“That’s not what she wants. She told me so. She wants to be in a small town.”
That was just one more way he’d misjudged her. “Anything I can do on this end?”
“She’s taking over the care of the whole house. I told her we’d get her some help.”
“I can make some calls.”
“Okay. I think she may be planning to do an overhaul, judging by the gleam in her eye, so make sure whoever you get is willing to work.”
“I’ll call the employment place in town.”
“Grace or Summer may know of someone, too. Hey, you’re not going to believe who her brothers are.”
“Locals?” That might throw a monkey wrench into their plans.
“Yep. But you can’t say anything to them because she hasn’t heard their big news yet. She needs to hear it from them.”
“Who is it?”
“Ace Webster and Kemp Whittier.”
“Oh shit. We’re dead. They don’t know she’s coming to town yet? She’s their baby sister, isn’t she?”
“Nope and yep. She says it’s been about a month since the last time she talked to them. She says they’re very overprotective.”
Chance didn’t seem all that worried about it, but Clayton was clenching at the thought. “I hope she talks to them soon.”
“Me, too. I think it makes her a little nervous being in the same town with them so I haven’t pushed her. The last thing I want is for her to feel rushed by either of us. If she stays at the house it should be fine if she wants to take a few days and get situated.”
That was a bad plan, and Clayton had a feeling he was going to regret it down the road. But he agreed about not wanting Lydia to feel rushed. He had time to make up for and didn’t want to be the one pushing her to do what she’d probably do in her own time anyway.
* * * *
Lydia, LuAnn, and Simone made sure that they had each other’s contact information. “If you girls ever get lonely and you want to come visit me, you know you can.”
LuAnn giggled and said, “Lydia, if there are cowboys just running loose and unaccounted for out there on that ranch, I can guarantee you I’ll hop on a Greyhound bus at the first hint of loneliness.”
LuAnn’s on-again, off-again biker boyfriend had left the night before on another trip with some friends, and there was no telling how long he’d be gone or if he’d return. Lydia kind of hoped her pretty, blonde friend came to Divine and did more than visit. She hoped she stayed.
Simone hugged her for the second time, and Lydia wished she could just take her with her now. Simone had a gift for making people laugh, and Lydia would miss her and LuAnn both.
LaMont was busy fiddling with the clips on the carousel the order tickets were hung on. He seemed very busy and very serious all of a sudden.
“LaMont?”
He pursed his lips and turned to her, and she thought she detected a faint wobble in the big, burly cook’s chin. “You taking off now, Lydia?”
She smiled in commiseration and felt her own chin wobble a bit. “Yeah. Got to go. Tell your mama good-bye for me.” She put her arms around as much of him as she could and said, “I’m going to miss you, LaMont.”
LaMont’s voice cracked as he said, “Oh, hell. Now I’m gonna start blubberin’.”
“Oh! Don’t do that!”
Soon all four of them were in a group hug, blubbering, crying, and carrying on. LuAnn handed her a tissue, and she was still snuffling when Chance poked his head in the back door. His sparkling eyes turned serious as he laid the bag containing all her waitress uniforms on the counter by the door.
“Baby? You okay?”
Lydia smiled through her tears and nodded. “Uh-huh. Just saying good-bye.”
“For now. That’s all,” Simone said as she dabbed her cheeks and handed Lydia a fresh tissue. “Just saying good-bye for now.”
Chance smiled and closed his arms around her when she went to him. “Folks, if you ever want to come and visit there’s plenty of space at our ranch and an open invitation. Thanks again for watching out for her the way all of you did.” Lydia’s heart lurched with happiness for his willingness to extend the invitation to her friends.
They all shook hands or hugged, and Lydia bid her former employers a farewell. They were currently working the front of the café to allow the others a chance to say good-bye to Lydia privately. She’d thought that was very sweet of them.
It was time to leave before someone started crying again, so she allowed Chance to escort her to the back door. She lifted her purse from its hook for the last time. Her final paycheck and her money were tucked safe in her wallet. She waved good-bye, with tears still welling in her eyes as she parted with the truly decent people she’d worked with for the last several months. If it hadn’t been for them she wasn’t sure what she would’ve done.
Chance stopped at a bank so Lydia could cash her paycheck, and then they made the short trip to her motel room.
Next to the spot where Gunther had sat was a small U-Haul trailer. Chance pointed at it and said, “Gunther is all packed and ready to go.” Lydia chuckled, finding it funny that her little car had fit inside that itty-bitty trailer. “I took care of checking out for you at the office so all you have to do is pack up your things. I would’ve done that for you, too, but I didn’t want to invade your privacy.”
Lydia smiled and gave a weak chuckle. “It won’t take long to pack up if I still have those boxes. I appreciate your consideration.” She unlatched her seat belt and was about to climb out when he stopped her and came around. “Aren’t you going to get sick of hefting me up and down?”
“And miss the chance to have you up against me? No. I’m plying my charms every chance I get, pretty lady.” He kissed her quickly and added, “You don’t have to worry about living on a shoestring anymore, baby. Anything you need or want can be ordered online or purchased in town.” He seemed like he wanted to say more but left it at that and released her after kissing her forehead.
They walked up the stairs together, and she was taken back to just two nights before when she’d mounted these stairs and never felt more alone in her whole life. It was funny how fast things could change.
It was blazing hot outside, and she sighed in relief when they reached the cool room and closed the door. True to his word, Chance did not push her toward any further intimacy, even though the bed stood ready and waiting. He seemed as anxious as she was to start out on the road. A bittersweet pang entered her heart as she gathered everything from the bathroom and her dresser drawers and replaced it in the boxes she’d unpacked and left by the door the night before. All told, it took less than five minutes to be packed and ready to go. Five minutes to erase five lonely months of her living there. The only reminder would be her lavender scent, which would eventually fade as well. She reminded herself everything happened for a reason and if she hadn’t found herself stranded there, she never would’ve met Chance.
Chance carried the boxes downstairs, and she looked around the drab room that had been her home since March. In that time she’d learned she was stronger than she’d ever given herself credit for. She’d survived without help from anyone, despite trying circumstances. She was self-sufficient, and maybe that had been the important lesson she’d learned here.
The room was suddenly cast in shadows, and she turned to find Chance filling the doorway with his tall, masculine frame. Happiness for this new chapter in her life brought a smile to her face. Responding with a smile of his own, he held his arms out for her. Happily, she went into them and sighed as he drew the door closed on her old life and escorted her downstairs to the truck where the new one awaited.
Chapter Eight
Lydia finished the last of her sandwich as the landscape rolled by. Chance had been willing to stop somewhere and sit down to eat, but she’d wanted to get lunch “to go” so they could be on their way. He’d smiled and seemed pleased when she’d voiced that desire.
She leaned over the console and lo
oked out his window at the gargantuan windmills that topped the mesa in the distance. Some were currently in operation, their sleek, white rotor blades slicing the air, stark against the palette of the brilliant blue sky.
“That’s Desert Sky Wind Farm,” he said, gesturing at the window.
“It was dark by the time I drove through here back in March. I’d heard there were wind farms out here but I never drove this far out to see for myself. I figured it was better to not tempt fate in the Texas heat and risk breaking down. I find them fascinating to watch.” Shifting her gaze to his handsome face, she asked, “How many are there?”
“I’ve heard over one hundred.”
She couldn’t see that many and wondered what it looked like from the air. Sitting back in the seat, she wiggled and got comfortable against the silky leather.
With her eyes closed, she could hear the smile in Chance’s voice as he said, “That seat reclines all the way back if you want to take a nap. We’re going to be on the road for a while.”
“I may do that later. I’m not sleepy right now.”
“I think your book is in the box on the backseat, if you want to read.”
Lydia decided that was what she wanted. She reached back and located it. “Thanks again for the book. I really do like her stories.” She blushed, thinking very soon she could be living one of Caressa MacFarland’s stories. Unfortunately, it was all too clear to her what a fantasy they mostly were.
She recalled the day Bella had told her she’d called it quits in the polyamorous group she’d been a part of. One of the three women in the group had wanted to add another woman to the group, whom she was also privately involved with, and the newcomer had disrupted the dynamic.
While the group was already on shaky ground, the men had introduced a male friend of theirs who had made Bella uncomfortable from the get-go. He’d cornered her in a bedroom and made a pass when he’d already agreed to let the women get to know him better first.
The other women had flipped out when Bella had told them and other revelations came to pass. In the end the group splintered and fell apart.
Even though it had been clear that there were no monogamous relationships among the group, Bella had confessed that she’d fallen in love with one of the other men but the deeper feeling had not been returned. They’d parted, and Bella had been depressed and miserable for weeks.
It had been hard to watch her friend go through that, and Lydia had been glad that she hadn’t become involved with them. Trying to balance that many needs, wants, and feelings seemed like too overwhelming a task for anyone. The more Lydia thought of her friend’s hurt, and the painful revelation that the love Bella felt wasn’t returned, the more worried she became about Clayton.
Once again, she pondered whether it would be worth it to chance building a relationship with him that was based on nothing more than attraction. Granted, that could change as they spent time with each other. It was probably best that she had not allowed Chance to assume from the get-go that a threesome was a definite possibility. Chance had only asked for the opportunity, and Lydia planned to approach it very cautiously. The risk wasn’t only to her either. She didn’t want to become a stumbling block in Chance and Clayton’s relationship. Jealousy between the twin brothers was a primary concern of hers.
“You sure are thinking hard there, baby.” Chance’s voice startled her, and Lydia gasped. She’d been so deep in thought she’d forgotten everything else around her. “You want to talk about it?”
“About what?”
“Whatever has you looking so worried. Are you having second thoughts?” His tone was guarded, but he reached a hand across the console and she took it, drawing reassurance from his warm grasp.
“I’m worried that I might bring trouble between the two of you.” She told him the whole story about Bella and her polyamorous woes, and he nodded his head in understanding when she finished.
“Quite a lot was going on in that relationship.”
“You could say that again.”
“People coming in who maybe weren’t welcomed by everyone?”
“Yes. And complicated feelings and jealousy.”
“And she was in love with someone who didn’t really love her back.”
“Yeah. It turned out she was just convenient for him.”
“That had to hurt a lot. You know this, but I’ll say it again. You have all the time you need, from both of us. Whatever happens, if ever, is on your time frame. But remember I also said we aren’t interested in a fling, or ‘convenience’ for that matter. We are interested in you, and I know it would be much simpler than what Bella experienced. I’m sorry that happened to her, by the way.”
Lydia posed another question that had been bugging her. “What will happen if I’m not comfortable with moving forward with Clayton but I fall in love with you?” She asked about loving him like it might someday happen, but she knew she was already headed that direction with Chance. All he had to do was smile at her and open his arms and she was putty in his hands.
“He’s prepared for that possibility. All he wants is a chance to see if there could be more between the two of you. He told me he feels guilty for not coming with me to see you as often as he could have, in light of the fact you were willing to uproot your life and come to Divine.”
“He didn’t think I’d agree to it?”
Chance shook his head slowly. “And now he wishes he had.”
Clayton’s serious blue eyes and handsome smile flitted through her mind. She could understand him feeling that way, but the downside was that she simply didn’t know him as well. She wished she could give him the same assurance she had about her attraction to Chance, but it was just going to take time.
“It worries me that it could fall through, then where would you and I be?” It didn’t bear contemplating.
Chance squeezed her hand and said, “It’ll be okay, baby. You’ll see.”
Lydia hoped he was right. Reclining the seat a bit, she curled up with her book and read for a while. She was pulled in by the slow, sensual buildup of heat and sexual tension in the story and wondered, not for the first time, if Caressa MacFarland wrote ménage romance from experience.
She closed the book after the first love scene, needing to cool down a bit. The last thing she needed to do right now was arrive at the ranch in a heightened state. Because the descriptions of the heroes in the story fit Chance and Clayton so closely, she’d found it easy to envision Chance and Clayton in their roles.
Rolling hills and oak trees flew past her window, and she sighed thankfully as they entered the Texas Hill Country.
“Good book?”
Lydia smiled at Chance and nodded but pointed out the window. “It’s nice to see that. I never minded the landscape around Fort Stockton that much. It’s wide and flat but the mountains in the distance were gorgeous. I grew up in San Angelo so I equate that landscape with home. But it sure is nice to see more trees and greenery.”
“I love it here. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.” Chance looked over at her briefly, and his smile reached his eyes. He seemed as though he wanted to say more but left it at that. Excitement filled her heart at the possibilities for a new life this day would bring. She was feeling more and more hopeful that Divine might be the place she could call home and thought about calling her brothers. She decided against it, at least for now. What would she tell them? Hey, Ace. I’m thinking about joining a ménage. Yeah, you heard right. She could just imagine his reaction and pictured the mushroom cloud hovering over Divine.
Until she knew where things were headed with Clayton she’d hold off on that particular grilling. Then again, it might be that all she had to tell him was that she was in town and living with Chance. That wouldn’t go over much better. Definitely better to put that call off.
“How far?”
“About another forty-five minutes or so.”
* * * *
Chance glanced at Lydia’s face as they slowed for the tur
n under the steel pipe entryway to the Rockin’ C Ranch. He’d pointed it out to her, and she’d repositioned the seat and sat forward as it came into view. Now her pink lips were parted as she gaped at it and the gorgeous spread beyond it that he called home.
“Oh, my word.”
Pleasure rippled through Chance at her awed declaration. “Like it?”
She turned her round-eyed gaze on him and said, “I knew it was big, but I’ve seen plenty of big ranches. This is…”
They crested the top of the first hill so she could see beyond it. The full view couldn’t be appreciated from the entry or the highway until a vehicle came to the top of the first rise. He took great delight in rolling to a stop so she could get her first clear view of the Rockin’ C Ranch. She laid both her hands on the dashboard and leaned forward to look through the windshield. Her expression was nothing short of awe.
The ranch house was about a mile away in the distance. Gentle hills rolled out between, with the long drive winding through. Big round hay bales dotted the landscape on one side of the drive where they’d recently mowed the field, and part of the cattle herd occupied the cross-fenced sections on the other side.
Beyond the large, stone-faced house sat the barns, outbuildings and the large, older ranch house that the ranch hands used as their residence. The older house had been the original residence, built and occupied by his grandparents. His parents had built the newer, bigger house which Chance and Clayton now lived in by themselves, since their parents and grandparents had all passed on.
Beyond the group of buildings towered a stand of ancient oak trees and the greenbelt that grew on either side of Divine Creek. Their ranch extended into the rolling Hill Country quite a distance beyond the creek.
Across the creek, to the east a few miles distance, was the Divine Creek Ranch, owned by Jack Warner, Ethan Grant, and Adam Davis, and their beautiful wife Grace. Neighboring the Rockin’ C Ranch was the MWTD Ranch, owned by Jack’s first cousins, Kendall, Boone, and Richard Warner and their lovely bride-to-be Maya Daire.
The Divine Creek Ranch Collection Volume 3 Page 65