She stared at the highway sign as she drove past the off ramp and decided the best thing for her was to just head home. There were more important things she needed to think about than Gray McKinnon. She had no desire to revisit old heartache.
#
Chapter Four
Nina woke up hearing a lot of chatter downstairs in the kitchen. Her mother’s high-pitched voice clearly meant she was happy to see whoever had stopped by for a visit.
They’d been having visits from neighbors who were sad to see them leaving Lakeridge. Some of Nina’s high school friends had even stopped by to say goodbye.
Even Tessa had stopped by to see how long they’d be boarding Dusty Surprise at her ranch. As a single mother, Tessa needed to be conscious of money coming in to help care for her young daughter. When Nina had been out at the ranch, she had heard Tessa arguing with her ex-husband when he’d come to pick up little Haley for a visit. She didn’t envy the hard work Tessa put into keeping a ranch, raising a child, and working a full-time job at the oil rig. Rumor had it that the only reason she was working at the rig was because the ranch was failing. If keeping Dusty Surprise boarded at Rolling Rock Ranch helped lighten Tessa’s load a little, then she was happy to do it.
But the voice Nina heard downstairs now wasn’t female. It was Gray.
She sat up in bed and pulled her knees to her chest. She’d seen and talked to Gray more in the last few weeks than she had the last few years since Jen had been in the hospital.
Finally, the smell of coffee brewing pulled Nina from bed and had her quickly getting dressed in a pair of comfortable blue jeans and one of her college sweatshirts she’d set aside last night when she’d gone through her drawers weeding out old clothes. If today turned out to be anything like yesterday, she’d be getting dirty.
She quickly washed in the bathroom and tied her thick brown hair up into a ponytail. She considered make-up, and then finally decided on putting on a light coat of mascara so her eyes wouldn’t look as lost on her face. She was never one for heavy make-up, but she didn’t want to greet Gray looking like she hadn’t slept at all last night.
The laughter in the kitchen grew louder as she took each step downstairs. She found her mother in the kitchen pouring the freshly brewed coffee into mugs she’d set out on the counter, and telling a story about Nina and Jen from their childhood. Lara Hendrix had always made it clear how fond she was of Gray. It didn’t surprise Nina that her mother had stopped doing everything on her To-Do List to dote on him for a while.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” she said as Nina walked into the kitchen.
“It’s not that late, is it?” Nina asked.
Gray took a sip of his coffee and said, “It’s after nine.”
“So it is. I’m surprised to see you,” she said, grabbing one of the pre-poured mugs of coffee her mother had on the counter. Her mother had forgotten to put out the cream, so Nina went to the refrigerator, grabbed the small carton, and poured a little in her cup.
“I don’t why,” Gray said, taking a sip of his coffee as he sat at the kitchen table. “You invited me last night. Or did you already forget?”
“It was an open invitation. I just didn’t expect it to be today.”
“He brought muffins, honey. There’s some blueberry ones in there. You’d better grab one before your father eats them all.” Her mother pointed to the white pastry box on the table. “Don’t lean against the counter and drink your coffee. Sit and have some breakfast with us.”
She sat down next to Gray at the table. “Where’s Daddy?”
Her mother groaned. “He called for a dumpster to get rid of everything we’re not bringing. The garage is full and it’s all he talked about last night. They’re supposed to be delivering it any time now and you know your father. Heaven forbid they drop that dumpster on his precious lawn, no matter how frozen it is. So he’s out front to direct them where to put it.”
Nina chuckled. “Sounds like Dad.”
“I’d like to help out today, if you want an extra hand,” Gray said.
“Art would be eternally grateful. He’s been fuming for the last few days about all this stuff his girls have managed to accumulate over the last twenty-five years since we’ve lived in this house.” Her mother laughed. “As if none of this belongs to him, you know?”
“I’m going to keep my mouth shut about that, if you don’t mind, and just let you duke it out,” Gray said.
Lara smiled. “Wise man.”
Looking at Nina, Gray added, “So where do you want to start?”
* * *
The moving van was half-full. As the movers continued to load most all the furniture that her parents were definitely taking to their new home in Chicago, Nina and Gray had managed to clean out the attic and dispose of most of it in the dumpster. She still couldn’t remember why all these things were so important to keep in the first place.
“Who needs three Christmas trees?” she asked as she tossed the remnants of an artificial Christmas tree out the second story window to the tarp they’d laid out on the ground below.
“Or these two old mixers,” Gray said, putting the old, crusty mixer Nina remembered from her childhood in a box destined for the dumpster.
“Oh, I know the answer to that. Mom wanted Jen and I to be domesticated. It was part of our Home EC lessons and she thought by keeping these old mixers, we’d be great cooks and take these with us to college. Notice they’re still in the attic?”
He smiled. “Do they still work?”
“I have no idea. I haven’t used a mixer since my favorite pastime was going down to the stables where Dusty Surprise was boarded. If they work, we can donate them.”
She pulled a box of old horse figures she and Jen had collected as kids and put them in a box to be donated along with a Raggedy Ann and Cabbage Patch doll. She barely looked at some of the old toys and trinkets she’d once thought were precious when she was a little girl and just put them in the box. When it was full, Gray picked it up and carried it downstairs to her SUV.
After a heavy day of moving boxes and tossing trash into the dumpster, then taking the items they were donating to the Salvation Army, Nina and Gray tackled the garage. Gray lifted the garage door and Nina’s shoulders sagged.
“Where did all this stuff come from?”
Gray just chuckled. “How did they ever manage to get cars in here?”
She glanced at his face, saw the adorable look of amusement in his expression, and laughed. “I have no clue. I park my car in the driveway. I haven’t been in the garage in a long time.”
“This is going to take a while.”
They both dove in and spent an hour looking through boxes and deciding that most of the treasures she couldn’t live without when she was a kid, were better off in the dumpster. After two days of looking through your life, Nina felt depleted. How could it be that so much of what was once important no longer mattered? She’d grown from a girl who loved her horse and wanted to please her parents to a woman who was still figuring out who she was and what life had to offer.
As odd as it was for Gray to be here with her today, she was glad he was sharing her trip down memory lane. Conversation while they worked was easy and filled with jokes and laughter. She’d missed that lighthearted bantering.
At some point during the sorting out of boxes, Gray had taken off his sweatshirt and tossed it onto the hood of her car, which she’d parked in the driveway turn-around to make room for the dumpster and moving truck. They’d been working hard for hours carrying boxes and his shoulder muscles and biceps were pumped and clearly visible beneath his shirt. Hard work wasn’t an issue for Gray. He’d been working on the oil rig for several years and had been riding bulls since he was a kid.
Nina’s thoughts wandered to their ride at the Rolling Rock a few weeks ago. She’d loved the feel of Gray’s hard body pressed against her back. She still remembered how it felt to feel those strong muscles flex against her body. The memory of it made her bod
y react.
“You okay?”
Her cheeks flamed when she realized he’d caught her thinking about him. If he knew her thoughts, he didn’t let on.
“Ah, just getting tired,” she said.
“We can take a break if you want.”
“No, let’s keep going. I’ll collapse tonight.”
As soon as they pulled her parents cars out of the garage, and parked them along one side of the driveway, the work they had to do in the garage came easier and they blew through cleaning at lightning speed. The heat beneath Nina’s sweatshirt was building despite the cold March air invading the garage through the open doors. She walked outside and looked up at the sky. It was getting darker, which always happened early this time of the year. The forecast was for snow mixed with rain again. But despite being able to see her breath in the cold air, she didn’t think the air was cold enough for a heavy snow.
Nina pulled off her sweatshirt and dropped it next to Gray’s on the hood of her car. When she came back into the garage, she saw that he was particularly interested in something tucked behind a stack of plastic bins in the back of the garage.
“What’s this?” Gray said, pushing the plastic bins aside and then pulling a piece of plywood out of the corner.
Spokes and a wheel were hidden by a large piece of plywood leaning against the wall. Nina smiled when she realized what was sitting behind it.
“That is my old bike. I’d forgotten we still had that. I went all over the place on that bike when I was a teenager.”
“Yeah?” Gray looked around. “There’s only one.”
“Jen sold hers to a kid in school a long time ago to buy a pair of boots she’d wanted and didn’t have the money for. My mother was furious. I never would have sold my bike back then for anything.”
His eyes widened. “You were that attached to it and you didn’t even know you still had it?”
“Well, back then it was my freedom. My way of getting around. I got to visit my friends after school. But mostly I used it to get down to the stables where we used to board our horses. I think I spent most of my time there. Jen had some friends that were older and they drove so she didn’t care about the bike.”
“Why didn’t she give you a ride to the stables with them?”
Nina waved him off. “She was never into riding the way I was. She enjoyed it and became pretty good at barrel racing. But she never put in the time I did. There was a time when my parents couldn’t keep me from riding and working down at the stables.”
His brows narrowed. “Wow, that surprises me.”
“Why?”
“Not you. I know you love riding. But Jen was always wanting us to go to the next rodeo. I just assumed she had that same passion for riding that you did.”
Nina turned away and pretended to look in one of the plastic bins Gray had pushed aside. “She wanted to see you. She knew you had a passion for it.”
“She did it for me?”
“How else was she going to get to see you? You worked so much on the rig and she knew you loved bull riding.”
He stared at her as if he was putting two and two together and coming up with something other than four. She lowered her eyes to the contents of the plastic bin and when she looked back up the confusion in his expression was gone. He stood with his hand tucked in the pocket of his jeans.
“You didn’t always keep your horses with Tessa at Rolling Rock?”
Glad for the change of subject, Nina shook her head. “The people who owned the stable across town sold their ranch a few years ago. They divided the land and are building these gigantic neighborhoods there. I came home from college and nearly cried when I saw the bulldozers tearing up those old trails I used to ride on. But it was nice to have the Buford place close by while I was growing up and my parents were working.”
“I thought you put Dusty out at Tessa’s place just recently.”
“We did. The Buford place sold around the time Jen was in her accident. They had to put Jen’s horse down after the accident, as you know, but then they sold their horses because they didn’t have time to ride with Jen being at the hospital so much. So we kept Dusty here until I boarded her at Tessa’s. I loved having her here. But she didn’t have enough space like she did at the Buford ranch. I went to ride just about every afternoon after school and explored every inch of those trails they had. But Tessa’s place is nice, too. I never could have ridden my bike out to Rolling Rock back then.”
Gray’s smile was warm as he turned to her. “I don’t know Tessa well, but I know she’s a lot like you. She loves horses. I’m sure she’ll give Dusty Surprise a nice home.”
“She has already. I’ve often wondered why Tessa works on the rig when she could spend all day boarding horses and make a good living.”
“Ranching is hard on the back and on the finances sometimes. No divorces are pleasant, but hers was particularly nasty from what I’ve heard. Her father helps out where he can, but he has his own ranch too.”
“Then I’m happy to have Dusty there to help her out.”
Gray pulled the dusty bicycle away from the garage wall. “You don’t ride this anymore?”
“Who does when they have wheels? I upgraded to my SUV,” she said, teasing.
“You can’t ride a bike anymore because you have a car?”
“I have a horse, too! How many ways do I need to get around?”
He shrugged. “True. This is a nice bike though.”
“I logged a lot of miles on it. That’s for sure.”
Holding onto the frame, he picked up the bike and dropped it so the wheels bounced on the tar driveway.
“It still feels solid. The tires still have good air.”
“I’m not taking it with me so I guess it can either be donated or put in the dumpster.”
He crinkled his nose, making her laugh. “Why would you want to get rid of a good bike like this?”
“If you want to keep it, it’s yours.”
“It’s a girl’s bike.”
Nina pursed her lips. “Oh, and that’s a problem for you?”
Gray rolled his eyes. “Jeez, you sound like my sister. I can ride the bike. It’s just too small for me. I need a larger frame. The seat is too low, too. I’m game to give it a go if you want to take it for a spin though. I think we’ve worked ourselves into a much needed break.”
“There’s nowhere for me to sit on the back. And as you pointed out, it’s a girl’s bike so I can’t sit on the frame the way you can on a men’s bike.”
He straightened his back and challenged her with a stare. “You’re telling me you’ve never ridden on the handle bars?”
She shrugged. “Okay, a few times. Yes. But it’s been a billion years and certain body parts were smaller.”
“There’s nothing wrong with your body parts,” he mumbled.
“What?”
“Come on,” he said, moving past his comment. “Let’s give it a try. It’ll be fun.”
Nina looked at the bike as Gray climbed into the seat. “I don’t know. I remember I stopped riding this bike for some reason. I just can’t remember exactly why at the moment.”
Gray started peddling out of the garage. When he got just outside the garage door he turned spun the bike around until it was facing her. “Yeah, right. This bike rides great.”
“I’m serious. There was some reason…”
He sat on the bike in the driveway and squeezed the brake handles. “The seat is definitely too low, but I can manage.”
He took another spin in a circle in front of the garage, then down the driveway and back up before stopping right in front of her at the opening of the garage.
Nina laughed at how ridiculous he looked on her old bicycle. “You’re right. It’s too small for you. All you need is a clown suit like the rodeo clowns.”
“Hey, some of my good friends are those rodeo clowns. They may look funny, but they’re from tough stock! Come on and join me. I don’t want to have fun all by myself.”
She climbed onto the handlebars of her old bike carefully and made sure Gray had access to the brake.
“I don’t fit like I used to.”
“You fit perfect.”
Gray leaned forward in the seat until his face was up against her ear. She felt the heat of his breath tickle her ear as he spoke. The familiar scent that she’d come to associate with him drifted to her. “You’re not steady sitting straight up like that though. Lean back against me.”
Nina did as he asked and fell against him, feeling his warmth like a caress. With his hands gripping the handlebar, she was enveloped by his strength.
“You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”She gripped the handlebar with both hands as they rode down the driveway, both of them laughing as Gray steered the bike with the weight of her sitting in front of him. Each time he turned the bike, she felt his muscles flex against her arm and back. His light chuckle against her ear tickled her skin, making her breathless and lightheaded.
As he pushed hard to get them both up the slight hill of the driveway, she felt a shift beneath her bottom. Her stomach sank.
“Oh, no. I remember why I stopped riding this bike.”
“Why?”
She laughed hard. “Can’t you feel it? The handle bars are coming loose!”
“I thought you were doing that on purpose.”
Throwing her head back against his shoulder, she laughed harder as she held on, almost unable to talk. “How on earth could I do that? Or are you saying I’m too heavy.”
He sputtered. “Do you think I’m that stupid? I learned a few things growing up with Grace.”
Nina held tight and suddenly felt a big shift. “I need to get off these handle bars before they—” While the bike was still in motion going up the driveway, Nina slipped off the side the handlebars to the side. Her feet didn’t quite connect easily with the pavement and she ended up tumbling in front of the moving van and ended up sprawled out on the ground looking up at the darkened sky.
His Dakota Heart Page 5