by Liz Isaacson
“Okay, so I didn’t know that,” he said. “So I called Pete and I asked him if we could ride a couple of his horses, and he said yes. One of them is not Valentine.”
“That’s fine,” she said with a giggle. “I can ride other horses.”
“Great.” Relief flowed through him as he pulled up to Courage Reins. Saturday was one of their busier days, but Pete had assured him they had horses to spare. He grabbed his cowboy hat from the backseat and positioned it on his head once he got out of the truck.
“Oh, wow,” she said with a smile as he rounded the truck. “Look at you. All cowboy’ed up.” She reached up and touched the brim of his hat.
“You like it, admit it.” He added a bit of swagger to his walk.
She rolled her eyes, which made her different than the other women he’d ever dated. Which made him like her so much more than he already did.
“Are we going in?”
“Of course.” He opened the door and waited for Cami to walk through it. No one sat at the reception desk, where Reese usually did. So he took Cami’s hand and led her past the desk and out to the stables.
“He said we can take any horses that are in a stall. Oh, look, Mint Brownie is available. I love him.” He stepped over to the stall and stroked the horse’s face. “You want to pick one?”
She wandered down the aisle away from him, and he called, “There are boots at the end there, if you want to wear some.” He got the tack he needed and started saddling Mint Brownie.
He wasn’t sure where Cami had gone, but when he led his horse out of the stall, he found her properly booted and leading a black horse named Oreo in front of her.
“Are all the horses named after foods here?” she asked.
“Most here, yeah,” he said. “Obviously not over at Brynn’s, though I don’t get over there very much.” Or ever, really. No wonder he didn’t know Cami came out to the ranch to ride on Fridays.
Pete would never tell him such things. And as Chelsea had more kids, she’d dropped off on all the matchmaking. Still. He wondered if either of them would’ve set him up with Cami anyway. It wasn’t exactly like they got along.
Then he remembered that kiss, and he thought he was doing just fine, thank you very much.
Outside, Cami swung effortlessly into the saddle and glanced over her shoulder. “We just go wherever we want?”
“Yeah,” he said, mounting Mint Brownie and coaching the horse forward so they were side-by-side. “There’s a nice stream about a half-hour ride out, if you want to go there.”
She cast a glance over her shoulder. “I don’t usually ride on this side of the ranch.”
“Well, let’s go then.” And they set off for the river.
“So tell me more about your family,” she said. “I think you’ve only gone over two sisters. The youngest is…?”
“Rose,” he said. “And let me tell you, she’s the easiest one, so I think you’ll be fine.”
Dylan parked in the lot the following morning, the wonderful little church that brought him so much peace in front of him. He’d been brave when he’d dropped her off after horseback riding and asked Cami about sitting by him at the service today. She’d blinked—her only hesitation—and said yes.
He spotted her as he got out of his truck. She wore a sundress in a cacophony of colors and a pair of strappy blue sandals that inched her closer to his height. He strode across the distance between them and swept her into his arms. “Hey, pretty girl.”
She grinned up at him. “Tie and everything.” Cami flipped the turquoise tie his sister had given him for his birthday a few months ago.
“Dress and everything.” He didn’t flip the hem of her skirt though the thought flitted through his mind. “Come on, I think Boone is saving us a seat.”
He sure was, and Dylan appreciated that he and Nicole sat near the back. “Hey, guys,” he said. “This is Camila Cruz. Cami, this is Boone and Nicole.”
Boone, ever the people’s man, stood and shook Cami’s hand, his perfect gentleman smile stuck in place. Nicole was a little more real, and she made room for Cami on the bench. They started talking, and Dylan sat on the end of the row, already anxious to leave.
He enjoyed church, really he did. Pastor Scott said great things, and the general vibe always left Dylan feeling better about his life. For some reason, today he was anxious behind walls. He wanted to get outside, even in the Texas heat, and figure some things out before he had to go over to his parents’ for Sunday dinner alone.
Why did he have to go alone? He could ask Cami, and she’d probably come. She didn’t go visit her family, and he’d learned yesterday at lunch that she often argued with her brother about fair wages for women working the same jobs as men.
Dylan liked her fire, every flame of it, and they’d talked a lot about her job as a plumber. She felt under-appreciated in her field, constantly judged, and like she had to be twice as tough as a male plumber would have to be.
Dylan couldn’t speak to that or not. He didn’t know her fight. Would never have to know it. So he’d held her hand and listened to her and hoped that would be enough.
“You want to come over after church?” she whispered, tucking her arm through his and sliding a bit closer to him.
And he found his way out of the family dinner he didn’t want to attend alone. “Heck yes, I do.”
She giggled and pressed her face into his arm to muffle the sound. When she calmed enough to speak again, she whispered, “I’m not much of a cook, but I can put together a pretty good grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich.”
“Sounds amazing.” Compared to the noise, the glances, and the endless questions he’d endure at his family dinner, a quiet afternoon kissing Cami sounded downright heavenly.
He focused on the pastor, who said, “…so don’t despair, my friends. The Lord knows you, as you are right now. He knows where you’ve been. He knows where you’re going, and He knows the best way to get you there.” Pastor Scott surveyed the crowd as he let his words sink in.
“The real test is to see if you’ll let Him lead you.” The preacher smiled and placed both palms flat against the pulpit. “Let Him lead you, even if you think you know where you’re going.”
Dylan cocked his head, trying to find the meaning in the pastor’s words. He seemed to be looking right at Dylan, though he couldn’t possibly be doing so. Dylan knew where he was going—nowhere. At least not physically. He’d grown up in Three Rivers, and he loved it here. He had a great job that had some room to grow.
He glanced at Cami, sitting beside him. He could definitely use some guidance when it came to her. So he closed his eyes, almost an acquiescence of his own will, and prayed, Help me to know what to say and do with Camila to keep her in my life.
Because he liked her. He liked driving with her at his side, and riding a horse with her nearby. And while he’d felt a connection with other women, none of them were as hot as the one with Cami and he thought maybe she could be part of his grown-up life—if he didn’t mess it up.
Chapter Twelve
Monday morning, Cami studied the new specs she’d been given. She’d double- and then triple-checked to make sure they were the right ones before she did anything, planned anything, reserved any more equipment.
The phone rang, and she picked it up without looking away from the build schedule. “Rogers Plumbing.”
“There’s water all over in the high school gym and training room,” a man said. That got Cami’s attention, and she looked up from her specs. “Our sprinkler pipes have broken in the field above the school, and everything is a muddy mess.”
“I’ll be out there in ten minutes,” Cami said. “Have you turned the water off?”
“Yes, all shut down.”
“Great. See you in a few.”
Broken sprinkler pipes didn’t sound like an hour or two. Oh, no. Cami knew this would be a week-long job—and she had a meeting with Saddleback’s general contractor at one o’clock and two jobs to c
omplete before then. She hurried out to Penny, thinking she’d just see how this morning went and make a phone call to reschedule things if she had to.
When she pulled into the high school parking lot and found the principal flagging her down from the west side—up the hill from the school—she knew the entire day would be spent here.
“A muddy mess” didn’t even begin to cover what she saw before her. Swampland would be a better term. She put on her knee-high rubber boots and made her way out into the field, leaving the principal on the curb.
She had no idea what kind of pipes had been used in this sprinkling system, and she’d have to dig to find out. Perhaps order the pipes and fittings she needed, if they weren’t the same kind Rogers kept in stock, and get that excavator again. Instead of feeling overwhelmed at the enormity of this job, Cami smiled at the muck.
She loved driving the excavator, loved making broken things whole again, loved seeing the mess get cleaned up.
Locating the leak shouldn’t be too hard on this sloped hill. Because the water ran down from where it originated, the leak most likely sat along the line between wet and dry, depending on how long the pipes had been leaking. No matter what, things would need to dry out a little before she brought in the excavator.
She glanced up toward the sky; no clouds in sight. In this Texas fall heat, getting things dry wouldn’t be a problem.
After slopping her way back to the principal, she asked, “Do you know what kind of pipes are down there?”
“No idea.” He surveyed the field with distaste. “How long will this take?”
“Well.” She exhaled. “Things will need to dry out a little bit, and I’ll need to dig down to the pipes and find the broken ones. See if we have those in stock. If not, I’ll have to order them, and then we’ll get it all fixed.”
“So nothing today.” He wasn’t really asking, and he still wouldn’t look at her.
“I can come back tonight after my other jobs and check things out.” She stared at him, making her gaze as heavy as possible.
“Oh, there’s the restoration company from Amarillo. Excuse me.” The principal walked away, leaving Cami fuming. She stomped back to Penny and bent to take off her muddy boots.
“I know,” she finally said to the van. “He probably just has a lot on his mind. School’s in session, and it’s football season, and his gym and training room are full of water.” She sighed as her anger left her, as she tried to find a reason other than her gender for the dismissive attitude of the principal.
At least she’d be on time for her other two jobs and her meeting now. “Let’s go, Penny,” she said to the van as she twisted the key in the ignition. Penny’s engine sputtered to life, and Cami patted the dashboard. “Good girl.”
Her next job took longer than expected thanks to a stubborn cold water shut-off valve, and Cami was fifteen minutes late arriving at Rivers Merge for her meeting.
She was just about to get out of her van when a man exited the construction trailer. A man she knew very well and had seen way too often in the past week.
“Wade,” she whispered, pressing back into the seat and pulling the door closed again. What was he doing here now? He’d lost the bid. He’d lost the bid to her.
Hadn’t he?
He carried a folder under his arm, and he moved with confidence the way he always did. This wasn’t the countenance she’d seen last week as he’d slunk away with all the other bid-losers while she’d got to go into the trailer and drink that strange sweet tea.
Though she was already late, she waited until he’d gotten in his crisp, white van and driven away before she grabbed her specs and got out of Penny. She kept a prayer going as she mounted the steps and entered the trailer. Nothing seemed off with Gerald, who welcomed her and offered her a plate of hatch chili pepper bread, which she declined. She liked hatch peppers as much as the next Texan, but her insides were already on fire without the aid of the bread.
“So I see some foundations marked,” she said, putting the specs she had memorized on the desk between them. “It looks like the foundational plumbing, sewers, and water taps will go in on phase one by the end of the month.”
Gerald nodded, a look of mild respect on his face. “Plumbing work should start next Monday.”
Relief swept through Cami. She could get the sprinklers at the high school fixed and be ready for the new build. “Sounds great.”
“So let’s go over the materials,” Gerald said.
Cami pulled out a pen and her notebook, all thoughts of Wade Wadsworth fading as she focused on the job. At least that had remained the same in her life, because when she finished the first thing she wanted to do was call Dylan. Share her day with him. Share her life with him.
The thought was as terrifying as it was liberating.
She didn’t call him quite yet, but went back to the shop to drop off the specs and put in her invoices and payments from that morning’s jobs. Dana sat at the counter, bent over some paperwork.
“Stuff from today,” Cami said, laying the checks on the counter with their invoices. She started to go past Dana to put the specs in the cabinet. Otherwise, she’d obsess over them all evening, and she didn’t want to do that.
“Camila,” Dana said, and Cami turned back to her. “You like working here, right?”
Surprise started in her toes. “Of course I like working here.” She didn’t just like it, she loved her job with Rogers Plumbing.
“Abraham wants to retire.” Dana took off her glasses, her eyes already watering. Cami’s chest pinched. They were going to sell the shop. She’d probably need to find another job. Move on. Leave Three Rivers.
The very idea made her suck in a breath and hold it, as the exhalation would be too devastating.
“None of our daughters or their husbands want the shop,” Dana said, her voice steady and strong.
Cami’s head swam. She needed to breathe. Now. But she didn’t know how. Thankfully, her body took over and did the involuntary thing it knew how to do.
She shouldn’t have waited for the right time to talk to them about taking over the shop. When was “the right time” anyway?
“Abraham and I would like to offer the shop to you.” Dana stood from the stool where she sat. “He’s drawn up some preliminary papers for you to look at.” She extended a manila folder toward her. “To help you make your decision.”
Numbly, Cami reached out and took the folder. The paper felt dry and scratchy against her fingers, and though there were probably only a dozen sheets, it felt like it weighed fifty pounds.
“Are you okay?” Dana asked.
“I thought you were going to tell me I’d need to find a new job.” Cami gave a nervous chuckle. “This is so much better. I can’t wait to look at it.” Giddiness replaced her earlier fear and now she really couldn’t wait to talk to Dylan.
Half an hour later, she climbed the steps in Dylan’s building, having called him to get the address. He’d asked what she was so excited about, but she wanted to tell him in person.
Confusion hit her with every step she took. She’d never wanted to share news with someone in person. “You’ve never had any news,” she muttered to herself. But she hadn’t called her parents. She’d called Dylan. She wanted to share things with him.
Everything felt new, and strange, and she didn’t know what it all meant. Pastor Scott’s sermon from yesterday filtered through her mind. Maybe she just needed to trust in the Lord, let Him guide her where she was supposed to go.
She reached the sixth floor where Dylan lived and took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. “Am I supposed to be here?” she wondered aloud, hoping the Lord would tell her to leave if she wasn’t.
Instead, a calm, peaceful feeling sank through her, eliminating her worries. She moved down to his door and knocked, the folder clutched tightly in both hands.
He pulled open the door and she drank in the tall sight of him. That handsome face, now brimming with a smile. Those delicious eyes sc
anning her too. He seemed so happy to see her, and Cami had never felt as safe with someone as she did with Dylan Walker.
She thrust the folder toward him. “Dana and Abraham offered Rogers Plumbing to me. They want to retire.”
He stared at the folder with wide eyes and then looked back to her. “Are you serious?”
She shrieked and leapt into his arms. He laughed as he caught her around the waist and twirled her into his apartment. “That’s so exciting, Cami.”
Every cell in her body felt like it was having a birthday party. She exhaled and found her footing, noticing that Dylan didn’t step back or remove his hands from her hips. She glanced up, right into his face, and found him gazing at her, a look of pure adoration in those ocean-turquoise eyes.
The moment lengthened; that something sparked; Cami tipped up onto her toes to kiss him even though she hadn’t gone home to shower first, even though her stomach roared for something to eat, even though her previous fears about moving too fast with Dylan had returned and were screaming through her skull.
Kissing Dylan quieted everything, forced it all outside of her immediate presence. His hands cradled her face, holding her in place as he smoothed her hair back. “I’m so happy for you.” He touched his mouth to her cheek, her temple, along her ear. “Have you looked at the offer yet?”
“I glanced at it,” she said breathlessly as his lips trailed down her throat. “You said something about having dinner?”
“Mm,” he said, the sound originating in his throat and not making it much farther. He made no move to go into the kitchen, no indication that he’d be doing anything but kissing her tonight.
And honestly, that was just fine with Cami. She laid the folder on the back of his couch and put both arms around him, holding onto him as he continued to kiss her, sending shockwaves of butterflies to every extremity in her body.
He pulled back gently and held her against his chest. “I’ve got hot egg and cheese sandwiches in the oven.”
The scent of the food met her nose, and Cami was surprised she hadn’t smelled it earlier. In her excitement over the offer and her extreme focus on Dylan, she supposed she’d missed a lot of things.