Thankfully, Tanner didn’t know all the songs on his playlist by heart. His singing came to an end, and he turned to a subject more comfortable for her—politics. Unlike him, she had a hard time taking a side. Though she saw no easy solutions for illegal immigration, health care, or rising taxes, they spent a lively hour debating the issues. In some ways, their discussions reminded her of the way her grandparents had talked with each other. They’d been opposites too.
Tanner switched to the subject of ranching as they drove up the mountain. She loved Mount Morris. The cool air, abundant trees, and grassy meadows were a retreat from the harsh landscape of normal life.
“I love living in Lone Spur,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean I want to live the way everyone else does. Did you know that living in an underground home can save you almost seventy-five percent of heating costs?”
She laughed. “Sure, but who wants to live underground?” She meant it as a rhetorical question.
“I would.” His words picked up speed. “A nice underground home with sky lights and a central courtyard could be really comfortable. I’d put solar panels on the roof too.”
She kept her words relaxed, knowing how bent out of shape he’d get if she kept disagreeing. “I can’t imagine a better home than the one I live in right now.”
“Once you buy it, though, wouldn’t you want to make it your own?” he asked. “You could remodel the house. Or build a new one. It looks like your new neighbor’s building a new house.”
She had seen construction equipment driving down the lane. It seemed like too much work to her. “I like my house the way it is.”
“I’ll have to show you some pictures when we get home,” he said, and with that, he turned the subject to his future family and how he hoped it would operate. There would be no cold cereal for his children. Their breakfasts would all be high protein and nutrition packed. All of their TV would be educational.
“You’re kidding, right?” she asked, pausing to squeal as he barely missed a squirrel running across the road ahead of them. “Your kids are never going to watch a Disney movie?”
“Maybe on a special occasion. If they’ve done their chores.”
That was just like Tanner—looking at things in extremes, although she admired him for having high standards. “Pancakes are my favorite breakfast,” she said. “I don’t think they do any harm. Every kid should have a sticky, syrupy pancake breakfast once in a while.”
“I’ll get you my mom’s recipe for low-carb pancakes. She uses cottage cheese. They’re pretty good with fresh blueberries on top.”
“Fresh blueberries sound good,” she said. “Maybe you could make them for me sometime.” Tanner’s mom was the best cook in town. Rosie already had a stack of her recipes that she hadn’t tried yet. Not that she didn’t want to. She just didn’t have the time for complicated cooking.
“I’ll have to do that.” He turned off the paved mountain road and onto a bumpy dirt road with grass growing on either side of the tire tracks. He maneuvered the extra-large pick-up around curves she thought he couldn’t possibly navigate. She’d never been to this part of the mountain.
She wouldn’t have allowed any other man to take her this far out in the wilderness. But Rosie trusted Tanner. That trust was the reason Tanner was the only man she’d dated in the last four years. She didn’t give her trust easily.
They drove for another three miles. Finally, after crossing a shallow creek, they arrived at a grassy meadow filled with wildflowers. Rosie stepped from the truck and bent to examine a small, blue flower. Her grandmother had taught her the names of the wildflowers around the ranch, but most of the wildflowers in the mountains were unfamiliar to her.
Behind her, Tanner lifted a folding table and chairs out of the back of his truck. “I couldn’t think of a better place to take you out to eat.”
“So far, it’s much better than any restaurant I can think of.” She watched him set the table in the shade of a pine tree. Drawing in a breath of mountain air, she took in the scene. Except for some gray clouds in the sky, everything seemed perfect. There was even the sound of a rippling creek in the background. “Did you bring your fishing gear?”
He headed back to the truck, pulling a cardboard box out of the back. “You’re the only one I’m hoping to catch on this trip.”
She couldn’t help laughing. “You won’t do it by saying corny things like that.”
He set the cardboard box on the ground beside the table and pulled out a white tablecloth. She couldn’t read his expression, but it was clear he didn’t see any humor in the situation.
“I’m glad you brought me here,” she said. “This is just what I needed.”
“You deserve it.” Tanner unwrapped his mother’s best china plates and crystal goblets. He set up one of the folding chairs and pulled it out for her to sit. After giving him a hug, she sat and watched him put food on the plates. They started with a salad he had picked fresh from his garden—cucumbers and tomatoes in a creamy dressing.
He seemed unusually quiet, and she wondered if he was still hurt by her calling him corny. “This was really sweet of you to bring me up here. I can’t think of anything more romantic.”
His hands trembled as he lifted the lid of the casserole dish in the middle of the table. What was wrong with him? It had been a long time since she’d made him nervous in any way.
“Would you like some chicken cordon bleu?” he asked. “I made it myself.”
“I’d love some.”
He ladled a chicken breast onto her plate and watched as she gave it a try, nodding her approval. “This is fabulous.”
“Thanks,” Tanner said. “You once told me chicken cordon bleu was your favorite.”
“I did?” Rosie couldn’t remember ever saying that.
“A long time ago. You were home from college for Christmas break. You and your grandparents came to my house for New Year’s Eve.”
She shook her head, smiling. “And you still remember?” Tanner always did have a better memory than she did.
“I had a particular interest in you back then. I still do.”
A jay landed in a tall spruce above them. She pointed to it, but Tanner’s eyes never left her face. What was with him today? “I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings when I called you corny,” she said.
He paused with his fork halfway between his plate and his mouth. “Huh?” The piece of chicken fell into his lap. He laughed. “You didn’t hurt my feelings.” He lifted a lid on another dish. “Care for some wild rice?”
She accepted the rice. If he wasn’t offended by her words, why did he seem so distracted? “Is something wrong?”
He reached for her hand. “I guess there’s no use beating around the bush. I’ve been thinking a lot this week about your situation. You and your grandpa living by yourselves on the ranch—it’s not good.”
She dropped her gaze. It seemed like he felt guilty for not helping more. “We’re doing fine,” she assured him.
Around them, insects buzzed and a breeze rustled the long grass. A yellow moth flitted above the wildflowers.
He still held her hand. “You’re getting the chores done, but there’s no way you can keep it up once school starts again. And with your grandpa wanting to sell the ranch, I thought maybe it was time—”
Time? Oh, no. He wasn’t thinking of proposing, was he? If he was, she couldn’t let him. She didn’t want him to feel responsible for her. “I think it might rain,” she said.
Tanner glanced at the clouds above them. “The forecast said it’d be clear.”
“It’ll be awfully hard to get out of here if it rains.” She cut into her chicken cordon bleu, forcing herself to chew and swallow. The food stuck like an extra-large pill at the base of her throat. She gulped her water, trying to force it down.
He brushed his finger along her jawline, bringing her eyes to his. “What I was going to say, Rosie, is that there’s no use waiting around. We’ve known each other for so long. I thi
nk with the situation being what it is.” He took a breath and removed the napkin from his lap. Then, while she stared in shock, he dropped to one knee.
She swallowed. “Tanner, I can’t let you do this.”
He went on. “I know you think I’m rushing things, but I’m sure about this. I love you, and I know I’d regret not making a bigger commitment, especially now when it could solve all your problems.”
“Solve all my problems?”
He sat back on his folding chair and reached inside his cardboard box. Rosie expected him to pull out a ring, but instead he brought out his laptop and placed it on the table. “I’ve been running the numbers. I wasn’t sure about your income, so I had to estimate, but it’s clear that we’d save money on taxes, health insurance—everything—if we applied together. And we’d qualify for a bigger loan. The guy I talked to down at the bank thought we might be able to buy the ranch inside of a year, especially if I get the science teacher position. It’ll be easier to qualify if I’m on a salary.” He showed Rosie a budgeting spreadsheet and tax calculators.
She stared at the spreadsheet, trying her best to focus on the numbers. What Tanner said made sense. The numbers proved it, but she hadn’t expected convincing numbers to come with a marriage proposal.
He dropped back to his knee. “What I’m saying is that together, we could take care of your animals. And if we lived with your grandpa, he might not want to sell off the ranch right away. It’d give us some time to save up.” He took her hand in his. “Sorry I didn’t get a ring. I thought maybe you’d like to help pick it out. Or maybe you’d rather save the money.”
“That makes sense,” she said. In fact, it made too much sense.
“So how about it?” he asked, his voice earnest. “Will you marry me?”
She placed her hands on Tanner’s shoulders. “Oh, Tanner, this is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me. I don’t know what to say.”
He reached for his laptop. “You could start by picking out a date. I’ll pull up my calendar.”
Here they were in the most romantic setting she could imagine, yet she didn’t feel romantic at all. She stared at the laptop screen, trying to collect her thoughts.
Her mother had always married for romance, but that really hadn’t gotten her anywhere. Maybe it was better to marry someone who could make her happy in other ways—ways that included meals on the table and money in the bank. Tanner would be a much better husband than any of her stepdads had been. She felt safe with him.
“Women always spend too much time planning out the details,” Tanner said. “If you ask me, we ought to get married as soon as possible.” He dug back into his chicken cordon bleu with a smile on his face. He seemed a little too . . . confident. She hadn’t even said yes yet.
Her chest tightened. She handed the laptop back to Tanner. “I’m going to need some time to think about this.”
His brows fell for only a moment before he recovered. “Take all the time you want.”
She wasn’t sure whether Tanner meant time to think about saying yes or time to plan the wedding. “Do you really think we’re ready for marriage?”
He gave a nod. “You’re already twenty-eight, and we know each other better than most engaged couples.”
Tanner pulled out his phone. “We ought to take some pictures with these wildflowers in the background—preserve the memory.”
She forced herself to smile. “That sounds fun.” What was wrong with her? She was in one of the most stunning places on earth with a man who loved her. She should have goose bumps—the good kind—and thoughts of love, romance, and possibly even her wedding night! But she couldn’t seem to conjure any of those feelings.
They wandered into the meadow, holding hands and snapping shots. Things were just starting to feel normal again when thunder boomed, startling them. Rain came soon after that, sending them running for the truck. Tanner helped Rosie into the passenger seat before he packed everything up. He was what her grandma would have called a “perfect gentleman.”
Rosie watched Tanner until raindrops obscured her view. If she were a normal woman, she would have accepted Tanner’s proposal right away, giddy with relief that the biggest question of her life had finally been resolved: Will you be married or will you be alone?
Her hesitancy probably stemmed from her dysfunctional childhood. It was probably also why she hadn’t spent a lot of time planning for marriage. When she was younger, she focused on going to school and establishing a career as a teacher. After that, Grandpa and the animals had stepped in to fill any need for nurturing others. She’d always wanted to marry someone like Tanner—in the future. That future had always seemed so distant, but maybe it wasn’t as distant as she’d thought. She’d never even told Tanner she loved him.
Tanner opened the door, letting in a gust of wind. His dress shirt was completely drenched, and water dripped from his dark hair. “I’ve been thinking. I jumped the gun a little with this whole proposal thing. I should have brought the subject up a few times beforehand. I’m sorry about that.”
She reached for him, pulling him toward her. It was the first time she’d initiated a kiss, and the thrill of it bloomed inside her. The touch of his skin, wet against hers, the smell of rain on his clean hair, the rhythm of his breathing slow and deep. He was a great guy, the best she could hope for.
Chapter 4
The horse seemed compliant as Destry rode him around the field the first time. Then halfway through their second lap—wham, he bucked. Destry was on the ground before he knew what happened. For a second, he lay there, wondering whether he could get up. His palms stung where the reins had ripped out of his hands. His head ached, and he felt as if he’d just received the beating of his life. Meanwhile, the horse walked calmly back to the other side of the field to eat the rest of the apples in the bucket.
So much for all the hours he spent pampering Orion after Rosie left. His new cowboy boots hadn’t helped either. What made the horse throw him off? He couldn’t remember seeing anything that might scare it. There was nothing but flat, barren ground—no snakes or skunks. The only explanation was that his previous owner hadn’t trained him properly—that or the bucket of apples was too tempting.
Finding someone to train the horse was a high priority. Maybe he could ask Mr. Curtis about it. Going over there would also give him a chance to see Rosie again, and maybe find another way to pay her back for all the grief he’d caused when he shot her coyote. Surely, she wouldn’t refuse his help with chores.
Still aching from his fall, he limped to his car, drove down the lane, and then hauled himself from his car to the Curtises’ front porch.
He found Mr. Curtis mending socks on his front porch. “Rosie’s on a date,” he said.
Destry tried to cover his initial expression of surprise and disappointment. “Oh.” It really was better that Rosie was gone. That way, at least, he could do her chores before she told him no. “I’m glad she took a break.”
“She needed a break the way this land needs rain.” Mr. Curtis pointed to a mountain in the distance. “It’s raining on old Mount Morris. Wish we could get some moisture down here. We need a monsoon season like they have in Korea.”
“That’d be nice,” Destry said. “I thought since you’ve been so kind to me, I’d help you out with some—”
“I served in the army during the Korean War. Never saw so much rain in my life as I did there in South Korea. I didn’t have dry clothes to wear for over a month.”
Destry raised his voice. “I didn’t know you were a veteran.” He reached to shake the old man’s hand. “Thank you for your service.”
Mr. Curtis didn’t seem to hear him. “We all smelled like mildew, but man alive, the plants grew. If we could just get one tenth of the rain they get there.”
It was getting dark. If Destry didn’t get started soon, there’d be no time left to work. He found the envelope in his pocket, the one Rosie had returned to him earlier. Then, borrowing Mr. Curtis’s p
en, he wrote on it: What chores can I do to help Rosie?
Mr. Curtis read it. “You want to know what you can do for Rosie?” He pointed out to the animal pens. “Go muck out the bird pens.”
“Okay. Thanks.” It sounded easy enough. All he’d have to do was shovel out the old straw and put in new. He grabbed the water bottle from inside his car. Then he limped out past the vegetable garden toward the animal pens with Rosie’s golden retriever, Cheddar, following at his heels. He took a sip of his water and then put the water bottle on the ground outside the chicken pen. After locating a shovel and a garden rake leaning up against the barn, he undid the latch on the pen and stepped inside. The chickens—about six of them—ran toward him as he entered, gathering around his feet.
The pen was older and larger than his own with thicker wire. Since most of the chickens were out in the run, he started with the coop. The straw had formed a deep mat on the floor so that he had to chop through it with the side of his shovel, sending dust and the sour scent of chicken manure into the air. He consoled himself with the fact that he could take a shower and an allergy pill when he got home.
Was Rosie worth it? He thought so, but man, was she stubborn. He liked a challenge though, even when he had so little chance of succeeding. He couldn’t stop thinking of the sensitive way she blushed when she explained about the portraits in the dining room. Before that, he’d thought she was too rough to be embarrassed about anything.
He shoveled the rest of the matted straw out of the coop. Then he opened the gate and flung it outside the chicken run. Only one chicken escaped during the process. While Cheddar watched with hungry eyes, he chased after it, grabbing it so one of its wings extended to the side and almost caught on the door as he placed it back into the run.
His brother, Cody, would have enjoyed this. Cody had always been an animal person. As teenagers, when he and Cody dreamed of buying a ranch, they’d always planned for Cody to take care of the animals while Destry ran the business side of things. Over the years, the dream faded from his mind, but Cody had never let go of it. Five years earlier, Cody had brought a folder full of plans to his office.
Chemistry Lessons Page 4