Sixteen Steps to Fall in Love

by Liz Isaacson

  “Great.” Boone grinned at her, and he couldn’t stop.

  When he got home, he found a shiny white truck sitting in his driveway. Lord Vader recognized it and whined, leaping over Leia to the open window and back to Boone, who laughed.

  “Yeah, Dylan’s here.” He pulled in beside his friend’s truck and got out, nearly tripping over Lord Vader as the dog leapt from the vehicle and tore into the garage. His tail wagged and slobber dripped from his mouth as he waited eagerly at the entrance to the house.

  Boone opened the door and said, “Vader incoming,” before letting the dog in. Leia followed, and Dylan’s laugher and high-pitched warblings to the dogs came next.

  “What are you doin’ here?” Boone smiled as he entered his kitchen. He clapped the first friend he’d made in Three Rivers on the back. “I hope you didn’t expect me to cook.”

  Dylan scoffed. “I know better than that.”

  “So you brought something?” Boone looked around for pizza boxes and found nothing.

  “My mom sent leftovers. Check the fridge.” He slapped a copy of the town’s newspaper on the counter. “Have you seen this?”

  Boone barely glanced at the paper, the letters swimming into formations that made no sense, before turning to the fridge. “What’s that?”

  “There’s an article about the animal clinic.”

  Boone found a few plastic containers with chicken cordon bleu and twice baked potatoes and Dylan’s mother’s special spinach salad. “I am texting your mother thank you right now.” He sent the text, grateful Meredith Walker took such good care of him. “And what does the article say?”

  “Read it.” Dylan nudged it a little closer.

  A blip of panic radiated through Boone. He’d done an exceptional job of hiding his reading disability, and he’d worked harder than anyone to finish his education and get his degree. No one knew how hard it was to read charts at work or file the proper paperwork. Exhaustion engulfed him just thinking about it.

  He picked up the paper anyway and scanned the biggest, boldest letters. They weren’t about Puppy Pawz. He finally found what he was looking for when Dylan pointed to the bottom right corner. E’s flipped themselves over and L’s and I’s switched places.

  He squinted, his brain making up for the discrepancies his eyes sent it. “Our building does need to be updated,” he said. “The air conditioning is fickle. Who wrote this?” He found Gentry Pace’s name on the article, and his heart sank. “I wonder who she talked to.” He managed to keep the concern out of his voice.

  Though he and Gentry had gone out a few times before calling it quits, everything in the article was correct, and he hoped her appeal to the city would land on ears willing to hear. There were several buildings around town that could use some updating, and Puppy Pawz happened to be housed in one of them.

  He put the paper down. “That was a good article. Do you know Gentry Pace?”

  “Not super well. She’s been here a few years, running a flower shop and writing for the paper.”

  “I went out with her a few times.” He stuck the potatoes and chicken in the microwave and started it.

  “Do you think that’s why she wrote this?”

  “It’s not bad, Dylan. I hope the city does something.”

  “So how was your date?” Dylan could jump from topic to topic faster than anyone Boone had ever known.

  Boone grinned. “It was fantastic.”

  “I thought Nicole Hymas didn’t like you.”

  Boone’s euphoria slipped a little. “I didn’t think she did. I think she’s probably still trying to figure out if she does or not.” And he still needed to figure out why she’d given him the cold shoulder for so long.

  “You’ve always liked a challenge.”

  Boone let his comment slide. So he was a bit on the competitive side. Didn’t mean he was only interested in Nicole for the chase. If that were true, he’d have been shamelessly flirting with her for the past twelve months and eight days regardless of her hostility.

  “Does she have any friends?” Dylan asked.

  “I thought you were dating the receptionist in the mayor’s office.” Boone popped the top on the salad container and got a noseful of mustard and olive oil.

  “That didn’t work out.” He shrugged. “She said she’s not interested in an electrician. I told her we were electrifying.” He grinned as if the break up didn’t faze him. “She said she thought of me as her brother.”

  “Ouch,” Boone said. “There’s a receptionist at the animal clinic.”

  “Yeah, Joanne Bailey.” Dylan’s tone didn’t convey excitement.

  “You know her?”

  “Dated her in high school.”

  Boone chuckled. He should’ve known. Dylan had grown up in this small town, and he knew everyone in it. “Well, you already know everyone who’s available then. Doesn’t matter who Nicole’s friends are.”

  “I guess not.” Dylan exhaled and said, “So who’s playing tonight?”

  “I think the Rangers are at the Rockies.” Boone took his food into the living room and sat on the other end of the couch from Dylan, who flipped through the channels until he found the baseball game.

  Boone relaxed, all the things that had been keeping him awake in the past week gone. With the memory of Nicole’s hand still in his, he enjoyed the secret of their walk in the park and their upcoming date in the morning.

  And he’d never been happier animals couldn’t talk, because Vader and Leia sure had cuddled up to Dylan and would probably tell him anything.

  The traitors.

  The doorbell rang, and someone knocked, and he looked at Dylan and then the door like he wasn’t sure what to do.

  But no one came over on Sunday evenings, except the person who was already here. So who was at the door?

  Chapter Six

  Nicole showed up at the soup kitchen on the south side of Three Rivers, almost ten minutes late. And she was never late, a fact that Alice Sweet pointed out to her with a cocked eyebrow.

  “I know,” Nicole said. “I just lost track of time.” So maybe she’d sank into her couch after her park date—a real date—with Boone.

  She hung her purse on a hook just inside the door and pulled her hair into a ponytail. She exhaled and clapped her hands. “Okay, where am I tonight?”

  “Boxing.” Alice pointed past all the meal prep and sectioning, and toward the end of the line of volunteers. “And I want to hear about the reason you were late.” Her green eyes shone with excitement and knowledge, and Nicole gave her a smile.

  “You already know.”

  “It’s a small town.” Alice shrugged. “And you never date.”

  “Not never.”

  “Name the last man you went out with.”

  “So I’m on boxing?” Nicole started walking away, not wanting to get into the reasons she hadn’t been out with anyone in a while. She’d been so focused on getting the credentials she needed to run the veterinary clinic, and then when the prospect of buying it had come up, she’d spent a few months researching that.

  And then there was Mama…. No, Nicole didn’t have time to date. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to. At least that was what she’d been telling herself as another day, another week, another month went by where she spent all of her time at Puppy Pawz or with her ailing and aging parents.

  She joined the crew sliding the meals into plastic bags to be vacuumed sealed and passed them down the row to the two guys putting the sealed trays into boxes.

  She enjoyed her work in the soup kitchen, and she chatted with the people around her. Sundays saw more volunteers than other days of the week, Nicole included, but she didn’t have the energy or stamina to put in a full day of work at the clinic, check on her parents, and then come to the kitchen too.

  The Sabbath was her day of rest, the day she rejuvenated herself, prepped herself mentally and spiritually for the week ahead.

  This week, she hadn’t felt as thrashed as she normally did.
Not nearly as annoyed. So maybe starting a little friendship with Boone Carver wasn’t such a bad idea.

  But as she stacked the meals she’d be responsible for delivering, she knew she was interested in more than friendship with the tall cowboy-slash-veterinarian.

  Is that so bad? she asked herself as she helped Alice go over the checklist to make sure everyone in Three Rivers got their meal tonight.

  She didn’t think so.

  “We have fifteen extra,” Alice said, looking up and glancing around. “Ellen. Craig. Everyone come get a meal for tonight.” She looked at Nicole. “Take one or two. No reason for this to go to waste.”

  She thought of her parents as the others who hadn’t left yet came over and took meals. There were still seven left, and she asked, “Can I take one for my parents too?”

  “Of course.” Alice made another check on her clipboard. “Take what you want.” She turned away as Craig asked her a question, and Nicole snagged four meals.

  It would take her a couple of hours to deliver the dozens of meals she had already stacked in her car, but her parents would be okay until then. Mama would probably be asleep anyway, and she could eat the pork chop and mashed potatoes for lunch tomorrow.

  Nicole looked at the two meals in her left hand, wondering what time Boone ate and if he liked applesauce with his proteins.

  With the window down, Nicole enjoyed the serene feel of Three Rivers. People populated the parks and Main Street, but the residential areas of town were draped in silence and contentment.

  And that was why Nicole loved doing the deliveries on Sunday night, even in the winter months when the sun sank sooner and she didn’t finish until darkness had fallen.

  Doing this, she could feel the warmth of God, almost like He was smiling down on her as she did the simple, small service for those who just needed a hot meal.

  A couple of hours later, she only had the four meals on the front seat left. Hers, her parents’, and Boone’s. She knew where he lived, as she ran the clinic he bought. She knew all kinds of personal information about him, but she was a professional through and through.

  So she would not simply drive to his house and show up with a lame sealed dinner he probably didn’t need. The man clearly had some money, and not only because he owned the animal hospital and shelter.

  He’d bought and moved into one of the big, new houses on the north end of town, and Nicole had seen the price tag on those as she’d looked at them too.

  She decided to stop by her parents’ house first, and she knocked at the same time she entered the house. Sure enough, Mama was asleep in the recliner in the front room, and Nicole tiptoed past her and into the kitchen.

  “Hey, Daddy. I brought food.” Her father sat at the kitchen table, the radio playing as he did a crossword puzzle.

  “Hey, sweetie. What is it tonight?”

  “Pork and applesauce, with potatoes and green beans.” She handed him one of the boxes. “Sixty seconds in the microwave,” she reminded him. “Maybe Mama can eat the applesauce and potatoes for lunch tomorrow.”

  He beamed up at her. “She’ll love them.” He stood and accepted the boxes, putting one in the refrigerator and opening the second one. He poked holes in the plastic along the top and stuck it in the microwave.

  “How’s work?” he asked.

  “Great.” Nicole smiled at him as the food rotated around and around. She might have complained about the clinic—and Boone—in the past when there was leftover food and she brought some to her parents.

  But tonight, she just grinned and said, “I have one more stop to make, Daddy. See you tomorrow.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and went back to her car.

  She sat with her hands at ten and two, her options swimming through her mind.

  Nicole felt like she was slowly going crazy. She had never once considered driving Boone’s house—at least not without a few dozen eggs in her arsenal.

  A twinge of guilt pulled through her, and she eased out of her parents’ driveway. Maybe she’d just drive around, see where the car took her.

  She had a full tank of gas, and the closer she radiated to the north edge of town, the tighter she gripped the steering wheel.

  She finally took the turn to go out to Three Rivers Ranch, the last of the day’s light starting to turn golden and gray at the same time.

  The new subdivision was up on the left, and Nicole felt a blazing rush of bravery as she took the turn. Boone lived in the house at the end of the street, and a big white truck already sat in the driveway with his black one.

  Another car was parked on the curb, and as she eased to a stop behind it, Boone’s front door opened.

  A woman stepped outside, but she didn’t look happy. With the window down, Nicole could hear the conversation whether she wanted to or not, and she very clearly heard Boone say, “Just go on home, Ellie.”

  The blonde came down the stairs, a scowl on her face. She didn’t cut across the grass, but her four-inch heels didn’t really allow for that kind of walking anyway.

  She glared at Nicole as she fumbled to open her car. “Hope you’re not here for either one of them. They’re so arrogant.” She yanked open the door, got behind the wheel, and drove away in a roar.

  Nicole watched her go, her heart thumping against the back of her throat.

  “What are you doing’ here?” Boone’s decidedly deep and male voice had Nicole spinning back around.

  He practically leaned through her passenger window, somehow bending his tall body almost in half to do so. He wore a smile the size of Texas itself and opened the car door as if he’d get in.

  Which he did.

  “Oh, I—” She grabbed the boxes of food, one of which she’d brought him, before he could smash them and positioned them on her lap instead.

  With him in the car, even with the windows down, the space seemed impossibly small. Maybe it was just because his shoulders were so big. Or because his cologne hit every note she wanted in her pheromones.

  She turned back toward her own window and tried to get a breath of air that wasn’t scented or filled with Boone. “Remember how I said I deliver meals on Sunday?” She faced him again, and lifted the boxes slightly. “There were extra tonight, and I wondered if you wanted one.”

  He watched her with those intoxicating eyes, and the sparkle in them increased by the moment. “What makes you think I can’t feed myself?”

  “Maybe because you eat out every day for lunch?”

  He laughed, the sound absolutely delicious. Nicole reached out and traced her fingertips along his ear and into his hair.

  He silenced, and she stared at him, sure she’d lost her mind.

  She pulled her hand back as if he’d electrocuted her. “Sorry.”

  He looked a bit on the pale side, and his face had gone so blank.

  “It’s just pork and potatoes,” she said, thrusting one of the boxes at him. She really wanted to know if he liked fruit with his pork, but she wasn’t going to impose herself on him when he’d already kicked out one blonde woman.

  He took the box, some of the shock melting from his rugged features. “Who’s that one for?”

  “Me.”

  “You want to come in and eat with me?”

  She shook her head, a laugh coming out of her mouth she didn’t recognize. She couldn’t remember the last time she had something to laugh about. “No, I saw how blonde women leave your place.”

  He reached over and slipped his fingers through hers, a chuckle vibrating his chest. “That was Dylan’s ex-girlfriend. I guess she went to his place and didn’t find him there, so she came here.”

  “Dylan Walker?”

  Boone shot her a glance. “Yeah. You know him?”

  “Of course. He grew up here, same as me.”

  “Oh, right.” Boone still looked apprehensive, and Nicole gave him a small smile.

  “I like him fine, if you’re worried about that,” she said.

  His features relaxed and softened then, and
he said, “You sure you don’t want to come in?”

  “With you and Dylan? I think I’ll pass.”

  “Your loss,” he said. “We’ve got baseball on in there and it’s a lot cooler than out here.”

  “You’re not charming me with the baseball.” Nicole giggled again, and acted without thinking for the second or third time that night.

  She leaned over and swept her lips across his cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

  He took the cue and got out of the car, leaning back in through the window to say, “Okay. Thanks for the food. You’re right. I don’t really know how to feed myself, so this is great.”

  She laughed again, the gesture so freeing she finally believed the saying that laughter was the best medicine. Easing the car away from the curb, she couldn’t resist checking her rearview mirror to watch Boone walk back inside his house.

  But he wasn’t walking away from her. He stood on the sidewalk and watched her drive away, a ridiculous smile on his face.

  Which caused an equally ludicrous smile to appear on Nicole’s face too.

  Definitely more than friendship, her brain screamed at her as she drove out of his subdivision and on back to her own house. As she pulled into the driveway of her much older home, she thanked the Lord for her little patch in Three Rivers and for a few stolen minutes with Boone Carver.

  Chapter Seven

  Boone watched the sun rise as Lord Vader and Princess Leia ran with the other ranch dogs. He spent his Mondays and Wednesdays out at Three Rivers with the dogs, cats, chickens, calves, horses, bulls, and cattle on the ranch, and they were two of the best days of his week.

  Impatience seethed just beneath his skin this morning, though. Because one of the main reasons he’d enjoyed his time out at the ranch was because it meant he wasn’t stuck at the animal hospital with a dictator of an office administrator.

  But now that Nicole was acting nicer…. Boone found himself wanting to leave the ranch and get into town as soon as possible.

  “Mornin’,” Garth Ahlstrom, the foreman of the ranch, said as he passed. A young boy followed behind him, and he glanced up at Boone from under his hat too.