Remembering Romance: Quinn Valley Ranch Book 17

by Dawson, Kay P.

  Over time, she’d just moved on and the time capsule had been forgotten.

  As she crouched down and pulled back the brush that had grown up around the base, she glanced over to watch Ben race back from the driveway with a shovel in his hand. His familiar face was covered in the same grin she hadn’t even noticed she’d missed all these years. Her heart did a lurch as she realized just how much.

  It might be almost fourteen years later, but she somehow knew Ben’s grandma had been right.

  They always had been connected, even if they might have just forgotten for a little while.

  Chapter Six

  “I think I just hit something.” Ben brought the shovel down hard into the dirt to see if he hit it again. The sound of metal hitting metal was unmistakable in the quiet of the darkening night around them. He dropped the shovel and crouched down beside Robyn. “Quick, shine your phone light over here so I can see what I’m doing.”

  He felt like a young boy again, excited to find the buried treasure he’d hidden so many years ago. He couldn’t even remember everything they’d put inside it.

  He moved the dirt back to reveal the large metal tin his grandma had given them to use. It had a floral design engraved on the top and he remembered that day she’d handed it to them with a smile on her face. She’d been almost more excited about what they were doing than they were.

  “I can’t believe she left it buried here.” His voice was barely above a whisper as he lifted his eyes to look over at Robyn. She was sitting back on her knees with a smile spread across her face.

  “Well, open it!” She reached out to grab it from his hands, so he quickly pulled it away from her, laughing as he hid it behind his back.

  “Settle down! Considering we both forgot it was even here until just a few minutes ago, I’m sure we can take our time opening it up to see what our childish minds thought were important enough to put into a time capsule.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him and hit him on the arm.

  “Ow! Seriously, Robyn, I’ve been back in town for less than twenty-four hours and you’ve already hit me twice. I don’t remember you being so mean when we were kids.”

  He pretended to rub the soreness from his wound, while she rolled her eyes at him in the glow from the phone flashlight. “Well, I don’t remember you being such a pain in the backside when we were kids either, so I guess we’ve both changed.” Her innocent smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “Fine. Let’s look. But don’t get grabby.” He laughed again at her indignant snort.

  As he opened the box, his eyes stayed on Robyn as she bent over and peeked inside. Her ponytail stuck up on the back of her head and she still had pieces of hair poking out all around her ears. His fingers itched to reach out and tuck the stray strands away. The excitement radiated from her body, reminding him so much of the younger girl he’d known. She never could hold her excitement in.

  Right on top, they’d placed their first picture taken together on their first day of preschool. He lifted it out and smiled down at the little girl in pigtails and dimples grinning back at him.

  “I don’t remember you being so adorable.”

  She grabbed the picture from him and laughed. “I was adorable! You look like you just swallowed a lemon.”

  “I was terrified. I didn’t know anyone. I’d just finished crying because my mother was leaving me in this strange place. Then this peppy little girl had come over and grabbed me to come sit at her table with her and I was even more scared because she was so bossy.” He laughed as she smacked him again.

  “I was worried about you and wanted to make sure you were all right. I wasn’t being bossy.”

  He looked back down at the picture she held and smiled. That day was so long ago, yet he could remember it like it was yesterday. He’d always been a shy kid and going to preschool had been difficult for him. When he walked into that room and saw all the other kids running around, some crying, some screaming, he’d been so afraid. He could still feel that lump in his chest as he stood there holding on to his mother’s hand for dear life, begging her to take him home with her as he’d struggled to stop the tears from falling.

  But he would never forget the moment he saw Robyn come skipping over toward him. For some reason, he’d just known she would look after him. Now, as a grown man, it wounded his pride a bit to know he’d needed a girl to protect him when it should be the other way around.

  She’d taken his hand and from that moment on, they’d been inseparable.

  “Look at this one!” Robyn squealed with joy as she lifted the next picture out. “It’s our kindergarten graduation. Look at you in your little tie.”

  “And look at you, missing your front teeth.” He grinned to himself as she looked closer at the picture and scrunched up her face.

  “I was a bit of a mess here, wasn’t I?”

  He leaned in to look again. “Well, the missing teeth, and the scraped- up knees under the dress were a bit messy, but I still think you were adorable.”

  She lifted her eyes and scowled at him. “If I remember correctly, the scraped knees were your fault. Remember your brilliant idea to tie our bikes together and see what happened?”

  He laughed at the memory of racing down the sidewalk and her hitting the tree. He’d been so afraid they would be in trouble for doing something so stupid, and he’d begged her not to tell anyone.

  “It would have worked if you’d just been able to keep up better.”

  She rolled her eyes, then looked back down into the tin box. “A CD of songs. I don’t even have a CD player to listen to it.”

  He took it from her hands and set it beside him. “I have one in my truck. We can listen to it together sometime.” His eyes caught on something in the box that looked like some kind of flower. “What is that?”

  “My corsage! Remember? You gave it to me for our first junior school dance.” She laughed as she sat back on her heels and let her memories take over. “You didn’t even want to go, but I made you. Then your mom made you give me this corsage, and I will never forget how grumpy you were when you handed it to me.”

  He lifted the picture out that had been taken that night. “I look like I’m about to go to the gallows. Why did you even want to go to the dance with me when I was acting like such a jerk?”

  Robyn was already stunningly beautiful in the picture he held, and he realized he hadn’t even taken notice of it that night. He’d only been about twelve or thirteen, so he supposed he could cut himself some slack for being too caught up in his own little world to notice anything else around him.

  He just remembered being so nervous about having to go to a dance, but he knew Robyn really wanted to go, so he’d agreed to it. Now, as he lifted his eyes to look at the woman beside him, he was surprised at how much he wished he could go back and do that night over again. He knew he’d been a pain and probably hadn’t made it much fun for her.

  “Did I ever tell you that Troy Hardy asked me to go to that dance with him? But, I said no because I just couldn’t imagine going with anyone else but you.” When she smiled shyly over at him after revealing this big secret from their youth, his breath caught in his throat. She’d wanted to go with him to the dance—not just because they were friends, but because she wanted that memory to be with him. And he’d been a selfish teenage boy and acted like a jerk.

  They pulled the last few things out of their time capsule, laughing at the memories. There was the scrunchie Robyn had always worn in her hair, which she promptly tied into her ponytail again. His favorite fish hook he’d used every time they’d gone out fishing. He smiled to himself, remembering the times he’d spent teaching Robyn how to fish properly.

  Finally, they were down at the bottom of the tin and there was only a slip of paper folded neatly inside. With a lurch in his chest, he suddenly remembered exactly what that piece of paper said. How had he forgotten it was in here?

  Slowly lifting his eyes, he met Robyn’s gaze as comprehension dawned
on her own face and her mouth opened into an “o.” She’d just remembered too.

  The words teenage kids had written on a piece of paper, never thinking of the future when they would open it back up.

  Chapter Seven

  Robyn took the folded paper out and opened it with shaking hands. She took a deep breath and read it out loud:

  “Dated today, on June tenth, two-thousand and five, Robyn Quinn and Benjamin Tilney make this oath.

  We will never lose touch with each other. For the rest of our lives, we will take care of and be there for the other person. No one and nothing will ever come between us, even the miles that we might be apart.

  If it should happen that by the time we are both twenty-five years old and have not found someone else we would choose to spend the rest of our lives with, we solemnly swear today, that we will marry each other. We know we are already best friends and out of that, we can build a life together that would be much better than spending our days alone or with someone who doesn’t love us the way we deserve.

  This is a binding contract and not to be broken.

  Signed, Robyn Quinn and Benjamin Tilney.”

  Her heart beat so loudly, it echoed in her ears. She remembered writing this, even though Ben hadn’t been entirely convinced it was a good idea. But as usual, she’d managed to make him see her side of things. She was already at that age where she’d been afraid she’d never find someone to love, and the truth was, she was just about to say goodbye to her best friend. She was scared she was losing him, and this was her attempt at making sure he was always going to be in her life.

  She laughed nervously and looked up at him. “We were so silly. I mean, we’ve already broken the contract by losing touch with each other almost as soon as you moved away. And as if something like this was necessary. Twenty-five just seemed so old then, and the thought of not being married was scary. Plus, we’re already past that age anyway.”

  Why was she starting to shake and having trouble catching her breath? She hoped he didn’t notice how she was starting to babble. It’s not like this was a serious, binding contract. It didn’t mean anything other than something silly between two kids almost fifteen years ago.

  He’d taken the contract from her hands and was reading it over again, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “You made me sign this. Before we closed up the tin, you ran into the house and grabbed a piece of paper. I remember telling you that I was not ready to commit to marrying anyone, and you spent ten minutes convincing me that getting married was a serious thing we needed to think about. You said that you didn’t want to be stuck alone for the rest of your life and I’d be better than being with no one.” He laughed and shook his head as his eyes met hers. “And then you promised me that if I signed it, and we did have to get married, you’d make me your grandma’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies every day. And, you’d never boss me around again, ever.”

  “Well, I was just a kid. I didn’t mean any of it. It’s not like we’re going to follow through and actually get married.”

  He was still grinning at her, not taking his eyes from hers. Nervously, she looked down and neatly placed the pictures and other items back into the tin.

  “Maybe we should.”

  She dropped the tin onto the ground with a loud clank and whipped her head up to stare at him in shock. “No, we shouldn’t. We were kids when we wrote this. It’s not like we had a lawyer sign it and now we have to do it. We haven’t seen each other in years. I’m not marrying a stranger.”

  “I’m hardly a stranger, Robyn, and you know it. Just because we might have lost touch for a few years, it’s pretty obvious we’re still the same people. I’d be more than happy to be married to someone who would make me freshly baked cookies every day, all while not bossing me around, ever again.”

  “You’re insane. I’m not marrying you.” She picked up the tin and quickly stood up, wiping at the dust on her pants. It was now completely dark outside except for the glow from the streetlights and the porch light.

  Ben stood up beside her and followed her as she made her way back to the porch steps. “Oh, I get it. You don’t think you could manage not to boss me around anymore. We could negotiate on that part of the deal, but the homemade cookies every day is not negotiable.”

  She spun around and scowled at him. “First of all, it isn’t because I can’t stop bossing you around. I’ve never bossed you around in your life. You were just too easily convinced to do stuff. That’s not really my fault. And second, people don’t just get married because of some stupid piece of paper they wrote a fake contract on when they were kids.”

  Ben leaned against the post at the bottom of the steps, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I don’t know. It said right on there that it was a legally binding contract that couldn’t be broken. I’d be scared to find out the ramifications for not following through.”

  “You’re crazy. Just focus on fixing my house up for me and forget about that silly note.” He was still holding it in his hand, clenched tightly against his chest. She started having flashbacks to the boy she’d known all those years ago and how much he’d loved to tease her. Except this time, it felt different.

  This time, there was a part of her screaming at her to say yes and marry him. Ben had always been dependable, and he’d always been the one person she’d known would always be there for her.

  Except, he’d left and never taken the time to stay in touch with her.

  Was that what was bothering her? That they had lost touch so quickly and he’d never found a way to stay in her life?

  No, she was just being a normal, sane person who realized marrying someone because of a childish note was ridiculous.

  But somehow, she sensed that Ben was enjoying this entirely too much and wasn’t ready to let it go just yet.

  “You know, as your husband, you could probably get a much better deal on the house job, considering the fact I’d be living here too.”

  She squinted her eyes and smiled at him. He looked so charming standing there leaning against the post, with the orange of the porch light illuminating his eyes. “I’m almost tempted to say yes just for that.”

  His grin spread across his face. “So, should we go tell Grandma Gertie we’re getting hitched?”

  She just rolled her eyes and turned her back to him, heading up the steps. The sound of him chuckling behind her sent a warm tingle down her spine.

  She wasn’t sure what was happening to her, but she had a feeling Ben being back in her life was about to turn things upside-down.

  And the thought of it all made her heart skip more than once.

  Chapter Eight

  “Ben Tilney. I thought that was you.”

  Ben looked up from the taco he was enjoying and wiped his mouth as he heard his name being spoken. As soon as he did, a large furry body put their front paws up on the table beside him, panting so hard that Ben was sure the drool was hitting his taco.

  “Stanley, get down. I’ve got your taco over here.”

  Robyn’s older brother Joel sat down across the picnic table from him and unwrapped a strange-looking taco, then proceeded to hand it over to the dog beside him.

  “Nice to see you, Joel.” Ben reached out and rubbed the dog around the neck as he devoured the food he’d been given in one swallow. The dog leaned his head into his hand, enjoying the attention.

  “That’s Stanley. He’s quite shy around strangers, as you can see.” Joel unwrapped his own taco and took a bite, obviously not worried that he might be intruding on Ben’s lunch at all. He chewed quickly, closing his eyes and savoring the food as he ate. When he was finally finished, he opened his eyes and grinned at Ben. “I see you’ve already found Ciran’s taco truck—the best tacos in all of Idaho. Possibly even the world.”

  “I actually think I have to agree with you on that statement. I’ve had a lot of tacos in my day, but these are by far the best.”

  “Robyn told me you were back in town and helping her ove
r at the house. You have no idea how relieved I was to hear that someone else had stepped in to do the work. Travis and I were already fighting about who would have to be the one to do it.”

  Ben laughed and crumpled up the foil from the first taco he’d finished. “Well, from what Robyn tells me, she didn’t want either you or Travis anywhere near her house. Something about the possibility of burning it down or cutting off body parts.”

  He’d known both of Robyn’s brothers well when they were kids. Joel had always been the big brother figure he’d looked up to, whereas Travis was that annoying little brother who’d always wanted to play with them. He could see Joel hadn’t changed much at all.

  Just then, the man from the taco truck walked over and sat down beside Joel. Ben thought he recognized him but wasn’t sure.

  “Ben, this is Ciran. He’s married to our cousin Roxie.”

  Right, he did remember Ciran. He was older than Ben growing up, but he remembered him being the big football star who’d dated Robyn’s cousin.

  “So, you’re tackling that house of Robyn’s. Good luck with that project. She’ll be coming up with so many ideas from Pinterest that you’ll be running for the hills in no time.” He laughed with Joel, but Ben felt a slight twinge of annoyance as if he should be sticking up for Robyn. He was sure she wasn’t as bad as they were joking about.

  “She’s been easy to work for so far, so I have no complaints.” Of course, he’d only spent one day working with her on the demolition of the house. Then she’d been working all morning and he hadn’t seen her yet today, so he really wasn’t the best one to be asking.

  “We’re just kidding. You’ll be fine. Except that I seem to remember her talking you into a lot of things that got you both in trouble when you were kids, so I’d make sure to stay on my guard.” Joel laughed once more at his own joke, while handing another taco concoction to his dog.