“Come to the sink, guys. Let’s get your hands washed and get you in chairs.”
“Can we eat it?” Holly asked, looking at the dough.
“Sure.” Angela didn’t bother to tell her that it would probably taste gross. After washing her hands and lifting her up so she stood in a chair, she broke off a piece of dough.
“Don’t spit it on the table if you don’t like it,” she warned.
Holly’s eyes lifted to hers before they went back to the small piece of dough Angela held out.
“Me, too. Me, too,” Ashleigh said, jumping up and down on her chair. Angela put a hand on the back of it, just in case she lost her balance and fell off.
“If you don’t like it, we’ll spit it in the garbage.” She waited until Ashleigh nodded, still smiling and not taking her eyes off the little piece of pie dough Angela held.
She’d mixed it up while the kids were eating breakfast, so they’d seen her put the flour and butter together. They might have missed the other ingredients—there weren’t many—but their brains couldn’t quite process that there wasn’t too much there to make it taste good.
Ashleigh took the dough, then watched intently as Holly put hers in her mouth. Rather dramatically, in Angela’s opinion. It was cute, and she had to smile. A little longing went through her. She could have been married with children of her own, years ago. But no man had been good enough for her parents.
Or maybe her parents just didn’t want to lose their only daughter. Not until they needed money.
She shook the bitter thoughts away. It would work out for the best. She couldn’t believe anything else.
Actually, for a few moments after Mack had asked her to go with him, she’d thought that maybe there might really be a chance for them. That if he liked her enough to ask, and if they had the opportunity to spend more time together...maybe her past somehow wouldn’t matter and she wouldn’t have to leave.
“I want more,” Holly said.
Angela managed to stop herself from pulling a face. Just barely. Yuck.
“Me, too,” Ashleigh said.
She allowed the girls to help roll the pie crust out, working it more than she normally would. The crust might end up being a little hard, rather than her normal flaky, but she figured Mack probably wouldn’t care. He’d rather the girls be happy, and she agreed.
Timing it so the pies would come out and be cool enough to eat by the time he walked in from the diner, she gave the girls some leftover pie dough to make their own “pies.” There weren’t any tiny pie plates in the kitchen, but she found some oven-safe single-serving glassware that would work.
“Layer your strips over the apples like this.” She helped Holly make a cross work pattern for her crust. It wouldn’t win any awards, but it made Holly happy. Ashleigh imitated them.
“Now, before we put them in the oven, you guys hold them up and I’ll take your pictures.” She pulled her phone out, stepping back into a solid chest. Spinning, she almost banged her nose into Mack, since he didn’t move away.
“Hey,” he said.
She froze. Except her stomach seemed to be dancing through streamers.
“Hey,” she said, more softly.
“I got your text.”
“I know.” He’d just said okay. She figured he was busy. “You’re home early.”
“Reina came in and relieved me. Clay probably asked her to so I could get going.”
“Oh.” She had trouble looking away, and he seemed to be talking without thinking as he stared into her eyes.
“Are you put these in the oven?” Holly called out in her squeaky voice.
Angela cleared her throat, pulling her eyes from Mack’s easy gaze and turning back to the table. “I sure am.”
She set her phone down and took the pies from the girls. “You two just hold on a second. I’ll wipe you up.”
It was odd, but the idea of Mack being gone for two days constricted her chest. She didn’t look at him as she put the girls’ pies in the oven.
“What do you think about taking them with us?” he asked softly, before he strode over and picked Ashleigh up, wiping her hands and dabbing at the flour on her face. “What were you doing? Eating the evidence?” he asked her, and she giggled.
Angela stared at his back while he stood at the sink. Take the girls with them? How?
She must have looked confused because he set Ashleigh down and grabbed Angela’s hand. “Come out with me for a second.”
She appreciated him not talking in front of the girls. If they decided they couldn’t go, Angela would be taking care of the crying children while he walked out.
“I’ll be right back in, girls,” she said over her shoulder as he pulled her out into the unheated back porch.
The cool porch felt good after the heat of the kitchen.
“It would make it a lot more work for you, but there’s a bunk in this truck. It’s not like they would be strapped in.”
“Is that...safe...or legal?” She’d never heard of children being loose in a vehicle, any vehicle, before. But she’d never thought of riding in a big truck.
“Sure. Safe as riding in a motor home.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. “If I’m driving, I can’t help you with them.”
“That would be the same as a car.”
“Yeah, but we could take turns driving in a car.”
“You can drive.”
He grinned. “Isn’t that sexist for the man to have to drive all the time?”
“Are we really going to have this argument now? The girls are waiting.”
“I’m waiting for you to make a decision. Go or stay.”
“Go.” The word slipped out before she realized she’d made the decision.
It was worth it, though, when his lips curved and his face lit up. “Let’s pack for three days. It’s always best to be prepared.” He took a breath, and his hand moved like he was going to touch her, but it dropped. “Clay needed me out at the farm. I’ll drive through town and pick you up in about an hour. Will that work?”
“Yes. I’ll have the girls packed, and we’ll be ready.” She curled her fingers into her hand, because for some reason, she wanted to touch him. She needed to focus on something “Your parents gave me a bunch of mail they brought for you, and I stuck it on the refrigerator.”
He slapped his leg. “Yeah. They told me about it but never gave it to me. Sounded like a bunch of junk to me. Would you mind just looking through it? Throw any junk away and take anything that looks important to my room.”
“Sure.”
“I’m gonna scoot out this door. I started my pickup.”
“Okay. We’ll be ready.”
He started toward the door, then paused. She thought maybe he was going to kiss her, but he just tapped her upper arm with his fingers.
“Thanks,” he said, then turned and left.
It was dumb for her to watch him go, but she didn’t move to leave the porch until the door had closed behind him. Why was she staring after him like she couldn’t bear to see him leave for an hour? Crazy.
She went back in, working with the girls to clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes. Quickly. Then she grabbed Mack’s mail and ran up the stairs, thinking everything she needed to pack would fit in her shoulder bag.
She stopped by the garbage can in the hall, flipping through Mack’s mail, wondering why his parents saved stuff that was obviously junk. Some of it even looked like they’d opened it to check if it might be something legit.
She easily threw them away.
Until she came to the last piece.
She recognized the emblem on the outside of the envelope. It was the same as the emblem that had been on the top of Clay’s letter. The one he’d accidentally sent her that summer along with his handwritten letter. Like he’d picked both sheets of paper up accidentally and stuffed them in an envelope without realizing it.
The one where he’d been offered a billion dollars if he married and settled in North Dakota.
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This one was sliced open at the top like some of the others, and “JUNK?” was written on the outside of the envelope.
The letter shook in her hands. She was almost positive she knew what it said. And that would change everything. There would be no way she could even think about staying now. She’d have to go.
After what she’d done this summer, no one would ever believe she’d really fallen for Mack for the funny, hardworking, upright man he was. They’d always say she’d been after his money.
Wanting to be sure, she slipped the heavy, embossed stationery out of the envelope. Her lungs felt weighted, like they were filled with sand. But she unfolded the one-page letter and started to read.
It didn’t take long.
It said almost exactly what Clay’s had. Mack had until Christmas to get married and settle in North Dakota, and he would inherit one billion dollars from the late Mr. Edwards of Sweet Water Ranch.
Her head spun, and she put a hand on the wall. She wanted to be happy for Mack. This was a great opportunity for him. She knew it was legit because her father had checked it out when she’d shown him the letter she’d gotten from Clay.
But she couldn’t do this.
Mack had already told her he’d had plenty of prior girlfriends. Three weeks wasn’t very long to find someone, but a billion dollars was a lot of money. It wouldn’t be hard to find a girl who’d be willing to do something that crazy for that kind of money. And from the way Mack had talked, he’d been with some pretty wild girls.
No one would ever consider her wild, but it wouldn’t take a billion dollars for her to want to marry Mack.
She gave herself three minutes to stop trembling and get a hold of the riot in her chest.
Carefully putting the letter back in the envelope, she took it and set it on his dresser. He should know about that as soon as possible. But she wasn’t going to tell him until after they got back from their trip.
She’d finish up the preparations for the Christmas festival, throw herself into making it the best it could be, then, after it was over, she’d leave.
In the meantime, she wouldn’t mention the letter, and she’d enjoy this trip with Mack, making memories she could look back on after she’d gone.
Chapter 15
Mack drove slowly down Main Street in Sweet Water. There was no place to pull over, so he put the hazard lights on, pulled the yellow knob to set the air brakes, and looked over at the passenger side, making sure the door was unlocked. Clay had already gotten the interior cleaned out from the dirt accumulated over the summer, so it didn’t look bad to him, but Mack wasn’t sure how Angela would feel about it. She was a little different than he. He liked the differences, it was part of her attraction, but her parents hadn’t been as happy about them.
He wished he knew better what Angela thought. This trip had had the possibility of him finding out, but now with his nieces along, he doubted he’d have much time to talk with Angela. Just being with her would have to be enough.
Hopping down out of the cab, he slammed his door shut and walked around the front of the truck. He’d already done his walk-around inspection before he left, but any time he drove, he always had an eye on the truck. Tires looked good, hood was latched, no wheel seals leaking.
Angela was coming out of the door as he rounded the front, a little hand in each of hers and a bag slung over each shoulder. Each girl carried a pack over their shoulders, too.
Mack didn’t mean to stop, but he did, just looking at how perfect the ladies looked as they stepped off the porch and onto the plowed walk. Angela with her long blond hair flowing down out of her beanie hat and the girls beside her bundled in their bright jackets.
They hardly looked like they belonged in his truck, despite the jeans and boots they all wore.
He forced his feet to move again, not wanting to allow his mind to go there. It was too close to what Angela’s parents had said. He didn’t want to believe that Angela and he were too different to find a middle ground.
He opened the passenger door, then held his hand out. “I’ll take your bags. It’s hard to climb up with them.”
The girls handed them over, and he shoved them both over his shoulder before taking Holly’s hand and helping her climb the steps.
“Stomp your feet on the steps a little to get the snow off them,” he said.
Holly obeyed enthusiastically, scraping her boots on the metal rungs of the steps. He helped her the rest of the way up, then lifted Ashleigh, since the bottom step was about at her belly button and she was never climbing them herself without getting her clothes dirty and wet.
He set her down on the second step. “Brush your feet off like Holly did.”
She tried. He helped her a little, and together they got most of it off. He set her the rest of the way in, with her feet on the floor. Then he turned to Angela.
Her cheeks were rosy, and her eyes sparkled. It looked like she was happy to be coming. He’d wondered about it, some. It’s not like he’d offered to take her anywhere fancy. Just a trip in a truck to a John Deere dealer. Not exactly a dream date. He’d never been a fancy guy, but he thought he used to have a little more finesse with the ladies.
Somehow the plural form of that word didn’t interest him anymore.
“Thanks for getting them ready,” he said, speaking loud enough to be heard over the rumbling of the motor.
She stopped in front of him. “No problem. They’re as excited as I am.”
It warmed his heart to know that she was excited to be with him. Maybe it was just the truck ride.
“Your first truck ride,” he said, wanting to know if she was really excited about riding with him or if it was something else.
Her eyes seemed to darken. “It is.” Her lip twitched. “But that really wasn’t what I was excited about.”
Okay. So he smiled. Yeah. “I was hoping not.”
She moved closer, and he didn’t back away. “I’m looking forward to a good time.”
He wasn’t going to stand there and let her make all the moves. He wanted to do things right, but that didn’t include making her chase him. He met her halfway.
“Thanks for the warning. Guess I’ll have to do my best to make sure you have one.”
“All you have to do is show up and smile at me.”
“So I can sit and smile, and you’ll drive.”
“I avoided this argument quite deftly earlier today, and I can do it again.” Her brows went up in challenge.
Everything in him wanted to meet that challenge, but they needed to get going. “I think there’s a saying about a battle and a war that’s applicable here.”
Her eyes lit. He didn’t care about the cold or the combine that needed to be picked up, and he almost forgot about the girls that were waiting in the truck. He just wanted to be with Angela.
After a long pause, she seemed to shake herself. “Are you going to help me up, too?”
“What kind of help do you want? Help like Holly, or help like Ashleigh?”
She laughed, and he felt like he was falling. The sound reached deep and pulled, making his heart beat faster and his lungs work harder. It was a disconcerting feeling, and he put a hand up on the open door.
“Like Holly,” she said, her brows crinkling some as she looked at him, like she’d noticed something was off and was trying to figure out what.
She put a hand on his side, and he had to admit it, he jumped.
Her eyes narrowed. “What?”
Why was it so hard to even swallow? He was the one with all the experience. And all they were doing was talking, for goodness’ sake.
Correction.
She was talking. He apparently had lost the ability. And he didn’t even know why.
The smile had completely faded from her face, and he could feel her closing off and backing away, although she hadn’t moved.
He tried again. “I felt weird for a minute, but I’m fine now.”
Immediately her eyebrows lifted, and her
face tightened. “Weird?”
“I’m fine.” The words were short. Much shorter than he meant them to be. But he wasn’t going to tell her she made him feel like he was falling. In love. Really falling.
Her mouth closed, and her lips tightened. “Maybe you shouldn’t be driving.”
That was not the problem. “No. I’m fine. You’re safe. I promise.”
“What do you mean by weird?” she asked again, like he hadn’t answered her the first time.
“I don’t know, but it’s gone, and I’m good.”
Her hand tightened on his waist. He should have worn a coat.
“Let’s go,” he said. “The girls are going to figure out how to put this thing in gear and go without us.”
She didn’t move, just stared into his eyes.
So, he did the only thing he could think of. He moved closer, putting his hands around the back of her neck and feeling the soft strands of her hair brush his hands. He leaned in.
He whispered in her ear, “The closer I get to you, the more you scramble my heart. Stay on your own side of the truck, and I’ll be just fine.”
He leaned back, and the worry was almost gone from her face. He hadn’t wanted to be so vulnerable, admitting that she affected him like she did, but he couldn’t stand her worry, either.
“I think it’s me that’s feeling a little weird now,” she said, and she sounded breathless. That made his smile stretch across his face.
“Maybe I’d better put you in like Ashleigh.”
Still smiling, she shook her head and turned. He gave her time to figure out the handles and pull herself up. He put his hand on her waist over her coat and just steadied her. She could do it on her own, but it was more fun to pretend she couldn’t.
He waited until she’d closed her door before walking around. Whistling, although he couldn’t hear it because of the motor.
ANGELA SAT IN THE SEAT and waited for her heart rate to settle. She felt breathless and almost like she was floating. Funny how the man could do that to her with a touch and a whisper.
A peek at the girls showed that they were exploring the open bunk in the back, already jumping on the mattress with their dolls out.
Cowboys Don't Stand Under the Mistletoe (Sweet Water Ranch Western Cowboy Romance Book 10) Page 12