by Holly Rayner
For the first time, she was actually excited about the looming reunion. She started daydreaming about the outfit she’d wear, and how to do her hair as she made her way back down the long, winding dirt driveway and away from Ranchos Caballos Blancos.
Chapter 2
Sean
Delaney Summers! Sean thought as he watched her little silver pickup disappear down his driveway. What are the chances?
He’d had a crush on Delaney back in high school, all those years ago.
Feels like a lifetime ago, he thought, raising one hand to touch the side of his face where most of his plastic surgery had been done. That was back before I was Sean. Before I had this face, he thought. Before the vault explosion. May as well be a lifetime ago.
She looked so good! She still had that fire-cracker sharp wit, and that thousand-watt smile. Her jeans and loose tee had not been able to hide the fact that she still had the body he’d fantasized about holding so many times, back in his teenage years. If anything, she looked even better than she had back then—and that was saying a lot.
Back then, Sean had held the conviction that Delaney was the most beautiful woman on earth. She’d had toned legs that looked so good in the little red-and-white Pepper Ridge cheer uniform, lustrous dark hair, and large brown eyes fringed in thick black lashes.
A vision of Delaney at eighteen floated through his mind, and he was overcome with a nostalgic sense of desire.
I used to dream about talking to her for just five minutes, he thought, remembering the way his palms used to sweat when he even so much as saw Delaney three spots ahead of him in the lunch line.
He shook his head, marveling at his good fortune. When he’d received an email about renting the barn for the first week in April, he’d assumed it was going to be another starry-eyed young couple who would hold hands the entire time as he gave them a tour of the space.
Instead, he’d been greeted by Delaney—and she was alone!
No way she’s single, he thought, as he watched the cloud of dust settle. A woman as beautiful and smart as Delaney had probably been snapped up by some lucky guy just out of college, or before.
Despite this logical reasoning, he couldn’t help but get the feeling that she was putting vibes out in his direction. Was she interested? The way she smiled at him, fluttered those long lashes, and gazed his way made him feel that she was.
His steps felt light as he walked toward his house. It was nearing five in the evening, and the sun was beginning to sink down below the willow trees that edged the drive. He could hear one of his dogs barking in the distance. His two cattle dogs had a good sense of time—if he was even five minutes late for their dinner hour, they’d let him know.
As he climbed up the front steps, he replayed the previous hour in his mind. She didn’t recognize me, he thought. She would have said something.
He and Delaney had run with different crowds back in high school. While she’d been a cheerleader, and in all the advanced classes, his crew had been a little rougher around the edges.
Okay, a lot rougher around the edges, he admitted to himself as he pulled the door open.
The barking got louder, and soon he was bombarded by two furballs that jumped around him as if they were standing on pogo sticks.
In the midst of the flurry of licks and tail wags, he managed to slip off his cowboy boots and remove his hat.
“Okay, okay, I get it, gang!” he said, reaching down to pet one of the furry heads.
The barks and bounces subsided, and the dogs, a boy and a girl named Sam and Lila, sat. Tongues out, wide-eyed, they looked at him as if they were expecting an explanation for his tardiness.
“I know, I’m late,” Sean said aloud. “Come on, let’s go get you some dinner.” He led the way into the kitchen.
He’d lived alone for the past five years, ever since he’d purchased the ranch, and he was used to chatting with Sam and Lila as though they were friends.
Back then, the ranch had contained a run-down trailer instead of a house, and a barn that was really more of a three-sided lean-to, thanks to the fact that one wall had been nearly demolished by a passing tornado.
He’d sunk all of his savings into the ranch, along with many eighty-hour workweeks. As the years passed, he’d acquired more land, cattle, horses, and employees to help him run things. The ranch was so profitable that he’d even built himself his dream house on the property. Sam and Lila had worked at his side all that time.
He set their dishes down, gave them each a pat on the head, and then wandered over to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. He twisted the cap off and set it down on the counter without taking a sip. His whole mind was on Delaney.
“I gotta say, she looked good,” he said. “I always regretted it, you know, guys?”
He looked down at his dogs, but they were too busy chowing down to pay any attention. He finally lifted his beer.
“Delaney Summers,” he whispered to himself with a shake of his head before he took a sip.
He remembered the way that he’d always wanted to ask her out. Once, he’d even gotten up the nerve. It was during Mrs Phipps’ Mixed Media Art class—the one class he’d ever shared with her. Since she was in advanced classes, and he tended to be stuck in the remedial ones, thanks to his habit of skipping out whenever he got the chance, their schedules had never lined up.
Then, in senior year, he’d shown up on the first day of art class to the realization that Delaney was also on the roster. He remembered the way he used to get there early, just to be sure to get a seat at the same table that she liked—the one near the window.
He sipped his beer again. It was astounding how it all felt so clear in his mind. Though it had been fifteen years since that art class, he could still remember the smell of the room—paint and clay—and the feeling of excitement he’d get every time he entered, just at the prospect that Delaney might look in his direction and smile.
I got up the nerve to ask her out, he remembered, to the senior prom. I wrote her a note and handed it to her during art class on the day we were learning about origami. It was April, just like it is now. The prom was scheduled for May. She never answered me, and later that same afternoon, I found out she’d be going with that jerk football player, Jake Millhouse.
He felt his heart contract with an aching sensation as he remembered the way it had felt to learn that Delaney was going to go to the prom with Jake.
I had one chance, he thought to himself. Once she got together with Jake, that chance disappeared.
In fact, he remembered being sure that Delaney would end up marrying Jake. But today, when he’d peeked at her left ring finger, he’d seen that it was naked.
He heard a whine and looked down to see that Lila was done eating. Her head was cocked to the side, as though she was curious about what he was dwelling on.
Sean knew without a doubt that his pets could sense his mood. They’d been a little family for so long, and Sean was sure that Lila could read his body language like a book.
“I can’t figure out what to think,” he explained as he reached down and petted her head. “Took me by surprise, to see her like that.”
Lila licked his hand and wagged her tail.
“You’re right, girl,” he said. “It was a good surprise. A very good surprise.”
He moved to fix up some dinner. He’d come a long way since those early days of living in the run-down mobile home. He’d been able to turn a profit on the ranch, thanks to his hard work, and he’d learned to invest in the stock market. The end result was billions in the bank. Though he could afford a private chef, he preferred to cook for himself.
He sautéed a chicken breast and some fresh vegetables, and boiled some rice pilaf. When it was all done, he carried a plate of food, along with a second beer, out to the porch on the west end of the house.
He settled into one of his favorite chairs, with his food on the table in front of him, his dogs at his feet, and a vista of rolling fields, trees, and the si
nking sun out before him. Golden rays danced along the fields of waving grass, bird song drifted across the porch along with a gentle breeze, and he could smell the good food he’d prepared and the fresh earth of his land all around him.
He closed his eyes and said a prayer of thanks.
It had been eight years since he’d almost lost his life.
With his eyes still closed, he remembered what it had felt like to come back to consciousness after the explosion. He remembered how painful it had been to drag himself away from the wreckage. It had taken every ounce of strength he’d had to stage a car wreck so that his wounds wouldn’t be associated with the bank robbery down the block.
Then—how disoriented he’d felt on the cold operating room table. The surgeons and nurses around had him looked so alien in their gowns and masks. He remembered a nurse telling him that they were going to have to do extensive plastic surgery to reconstruct his face. She’d put a mask over his mouth; cool air had flowed through it. The air had tasted metallic.
He remembered the way his vision had darkened, and the faraway sound of the nurse’s voice as she’d informed him that he was receiving an anesthetic that would put him to sleep.
Before the explosion, he’d been running with a crew of criminals. It’d been a natural progression from his young days of being in a high school gang.
The explosives that had nearly taken his life had been of his own making. He’d designed the device to help him open vaults and safes. Only, that night at the San Antonio Network Bank, the explosive had gone off too early.
There’d been a flash, sharp pain, unconsciousness… followed by a woozy sense of awareness and a drive to escape.
He remembered how, just before the anesthetic had fully knocked him out, he’d said a prayer: If I survive this, I’ll never commit another criminal act. I’ll change everything.
Pulling his mind away from the traumatic memories of his past, Sean opened his eyes. Once again, he was greeted by the light of the golden, setting sun as it cascaded over the ocean of grass just in front of his porch.
I kept my word, he thought as he drank in the view with a grateful heart. I changed my ways. I became a new man, with a brand-new identity.
He reached for his fork.
It was his habit to eat out on the porch on the west side of his house. He didn’t like to end the day without a sunset. He knew, thanks to his brush with death, how fragile life was. He was determined not to take one single day for granted.
He started eating and his mind turned back to Delaney. What twists and turns had her life taken since those days in high school, he wondered as he savored the taste of a sweet red bell pepper that came from his own garden. It was hard to believe that fifteen years had passed since their days at Pepper Ridge High. Back then, his name was Derek.
No wonder I didn’t get an invite to the reunion, he thought as he speared a morsel of chicken. I don’t think they could track me down to give me an invitation, even if they tried.
Derek Bradshaw doesn’t exist anymore.
It made him slightly sad to think that his classmates would all get to enjoy an evening of dancing and sharing memories while he had to stay hidden on the sidelines. At the same time, he realized that it might be interesting to observe the event from afar. No one would recognize him, thanks to his drastically altered appearance, and he could simply listen in on conversations and watch his old classmates to see what they’d been up to over the years.
That sounded like a lot less pressure than actually being a part of the get-together. He was lost in thought as he finished up his beer. As the last rays of the sun disappeared behind a black silhouette of trees, he imagined what it would be like to see Delaney again. The night of the reunion was just a month away.
Lila sat up and rested her chin on his knee. He stroked the top of her head.
“You’re tired, hm, girl?” he said. “It’s been a long day. A long, good day.”
Thanks to Delaney, he thought. And in one month, I’m going to see her again.
Chapter 3
Delaney
Delaney checked her reflection in the rearview mirror. She’d carefully applied eye makeup before leaving her apartment in San Antonio, while telling her cat, Mr. Butters, how excited she was for the reunion. Mr. Butters had offered a few meows of agreement, plus soft purrs whenever Delaney had mentioned Sean.
“You’d like him,” Delaney had told her gold-and-white-striped furry companion. “I just hope he’s there tonight. He told me the barn doors would be unlocked, so I guess there’s a chance he won’t be around.”
Now, as she checked that the espresso-brown mascara had stayed in place during the hour-long drive, she realized that she hadn’t stopped thinking about Sean since she’d last seen him, almost a month ago.
Butterflies of excitement and anticipation stirred inside of her as she reached for a tube of strawberry lip gloss from her purse and then applied a liberal coat.
She checked her reflection one more time and was pleased with what she saw. Her long dark hair was swept back in a ponytail, and she liked the way the small, clear gemstones on her stud earrings matched the sparkle of her lips.
As she stepped out of her truck, she felt distinctly pleased with her outfit, too. She felt more attractive than she had in years in the slim-fitting dark denim jeans and lacy black top. It helped her comfort level, too, to be in jeans. She’d never been one for dresses. Even better was the fact that at the last minute, when leaving her apartment, she’d switched out of the new heels she’d purchased the week before, and into her favorite black cowboy boots.
She was thankful for her practical footwear as she lugged a cooler stocked with ice across the uneven surface of the rustic parking area. Loose dirt, tufts of grass, and rocks could have been hazardous had she been in heels, and would have made the task of unloading the back of her pickup even more laborious.
It was going to be hard enough in boots. The two other people in her class who had volunteered to help her set up for the reunion had bailed last-minute. One, the class treasurer, had gone into labor that morning with twins, which Delaney had to admit was a pretty valid excuse. But the other, the class president, had an excuse of accepting last-minute tickets to a country music show.
Lame, thought Delaney with frustration as she reached the back doors to the barn. Am I seriously going to have to do all of this myself?
She was about to set the cooler down so that she could open the sliding barn doors, when they started moving aside as if on their own accord. As it opened, she saw that Sean was pushing them aside.
“Saw you through the window,” he said coolly. “That looks heavy. Let me give you a hand.” He reached out and relieved her of the heavy cooler.
It was maybe the best greeting Delaney had ever received. She shook out her arms, which were fatigued from the weight.
“Whew! Thanks,” she said. “Who knew a cooler filled with just ice could be that heavy?”
Sean chuckled, and Delaney immediately remembered how much she liked his laugh. He was dressed in faded jeans and a soft flannel top, crisscrossed with a red-and-baby-blue plaid pattern. The shirt was rolled up to the elbows, showing off his strong, tanned arm muscles, which bulged as he hoisted the cooler up onto a long table against one wall.
He wasn’t wearing his cowboy hat this time, and she noticed that his sandy blond hair had a nice wave to it. His eyes sparkled with the life and awareness that she’d so enjoyed when first meeting him.
He flashed a subtle grin as he said, “Figured I’d swing over and give you a hand. You look beautiful tonight, by the way.”
Delaney felt her cheeks blush. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” she said. “I guess we can both clean up pretty nice when we want to. Are you going to join us tonight? You’re welcome to, you know.”
He looked down at his boots. “Oh, no,” he said. “I’ll be at the house and let you all do your thing. I finished up feeding the cows and horses a little early, though, so I thoug
ht I could at least help you with setting up. You got some friends coming in to give you a hand, too?”
She shook her head. “Just me,” she said. “And a whole truck full of party decorations. If you’re serious, I’ll take you up on your offer.” She led the way back toward the open doors.
“Do I look like I’d joke about something as dead-serious as putting up balloons and streamers?” Sean asked, a teasing lilt to his voice.
She glanced over at him. “Well, you don’t have your hat on, so maybe that’s your way of saying you mean business.”
“Darn right,” he said with a nod. “Let’s get this place gussied up. What do you have in here?” They reached the back of her truck, and he eyed the plastic bins and bags within. “I’m guessing there’s all kinds of glitter-covered banners just waiting to be tacked up. Am I right? What’s that?” He pointed to the helium tank that Delaney had rented, for filling balloons.
She laughed. “That’s a good place to start,” she said. “Grab it and I’ll get this bin filled with balloons.”
She waited as he lifted the bin she’d pointed to out of the truck and handed it to her. Then, he hoisted up the tank and walked at her side as they crossed the lot again. The evening sun was low in the sky, but still strong enough to give just enough warmth to make her relieved that she’d chosen not to wear a long-sleeved top.
“You really don’t have to do this,” she said as they entered the barn.
He set the tank down, and it clanked against the cement floor. The air was cooler inside than outside, and smelled just as good as she remembered.
She continued as she opened the bin, “I didn’t see set-up help on the contract you sent over.”
He looked right at her. In his deep drawl, he spoke. “It’s my pleasure, Delaney.”
His words sounded so sincere, and as they reverberated through her, she felt a shiver of pleasure run up her spine.
She was impressed with how easily Sean could transition from light jokes to deep sincerity. His polite demeanor and unabashed kindness made her warm to him. His good looks were enough to warrant her attention, and his considerate nature was like the cherry on top of the sundae.