by Liz Isaacson
She’d left Todd at his new house, claiming she’d be back in a little bit for dinner. But she couldn’t go back until she figured out how she felt.
“Why not?” Lily demanded. “Do you like him or what?”
“Of course I like him,” Vi said, clenching the spoon a little tighter. She hadn’t eaten any frosting yet though. “But there’s a big difference between liking someone and being in love with them.”
“Maybe he was kidding.”
Vi shook her head. “He wasn’t. And if he was, that’s a terrible thing to joke about.”
“Maybe he was just so excited about the dog.”
Did Lily not want Todd to be in love with her? Vi thought she could get some answers, or at least some reassurances, from her older sister, but Lily wasn’t helping at all.
I love you.
He definitely hadn’t been kidding. “He’s talked about a dog nonstop,” Vi said. She’d debated for a long time about what to get him as a housewarming gift, because she knew he’d like to pick out his own dog. But she also knew he hadn’t even started looking yet.
So she’d done it for him, just like a lot of other things that summer.
“When will you be home?” Vi asked.
“Saturday night,” Lily said. “And then I think I’ll sleep for a week.” She trilled out a laugh. “But you’ve got to come to Italy next time we go. It’s beautiful, and you’ll love it.” She continued to talk about her trip, and Vi had to admit it all sounded wonderful.
She finally said, “Well, I’m moving out the following Saturday, so I won’t be in your hair much longer.”
“Oh, Vi, you’re not in my hair.”
But Vi knew she was. So she said goodbye to her sister and looked down at the tub of frosting waiting for her. Then she laid the spoon on the window seat and walked away from it.
Vi tossed and turned and couldn’t get Todd’s words out of her head. She wasn’t sure why she wasn’t basking in the warmth of them and counting her blessings that she’d found someone like him. She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t have just said it back to him and they could’ve laughed and kissed and held hands for the rest of the night.
But she knew her stomach didn’t feel settled, and she wished she could bring it up to him. They were going to Allison Baxter’s that day, so Todd could look at the sheepdog puppies and pick one he could bring home in a few weeks.
He’d insisted she come with him, and he could be quite persuasive through texting if he wanted to. Or maybe Vi had just let herself be talked into going.
No matter what, she rose early, still exhausted from her night of little sleep and constant overthinking, put on her exercise clothes, and set out down the road toward Graham and Laney’s ranch.
She’d been laying off the frosting and upping her game with the walking for the past couple of weeks. She’d noticed a difference in how her clothes fit, but no one had said anything to her yet about losing weight.
Laney met her at the end of her driveway and whistled for the dogs. Bear and Daisy came running from the backyard, and Vi laughed as she accepted slobbery kisses from them both. “All right, all right,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Laney pushed the stroller with Ronnie in it, and said, “You look tired, Vi.” She scanned Vi and met her eye again. “And you’ve lost weight.”
“Oh, ten pounds,” Vi said, knowing she could lose at least thirty more. “And I’m not really doing this to lose weight. I just want to feel better.”
“And do you?” Laney asked as they started back up the hill to the lodge. Vi was glad she lived at the top of the hill, because she didn’t have to start out her walk going up the way Laney did.
“I do.” Vi smiled. “Sleeping better—except for last night—and I think I might let Todd get me back on a horse as soon as his leg is healed.”
“I can teach you to ride,” Laney said. “If you want, you know, before you have to do it in front of Todd.”
“Really? That would be great.” Vi grinned at Laney. “But I don’t want the one that threw Todd.”
Laney trilled out a laugh. “Goldie is the mildest horse at the lodge. She just got spooked.” Their breathing increased as they started up a steeper part. “So why didn’t you sleep well last night?”
I love you.
The words had kept her awake forever. She drew in a deep breath, which accelerated the pounding in her temples. She breathed out and in, in and out. She was friends with Laney, probably one of the better friends Vi had ever had.
But did she want to tell her about the intimate details of her and Todd’s relationship?
Laney had the wait-time of an elephant, and she didn’t ask twice. Vi watched as Daisy romped through a field of flowers on her left. “Todd moved out yesterday,” she said.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Well, I gave him my plant, and a card, and he knows about the dog now.”
“Did he not like that? I know you were worried about picking out the breed for him.”
“No, he liked it.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Vi looked at Laney, sure she wouldn’t judge her. “He told me he loved me.”
Surprise raced across Laney’s face. “Oh. Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“Was he serious?”
Why was everyone asking that? Was Vi really un-loveable?
“I don’t know,” she said. “I was sort of stunned, and then he kissed me, and now I feel stupid asking him about it.” Misery zinged through her with every step. At least the lodge had just come into view, which meant she was almost done with her workout.
“And I thought I was falling for him too quickly,” Vi said. “I still think that, and I’m trying to figure out what to do.”
“Well, you bought a house to stay in town,” Laney said with a shrug. “To me and Graham, you guys have been serious for a while.”
Vi shook her head. “No. Serious is me moving in with him, not buying a house.”
“So you’re ready to marry him?” The incredulity in Laney’s voice screamed through the early morning summer air.
“No,” Vi said. “I don’t know.”
“Just go get the dog,” Laney said. “Move into your place. See how things go between the two of you when you aren’t taking care of him and when you’re both healthy.”
Laney’s words made a lot of sense. Vi seized onto them, and they brought peace to her heart. “Yeah,” she said. “Get my own place. Keep dating. Like a real relationship, not one where I’m bringing him coffee and eating Celia’s food.”
“Exactly. Real life is different than living at the lodge. Trust me, I would know.”
They made it to the top of the hill, and Vi said goodbye to Laney. She made a circuit around the parking lot, whistled at the dogs, and started back down the hill toward her house. Vi watched her go, noticing that she’d lost a little weight since they’d started walking too.
After showering and going all the way into town for coffee, she pulled into Todd’s new driveway. He leaned against one of the pillars, looking at his phone. He glanced up as she walked toward him. “Ready to choose a dog?”
“So ready.” He grinned and received her into his arms. “You look nice. Is that a new shirt?”
It was—and a size smaller—and Vi just nodded. “Allison is expecting us in fifteen minutes, so we better go.”
He still had to ride in the backseat, and Vi was tired of it. She could only imagine how Todd felt about it. But he got in and got himself situated by himself. They arrived at the red brick house near the center of town about fifteen minutes later, and she let him get out and get his crutches himself.
Allison, a curly-haired woman that was probably a decade older than Vi, came down her front steps with a smile on her face. The cutest white and gray Old English sheepdog came with her—the puppies’ mother.
“Hey, Vi. Good to see you.” She hugged Vi, and then she hugged Todd too. He wore a look of confusion on his face, and Vi supposed s
he should’ve warned him about Allison’s hugging hellos.
“The pups are in the shed. Come on around.” She led the way around the garage, and Vi let Todd go first. After all, this was his dog, and she’d only paid for it.
Her phone chimed a couple dozen feet from the shed, and she told them to go on ahead without her. It was Rose, and her text said, You aren’t coming back to Nashville?
Vi sighed, the moment of reckoning here. She hadn’t told her sister about her plans to stay in Coral Canyon. Her phone rang before Vi could even type out a single letter.
“Hey, Rose,” she said, looking up into the clear blue sky, hoping and praying for the answers she needed.
“For real?” she asked. “What about your house?”
“I’m going to keep it for now,” Vi said. “I’ve asked Jane to live there and take care of it.” And her best friend from Nashville had happily agreed.
“I can’t believe this.” Rose did not sound happy. “And why didn’t you tell me? Mom and I have been planning this big party for when you got back.” Not only was she unhappy, she was hurt.
Vi sighed. “I don’t know, Rose. I was…worried.”
“About what?”
“About leaving you there,” Vi said, finally realizing what had kept her from telling her sister. “I didn’t want you to feel left out, but remember Todd Christopherson?”
I love you.
“Things are going well with him, and I want to see how they play out.”
“Are you serious?” Rose asked. “Like, for real, serious? You think you and Todd are going to get married?”
Vi’s chest stung with every word, with all the disbelief in her sister’s voice. “I don’t know,” she said, the sky swallowing her words now.
“So are we never making another record again?” Rose demanded.
“I’m sure we can,” Vi said. “But Lily’s here too, and there’s no reason you can’t come to Coral Canyon for a few months while we write lyrics and put them to music.” Vi didn’t have to explain herself to Rose. Yes, they’d always chosen their music careers over everything else. But Lily had gotten married, and she’d opened the door for Vi to do more with her life than sit in her big house in Nashville and wait for her sisters to come over so they could riddle through rhyming words and sing about lost love.
“Where would I stay?” she demanded.
“My house,” Vi said. “I bought a nice place in town.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Lily needs her privacy at the lodge.”
“That place is huge.”
She was tired of this conversation. “Look, I have to go, okay? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You’re welcome to come stay with me anytime. Lily won’t be home until Saturday, and maybe you could have your big party up here. For her.”
Rose scoffed and said, “Vi, you’d think you knew how parties worked by now,” and hung up.
Vi stared at her screen, sighing. She should’ve told Rose she wasn’t coming back to Nashville. “She’ll get over it,” she told herself as she walked toward the shed.
She went inside to the sound of Todd’s laughter and found him surrounded by all eight sheepdogs. Her breath froze in her lungs, as he was the sexiest man alive with all those puppies around him. He held two, and they were both licking his face while he laughed.
So not fair, Vi thought, her pulse jackhammering in her chest.
“Hey,” he said when he caught sight of her. “I think I’ve narrowed it down to…six.” He chuckled again. “Come help me decide.”
Vi thought she’d take one of the sheepdogs too, and she shook her head as she walked over to him. “You only get one,” she told him.
“I know,” he said. “But they’re all so cute.”
“So let’s start with the basics,” she said. “Boy or girl?”
He handed her one of the puppies, and her whole heart melted. How he was going to choose, she didn’t know. She looked at him and found that same adoration in his eyes that he’d harbored last night.
Confusion ran through her. Did he love her the same way he loved puppies? Vi had a very distinct feeling she’d be willing to risk her heart to find out, and she wasn’t sure if she was happy about that or not.
Chapter Thirteen
“I wish I could help more,” Todd said from the chair on the front porch of the lodge. Vi walked by with two boxes stacked on top of each other, and another dose of anger hit him in the chest.
He was so stinking tired of this cast. Three more days, he told himself. Then the cast would come off, and he could start to strengthen his leg again.
And in fifteen more days, he’d bring home Jetstream, the male pup he’d picked out last week. He and Vi had gone to visit the puppy several more times, and she’d paid Allison the rest of the money for the dog.
She’d said several times that she was thinking about getting a dog too, but she wasn’t ready to pull the trigger yet. She was moving into her house today, and Todd couldn’t do much more than cheerlead—which also made him grouchy.
“You can take me to lunch after I move in,” she said as she came back up the steps. “Okay?” She collapsed into the chair beside him, and it did little to improve his mood.
“Okay,” he said.
“And we’ll go see Jetstream.”
“Okay.”
“And you can boss me around with my own furniture, like you did at your place.” She giggled, and some of Todd’s fury faded. He met her eye, still feeling a bit of darkness and danger inside himself.
“I wish I could help more.”
“I know that.” She reached over and slipped her fingers through his. “Just a few more days.”
Todd squeezed her hand and thought of the card she’d written for him when he’d moved into his new place. He didn’t have a card for her. Or a gift. Or anything. Because he couldn’t do anything or go anywhere without her knowing.
He frowned at the parking lot in front of them, wishing he could somehow tell her that he sure liked spending his free time with her. That he couldn’t wait to go hiking with her, to take her on road trips where he drove, and to take Jetstream out on the boat with her.
When he’d read her kind words, he’d said he loved her. But then he’d panicked, sure it was much too early to say such delicate words, and he’d kissed her quickly before she could say anything. She hadn’t brought it up again, but Todd had felt some distance between them that hadn’t been there before. Some uncertainty.
But she had bought a house in Coral Canyon, which he’d taken as a huge commitment to their relationship. Of course, she seemed to have just as much money as him, and maybe it wasn’t all that big of a deal for her. She hadn’t mentioned selling her house in Nashville, but she’d never said she wanted to go back there either.
And how he hated living in that house all by himself.
Fifteen more days. Then Jetstream would be there. And if Todd could follow this relationship path all the way through, hopefully Vi would marry him and live in the house too.
But he knew he was way ahead of himself. He also knew how dangerous it was to think too far down the road. He’d always done best on the rodeo circuit when he focused on one event at a time. One city. One bull.
“So should we go?” she asked. “I have everything in the truck.”
“Sure.” Todd released her hand and pushed himself onto his good leg. After positioning the crutches, he went down the ramp and used the passenger door to steady himself as he got in the truck. He slid across the bench until he was practically next to her and stretched his leg toward the door.
“Ready?
“Yep.”
She drove down the canyon, which was beautiful and majestic. “I love this place,” he said. “I don’t think I appreciated it all the much while I was growing up. I was always looking for a way out, you know?”
“Hmm.”
“But this canyon is gorgeous. I can’t wait to get hiking.”
“I’ve be
en walking in the morning,” she said. “So I’ll be in good enough shape to go with you.”
Todd glanced at her. “You have?”
“I’ve lost fifteen pounds, Mister.”
Todd stared at her now. “You have?”
She smiled and shook her head. “I can’t believe you can’t tell.”
“I’ve had a lot going on.”
“Oh, really? What have you been doing?”
“Reading up on the best kind of boats to buy for a small lake,” he said, a touch of hurt in his voice.
“I’m just teasing.” She patted his thigh. “But maybe when we get to my place, you can gush about how good I look.”
Todd grabbed her hand before she could put it back on the wheel and squeezed her fingers. They arrived at her rambler several minutes later, and she stayed in the truck while she looked at the cream-colored house in front of her. It had black shutters and a dark garage door, and bright flowers lining the sidewalk.
“Do you still like this place?” he asked when she didn’t get out.
“Yes.” She reached for the door handle and slid out of the truck. “Yes, I like it.”
He’d been to her house a couple of times, and as he backed out after her, he said, “The new roof looks great.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” She stood with her hands on her hips and looked at the house. He glanced left and right, and she lived on a normal neighborhood street, with houses on both sides and across the street.
“Is it private enough?” he asked. “I mean, you’re a celebrity.”
“Oh, people are used to me now.” She started down the sidewalk toward the front door, digging in her shorts pocket for the keys. And that was when Todd realized that she had indeed lost weight. She still had the curves he liked so much, and his pulse bounced around his chest at the sway in her hips as she walked away from him.
He hobbled after her, reaching the steps just as she opened the door and turned back to him. “You look so great,” he said. “Like, my mouth is dry at the sight of you.” He went up the steps in the slow, maddening way he had, and leaned his hip into the doorway.
