“About what?” Callie asked. “The ten carats? Or getting engaged?”
“Callie, you’ve had some sort of mental breakdown this morning,” Saundra chided. “You know as well as anybody that Jameson will be slipping a ring on Van’s finger any day now.”
“Well, she just said don’t be so sure,” Callie pointed out.
Vanessa’s expression was something between smug and sly as she looked at both women.
“If, or when, Jameson puts a ring on my finger, I wouldn’t want a rock that huge. I’d have to hire a security guard to follow me around,” she joked.
“So the romance is still on?” Saundra asked.
Vanessa smiled dreamily as Callie said, “There was never any doubt about that, Saundra. Van isn’t about to let Jameson get away.”
Strolling over to the desk, Vanessa took a seat in one of the heavy wooden chairs positioned in front of it.
“You two are probably wondering what I’m doing in town instead of at Happy Hearts,” she said.
“Well,” Callie said, “it isn’t exactly like you to be in town in the middle of the morning. Who’s watching over your camp kids out at the animal sanctuary?”
She said, “Daphne needed a few supplies for the farm and I offered to make the trip into town to pick them up for her. She’s watching the kids until I get back, so I can’t dally long. I mainly stopped by to see you, Callie.”
“Me? I assumed you were here to see Evan.”
Shaking her head, Vanessa smiled coyly at her roommate. “I don’t need to see my brother for anything. You were already in bed last night when I got home. I wanted to hear how your date with Tyler went.”
From the corner of her eye, Callie could see Saundra’s mouth fall open and then she scowled. “A date with Tyler! Why haven’t I heard about this?” Saundra demanded. “What am I around here, anyway? Just a fixture?”
Callie shot Vanessa a censoring look before she turned to Saundra. “Sorry, Saundra. I was going to tell you about it later. And as for you, Van, how did you learn that I had a date? I haven’t told anyone yet.”
“Callie, it’s not like an Abernathy can avoid being noticed in this town. A couple of little birdies I’m acquainted with saw you at DJ’s Deluxe last night. And from everything they told me, it sounded like you two were getting cozy with each other.”
Groaning, Callie crossed the room and returned to her seat on the couch. “Cozy is a total exaggeration. We were simply having dinner and a little wine. The evening was very nice and Tyler was a perfect gentleman. That’s really all there was to it.”
This time it was Saundra who let out a loud groan. “Oh, come on, Callie. Can’t you give us one juicy detail?”
The kiss Tyler had given her was too private and special to ever share with anyone. Besides, it would probably be the one and only time she would be that close to the sexy cowboy.
“We talked—a lot,” Callie admitted.
“And?” Vanessa pressed her. “Are you going to see him again?”
Callie wished she could give her friends a cool and casual response, but she figured she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “I have no idea.”
Saundra rushed over to the couch and sank next to her.
“No idea? Callie, that’s ridiculous! It looks pretty obvious to me. If he took you to dinner at DJ’s, he wasn’t just playing around. He’s interested.”
“I agree with Saundra.” Vanessa spoke up, then with a thoughtful frown added, “Although, most everyone I’ve heard speak about the guy seems to think he has a big hang-up over losing his wife.”
“That’s understandable,” Saundra said.
Callie glanced at both women. “He does,” she said flatly. “Have a hang-up about her.”
A clever smile replaced Vanessa’s thoughtful frown. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
Callie tried not to sound defeated. “That I don’t have the tiniest chance of having a meaningful relationship with the man.”
“No, silly! It means you’re going to have to get him over her.”
Saundra’s head bobbed up and down in agreement. “Van’s right. If he keeps living with her memory, then he’ll never really see you. And that would be a shame. He’s young. His life is just starting. He needs to find love again.”
Rather than let her friends see the doubtful shadows in her eyes, Callie stared at a piece of fuzz on the floor. “Listen, you two, just because my job entails ghosts, that doesn’t mean I can compete with one. Especially for a man’s love. No. I’m beginning to think I might be going down the wrong path. I should be regarding Tyler as a friend. Nothing more.”
The signal is strong.
As Winona Cobbs’s words echoed in her mind, Callie glanced past the gift shop to an alcove where a purple door painted with silver stars served as an entrance to Winona’s place of business. Over the door, a tinsel-edged sign with the words Wisdom by Winona hung from a yellow crescent moon.
Since Evan had insisted Winona move her physic business from an outside shanty to inside the Ghost Tour building, Callie had only peeked beyond the outlandish door to the waiting room. Like the door, it was also painted entirely in purple with velvet curtains of the same color draped from the center of the ceiling to the tops of the walls. The space gave off an eerie vibe and Callie could only imagine how fantastic the actual reading area looked.
The old woman had no idea what was going on in Callie’s or Tyler’s life, she thought. And that comment she’d made about the signal was just as weird now as it had been at Melanie’s bridal shower.
So why did the silly phrase keep running through Callie’s mind?
Vanessa arched a brow at Callie. “Why are you staring at Winona’s door? Are you considering asking her for romantic advice?”
Callie groaned. “Are you trying to be funny?”
Vanessa frowned while Saundra’s attention vacillated between the two women.
“How could you ask that, Callie? Winona is my and Evan’s great-grandmother,” Vanessa reminded her. “Yes, she might seem a little quirky, but there’s a keenness about her that most people don’t bother to notice. And I’m not talking about her rambling predictions. I believe she understands things about us that we don’t recognize in ourselves.”
“Van, I don’t mean to sound critical of your relatives. God knows, none of us is perfect,” Callie said. “But Winona is ninety-four years old. Everything she’s ever known about romance, she’s surely forgotten.”
“You’re wrong about that, Callie. When Winona learned that Grandmother Daisy was actually Beatrix, her and Josiah’s secret love child, it was like a light turned on inside her. When she talks about Josiah, love radiates from her eyes. She’s not forgotten. Nor has she ever quit loving him. Winona is one of the reasons I made the decision not to settle for anything less than the real deal. A man who truly loves me. One who will be with me to the end of our lives.”
“Van has a point there,” Saundra told Callie, glancing impatiently at the ringing phone on the booking desk. “I’ll answer it.”
After she left, Callie pinched the bridge of her nose. “Van, to be honest, Tyler is... He made me feel like a princess last night. Just being with him makes me giddy. But there are times I get the feeling that he’s only partially with me.”
“Hmm. And you’re thinking his mind is on his late wife.”
“What else?” Callie asked glumly.
“Has he talked to you about her?”
“No. And that’s another thing I find unsettling. You’d think he would at least say her name, or mention her offhandedly when he talks about Maeve. But he doesn’t. It’s like she’s a giant shadow in the corner of the room that we’re both trying to ignore.” She let out a resigned sigh. “But I keep telling myself it’s too soon. It probably hurts him too much to talk about her to anyone.”
; Vanessa grimaced. “If that’s the case, he doesn’t need to be dating. It’s not fair to you.”
“Well, like I said, I’m not sure we’ll see each other again anyway. He didn’t mention it and I didn’t have an opportunity to suggest it.”
No, you were too busy suggesting he kiss you good-night.
The taunting voice in her head very nearly caused her to blush, but thankfully she managed to keep the embarrassing sting from her cheeks.
Rising from the chair, Vanessa walked over to Callie and gently patted her shoulder. “You shouldn’t be looking this miserable, Callie. When I walked in, I thought I’d find you walking on air. Instead, you look like you want to run off somewhere and cry for hours.”
Callie did her best to smile. “I am happy, Van. I only wish I had met Tyler under different circumstances—without the tragedy of his wife’s accident standing between us. Doesn’t matter. I don’t expect to hear from him. Not anytime soon, for sure.”
“Well, as long as you don’t fret over the situation, that’s the important thing. Now, I’d better get back to Happy Hearts before Daphne has the law out looking for me.”
Callie rose and Van smacked a kiss on her cheek. “’Bye, sweetie. See you tonight.”
“Oh, you’re going to be at the apartment tonight?” Callie asked her.
Nodding, Vanessa started for the door. “Jameson is going to be busy tonight. Hey, maybe we should make a pizza or do delivery? How does that sound?”
“Wonderful.”
Vanessa waved goodbye and slipped out the door.
Callie walked back to the small nook she used as her personal office. She’d just taken a seat at her desk when her cell phone pinged with an incoming text message.
Plucking up the device, she frowned at the unfamiliar number.
Who was that? Had someone accidently sent a text to her number?
She punched open the message and immediately let out a gasp of surprise.
Tyler!
Maeve and I plan to drive in to town tomorrow night for a burger. Would you like to go with us?
Suddenly it didn’t matter if half of his mind was on his dead wife. Or if his feelings for Callie were little more than casual friendship. All that mattered was that he wanted to be with her.
She quickly typed out a response.
I’d love to go. What time?
Six. See you then.
Yes. Tomorrow night.
Callie put down the phone but she didn’t immediately turn her focus back to the spreadsheet on the monitor. Instead, she pulled a mirror from her handbag, flipped it open and peered at her image.
The smile on her face was so wide it was about to crack the corners of her lips and her brown eyes were twinkling in a way she’d never seen before.
Was she actually looking at a fool? Or a woman who was falling in love?
Chapter Five
Because the dirt road to Tyler’s house was on private Flying A land, it wasn’t maintained by the county. The Abernathys had to do their own upkeep with a tractor and box blade. A job that was usually put last on the list of ranch chores. Maeve always giggled when then truck bounced over the washboard ridges and this evening was no exception as Tyler drove the narrow road that would take them off the ranch and to the nearest highway.
On the back seat, where he’d buckled the baby in her safety carrier, Maeve giggled loudly and kicked her feet with happy excitement.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying this ride, sweetie,” Tyler said to her. “But it won’t be so funny if we end up having a flat.”
He’d barely gotten the words out of his mouth when he rounded a bend and spotted Dean’s truck coming toward him.
With hardly enough room for two vehicles to pass, Tyler steered his pickup off the edge of the road and braked it to a halt. His brother stopped alongside him and lowered the driver’s window. Tyler did the same.
“What’s up?” Tyler asked. “Are you going to my house?”
“I was. Looks like I should’ve called first. You going over to Mom and Dad’s?”
Normally, Dean’s assumption would’ve been correct. After Luanne died, Tyler had narrowed his travels to his parents’ house, to Dean’s place, or to town for supplies whenever necessary.
A sense of family duty had been the only reason he’d gone to Gabe’s bachelor party and subsequently the Ambling A, where he’d first met Callie. Since then, his routine had been broken, along with his ability to focus on anything for more than two or three minutes at a time.
“Maeve and I are going to town. To have a burger,” he told Dean.
“In case you’ve forgotten, Maeve is nine months old. She can’t eat a hamburger,” Dean pointed out. “She only has one tooth!”
Tyler let out a short laugh. “It’s good you know that much about babies, brother. You might have one of your own someday. But to ease your worries, I’ll be eating the burger. Maeve will have puréed green beans and carrots. And ice cream for a treat.”
Dean chuckled. “A rancher with a freezer full of beef and he has to drive all the way to town for a hamburger. That’s pretty good, Tyler.”
“Sometimes a man doesn’t want to cook for himself.”
Chuckling again, Dean said, “Just kidding, brother. I’m thrilled you’re going to be out among people. I hope this means you’ve decided to quit being a recluse.”
Tyler had never thought of himself as a recluse. He wasn’t like the hermit who used to live on a small piece of property not far from the Flying A. On rare occasions, they would spot him out of the house. His hair and beard had always been long and scraggily, his clothes little more than rags. He’d been a man who’d quit caring. Tyler hadn’t quit caring. He’d just not had the energy or the heart to start his life over.
“I’ll go ahead and make you a little more thrilled and tell you that I’m picking up a young lady to go with us.”
Dean’s jaw dropped. “Is this some of your dark humor?”
“No. I’m serious. Didn’t Mom or Dad tell you I had a date the other night?”
Dean’s brow furrowed. “No. And you didn’t, either.”
“I haven’t had time. I’ve been hauling the last of the round bales into the ranch yard. Two hundred and fifty of them, to be exact. I’ve not exactly been twiddling my thumbs or sitting around chatting.”
“Who is this mystery lady?”
“Not any mystery about it. I met her at Mel’s shower. You called her the ‘little brunette.’”
Dean suddenly grinned. “Oh...her. That’s cool, baby brother. You’re venturing out and with a woman, too. A cute one, at that. This is better news than a hike in cattle prices!”
Cute. Yes, Callie was cute—and sweet and tender and all the things he’d ever wanted in a woman. Too bad Luanne had lost all those qualities after she’d married him and moved onto the Flying A, he thought ruefully.
“Thanks, brother. Uh, were you going to the house for a reason?”
“No big deal. I thought we’d sit outside for a few minutes, have a beer and listen to the crickets. But that’s okay. You have more important things to do tonight.” He gave Tyler a thumbs-up before he pulled his truck forward. “Get out of here. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Tyler returned his brother’s gesture then pulled back onto the road.
In front of him, the evening sun was beginning to take on a golden-pink hue as it spread across the wide, western horizon. To his right, green, grassy slopes swept away to low foothills that climbed up to high mountains covered with evergreen forests, jagged rocks and tumbling waterfalls. To the left, open grassland was dotted with herds of Black Angus cattle.
The beauty of the Flying A never failed to stir his emotions and fill him with pride. Some would say his deep connection to the ranch was more like an addiction. But to Tyler, the land and the cattle were more like his lif
eblood. And if he was ever brave enough to invite another woman into his life, he’d make damned sure she could handle his hardworking, country life.
When he reached the juncture of graveled road and paved highway, he steered the truck toward Bronco, his thoughts taking a turn of their own, straight back to Callie. He’d been shocked when she’d suggested that he kiss her good-night. Sure, the idea of kissing her had entered his mind plenty of times. Like each time his eyes had landed on her soft, plump lips.
When the two of them had been sitting on the bench in the courtyard, the urge to kiss her, to hold her in his arms and to feel her womanly curves pressed against him had practically consumed his brain. It had been a struggle to concentrate on anything she’d been saying. Until she’d uttered those two, little words—kiss me.
He’d been so shaken by the intimate contact that all he’d been able to do was say goodbye and walk away. And since then, the taste of her mouth had haunted him. He wasn’t supposed to want a woman like that. Not that much. Not with Luanne only being gone for a half a year. What was the matter with him, anyway?
He was lonely, he thought. And if he could be truly honest with himself, he’d been lonely long before Luanne had died.
Callie filled some of that empty ache inside him and he couldn’t give that up. Not when he was just now beginning to feel like a man again.
* * *
The dining area of Bronco Burgers, the small burger place in Bronco Valley, was crowded with people stopping off for a quick meal after work. But Callie didn’t notice the loud conversations or shrieking kids racing back and forth between the dining tables and the order counter. She was too busy trying to smother her laughter as she watched another spoonful of puréed green beans ooze out of Maeve’s puckered lips.
“Poor little thing. I’d be spitting out that stuff, too. She wants an onion ring with ketchup,” Callie told Tyler as he attempted to get his daughter to accept a bite of carrots from the baby food jar.
Chuckling, he looked over at her. “Who wouldn’t? But she needs the proper vitamins. Besides, she’s not old enough to digest that kind of food.”
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