by A. J. Pine
“Ooh!” Delaney said, eyes wide. “Are you letting me read your diary?”
“Ha,” Jenna said. “Hardly.”
Delaney lowered herself back onto the bed and patted the spot next to her. “Okay, then. What am I looking at?”
Jenna nodded toward the journal and sat down next to her new friend. “Open it. I’ve only written on the first page, but I want you to see it.”
“Seven Wishes for a Happily-for-Now…” Delaney said, reading the title to the list. She scrunched up her nose. “What’s a happily-for-now?”
Jenna shrugged. “You know how you and Sam are in love and having a baby and you know you have this wonderful shared future?”
Delaney sighed. “Yeah,” she said wistfully.
“You have a happily-ever-after. And I…I have no idea what my happily-ever-after is. But my nephews, when they gave me this trip as a gift, made me promise not to worry about anything other than myself for my two weeks here. Then Jack found my old high school yearbook and gave me the journal and…There were a lot of things I loved when I was younger that I never got to pursue. So I want to try them again now. And then when I go back to reality, I’ll at least know I took these two weeks just for me. Happily for now.”
Delaney glanced down at the list and then back up at Jenna, brows furrowed.
“Having a fling was inspired by your high school yearbook? I promise I’m not judging, but—”
Jenna burst out laughing. “Oh gosh. No. I mean, sort of. Most of the list is getting back to something I used to love. But high school was also a reminder of a lot of firsts. I guess I wanted to try something I’d never done before.” She skimmed her teeth over her bottom lip. “Sounds silly, doesn’t it?”
Delaney scoffed. “Not one little bit. Jenna, if everything on this list is going to bring you joy, then you better check off each and every item.”
Jenna wrapped an arm over Delaney’s shoulder and pulled her in for an awkward but well-meaning side hug. “Thank you!” she said.
“Are you sure I can’t keep you?” Delaney responded.
Jenna blew out a shaky breath. “How about I fold you up and put you in my bag on the way home?”
Delaney snorted. “Is your luggage the size of a large walk-in closet? Otherwise I think we have a problem.”
They were both laughing now, but Jenna’s heart still squeezed. She’d somehow found a kindred spirit in this woman, and she already knew it would hurt to say good-bye to her.
To Colt too. But worrying beyond her time at Meadow Valley was against the rules, and she had to focus on what was right here, right now.
Jenna stood and smoothed out the material of the romper over her torso and caught a glimpse of herself in the full-length mirror on the outside of the bathroom door.
“Wow,” she said, more to herself than to the other woman in the room, but she could see Delaney smile behind her.
“See?” she said. “You’ve got game—and legs, by the way—for days.”
Jenna laughed.
“Whatever arrangement you and Colt have, you should probably know that Meadow Valley has a mind of its own. Call it a spell or enchantment or however you want to explain it, but when you fall for someone in this town, it lasts far beyond the here and now.” Delaney raised her brows.
Jenna turned to face her. “You sound like me insisting my Lucy is psychic when it comes to matters of the heart.” She was half joking and half terrified she was already under such an enchantment, one that had a lot less to do with the town than with a certain cowboy living in it.
“And do you truly believe Lucy is psychic?” Delaney asked.
Jenna shook her head. “I know it. She’s never been wrong so far. Not with my nephews. Not with the sheriff and Olivia…” She trailed off because she already knew Lucy had been acting strangely since Colt came into the picture.
Delaney shrugged. “And I know this town is magic, so there you go.” Then she gasped.
“Are you okay?” Jenna asked, eyes wide, and Delaney began to laugh.
She grabbed Jenna’s hand and placed it on her belly. “The baby’s kicking. Hard. If I didn’t love it so much I’d be giving this child a talking-to right about now because Ow.”
Jenna was the one to gasp when she felt a tiny hand or foot press against her palm and move along the expanse of Delaney’s swollen belly.
Her throat and chest both tightened, and she had to fight back tears.
“That,” Jenna admitted, “was magic. Your little fairy-tale town, though…” She raised her brows. “It doesn’t have anything my home doesn’t have,” she said coolly.
Delaney laughed. “Except for a strapping young rancher named Colt Morgan. I’m just sayin’.”
Jenna walked Delaney to the lobby at five forty-five, sure she had another ten minutes at least to prepare herself for Colt’s arrival. Not that anything was left to do. Her outfit, according to Delaney, was on point, whatever that meant. She’d let her hair air-dry, so it hung in loose waves just above her shoulders, and other than her lip balm, she’d been good to go until Delaney had pulled a small pink bottle out of her bag before they’d left her room.
“May I?” she’d asked. And though Jenna hadn’t known what Delaney was asking permission to do, she trusted her new friend enough to nod.
“My little sister got me hooked on this stuff,” Delaney continued. “She wears it on stage and off. She’s a dancer. Anyway, it’ll give you that subtle dewy glow and…” She dabbed the dropper on her palm, then used a finger to brush a tiny bit of the shimmery liquid onto the apples of Jenna’s cheeks.
And once again, Jenna was looking at herself in the mirror and mouthing Wow.
Now, as she was about to open the door for Delaney, Jenna had to ask for reassurance just one more time. “Okay,” she started. “Y’all are a decade younger than me. Can I really pull this off?” She motioned from her glowing cheeks on down to where the shorts part of the jumper hit her mid-thigh.
Delaney laughed. Hard. “I don’t think there’s a look you can’t pull off, Jenna. And I don’t see this decade you’re talking about. In fact, the only thing I see between us is my watermelon of a belly.” She leaned over in an attempt to give Jenna a hug, but her baby bump kept her from being able to truly wrap her arms around Jenna’s shoulders.
Delaney groaned. “Tell me about the swimming hole so I can live vicariously through you. I’m dying to go for a dip, but the only way over the trail is via horseback or on foot, and both of those are a big fat no for me right now.”
Jenna opened her mouth to tell her how great the swim was even though she felt terrible Delaney couldn’t get there herself, but before she was able to utter a word, Delaney’s eyes grew wide as she looked over Jenna’s shoulder and toward the lobby door.
She started to follow Delaney’s gaze, but Delaney shook her head.
“Wait!” she whispered. “From this angle he can’t see you yet, but I can see him. He’s checking his hair in the glass of the window in the door. Smoothing out his short-sleeved black button-up. Oh my God, this man is adorably nervous to see you!”
Jenna’s stomach did a cartwheel.
“He’s five minutes early,” she told Delaney.
Delaney cleared her throat. “I have never seen that man bat an eyelash about anything, whether it be climbing onto the roof of the rescue shelter to clear away a wasp nest—I’m deadly allergic, and he got stung three times—or sitting on the back of a bucking horse after it got spooked by a squirrel. Yet there he is, making sure he’s pretty enough for you.”
Jenna couldn’t take it anymore; she had to turn around. She peeked around the corner, staying close to the wall that stopped just before the door, and there he was, a man who needed zero help prettying himself up. Ever. And he was checking the time on his phone as he paced in front of the door.
“Oh my,” Jenna said.
“And you were saying—about Meadow Valley not being magic?” Delaney said. “I think that’s my cue to head on
home and put my feet up. But I expect a full report in the morning!”
“Uh-huh,” Jenna said, her gaze still transfixed on the nervous—albeit gorgeous—rancher just outside the door. “I mean, thank you. For the outfit. And the company.”
Delaney blew her a kiss because they both knew the hug wasn’t happening.
“If I don’t see you before Saturday,” the other woman said, “don’t forget it’s our girls’ trip to Reno!”
Jenna nodded. “Reno. Right. Saturday. Good-bye.” It wasn’t until Delaney opened the door that Colt stopped his pacing to greet her, which was Jenna’s cue to stop acting like the worst secret agent ever and make herself visible to her cowboy suitor.
She straightened—only after realizing she’d been crouching—and squared her shoulders. Then she followed Delaney through the door. Only Delaney was already in her car, backing out of the gravel drive.
“For someone who claims to be slower on her feet than usual, she sure makes a quick getaway, doesn’t she?” Jenna said with a nervous laugh.
He held up a finger, then stared at her unabashedly.
“Wow,” Colt finally said, giving his head a shake. “Just—wow.”
Jenna fidgeted with the bow on her one covered shoulder. Sure, that had been her own reaction to seeing herself in the mirror just a few minutes ago, but the way he said that one word made her feel like he could see more than simply what she was wearing. It was as if he could see the tornado of thoughts swimming through her brain.
What am I doing? What if Delaney was right about Meadow Valley and its magic? What if Lucy knows something about Colt I don’t? What if I’m making too big a deal out of all this in the first place when I’m supposed to be having fun?
“I knew it,” she finally said. “It’s too much. I’m trying too hard. I should have just gone with my shorts and my cami and—”
Colt reached for her fidgeting fingers, resting his strong palm over them until they stopped moving.
“Can you keep a secret?” he asked.
Jenna nodded.
If you keep your skin on mine, I’ll commit murder for you, cowboy. Okay, maybe not murder but I’d consider tax fraud or petty theft.
Oh good God. She was now incapable of coherent thought simply because he was touching her.
Then his hand slid off her shoulder, and she could think clearly again.
He scrubbed his palm across his clean-shaven face, and she noticed two nicks along his jawline. “My secret,” he said softly, “is that I was so damned eager for this date I have tonight that after I showered, I rushed through the whole shaving routine and was this close”—he held his thumb and forefinger an inch apart—“to landing myself in the ER on account of blood loss. Now don’t tell her, this date of mine, that I was trying so hard, or she might know I’m hoping to impress her.”
Jenna’s cheeks warmed, and she bit her bottom lip. “Are y’all for real, or is this somehow part of the package my nephews booked for me? Because in my experience, men like you don’t exist in real life.”
His sandy-colored brows drew together. “Men like me?” he asked. “How so?”
“Strong yet sweet,” she said. “Confident and honest. And vulnerable enough to show up five minutes early and not give a flying you-know-what about what anyone thinks.”
He chuckled. “You’re right,” he said. “At least about the last bit. But it’s not a quality I’m particularly proud of. Got me in a lot of hot water when I was younger, but that’s a story for another time. For now let’s just leave it at this, Ms. Owens. Whether it’s muddy, rain-soaked clothes, a bathing suit, or whatever you call the contraption you’re wearing right now, my reaction upon first seeing you is always going to be Wow.”
Her breath hitched. Then she said, “Wow.”
“Exactly,” Colt replied. “Now, do you think this eager cowboy who showed up five minutes early might get some sort of reward for his promptness?”
Jenna laughed and pressed her palms to his cheeks. “Like, maybe, a remedy for your wounds?” She rose onto her toes and pressed two soft kisses over the nicks on his jaw, and he let out a sigh.
“Something like that,” he said, his deep voice barely more than a whisper.
She lowered herself onto her heels. “And for future reference, just so you don’t bleed out next time—I have no objection to a little scruff. Though this…” She brushed her palm over his smooth cheek. “This feels pretty nice.”
She imagined that cheek brushing against hers as he kissed her neck or maybe nipped at her lobe. She began to imagine a lot of things but was interrupted by an audible growl emanating from her abdominal region.
She gasped.
Colt laughed. “Hungry?” he asked.
She winced. “Famished, actually.”
He winked. “Great. Now, how do you feel about dessert first?”
Chapter Twelve
She hadn’t balked at Colt’s suggestion of checking off the typical date bullet points out of order. He hadn’t seen the list yet but knew at the very least that this item was on it and that Jenna was counting on checking it off—again.
“Is it the homemade ice cream place?” she’d asked, but all he’d done was shrug and open the passenger door of his car for her. He wanted tonight to be different from any other date she’d been on. Part of that was keeping her on her toes, drumming up the anticipation—and hoping what he had planned delivered.
“What if I don’t like surprises?” she asked as he made his way off the Meadow Valley Ranch property and onto the road toward town.
“What if I do?” he countered with a grin.
She raised her brows and crossed her arms, defiant, though he could tell even in his peripheral vision that she was fighting a smile of her own.
“Maybe you should blindfold me, then,” she said.
“Check the center console.”
She gasped and opened the console, where he knew she’d find nothing more than a pair of aviators and a stack of napkins from various coffee stops he’d made on drives to and from Oak Bluff to visit his sister.
He laughed and Jenna groaned.
“You must think I’m pretty gullible, huh?” she accused, but she was laughing too.
“I didn’t…” Colt said, already pulling onto First Street, Meadow Valley’s main thoroughfare.
“Oooh!” Jenna said, turning to look over her shoulder. “Look at that beautiful town hall. And that courthouse!” She whipped her head back so she was facing the windshield. “Oh wow. That’s the Meadow Valley Inn?” She stared out her window at the historic building with its grand front porch where a young woman sat on the porch swing reading a book to two young boys, one on either side of her. “It’s beautiful,” she added. Then she pulled her phone out of her pocket—that outfit had pockets?—and lowered her window so she could lean out of it.
He slowed, almost to a stop, and let her snap her photo.
“Thanks,” he said. “I mean, I didn’t build the place, but Sam, Ben, and I helped with a few cosmetic restorations to the facade.”
She turned to face him, her ocean-blue eyes wide. “Wait,” she said. “I knew Sam and Ben did a lot of contracting work back in Oak Bluff and that y’all built the ranch from the ground up, but I guess I just figured you were along for the ride.”
He laughed, and his brows drew together. “Um…Thanks?”
She backhanded him on the shoulder. “That’s not what I meant. Well, okay, I guess I couldn’t have meant it any other way. I just wasn’t expecting you to be so multitalented.” She shook her head and laughed. “That came out all wrong too. I swear I did not mean any offense. I’m simply getting to know you better, and seeing as how you like surprises, I guess I’m sometimes caught a little off guard.”
Colt made a U-turn and parallel-parked right in front of their destination, not that Jenna knew which establishment had their so-called first course waiting for them.
“No offense taken,” he said. “The truth is, Ben and Sam are go
od at the building. Really good. But it was always a means to an end for them, a way to take care of their late father and to get to where we are now with the ranch. Me? I like making something from nothing. Or even better, repurposing what others might consider useless or trash. When I finally build a place of my own, it’s gonna be filled with trash and scraps and heaps of junk, though you’ll never know it.” He nodded back toward the Meadow Valley Inn. “That porch swing?” he said. “Made it from wine barrels. And the pillows are covered with the material from some old curtains Pearl, the inn’s owner, was going to get rid of.”
“You made the swing,” she said, a statement rather than a question, but he could still hear the hint of disbelief. “And you sew?”
He laughed. “No. I’ve tried. And failed. Ivy made the pillow covers. But I’ll take credit for the swing. Got to admit I was a little jealous you wanted to take a photo of something other than me, but since it was something I built, I’ll let it slide.”
“Can we go see it later?” she asked.
Colt tried not to swell too much with pride. It was just a swing. But he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t trying to impress her with it.
“Sure thing,” he said, doing his best to make it seem like it didn’t matter either way.
Jenna beamed. “My nephew Walker makes furniture as his sort of side passion. I always thought it was good that he had something just for him, you know? I never found that.”
Colt put the car in park and turned the engine off so he could undo his seat belt and face her.
“You mean eggs and farming aren’t your passion?” he asked, trying to make a joke before noticing the longing in her eyes. “Okay, I’m an ass. Forget I said that.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to get all melancholy. Raising my nephews was sort of my thing when I wasn’t expecting it to be, and I guess in a way it sort of still is.” She laughed. “They’d never admit it, but I think them sending me here for two weeks was as much about getting me out of their hair for a bit as it was about giving me time to myself.”
