by Joanna Sims
Dallas felt her stomach start to churn; it already hurt, thinking that the man she loved, the man she had let into her private world, was embarrassed by her.
Dallas wrapped her arms tightly in front of her body. “Too late.”
* * *
It was a shame that their trip had ended on such a bad note. But it had. Dallas went back to her life on the rodeo circuit, chasing her dream to earn enough points to make it to the big show in Las Vegas. And he spent his time working as hard as he could to prove himself to the partners at the firm. He wanted them to come to respect his drive, his knowledge of the law and his work ethic. As busy as he was, Dallas was never far from his mind.
They hadn’t completely severed their relationship; they kept in touch by phone and text and email. Nick always watched any of her races on YouTube; it helped him feel connected to her. He still loved Dallas—he was still in love with Dallas. And he believed—had to believe—that she still loved him. He had screwed up with her, he knew that. Dallas had made him realize that he had a little too much of his mother in him. Ever since Dallas walked out of his life, he’d been doing some major soul-searching. He loved Dallas—he loved her heart and her passion and her loyalty. If she wanted to walk the Magnificent Mile in a flour sack, he’d walk proudly beside her. Hands down, she was the best thing that had happened to him and he wasn’t going to give up until he’d proved to her that he’d changed. He was determined to win the cowgirl back.
Two months had passed since her trip to Chicago—two long months without being able to hold her, or kiss her or make love to her. Every time he tried to make plans to meet her at one of her events, work would suck up his free time on the weekend. After that horrible conversation when he admitted that at times she embarrassed him, he hadn’t had a chance to see her in person—to try to mend fences. As much as he had seen the genuine hurt in her eyes that last night they shared, he hurt. He hurt because he had hurt the woman he loved. And until he made it right with her, he supposed he would just keep on hurting.
Dallas is coming to Bent Tree for Thanksgiving. Are you?
Nick stopped typing the email he was composing to read the text he had just received from his cousin Jordan. Barbara was planning a big family Thanksgiving at the ranch; she had invited him, but he hadn’t been able give her a definitive “yeah” or “nah” because of the grunt cases the firm had been piling on his desk. It wasn’t glamorous being the low man on the totem pole of a large firm. Most of the time he felt like a highly paid gofer.
Nick stared at his phone. Dallas at Bent Tree for Thanksgiving. This would be the perfect time and place to finally get her face-to-face so he could apologize. He wasn’t opposed to a little groveling if it came to that.
Nick used his thumbs to text a quick message back to Jordan: Tell Aunt Barb to count me in for Thanksgiving.
He was going to Montana for Thanksgiving to try to earn back the trust of his woman. Now all he had to do was come up with a gesture—a really big, hard-to-resist gesture.
* * *
“Barb? Are you back here?”
Dallas had been back at Bent Tree for a couple of weeks. Bessy the Bronco had limped her way to her last rodeo and died. Clint had come to haul Blue back to the ranch, and for the time being she was borrowing one of the Bent Tree’s work trucks.
Barbara was sitting on the edge of her bed, holding a small framed picture in her hand. There were tears on her cheeks—Dallas had inadvertently interrupted a private moment. She turned away from the doorway, but Barbara stopped her.
“It’s okay, Dallas. You can come in.”
Dallas wasn’t sure that she wanted to come in. Other people’s emotions had always made her uncomfortable as much as her own emotions did sometimes. “I just wanted to know if you needed somethin’ from the store.”
Barbara put the frame on her nightstand; she plucked a tissue from a tissue box next to the lamp and dabbed the tears from her cheeks.
“Thanksgiving was Daniel’s favorite holiday,” Barbara said.
Daniel was the Brands’ second-oldest son, and Luke’s twin; Daniel had died in Iraq several years ago, but Dallas could tell that Barbara hadn’t fully recovered from the loss. She couldn’t even imagine the pain of losing child.
“Okay.” Barbara stood up with a little nod. “Let me make you a list.”
Dallas created an electronic list on her phone while Barbara went through the menu for Thanksgiving. This year was going to be an epic year for Barbara—for the first time, all of her children were coming to the ranch for Thanksgiving.
“So—let me count the adults first.” Barbara slipped on her reading glasses to look at her guest list. “Luke, Sophia, Tyler, London, Jordan, Ian, Josephine, Logan, Taylor, Clint, Brock, Casey, Nick and Dallas.”
Dallas’s stomach clenched when Barbara read Nick’s name. “Nick’s comin’?”
Barbara slid her glasses up to the top of her head. “He didn’t tell you?”
A wave of nerves swept over her body at the thought of seeing Nick again. She swallowed hard twice and tried to keep her expression neutral when she said, “Not yet.”
Dallas had avoided talking about specifics of her relationship with Nick to his family members. Barbara didn’t know that her relationship with Nick had been strained for several months. No one did. Barbara moved on because her mind was occupied with Thanksgiving planning. “Counting adults and children, we need enough food for twenty-two people!”
“I have a feelin’ I’m gonna be runnin’ back and forth to that store a lot,” Dallas forecasted.
“You are going to be such a help to me, Dallas.” Barbara started to systematically inventory her cabinets, her refrigerator and her pantry.
“Barb? Do you mind if I ask you somethin’?”
“Of course you can.”
“How did you adjust to livin’ on a ranch? You grew up in Chicago, didn’t you?”
“Add shaved coconut to the list, will you?” Barbara shut one of her upper cabinets. Then the matriarch of the Bent Tree Brands joined her at the table. “You must be seeing parallels between my relationship with Hank and your relationship with Nick, right?”
Dallas nodded. “You’ve made it work.”
Barbara laughed. “That’s because I love that man more than I love anything else in this world. That’s the only way this,” she said of the ranch, “was ever going to work.”
Dallas waited for her to continue; Barbara and Hank Brand seemed as unlikely as Nick and Dallas, but they had been married for over forty years.
“It has not been easy.” Barbara was honest with her. “I was so homesick for the city—I missed shopping and restaurants and dry cleaning. It took me years to get used to the smell of cow manure and it took me years to get used to the fact that I had married a rancher. I had fallen in love with a rancher, but being the wife of a rancher was an adjustment.”
Like being the wife of a Chicago lawyer would be an adjustment.
“You made it work.” Dallas said her thought aloud.
“We made it work,” Barbara agreed. “Because we loved each other. We had to learn to accept our differences—we had to learn to respect them. And yes, I had to choose to give up my life in Chicago to live on a cattle ranch with Hank, a decision I have never regretted. So, if you and Nick love each other, it doesn’t really matter if you’re in Montana or in Chicago—all that matters is that you are together.”
Chapter Sixteen
The week before Thanksgiving, Dallas tried not to dwell on her impending reunion with Nick. Helping Barb prepare for her large family gathering kept her too busy, but she still had to work at not playing out scenarios in her head. Sometimes she wanted to tell him off and break things off for good; sometimes she wanted to forgive him and start anew.
As Thanksgiving approached, a new wave of Brand f
amily members was arriving at the ranch each day. Tyler and his wife, London, had arrived from Virginia with their baby daughter, Maggie, and London’s teenage son, J.T. Barbara was particularly excited about Tyler returning to the ranch after an extended stay in Virginia to iron out custody issues with J.T.’s father. London had won full custody, as well as the right to live with J.T. in Montana. Their return to the ranch had brought a new excitement and energy to the main house.
Luke and his wife, Sophia, recently reconciled after some time apart, had begun to bring their three young children to the ranch regularly so they could make up for lost time with Tyler and London. The house already seemed so loud and full, and most of the people hadn’t arrived. Dallas was grateful to be included, but it was a little overwhelming to have so many people talking all at the same time. Whenever it got too loud for her, Dallas would escape to the barn to spend some time with Blue. Instead of returning to the tree house after her last rodeo, she had taken up residence in the efficiency apartment in the foaling barn usually reserved for interns from the University of Montana.
“Hi, good-looking boy.” Dallas wrapped her arms around Blue’s warm neck.
Winter was upon them in Montana; the snow that had already coated the mountain peaks in September and October had begun to cover the valleys, as well. It was so cold that Blue’s breath, like hers, came out in wispy white puffs.
“They aren’t Montana wildflowers, but they’re for you.”
She had been so absorbed with Blue that she hadn’t noticed Nick walk into the barn.
Dressed in Western winter gear—jeans, cowboy boots, a heavy tan coat with a sheepskin collar and her father’s cowboy hat—Nick was holding a small bundle of flowers in his hands.
“God, Dallas. You’re a sight for sore eyes.” Nick’s voice cracked a bit. She didn’t know if she was ready to forgive him, but she couldn’t deny that she could hear how sincerely sorry he was for how things ended between them in Chicago.
Dallas continued to rub the spot between Blue’s eyes, his favorite spot that made his eyes droop, to keep her hands busy. She knew it didn’t show on the outside, but the minute she saw Nick, she had the urge to run to him and throw her arms around him. She had pushed aside her feelings in order to focus on competing; she hadn’t realized, until just this moment, how much she had really missed him.
“Dallas.” Nick took a step closer to her. “Please.”
Dallas turned toward him, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
Nick took another step closer to her, approaching her like he would approach a wild horse. Slow and steady.
“I’m sorry.” He caught her eyes with his. “I hurt you and I’m sorry.”
She could see how sorry Nick was, but did that change anything? She was still a cowgirl from Montana and he was a preppy lawyer from Chicago. Oil and water.
Nick could see that he wasn’t getting through to her. Desperate times required desperate measures. He did something that he thought he’d never do—he got down on one knee in front of his love and asked for her forgiveness.
“I love you, Dallas,” Nick said in a raw voice. “Forgive me.”
Dallas frowned at him for several seconds before she took his flower offering.
“For Pete’s sake, Nick. Get up!”
Nick stood up and took another step forward. “Say you forgive me, Dallas.”
Dallas smelled the flowers. After a moment, she said, “I forgive you, Nick. But that doesn’t mean that we’re gonna pick right up where we left off.”
Nick shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket to stop himself from wrapping his arms around Dallas. She looked so good to him.
“We’ve got enough to build on, Dallas,” he said quietly. “People make mistakes. I made a mistake.”
Something in Dallas’s pretty light brown eyes softened.
“You can be a real jerk,” she said. The words were harsh, but the tone wasn’t.
“You’re right,” Nick agreed. “I can be.”
“You’re gonna have to work on that.”
“I’ve already started.”
The invisible wall that Dallas erected between them seemed to be crumbling.
“I’ve missed you so much, baby.” Nick moved close enough to her that they were an arm’s length away from each other. “I’m going to kiss you, Dallas.”
She could have stopped him if she had really wanted to—but she didn’t. Nick grabbed the front of her coat, pulled her into his universe, wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her like he had spent every second of every day missing her.
“Goddamn, Dallas.” Nick held her tightly. “We’ve got to work this out.”
She had taken her hat off so she could rest her head against Nick’s chest. This was the most comfortable she had been in months. Without using words, Dallas nodded. Perhaps there would be more difficult times in their reunion, but this wasn’t one of them. It was hard to remember why she was ever nervous about seeing Nick again. Being folded into his arms—having him kiss her and kissing him in return—felt as natural as breathing.
“What are you thinking?” Nick pressed her.
Dallas pulled back enough to be able to look at his face. “I was thinkin’ that I’d love to have an indoor riding arena to train in right now.”
It took a split second for Nick to follow her meaning; when it hit him, he kissed her hard, grabbed her hand and started to lead her out of the barn.
“Where’re you takin’ me?” She put her hat back on her head with a laugh.
“I want to show you something.”
At the entrance of the barn, Nick moved behind her so he could guide her by her shoulders. “You have to close your eyes.”
“Another surprise?”
“Of course.”
“I thought we’d decided against those.”
“No,” Nick disagreed. “Close your eyes.”
When she hesitated, he added, “This is a trust exercise. Do you trust me?”
“Is that a trick question?”
“Dallas! I’m trying to give you a present! Cooperate, please.”
“Fine. My eyes are closed.”
Nick led her out of the barn, the sound of ice-covered grass crunching beneath their feet.
“Okay,” Nick said. “We’re going to stop right here. Don’t open your eyes until I tell you.”
“Hurry up! I’m freezin’ my butt off!”
“Hold your horses, woman.”
She could hear Nick walking around her, and if she had read it correctly, he had stopped right in front of her.
“Okay,” he said. “Open your eyes.”
For the second time in a short span of time, Nick was back to kneeling on the ground in front of the woman he loved. This time, there was a box in his hand.
“Dallas.” Nick opened the box. “I would consider it to be a great honor if you would consider becoming my wife.”
Inside the box wasn’t an engagement ring—instead, there was a key.
“Am I supposed to wear that?”
“You’ve got to say yes to find out,” Nick laughed. “Okay—my knee is freezing. I have to stand up.”
Dallas stared at the key in the box, thinking. She had told him along the way that she didn’t want an engagement ring. What was the point of owning a ring that she would never wear—in her line of work, a ring on the finger could be dangerous. He had listened to her, which wasn’t a surprise. But it hadn’t occu
rred to her that he would propose on this trip—and it certainly didn’t occur to her that he would propose within the first fifteen minutes of their reunion.
“Look.” Nick must have been able to see her grappling with his proposal. “I know we have a lot to work out, but that’s part of the fun, isn’t it? I love you. And you love me. You do still love me, right?”
She gave him a slight nod of her head.
“Then just say that you’ll think about marrying me, and I’ll show you what your engagement key opens.”
Nick waved the open box in front of her with a twinkle of excitement in his eyes. “You know you want to see what this key opens.”
“I’ll consider it,” Dallas finally said. After all, she had been considering marrying Nick for months.
“That’s not a no!” Nick hugged her tightly, kissed her, before he whistled loudly and yelled, “Clint! Let’s show Dallas what’s behind curtain number three!”
“It’s a new car!” Nick had his arm around her shoulder.
Clint pulled into sight from behind a row of horse and cattle trailers; he was towing a flatbed trailer behind his truck. He waved at her from the driver’s window.
“Well—a new truck, actually. A new old truck.”
“That’s for me?”
On the bed of the trailer was a refurbished antique truck, painted her favorite shade of turquoise blue. Nick had gotten her an engagement truck.
“Do you love it?”
Dallas nodded. It reminded her of her father. He had wanted to restore his antique trucks, and watching Davy’s trucks being hauled away was one of the hardest parts of the cleanup at Lightning Rock.
Nick took her hand in his and led her over to the trailer. Clint got out of his truck.
“Thanks for your help, buddy.” Nick shook Clint’s hand.
“Glad to do it,” Clint said to Nick. To her, Clint said, “Give the man a chance to make things up to you, Dallas.”
She hugged her best friend before Clint went to join his wife and daughter in the main house.