by Liz Isaacson
“Oh, wow. You’re dating him.”
Vi spun back to her. “How do you know that?”
“Oh, Vi.” Bree laughed as she sat at the bar and let Vi pour milk into her mug and put it in the microwave. “I can hear it in your voice.”
Vi frowned and kept her back to Bree while she finished the hot chocolate. Was she really that obvious?
Does it really matter? she asked herself. She hadn’t hidden her feelings from Todd, and the only other person they spent any time with was Celia.
Still, she didn’t want to fall faster than Todd was, and he still hadn’t initiated a kiss. So she’d sit back and wait. If he liked her, he’d let her know with more than words.
Hopefully at dinner that night.
Chapter Eleven
Todd didn’t have a choice about letting Vi drive them down the canyon and to the Italian restaurant. He couldn’t drive, though his right leg was almost healed. He still had to wear the cast on his left for another month, and he was trying to be very careful with it. Follow the doctor’s orders right to the letter, because he didn’t want to be lame and cooped up during the amazing summer months in Coral Canyon.
“I really want to know what you think of the two places,” he said once they’d gotten a booth in a private corner of the restaurant.
“Well, I’m not going to tell you that.”
“Why not?”
She put her arms on the table and leaned forward. “Because, Todd, we’re not engaged nor married. My opinion counts for very little.”
She didn’t say what she really meant. I’m only going to be here for another month.
The days until she left seemed to hover between them, whether she said them or not. Todd knew when she was leaving, and while they hadn’t talked about it, he seemed to have a keen idea of just how far Nashville was from Coral Canyon.
“Your opinion means a lot to me,” he said, almost desperate to have a way to keep her in town. Which was completely unfair of him, he knew. She had a home, a life, family, in Nashville. He’d heard all about them over the course of the last month.
She sighed. “Fine.” But she picked up her straw and pulled the wrapper off, eyeing him as if she was still considering what she’d say. “I’m not sure I see you in the farmhouse. It seems a bit too close to what you ran from when you were eighteen.”
“So I guess I’ll need to learn how to drive a boat.”
She laughed, the sound absolutely musical to Todd’s ears. He sure had enjoyed this month with her, even if he did feel like he was constantly battling a deep well of depression. Things had gotten considerably better once he’d been able to start using his right leg, but it seemed his earlier shyness with women had returned in great force.
He’d been counting on Vi to be her normal forward self with him, but she hadn’t kissed him again. Not since that first night he’d returned from the hospital, and he was dying a slow death without her lips on his.
They talked a bit more about the house in the woods, and she asked him what kind of dog he wanted. “Something big,” he said. “Like Daisy and Bear.”
Vi seemed to babysit the dogs a lot, not that Todd minded. To him, there was nothing better than holding hands with Vi on one side with a dog curled up beside him on the other. In fact, they’d spent a few afternoons like that in the theater room, something playing on the huge screen in front of them.
“Maybe a German shepherd,” he said. “Or a Labrador retriever. Or something that likes to run and get a ball.” He’d always wanted a dog that would run and run and bring back whatever he threw. “Maybe I’ll train him to get my slippers in the morning.”
Vi burst out laughing then, and Todd reached across and took both of her hands in his. “I wanted to talk to you about something.” His heartbeat started thrashing in his chest. But he had to say it. Talk about it.
“All right. Sounds serious.”
Todd nodded, his throat closing rapidly. “I’ve been thinking about us, and—” All the things he’d been thinking suddenly fled.
She watched him, those blue eyes full of interest. Her grip on his fingers as tight as his on hers. “And?”
“I don’t want you to go back to Nashville,” he blurted, much less eloquently than he’d planned. He swallowed, trying to make his thoughts align. “I think we’re just getting to know each other, and I want…I want to keep doing that.” He released her hand and picked up his water glass to quench his dry throat.
Vi leaned back against the booth, removing her hands from the table completely. She watched him, her eyes masked now so he had no idea what she was thinking.
“Why do you have to go back?” he asked.
“I don’t,” she said. “Not really. I was just staying in the lodge while Lily and Beau were gone.”
“And you can’t stay there once they return?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to step on Lily’s toes. It’s her new home, and they’re newlyweds.” She looked out across the restaurant. “Maybe I’ll buy the farmhouse.”
Todd started laughing, but Vi didn’t join in. “Oh, you weren’t kidding.”
Her eyes blazed now, but she wasn’t angry. “I don’t have to return to Nashville, though I do have a house there. I could stay here. I kinda like you too, Todd.”
Happiness burst through him, and Todd couldn’t help grinning. “I’ll go with you to look at places,” he said.
She giggled now, and the remaining tension in his body released. “I think I can do it. Besides, the places you were looking at were too big. How are you going to live in that huge house on the lake by yourself?”
He ducked his head as his face warmed. “I guess I’m hoping I won’t live there by myself forever.”
She sucked in a breath, which sounded like a gasp. He plucked up the courage to look at her, their eyes locking the instant he did.
“Do you want kids, Vi?” he asked, his voice quiet and almost still.
She gaped at him. “I’m thirty-eight-years-old.”
“So what?”
An edge entered her eyes. “So women can’t have babies forever, Todd.”
“You think it’s too late for you?”
“I think if I wanted to have children of my own, I probably should’ve gotten married a long time ago.”
Todd tried to hear the emotion in her voice. Was she sad she hadn’t gotten married? Disappointed in her life choice? He couldn’t tell.
“There are other ways to get children,” he said.
“I know,” she said. “One of Graham’s brothers just adopted a three-year-old.”
“So?” Todd asked. “Is that something you want? A family?”
Vi’s chin trembled, and she reached quickly for her glass of water. By the time she finished drinking, she was calm and strong, as she’d been the whole time she’d been taking care of him.
“Yes,” she said. “I’d like to have a family someday.”
Todd wasn’t sure why he’d let so many days and weeks go by without having these conversations. Without kissing her. Without letting her know he was falling in love with her.
“Me too,” he said. “And I’m older than you.”
She half-laughed, half-scoffed. “Yes, well, age doesn’t seem to matter for men.”
The waitress arrived to take their orders, and Todd moved on to easier topics of conversation after she left. He really did like Violet Everett, and he thought if they could simply get enough time together, he could fall in love with her.
Once they returned to the lodge, she paused at the bottom of the steps and said, “Goodnight, Todd. Thanks for dinner.”
He could easily get himself into bed now, with an almost-healed leg and his crutches. But he didn’t want to hobble down the hall as he had on other nights.
So he dropped one crutch, which clattered against the tile floor, and grabbed onto the railing with that hand. “Vi,” he said, his chest tightening and releasing with every breath. “I had a great time.”
“Me too.” Still, she d
idn’t step onto the bottom stair.
He seized his opportunity, no matter how nervous it made him, and swept his other arm around her as his second crutch fell to the floor. She flinched at the sound, and he whispered, “Sorry,” just before drawing her closer, closer, and leaning down to kiss her.
Fireworks popped through his whole body, and his blood felt like liquid lava as it raced through his veins. Kissing Vi sent a thrill through him, and as she moved her mouth in sync with him, Todd couldn’t help the way his fantasies exploded to life.
Him and her in that big house in the woods. Him and her bringing children into the world, taking them horseback riding one day and boating the next.
She clutched the front of his shirt and kissed him back, a clear indication that she liked him as much as he liked her. Eventually, her fingers relaxed and released and moved to the back of his neck, her fingernails tracing a path through his hair.
He moaned and kissed her deeper, needing to be as close to her as possible. She finally broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to his collarbone. Todd couldn’t seem to get a proper breath, and his pulse seemed to be beating in every part of his body.
“It’s about time, cowboy,” she whispered, lifting her head and smiling at him. “You sure know how to make a girl wait for a kiss.”
He chuckled again, still holding onto her so he wouldn’t fall down. “You sure know how to make a man nervous to kiss a girl.”
She cocked her head. “I make you nervous?”
“Just a little,” he said, running the tip of his nose down her cheek. “Maybe a lot. I don’t know.”
She held onto him too, and Todd wanted to have her in his life for a good, long time. “You don’t need to be nervous around me,” she said.
“I’m not nervous around you,” he said. “I’m just nervous to kiss you. Like it won’t be good enough.”
She giggled and pressed into his lips as he pressed them to her temple. “Well, you can stop worrying about that, Todd. It’s definitely good enough.”
“Yeah?”
“Well, maybe you should kiss me again so I can decide.”
So he did.
“I can grab that bin,” he said to Graham, who had his hands full. How Todd had accumulated so much stuff inside the lodge in the past few months was beyond him. But he had medical supplies, and boots, and clothes, and a whole box full of Everett Sisters CDs he’d bought online.
Not that Vi needed his money, but he wanted to listen to her songs, and he found he quite enjoyed them, especially the faster ones. She’d caught him listening to them once, and he’d admitted to the purchases. She admitted she liked the faster songs too, because then she got to play the banjo.
“Do you still play?” he asked.
“Oh, sure,” she said. “It’s like riding a bike. Or kissing.” She’d tossed the last word over her shoulder as she sauntered out of his bedroom, and Todd had had to hop-limp-jump to catch up to her. But when he did, he pressed her into the wall and kissed her like he meant it.
And she’d kissed him back the same way.
She still hadn’t played for him, though, and he’d asked several times over the past few weeks since that had happened.
Now, he picked up the bin and followed Graham out to the minivan, where the rest of his stuff was. At least they could take everything he owned in one trip. Graham would drive this, and he was taking the tour bus and his truck.
Well, Vi was going to drive him and everything over to the house along the lake. He still had the cast on his left leg, and with only two weeks until his next appointment, he wasn’t going to jeopardize getting his life back at that time.
It would be July by then, and he had trails to hike, and rivers to fish, and a boat to figure out how to drive.
“That’s it,” he said to Graham, who pressed the button to lower the hatchback.
“So we’ll see you over there.”
“Yep.” Todd crutched his way over to the tour bus, where Vi sat behind the wheel, her fingers the tightest he’d ever seen.
“It drives just like a car, sweetheart,” he said as he climbed up. He was so much better at maneuvering around with the cast and crutches now, and he was glad he didn’t have to rely on Vi quite so much.
But he knew he’d been relying on her in a lot of new ways. They simply weren’t physical.
She released her grip and looked at him. “It’s so big.”
“I know.” He chuckled. “Now you know why I hired a driver while I was on tour.”
“I thought that was so you could sleep between cities.”
“Well, that too.” He gave her a tired smile. He hadn’t done a whole lot that day, but the emotional turmoil of moving out had hit him about an hour ago, and he couldn’t imagine staying the night in that huge house alone. Without her.
“When do you move into your place?” he asked.
“Another week,” she said. “There was a problem with the roof, and they’re fixing it.”
“And your sister is okay with you being at the lodge for a few extra days?”
“She said she was.” Vi took a deep breath and clenched the wheel again. “Okay, are we going?”
“Yes,” he said. “We’re going.” Over the past six weeks, he’d ordered furniture for his new place, and it had all been delivered. He’d called the grocery store yesterday, as they’d just introduced their delivery program, and had requested a load of groceries to be dropped off that morning. So he’d have something to eat in his new house.
All the physical accommodations had been planned for and accomplished.
Vi drove slowly, making a sweeping arc to get out of the parking lot. Once she was on the road down the canyon, she seemed to relax. Making the turn onto Prospect Bay Drive was a bit tricky, and she almost hit the boulder that marked the entrance to the community.
Graham waited on the road so she could pull in first and then he parked behind them. With his and Laney’s help, moving the bins and boxes into Todd’s new house took about ten minutes, the same amount of time it had taken them to load them up.
Then Graham and Laney left, and Vi stood in the huge, two-story foyer with Todd and said, “Well, point me in the right direction with these boxes, and I’ll help you unpack.”
Todd didn’t move, and he didn’t speak. He’d come down to the house with Vi several times after the furniture had been delivered, and she’d helped him move couches where he wanted them, place end tables, and make up his bed so he’d have somewhere to sit and sleep once he moved in.
But there was something that had not been here the last time he and Vi were. “What’s that?” He pointed to the potted plant on the ledge that separated the steps from the living area. The container had a red bow tied around it, and a card with his name balanced in front of it.
“Just a little something I got for you,” Vi said, nudging him. “Go on. Go open it.”
Todd gave her a long look, trying to decipher the emotions in her eyes before moving over to the ledge, the plant, and the card.
Chapter Twelve
Vi felt like she’d swallowed a bite of snake pie as she watched Todd move over to the plant she’d placed there late last night. Her stomach writhed and squirmed and she thought about dodging in front of him and knocking the card from his hand before he could read it.
But she waited too long, because the sharp tearing sound of him opening the envelope filled the space and made Vi flinch. Nothing she could do now, so she just waited for him to say or do something, her pulse pounding around inside her chest.
“You got me a dog?” He turned toward her, surprise on his face and in his voice.
“It’s a puppy,” she said. “And I just put down the deposit, so you can go pick out the one you want.”
“What kind?” He peered at the picture she’d put in the envelope with the card.
“They’re Old English sheepdogs,” she said, taking a tentative step toward him. “Did you read the card?”
He twisted back to t
he plant and bend his head, his cowboy hat always in place—unless he was kissing her.
Vi had labored over the words in the card, wanting to tell him how she felt but not reveal too much to him in case he didn’t feel the same as her. But since their date in town weeks ago, he’d kissed her every chance he got, and they’d settled into having Bree at the lodge with them.
She worked a lot in the yard, especially as summer started and continued, so she wasn’t around much anyway.
Todd turned toward her just as Vi arrived at his side. “This is beautiful,” he whispered, indicating the card. “You really feel this way about me?”
She’d written that she enjoyed talking with him, liked the way his hand fit in hers, enjoyed learning things about him and telling him everything about her. She’d told him she was glad she wasn’t moving back to Nashville. She’d basically said everything except I love you.
Her muscles tensed as he continued to watch her. She wasn’t sure if she loved him or not, as Vi tended to jump into the pool with both feet and then try to figure out how to swim.
But she certainly was fond of Todd—she’d rearranged her whole life to keep dating him. She’d bought a house in Coral Canyon, for crying out loud.
He’s worth it, she told herself. She’d never once felt like she was doing the wrong thing, and she’d prayed long and hard about it.
“Well, do you?” he asked, this time setting the card down on the shelf.
“Yes, of course,” she whispered.
He hopped and faced her, taking her face in both of his hands. She felt cherished and special in that moment, this beautiful man watching her with adoration in his eyes.
“I love you,” he said, his voice filled with emotion. Before she could even process what he’d said, he kissed her.
I love you.
The words bounced around her brain as Todd kissed her, and it wasn’t the fast, passionate kind of kiss, but a slow, loving touch of his mouth to hers.
And Vi felt loved, and it was the most wonderful feeling in the world.
An hour later, she stood at the window overlooking the backyard, her phone pressed to her ear. “And I didn’t say anything,” she whispered, though she was the only human being in the lodge.