Sixteen Steps to Fall in Love

by Liz Isaacson

Boone pulled into the parking lot in front of the glass building, and Nicole peered up at it. “This is where we’re going?”

  “Yeah, this is where we check in.” Boone got out of his truck and extended his hand for her to take. She dropped to the ground beside him, and he wrapped one strong arm around her waist, keeping her close as he said, “I’m glad you came today.”

  He stepped back as quickly as he’d melted her muscles and walked to the tailgate to let the dogs down. He collected Valcor in his arms, but the other pups all jumped down by themselves.

  “This way.” He kept her poodle and went through the front doors of the building without a backward glance at his dogs as they ran off, Taz in tow.

  Nicole watched them go, a tad uncertain about just letting her pug run off on this unfamiliar land. Another dog barked from somewhere over by the original homestead, and Boone said, “You okay, Nicole?”

  So she turned and walked past him, hoping she could ride a horse in sneakers.

  She took her dog from him while he checked in and got the names of the horses they’d be riding. “So I don’t have to ride?” she asked.

  “Not if you don’t want to,” he said, glancing at the man behind the counter. “Reese here can explain more than I can.”

  The man stood, but he wasn’t much taller than sitting. He came around the counter with a very defined limp, a big smile on his face. “Okay, so Boone likes to ride outdoors. Thinks the walls have ears or something.”

  “Not true,” Boone protested, glancing between Reese and Nicole. “I just like the open sky.”

  Reese chuckled. “Right. You can ride inside or outside. You can stay in the arena and play ball with the horse—yours is named Doughnut—or we can get a cowboy to meet you in the barn, and he’ll teach you how to brush down the animal. Really, it’s whatever you want.” He leaned against the counter and plucked a paper from the other side of it.

  “If you’d like a more coordinated care plan, we can set that up too. You’d work with the same horse every time, and you’d have a coordinator and counselor assigned to you to manage the care.”

  Nicole looked back and forth from Reese to Boone. “I…I want to ride.” She wasn’t sure where the words came from. “But it’s been a long time since I’ve been on a horse.”

  “That’s fine.” Reese smiled, slipping the paper back over the counter. “Let’s go out to the barn, and then I’ll take your pup over to Pete’s.” He collected Valcor from her and started down the hallway.

  Nicole followed. She listened. She put her foot where the cowboy named Bennett said, and she somehow landed in the saddle on top of a beautiful brown horse named Doughnut.

  “All right,” Bennett said, swinging onto his horse. “Are we staying in or going out?”

  Boone had saddled and mounted his horse, tipped his hat to her, and left several minutes ago. She wasn’t sure if she should be alarmed or not. But they weren’t in group therapy, and he’d already made it very clear that he liked his private sessions with the horses and the wide open sky.

  Nicole gathered her courage and said, “I think outside, if that’s okay.”

  “Sure thing,” Bennett drawled, and he led her toward the huge doors at the end of the row. Doughnut simply moved behind his horse, slow and methodical, like he was bored to death.

  Outside, everything improved. The sun shone warmly but Nicole enjoyed the feel of it on her bare arms.

  Bennett said, “This field is fenced, and you can take as long as you want,” before he went back inside and left her alone.

  Just her and the horse. Her and this beautiful country. She leaned down and patted Doughnut’s neck. “All right, boy. Let’s walk.”

  She nudged her horse the way Bennett had taught her, and Doughnut plodded forward obediently. So maybe this horseback riding thing wasn’t so hard.

  A measure of pride and accomplishment filled Nicole, and she let Doughnut migrate to the fence and simply walk along it.

  She just let the wind whisper, and the horse walk, and her pulse eventually calmed. She felt a keen sense of peace descend upon her, and she hadn’t felt this way in a long, long time.

  Her life in Three Rivers had always felt caged in. She’d been trapped here since she was old enough to boil water, and the thought of driving several long hours to Hill Country brought a sense of excitement bubbling through her.

  “So, I’ve never left Three Rivers for much of anything,” she told Doughnut. “And I get to go to Grape Seed Falls for Thanksgiving. Have you traveled a lot?”

  Of course, the horse didn’t answer, and Nicole continued on about how excited she was for the trip, to meet Boone’s family, and to have a little vacation.

  “But really,” she said, probably going around for the sixth time. “I’m nervous about leaving Mama and Daddy here for the holidays. I’m sure they can go next door, though.”

  Doughnut nickered, almost like he was reassuring her that her parents would be okay here alone for a few days. Nicole’s nerves reappeared, but they quickly evaporated again.

  It was simply very hard to feel like the weight of the world mattered out here, almost like this ranch didn’t experience the same gravity as everywhere else.

  “Yeah.” She patted the horse again and added, “But I’m really nervous about singing in the Christmas program. Like, really nervous.”

  She’d looked through the music, and it wasn’t too far from the standard stuff. A couple of rearrangements that she’d already memorized. She’d been singing them in the shower, the only place she really allowed herself to sing.

  The humming and low vocalizations around the animal hospital were nothing to what she could actually do, and out here on the ranch, she actually felt confident enough that she could sing in front of people.

  Well, maybe just this horse. She pushed out all of her breath and took in a new one. Then she opened her mouth and started singing.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “And you know, I just don’t know what to do to help her.” Boone finished talking to Juniper, his new riding companion. He missed Peony, but Juniper was a good horse too. One of Squire’s favorites, and one they’d just moved over from the ranch to the therapy operation.

  Juniper didn’t say anything, just lifted her head as she smelled something tasty. Boone let her wander toward a fresh patch of grass, as they weren’t contained by fences or gates. Just the way he liked it.

  He breathed in and then out, wishing he could find the peace out here that he so often had.

  But Nicole’s nerves seemed to have infected him too. He did want to help her with her stage fright, because she had a truly beautiful voice.

  He didn’t want to push her too hard, though, because while she put on a tough front of helping her parents, staying in Three Rivers her whole life, and running the animal hospital, he’d learned she was fragile underneath.

  He supposed he was too, and as they’d gotten to know each other and share their pasts and presents and hopes for the future with one another, he’d realized that.

  “I really like her,” he whispered to Juniper. “I’m not sure how to make sure she knows that either.”

  His mind went round and round, this therapy session one that wouldn’t be resolved in a single hour. Which was fine. Boone had used an entire month of sessions to figure out if he even wanted to stay in Three Rivers.

  Funny how now he never wanted to leave.

  The peace came then, and Boone had at least one answer to a question that had been plaguing him. He hadn’t told Cash Drew that he was out completely, but now he knew he needed to.

  He dismounted, wanting to take a few extra minutes to get back to the stable, and started walking with Juniper’s reins held loosely in his hand. “Come on, girl,” he said as if the horse wasn’t already coming.

  He’d grown up a cowboy and had resisted almost everything about it—except his love of dogs and horses. The animals. It always came back to them.

  As he approached the fenced pasture jus
t outside the barn, a beautiful voice lifted into the air. He paused and looked up, easily finding Nicole atop Doughnut. They were magnificent together, and her face radiated pure joy as she sang about the Savior’s birth.

  Something stirred inside Boone that hadn’t in a very long time. Yes, he’d been going back to church and actually enjoying it. His tongue didn’t trip over prayers anymore.

  But this was different. This was something he hadn’t expected to feel for a woman, maybe ever. It felt like love, and Boone’s heart flipped and flopped around in his chest as if trying to understand.

  Nicole finished singing, a smile on her face, and leaned over to pat her horse. Boone got moving again, deciding on the spot that if she asked if he’d heard he singing, he’d deny it to the end of his days.

  Or at least until they were married.

  He stumbled, shock traveling through him and making his feet slow.

  “Boone?” Nicole called, and his gaze shot toward her. He managed to lift his hand in greeting, but he continued toward the stable.

  That word—marriage—circled in his mind as he brushed down Juniper and made small talk with Bennett and waited for Nicole to finish up. He sorely needed a drink if he was going to talk to Nicole on the drive home, so he ducked into the main building for Courage Reins and gulped greedily from the drinking fountain.

  “You okay?” Reese asked, appearing in the hallway.

  “Yeah.” Boone straightened and wiped his mouth. “Yeah, I’m okay.” But he scheduled another appointment for the following weekend instead of skipping a week like he’d been doing. Thankfully, Reese didn’t ask why.

  Boone and Nicole settled into a routine. She made the sixteen-step journey to his office every morning when he arrived to collect the coffee he’d brought for her. Her mind had somehow been changed, and she didn’t feel the need to keep up the personal rules at work.

  So she kissed Boone in his office in the morning, or whenever she passed and he happened to be in there alone. He brought her the chicken chop salad every Tuesday, and when they stayed late together on Thursday nights, Boone thought only heaven could be better.

  Halloween came and went, and they dressed up like Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein. It was probably the perfect time for Boone to ask Nicole about getting married, start to see how she felt about that, but he didn’t.

  She didn’t bring it up either, which was a pretty big indicator for him that she wasn’t quite ready. He wondered if she’d ever dreamed about her own wedding, in that gorgeous backyard of hers.

  As Thanksgiving approached, his texts to his mother increased. Or rather, her texts to him. She wanted to know everything about Nicole, from what she looked like to what kind of pie she liked.

  Boone, not the greatest texter on the planet, gave her what she asked for in short sentences.

  It’s pie, Mom. Who doesn’t like pie?

  Well, do you know what kind?

  No, let me go ask.

  He made the sixteen step journey to Nicole’s office and leaned in the doorway. “My mother would like to know what kind of pie you like.”

  Nicole glanced away from her computer, a glazed look in her eye. “Pie?”

  “Pie.” He sighed like his mother was being difficult on purpose. But deep down, he loved that she was excited for him and wanted to make Thanksgiving special for him and Nicole.

  “Pumpkin, I guess. Pecan for sure.”

  “I’ll tell her.” He pulled out his phone and sent the message, saying, “Are we set to leave on Tuesday after work?”

  Only four more days. A measure of exhaustion pulled through him at the thought of driving to Grape Seed Falls and facing his family. But with Nicole at his side, he could do it. He’d be on his best behavior, and his mother had promised everyone there would be too.

  “Yes,” Nicole said. “I’ve got everything arranged for my parents. Shirley Bates will check on Mama in the evenings, and she has my number. Valcor and Tax are going to Dylan’s. And….”

  Boone glanced up from his phone, sensing some trepidation in his girlfriend. He stepped all the way into her office and sat down across from her. “And?”

  “And I’m ready,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “You promised me a tour of Hill Country, and you better not disappoint.” She grinned at him, the sparkle in her eyes so lovely Boone laughed.

  “It’s going to be great,” he said. “I’ve got the perfect place for us on Tuesday night, and then we’ll continue to Grape Seed Falls on Wednesday. I’ve mapped out all the best places to stop and wander a little, and I found a great place for lunch that day.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  Boone stood as the alarm on his phone went off. “Oh, I have a surgery I need to prep for.” He headed for the door, turning back before he left. “And Nicole, I can’t wait either.”

  He was definitely going to talk to her about marriage at some point this weekend. He was. He definitely was.

  Tuesday seemed to arrive in the blink of an eye. He and Nicole worked most of the day in the hospital, as they’d planned to leave at three o’clock.

  But as the time moved to that and beyond, Nicole was still rushing around, double-checking with the employees that were staying in town about the orphaned cats and dogs and their care, as well as one little pup that had had surgery that morning and still hadn’t been picked up.

  Boone’s stomach turned as he watched her, because while he believed she wanted to go on this trip with him, he also knew it was hard for her.

  She finally met him in the lobby closer to four than three and said, “I’m so sorry. I thought everything was ready.”

  “It’s fine.” He stood and ran his hands from hers to her shoulders and back, taking her fingers between his. “You’re okay? You still want to go?”

  She looked up at him, her expression softening by the moment. “Of course I want to go. I have my bags in the front room at home. You’re following me?”

  “Yeah, let’s go.” He did follow her to her house, loaded up her bags, and then drove her and her dogs to Dylan’s apartment.

  “Vader and Leia are at my place,” he said. “You’re still good to go get them later?”

  “Sure thing.” Dylan looked back and forth between Nicole, who was kneeling as she cooed to her tiny poodle, and Boone. “You two have fun.” He grinned in a way Boone didn’t entirely appreciate and handed him an envelope.

  “What’s this?”

  “Read it on the way out,” he said.

  Boone shoved the envelope in his back pocket, annoyed that he’d have to read something non-work related. Maybe he could have Nicole read whatever it was.

  She returned to his side, and he put his arm around her. “All right. Thanks, Dylan.”

  They left, and as Boone drove his truck outside the city limits of Three Rivers, all the tension left his body. “We’re on our way, sweetheart,” he said, the excitement that had kept him awake the past couple of nights finally returning.

  She looked over at him, a wide smile on her face, and said, “We sure are.”

  He pulled the envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Dylan gave me this. Will you read it to me?”

  She gave him a curious look but took the envelope and pulled out a newspaper clipping. “It’s by Gentry Pace, and it’s about the animal hospital.” She cleared her throat and read, “The City Council has approved the following items for discussion on next week’s agenda: the road conditions on the southeast side of town and the proposition for a new building for the Puppy Pawz Animal Hospital.”

  “A new building?” Boone frowned. “I didn’t submit anything to the City Council, and I rent that building.” He glanced at the paper, but when Nicole tipped it toward him and pointed, the article was very short and there was no way he could read it.

  “What else does it say?” He’d been all for raising public concern for the building if the city was going to foot the bill to update it. But if he had to?

  “It says a concer
ned citizen has petitioned for the animal hospital to be relocated and that all parties will be notified before the meeting next week.”

  “I should be notified, don’t you think?” he said. “Do you think we have an upset client?” He looked at Nicole, the two-lane highway they drove down pretty empty. “Has our building been a problem?”

  In his eyes, it wasn’t. Sure, sometimes the air conditioning went out for an hour or so, but Nicole made a call and someone came and fixed it. Problem solved.

  Boone liked the building his animal hospital was in—he could afford the rent. A newer, nicer building might be out of his budget, and he suddenly wished he hadn’t told Cash that he was out for the clinic in Amarillo.

  He felt trapped, and he worked to breathe in and out.

  “I don’t know of anyone who’s upset,” Nicole said. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

  Boone grunted, because he wasn’t so sure. The first article Dylan had showed him had been months ago, so whoever was concerned about Puppy Pawz wasn’t going to just disappear.

  “Look at that!” Nicole pointed to a herd of animals out her window. “Are those…buffalo?”

  Boone looked, and sure enough, the domesticated buffalo herd had migrated close to the highway today. “Yeah,” he said, diving into the story of how the buffalo had come to be there.

  Before he knew it, his tension had gone and he and Nicole talked the whole way to Llano. “It’s only another half-hour to Grape Seed Falls,” he said as he pulled into the parking lot at the B&B where they were staying. “But we’ll go over to Horseshoe Falls and Kingsland and all that tomorrow.”

  He peered out the window at the beautiful, two-story home in front of them, which was lit with Christmas lights already. “This is where we’re staying tonight. The Bluebonnet Bed and Breakfast.”

  Nicole’s fingers twined through his, though it was dark and she surely couldn’t see much more than the house. “It’s wonderful. Thank you, Boone.”

  He looked at her, his courage high and his desire for her raging through him like river rapids. “Nicole, I wanted to ask you about something.”