forgotten to write down while it was still fresh in my mind. But deep down, I knew that the real reason I was excited about this job, wasn’t because it was new and different than the norm—it was because of Connor Dawson. He had awakened something inside of me, and that actually scared me. I couldn’t wait for Monday to come, and I really did want to see the rest of the ranch. And a strange part of me wanted Connor to show me. I had been in the city so long that I’d forgotten my own roots. I grew up in a small Texas town that was rural like this. I didn’t grow up on a ranch, but I admired the country and all the country activities I did as a child and teenager. It was all coming back to me and it felt comfortable. It felt like home.
11
Connor Dawson
I couldn’t get her out of my mind. The day she came to the ranch she looked a lot more casual, she wasn’t in the stiletto heels and pencil skirt. She was dressed in jeans, boots, and had a nice shirt tucked into her jeans. Still, she looked absolutely stunning, with her platinum blonde hair in a high ponytail. She had come dressed to work, so she could squat down and take measurements and do those types of movements. But I was completely mesmerized by her. Monday could not come fast enough for me. I couldn’t wait to see her again. After she left, I let my brothers have it, filling them in on what happened when I saw her for the first time at her office. They wouldn’t leave me alone until I told them, and had threatened to ask her the next time she came over. I knew the project would bring her to the ranch a lot, so I told them what I could in order to save her from more embarrassment. I couldn’t trust them not to say anything to her.
“How in the hell could you not tell us that the interior designer was the woman that slapped you? That’s a big deal!” Tanner said. He had come over from his house just down the road because Dylan had called to tell him what was going on.
“Because I knew this would be the reaction!” I said, getting annoyed. But I went ahead and told them everything, which wasn’t that much.
When they had gotten their fill of gossip, they finally left me alone about it. And I warned them not to tease her when she came around and to just drop the entire dance hall connection as if it had never happened.
But Abigail was another thing entirely. She was really upset with me about it. She saw it as me breaking her trust and that did not sit well with me.
“What the hell, Connor? Why didn’t you just tell me you knew her? I can’t believe you kept it from me? I am your sister. I sat with you both at her office and then on the ride back, and you didn’t say a single thing about it. You kissed this woman, and she slapped you? Do you know how strange that is? But not telling me is the worst. To think if you hadn’t gotten caught, I still wouldn’t know. You never would have said anything, right? I can’t believe I was so excited to work on this project with you. And now I’m left wondering what else I don’t know,” Abigail said, pacing my room back and forth as she really tore into me. Then she went on and gave me a very long lecture about trust.
That was how I spent the entire weekend, fielding questions from my brothers and trying to get Abi off my back. Now that it was Sunday, I was glad for a day of at least some rest. Everyone spent Sunday in a different way and today I was very glad for that. The Dawson family saw Sunday as a half day of rest. Meaning that only the essential chores had to be done. For example, we had the animals to take care of and that meant someone had to feed them. We rotated this responsibility on Sundays, and today was my day to do it. On this day of all days I was happy about it because I needed the work badly. It was a damn good distraction from the one thing that was taking over my mind, Lydia Myers.
Then of course there was the whole mess with my sister. Abi had every right to be angry, but it wasn’t my fault that my romantic interest had crossed over into her interior design project. Sometimes life was just crazy like that. I hadn’t planned to have a random beautiful woman slap me on the dance floor, and then have Abi find her for the remodel project. Shit, that was just the luck of the draw. But I liked to think that fate was steering me toward Lydia, even if it had pissed my sister off.
The one thing that was bothering me now was that I eventually wanted some time alone with Lydia. There were things I wanted to say to her that I couldn’t say in front of everyone. But how could I do that? How could I separate the project she was doing with Abi and I away from my romantic interest in her? It seemed damn near impossible.
“Need help?” Dylan asked, walking toward me.
“Really? It’s not your day to do this. Why aren’t you off swimming or fishing?” I asked him as I poured feed into the trough for the goats. They were crowding around and their calls of excitement grew louder, which made us have to shout to each other just to have a conversation.
“Not feeling up to it. My plan was to be lazy around the house. I was going to sit on the porch, read the paper or drink coffee or maybe some iced tea. But once I started doing it I realized I was pretty bored. I don’t know how father spends all those hours like that. Anyway, I saw you out here, so here I am. You want help or not?”
“Hell yeah, I’ll take that help,” I said, handing him the bucket.
He grinned, “That’s what I thought.”
I grabbed another bucket from inside the shed.
“Let them chickens out to pasture,” I said to him.
“Got it,” he said, opening the chicken pens.
Together we filled the buckets with seed and began to feed the chickens, sprinkling seed all over the grass. We had quite a few chickens and roosters that ran free during the day on the ranch, but at night they slept inside the chicken coop due to predators, including coyotes.
“What’s going on with you?” Dylan asked.
“What? What kind of question is that?”
“I have not heard a single wisecrack or a joke from you all weekend. Yesterday at breakfast, Wyatt said something really stupid and you didn’t even bother to make fun of him. That isn’t like you at all.”
“So? I can’t take time off from clowning around?”
“That’s not like you.”
“Well, what’s up with you? It’s not like you to come out here and do extra work unless you’ve been specifically asked to either, but here you are.”
“I already told you why.”
“Well, if you are really bored we can take a look at the books later. Father is going to be checking up on both of us soon, so it wouldn’t hurt to put more work into it,” I said.
“Fine with me. I want to learn that stuff and I barely understand it, so it would be good to spend some time on it.”
“Really? That’s not the answer I was expecting from you,” I said, arching my brows.
“Yeah, yeah. Well, maybe I‘m not as reckless as y’all think.”
“Come on, help me with the sheep. I want to put them out to graze.”
“I’m on it,” he said.
I was surprised with Dylan. Showing initiative was a little different than what I was used to seeing. Yes, he was a hard worker, our father had instilled a work ethic in all of us. But Dylan typically only did what he was responsible for, not more. Today, he was showing more initiative than I had seen in a long time. It was refreshing and I was admiring my younger brother.
We put the flock of sheep out to pasture. Then we went to go feed the horses. After that we fed the hogs. We made our rounds, and were all done with the outside work for the day except bringing the sheep back in before sundown. Then we went inside to the library to work on the books.
Dylan was taking to the inventory and budgets of the feedstock very well. I was impressed, remembering that it had taken me almost a year to really get it, but he was picking it up fast. The house was quiet as we sat in the library going over the books. Father had gone to see one of his old buddies on a ranch about thirty miles away. Abi was in town with her friends. I didn’t know about Wyatt, but Tanner was at his place with Madison. On Sundays we were each free to do as we pleased all day—except for whoever was feeding the animals.
“So, are you going to ask her out?” Dylan asked, out of nowhere.
“Ask who out?”
“Lydia, the interior designer? Are you going to ask her on a date?”
“What makes you ask me that? Not that it is any of your business, by the way.”
“Oh, come on. We all saw the way you looked at her at the dance hall. You were hypnotized by her from that first moment. The fair Lydia is what has been occupying your mind. I ain‘t stupid, you know.”
“I do want to see her again—alone and not while she’s working on the house. Not with all of you lurking around and watching me. Not ideal.”
“So, call her up and ask her out to dinner.”
“I can�
��t do that.”
“Why not? You like her, don’t you?”
“Yes, but you’re missing a very important point. She slapped me, remember? I don’t exactly think she is dying to have dinner with me,”
“Right,” Dylan said, through his laughter. “How could I forget that? It makes me laugh just thinking about it.”
“Yeah, just keep laughing.”
“I will.”
“Thanks.”
“But for real, Connor. What are you going to do? You got to do something. You ain’t yourself at all lately, and I know it’s because of this woman.”
“I guess I’m going to have to figure something out. Maybe I’ll go see Lydia tomorrow by myself.”
“What do you mean? Isn’t Abi supposed to go with you?”
“I’ll tell Abi that the meeting was cancelled and scheduled for a different day.”
“Oh no. No way. See, that is a bad idea, Connor. Abi will be really pissed when she finds out, and seeing how she’s already pissed, well, you know.”
“Why would she find out?”
“She will, Connor. Women always do. But in the spirit of watching you get in trouble, I say you should go for it.”
“Thanks for the support,” I said, sarcastically.
“Any time, brother.” He grinned.
After a few more hours of work, we finished the books. Then we went back out onto the ranch to stretch our legs and put the chickens and sheep back in, just as the sun was setting. Once we were done with that, we decided to get started on dinner, since we were still the only ones at home. We didn’t know how many would actually be coming home to eat, but went ahead and started on it anyway.