by Emmy Eugene
“What about lunch?” he asked. “Or you can come out whenever is convenient for you, and we can just…talk.”
“I can bring you lunch,” she said.
“I’ll pay for it,” he said.
“What time do you normally break for lunch?”
“Whenever,” he said. “There’s no real normal. When a chore gets done and we’re hungry, we come in and eat.”
“All of you?”
“Yeah, usually,” he said. “And Brian and Tomas and Darren.”
“So seven men.” Millie’s eyebrows went up.
“We can take a walk around the ranch,” he said. “We have a couple of pretty amazing bridges that go over the river.”
“Trying to get me alone, Mister?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, matching her tease for tease. “Was that part not obvious?”
She laughed, and Travis relaxed. This was Millie. He’d already kissed her, and he hadn’t forgotten how, despite his long hiatus from women.
“I’ll order pizza,” he said. “If you’ll pick it up, we’ll be golden.”
“Someone has metallics on the brain,” she said with a smile. They finished decorating the tree, and Millie scooted it right in front of the window. Travis helped her take all the bins back out to her car, and he broke down the box the Christmas tree had come in, sticking it in their recycling bin.
She loitered by her car, playing with her keys. Travis knew this tactic, and she didn’t want to leave without saying good-bye. He didn’t want her to either, and he approached slowly, trying to calm down.
They hadn’t danced, and she hadn’t brought any mistletoe. At least the noxious weed hadn’t made an appearance.
Yet, he thought.
He felt like he was on an emotional roller coaster with this woman. Nervous one moment and then relaxed the next. He gestured toward the window, where the tree twinkled merrily. “Thank you for this. What do I owe you?”
“I’ll figure it out with the supplies and everything and bill you. Okay?”
“Sure.”
“Do you use pay-to?”
“Pay-what?”
She smiled and shook her head, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck. “It’s an app, Trav. You really should download it and hook your bank account to it. Then you can spend some of your money.”
Travis pulled in a breath, quickly realizing Millie was teasing him about the app and not that he was rich. “I bought a new truck.”
“I figured.”
“And then you can pay me for the pizza with a couple of taps and for tonight and the party and all of that.”
“All of that? There’s more?”
“I hope so,” she whispered, tipping up onto her toes. Before Travis could seal their amazing night with a kiss, headlights cut across him and Millie as Russ pulled into the driveway.
“Foiled again,” Millie said, stepping out of his arms and opening her car door. “Maybe tomorrow, cowboy.” With that, she got behind the wheel and started her car. She rolled down her window and added, “And you still owe me a dance.”
He leaned his elbows against the roof of her car, peering inside at her. “Yeah, well, you didn’t bring any mistletoe.”
“Next time,” Millie said and flipped the car into reverse.
Travis waved as she backed out, but her headlights kept him from seeing anything she might have done.
“I’m sorry,” Russ said, coming out of the garage. “What rotten timing.”
“It’s fine,” Travis said. “Wasn’t in the stars tonight.” But tomorrow…Travis was going to kiss Millie no matter what the stars or the cards or anyone else said.
Chapter Ten
“Events by Millie,” Millie hated answering her phone that way, but she’d paid a fee on her cell phone to get a second number specifically for her business. Since all of her creativity went into the party planning, she’d had nothing left to give the name of her business.
“Yes, hello Millie, dear. It’s Diana Toolson.”
“Oh, hello, Mrs. Toolson.” Millie looked away from the laptop in her bedroom, because someone as proper and stuffy as Diana Toolson required all of her brain power. Then she wouldn’t say something sarcastic or anything that the older woman could deem as inappropriate.
“How can I help you?” she asked, hoping the woman had a major event on the horizon.
“I heard you were back in town and doing events,” she said.
“Both true.” Millie leaned back in her chair.
“How’s your momma?”
Millie sincerely hoped this was not a social call. “She’s doing okay, ma’am.”
“Good,” Diana said. “Good. Listen, I’m calling because I’d like to renew my vows in a small, private ceremony, and I thought you’d be just the person to help.”
“Of course,” Millie said, reaching for her laptop and clicking quickly to get to a new client page. “Tell me everything you’re thinking.”
“We got engaged fifty years ago at Chestnut Springs,” she said. “I’d love to have the vows renewed there, on January twentieth.”
The hike to Chestnut Springs wasn’t terrible, but the weather could be in January. “Okay,” Millie said, her memory tickling with something. What, she couldn’t quite remember at the moment. “How many people? They can hike up there in dress clothes? Shoes? Heels?”
“Oh, it doesn’t need to be fancy, dear,” she said. “Just me and Brent, and our two daughters. Their husbands. Maybe the grandkids…”
“How many people is that?” Millie asked, her fingers hovering above the keyboard.
“Probably twenty,” Diana said, and Millie wondered how many grandchildren the woman had.
“Twenty,” she repeated. “Okay. Are you looking for a meal up there? Something at your home afterward?”
“Something up there,” she said. “We’d want the place to ourselves, naturally.”
“Oh.” Millie sat back from her computer again. “Well, Mrs. Toolson, Chestnut Springs is a public place. I’m not sure you can rent it and close the trail and springs to everyone else.”
“That’s why I called you, dear,” she said, and Millie knew then that she’d fail Mrs. Toolson. “We had ham sandwiches on our first hike there, and I’ve already got the best caterer lined up. Shall I pass on his name?”
“Uh, yes?” Millie wasn’t sure why she’d phrased it as a question, only that it had come out that way. She usually did the whole event, and the person who’d hired her didn’t know who to get for catering or music or décor. With the vow renewal being at the springs, there would be very little décor. Music would be hard, but Millie had done remote events before, and she had some killer Bluetooth speakers.
But it seemed like all Diana Toolson needed was someone to reserve the springs—something Millie was fairly certain she couldn’t do anyway.
“So what do you think?” Diana asked, and Millie realized she’d zoned out. “What would your fee be?”
The fact that she called it a fee also annoyed Millie. “You know what?” she asked. “I’m going to need to do a little investigative work to see if it’s even possible to reserve Chestnut Springs for a private event. If that’s the case, I’ll let you know how much this event will cost. Sound good?”
“Yes,” Diana said. “I look forward to hearing from you.” The call ended, and Millie stared at her phone in disgust. Then she dialed the city offices and got transferred to the parks department. If there was one good thing—besides Travis Johnson—about being back in Chestnut Springs, it was that she knew exactly who to call to get the answers she needed.
“Hey, Ramon,” she said, going on to explain the situation in as few words as possible. Travis would be so proud.
“Yeah, I don’t think so, Millie,” Ramon said. “I mean, you’re welcome to set up up there. But we can’t close the entire trail for a private event.”
“But why?” she asked, just so she’d have something to report to Diana. “We close the pool for private eve
nts all the time, and the city owns and operates that.”
“I—we—good point.”
“Can you find out?” Millie asked. She wasn’t terribly keen on doing the event at the springs in the middle of winter, but a job was a job. And Millie couldn’t afford to be too picky, though she did have more breathing room since landing the contract job with Serendipity.
“I’ll find out,” Ramon said. “Give me a couple of days. We actually have our monthly meeting on Monday night.”
“I’ll hear from you after that, then,” she said.
“Have a blessed day,” Ramon said, and Millie smiled. She’d forgotten the Southern drawl of people who said that, and she sure did like it.
Her mother knocked on her door, and Millie got up. “Hey, Momma.” She gave her mom a quick hug. “I’ll heat up leftovers for you, okay? I’m late to pick up the pizza and head out to the ranch.”
“Actually,” her mother said, and Millie saw her romantic walk with Travis on some pretty Texas bridges fade right before her eyes. “I was wondering if I might come. I’ll stay out of the way, and we could take our walk out there.” Her mother’s eyes held so much pleading and hope that Millie couldn’t just dismiss her.
“I haven’t left town in so long,” she added, and Millie couldn’t say no.
“Let me call Travis, okay?”
Her mom nodded and shuffled down the hall, already dressed with her sneakers on and everything. Millie didn’t call, but she tapped out a quick text.
I need a raincheck on that kiss. My mother is coming with me.
She wasn’t desperate to kiss Travis; it only felt like it. She told herself there was plenty of time, and she should probably know him a little bit better anyway. Just because he made her feel more alive than any man had in years didn’t mean she needed to kiss him the moment she met him.
Sorry, she added when Travis didn’t respond right away. She slipped into her cowgirl boots again, because Travis sure had seemed to like those. At the last minute, she decided to change her shoes. If she and her mother were going to walk a mile, she didn’t want it to be in the boots.
Finally ready, she joined her mom in the living room. “Ready?”
“I’m coming?”
“Yep.” Millie steadied her mother as she stood, and they went out the front door and down the steps at a slow, agonizing pace. “We have to stop and get the pizza, and then we’ll be on our way.”
Her mother was having a good day, at least. Millie reasoned that her mother was an amazing woman, and no one would care that she was there.
Except her.
She pulled up to The Flying Dog to pick up the pizza, noticing that she’d received a text on the way over. No problem, Travis had said. Favorite soda flavor?
Grape, she tapped out as she ran inside and gave the kid there her name. Yours?
A minute and five pizzas later, she was back in the car, ready to make the quick fifteen-minute trip to Chestnut Ranch.
Her phone beeped, and she managed to catch the previous of Travis’s text before it disappeared off her screen.
Gross. Mine’s root beer.
Millie smiled, because she loathed root beer with everything inside her. She and Travis didn’t seem to have a lot in common, but they sure did get along just fine. More than fine, as Millie didn’t want to get to know anyone but him.
Of course, you felt that way about Shane too, she told herself. And look at what happened with him.
So maybe more time to get to know Travis was a good idea. She didn’t need to give away her heart if the man she gave it to wasn’t willing to keep it safe.
She made the turn onto the ranch road, and drove past the beautiful Wright estate. The gate for Chestnut Ranch came into view, and Millie’s excitement grew. “All right, Momma,” she said. “We’re here.”
“This is lovely,” her mother said. “Now, how are you goin’ to introduce this man of yours?”
“Mom, you’ve met him already—twice.”
“Yes, but no one introduced him. Is he your boyfriend?”
Mille thought about the conversation they’d had last night, right in that very living room. “Yes,” she said. “Happy now?”
“Very,” her mother said with sparkling eyes.
Millie got out of the car and opened the back door. Before she could heft the pizzas into her arms, Travis called, “I’m comin’, Mills. Let me get them.”
She’d let him all right, because then he’d put those muscles on display again. Turning, she almost ran into him as he jogged toward her.
“Hi,” she said, enjoying the long-sleeved denim shirt that kept his skin clean and safe. The beard was just so sexy, and that smile… She was shocked no one in Chestnut Springs had snatched him right up.
“Hi.” He swept a quick kiss along her cheek, the touch of his lips there and gone before she even registered it. He bent into the car while Russ appeared to help her mother inside. Millie was impressed by these Johnsons, as their mother sure had raised them right.
“Five pizzas for eight people,” he said as he straightened. “Feels a little ridiculous, doesn’t it?”
“And a salad,” she said, reaching for the garden salad she’d gotten for herself. “I can pay for that.”
“Nope,” he said. “Just tell me how much. I downloaded that app and everything.”
“Wow, look at you, Mister Johnson.”
“Hey, this dog can learn new tricks,” he said with a chuckle. They walked up the front sidewalk together, and as they climbed the steps, he asked, “So how much?”
“Uh, seventy-six dollars,” she said. “And some change. Seventy-six is fine.” She darted in front of him and opened the door so he could walk through unhindered. The scent of coffee and cologne met her nose, and she actually liked it. She stayed behind to close the door, and when she made it to the kitchen, she was the last one to arrive.
The Johnson brothers were treating her mother like a queen, with Griffin handing her a glass of iced tea and Russ leading the three dogs over to her as if she were made of glass. Her mother loved dogs, so Russ had just secured his spot right inside Momma’s heart.
“Pizza,” Travis said, setting the boxes on the counter, and a couple of the men whooped. Millie guessed that they didn’t host big lunches at the homestead very often, and she wondered if that was a tradition Travis wanted.
A type of organized chaos followed, and Millie liked watching the men pass out plates and reach over one another for the pizza they wanted.
“What do you want, baby?” Travis asked, staying out of the way of the fray.
“Nothing with fruit or veggies.”
“Really?” His arm slipped behind her back, and Millie leaned into him, basking in the warmth and comfort of his presence. “That surprises me.”
“With pizza, it’s all about the meat and cheese,” she said. “Though there’s this spot in San Antonio that has the greatest Caprese pizza, and that has green stuff and tomatoes.”
“Yeah, I draw the line at salad on pizza,” he said.
Millie was sure he didn’t quite know what Caprese actually was, but she just smiled and snuggled into him. When the brothers and their ranch hands headed over to the table, Travis stepped over to the counter and picked up a plate. He put a couple of slices of pizza on it for her and handed it to Millie.
“They left you a spot.” He nodded toward the table, which only had one chair left.
“Where will you sit?”
“Wherever.” He picked up another plate and loaded it with pizza. “We could go outside.”
“Alone,” she whispered, and Travis’s eyes locked onto hers. Millie lifted her eyebrows and added, “I’m making a break for it. Momma’s occupied for at least a few minutes.”
And maybe she’d get her kiss after all.
Chapter Eleven
Travis ate with Millie on the back patio, in clear eyesight of everyone eating at the table. They seemed to be laughing and having a good time, and this lunch was quite a
bit different than the cowboys making quick sandwiches or heating up whatever Russ or Seth had made for dinner the night before. Sometimes they had something Momma had sent home with them in neat, plastic containers.
He liked the new energy at the homestead, and he wondered why they’d always kept such a boundary between them and the ranch hands they employed. Russ was the one with a degree in ranch management, but as far as Travis could tell, he simply did what their father had done.
Which was fine. Travis wasn’t going to rock the boat. He did feel a great responsibility to have something to say to Millie, but his mind whirred, never settling on any one thing. She didn’t say anything either, and they’d had silences between them before. But this one felt charged, awkward, especially with Rex’s booming voice coming through the closed patio doors.
“Quiet today,” Millie said, and humiliation rushed through Travis.
“Nothin’ to say,” he said. “Anything exciting happen for you this morning?”
“Oh, I was finalizing a few things on my website,” she said. “And then Diana Toolson called.”
“Oh boy,” Travis said. “The Toolson’s. Not sure that’s going to be exciting.”
“Hey,” she said, but she started giggling too.
Travis finished his pizza and stood up to collect their plates. “Do you think we could sneak away for a quick walk?” He glanced toward the party happening inside.
“I told Momma I’d walk with her too,” Millie said. “But we could go for a few minutes, if your brothers can handle her.”
Travis went through the glass doors to a rowdy round of laughter. No one noticed him as he crossed to the trashcan, and he had to touch Russ’s shoulder to get his brother’s attention. “I’ll be back in a few,” he said. “You guys okay here?”
“Yeah, sure.” And then Russ was back to the conversation, something about Tomas’s date with Lucy and the dancing that had ensued.
Travis felt like a fraud, and he escaped the kitchen as quickly as he could. Millie had waited for him outside, and Travis took her hand as they started walking.