He kicked the dirt. “Thinking’s my problem? Would you tell that to my mom? She spent my whole teenage life telling me to use my brain.”
She shook her head sadly. “Your brain is throwing up pretend obstacles in our way.”
He tipped his head. “They’re not pretend.”
She blew out a breath, letting her lips bounce against each other as she tried to figure out a way to explain this as she saw it. Granted, she saw the world different than most, but Grady had kept up with her crazy trains of thought before, so there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t follow now. “Then your obstacles are corn.”
He pressed his lips together.
Okay, maybe he wouldn’t be able to follow. She tucked her hair behind her ear. “See the corn?” She spoke slowly, dramatically, and with more than a little teasing thrown in. “The corn looks like an obstacle. We run around it like it’s a wall. Buuuuut, I can walk right through it.” She turned sideways and scooted into the corn and back out. “Your head is full of corn.” She lifted her eyebrows, waiting to see if he was following.
He twisted his mouth. “I think you just insulted me.”
“No. An insult would be telling you your head was full of rocks.” Which she was tempted to do if he walked away from her tonight.
“A rock-head?”
“Exactly.”
He pointed to his chest. “But I’m a corn-head.”
“Pretty much.” She lifted her shoulders and gave him a there’s-nothing-I-can-do-about-it shrug.
He stopped walking and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You don’t think our age difference matters?”
Ronnie tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I’m twenty-six, Grady. As long as you don’t have grandchildren, I’m good.”
One side of his mouth lifted. “No grandkids.”
“Whew!” She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead.
He smiled. “I really like you, Ronnie.”
Ronnie checked her grin. “Do you like, like-like me or just like me? Because if it’s just like, then maybe you should go that way…”
Grady’s growled and grabbed her around the middle, tickling her sides. “I like-like you, okay?”
“Okay,” she squeaked between giggles. He let her go, and this time she didn’t hold back her smile. “I like-like you too.”
He chuckled. This time, when he reached for her sides, he settled his hands on her hips. “I want to see if there’s more… to us.”
She let her hands find their way to his chest. “Oh there’s more.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah.” She rubbed her hand over his jaw, loving the way the hair tickled her palm and brushed her fingers.
He shook his head. “Your brother will kill me for even looking at you like this.”
She could understand why. His eyes were full of mischief and hot kisses. At least they were talking about things. That was huge. “I don’t want to break up your partnership. But you know you’re bigger than him, right?”
He laughed, stepping even closer.
She let the rightness of being in his arms sooth the mental and emotional turmoil that being apart from him had stirred up. “Honestly, I don’t know Troy like you know Troy. If you want me to talk to him I will, but I’d just tell him to suck it up and call him Buttercup.”
Grady chuckled, the warm vibration doing funny things to her heart beat. “Thanks for the offer, but if I’m going to keep GT Trucking in one piece, telling him to stick it probably isn’t the way to go.”
She patted his chest. “That’s up to you then.”
He nodded. “So, you don’t see any problems between us? Any reason we shouldn’t try us out?”
She patted his chest. “Nope.”
His family plus Candace chose that moment to find them. They gasped or oohed all at once, surprising her. She jumped at the noise. “I forgot they were here,” she whispered.
Grady’s hands tightened around her. She grinned up at him and found an answering smile. “I think we need to rearrange teams,” Grady told his mom.
Jan winked at the two of them. “We’re giving up anyway. Do you girls want to come out to the ranch for cake and ice cream?”
Grady pinched her side.
“Sure,” she chirped. No one in his family seemed all that surprised to find them together. Candace was turning pink with bottled curiosity.
They went the opposite way of every arrow and pointing skeleton and found the exit in ten minutes. Grady kept his arm draped across her shoulders the whole time. No one said anything while they stood next to one another in the parking lot, nor when Grady gave her a quick hug goodbye. That is, no one said anything until Candace and Ronnie were alone in Ronnie’s car on the way out to the ranch.
“Okay—what the heck?” Candace squealed as she clicked her seat belt in place.
“I know!” Ronnie flapped her hands like a crazed Iron Stix fan. She melted against the seat. “He is so amazing.”
“And old. Isn’t he older than Troy?”
“By two months.” Ronnie backed out of the spot and pointed the car towards the Owens Ranch.
“Exactly.”
“Exactly ex-smactly. We’re all over twenty and Grady’s one of the good guys.”
“Like, you want this guy to be the father-of-your-children good guy?”
“That’s jumping waaaay ahead.” Ronnie bit her lip. “But yeah. That kind of good guy.”
“Good luck telling Troy.”
Some of the butterflies that had been bouncing around inside her belly decided to twist together. “That’s up to Grady.” She nodded once. She knew Troy as the teenaged older brother forced to babysit her and her sister, but they’d never taken time to get to know one another as adults. She’d let Grady take the lead in telling Troy—he’d know how to handle the situation.
Brushing away the orange-winged butterflies, she turned into Grady’s parents’ driveway.
Chapter 17
Grady held Ronnie’s hand as he walked her out to her car. Lance had offered to give Candace a ride home, so he had a few minutes alone with Ronnie, and he was going to use them to his best advantage.
Leaning against her car, he put his hands on her hips, enjoying the soft, round curves, and pulled her body flush with his. He wanted to kiss her—a lot. He couldn’t take his eyes off her lips, but he held back, wanting to show her that he was in this for real.
She pecked a kiss on his cheek and slipped out of his arms. “I’ll see you later.”
“Wait.” He reached for her and then stopped. What did he expect? That she’d fall back into his arms and they’d pick up where they’d left off at the garage—that’s what he wanted. But he hadn’t done much to earn her trust, and he’d fix that by calling Troy tonight. “Drive careful.”
“I will.” She smiled before ducking into the car and putting on her seat belt. He shut the door behind her, stepped back, and dug out his phone.
Troy picked up on the third ring. “Hey, sup?”
“I have something I want to run past you.”
A woman spoke in the background, low and just out of range to make out what she said.
“Can this wait?” asked Troy.
Grady looked up at Ronnie’s taillights. This was the last time he wanted to watch her drive away without knowing she was his. “No. It can’t.”
The woman spoke again—sounding like an agitated Charlie Brown teacher.
“Look—whatever it is, I trust you. Okay?” The sound of his hand going over the speaker ruffled through the line.
“You promise? Anything?” Grady pressed.
“Yeah—anything, okay?”
“Sounds good.” Grady hung up the phone. He’d done the best he could for tonight. Troy was sure to bring up the conversation when they were in the office, and he’d lay it all out for him then.
With a nod, he headed back in the house. He needed to have more faith in Troy. Troy was a good guy and his best friend—he’d want Grady to be h
appy. Heck—he’d probably be happy to have him as a brother-in-law.
Grady tripped up the steps. Where had that thought come from?
He shook his head. Ronnie was right—he thought too much. He needed to slow this whole thing down and just enjoy some time with the woman who made his heart pound. That’s exactly what he intended to do.
Chapter 18
Wednesday afternoon, Ronnie was in charge of watching the front desk from three to four while Candace took a late lunch. To be honest, she was glad for the break, because she was having quite the time with their new hire today. Kyle was a good kid, top of his shop class and highly recommended by her old teacher. But he always made the wrong decision first. It’s like his brain wasn’t turned on until he’d screwed up.
The phone rang at the front desk. She hurried up there, pulled the receiver to her ear, and leaned forward so Kyle could reach the cubbies where the keys waited. “Hello, Martin’s Garage, Ronnie speaking,” she said into the phone. Kyle grabbed the keys for the Nissan. She slid her hand over the receiver and whispered, “Kyle, the Ford is next.”
“Ronnie?” asked the deep voice in her ear.
Kyle took the right keys and headed out to the parking lot, clicking the lock button to help him find the right car.
“Yeah?” she said into the phone.
“Is this a bad time?”
There were only four cars in the lot: one of them was Kyle’s, one was a Nissan, one was a Toyota, and the last one was the Ford. Ronnie turned her back on the door so she didn’t have to watch Kyle try to open the Nissan with the Ford’s keys. “Who is this?”
“Grady.”
Her attention was immediately switched from the seventeen-year-old on work release to the man on the phone. “Grady …” she said, pretending to think things over. “Grady Michaels?”
“Owens. Grady Owens.”
“Owens … Owens …? Did you have the Chevy with the dented fender?”
He harrumphed. “No.”
“Are you sure we’ve met?”
“I’m pretty sure I rocked your world with a kiss a few weeks back.”
“Hmm,” she tapped her lip, “you’d think I’d remember that.”
“Ronnie.” He said her name with warning, making Ronnie laugh. He was too much fun to tease, and it had been almost a week since she’d heard his voice. He’d texted a couple times but not called.
“What’s up, Grumpy Gus?”
“Are you free for dinner a week from Friday?”
“Why, do you need some work done on your truck? Wanna make another deal?”
“My truck runs great. But I was thinking more along the lines of a date than a deal. I can’t get away from work until then.”
“Are you going to wear your best hoodie?”
“Do you have to make this hard on me?”
Considering all his hesitations? “Yes. Yes, I do.”
He finally laughed. “All right. I will probably wear a hoodie and you should, too, because we’ll be outside for most of the evening.”
“What do you have planned?”
“You’re going to have to climb into my truck to find out.”
“Oooooh, it’s a mystery. That’s very Halloweeny of you.”
He chuckled but didn’t volunteer any more information.
“Okay, what time?”
“Six-thirty, and dress warm.”
“Sounds mysteriously fun.”
“It will be.”
Kyle came through the door to the shop. “Okay, it’s on the lift.”
Ronnie rubbed her forehead. “Kyle, it needs a battery—not an oil change. You access the battery from the hood, not underneath the car.”
Kyle’s face fell. “Oh.”
Grady laughed. “I’d better let you go.”
“Thanks for calling and have a great day,” she replied, already slipping back into shop mode.
He laughed again. “Now that I’ve talked to you, it’s the best day.”
Her heart melted. If she’d been a car, she’d need an oil pan to collect all the gooey feelings that one little statement created. “See you soon.”
“Not soon enough.”
“Stop! I’ve got to go.”
“Then go.”
“’Kay. Bye.”
“Bye.”
She held the receiver for two more heartbeats before finally hanging up. A loud crash sounded from the shop, and she ran out there to find Kyle staring at a rolling tool chest that had somehow ended up on its side. “Kyle!”
He ran his hands through his curly red hair. “I don’t even know how that happened.”
Ronnie should have been upset, but she had Grady’s sweet words wrapped around her like the world’s softest scarf. “All right, you get to clean that up, and I’ll get the battery changed out.”
Kyle relaxed when he realized she wasn’t going to yell at him. “Thanks, Ronnie. Don’t tell your dad, okay?”
Ronnie laughed. “It’s not Dad you have to worry about—those are Virgil’s tools.”
Kyle turned positively green at the thought of telling the grizzled tow truck driver he’d dumped his tools, but he worked faster at cleaning them up than he had all week.
Ronnie got busy on the Ford, cleaning the corrosion off the cables with a mixture of baking soda and water. She found herself humming and wishing the days would move faster, especially if Grady had more of those sweet words up his hoodie sleeve.
Chapter 19
“This is brilliant.” Ronnie took the pumpkin from the pimply teen, who had cut a hole in the top and cleaned the seeds out with some funky homemade drill attachment before wiping it all down with a clean rag and handing it back to her.
Grady had picked her up wearing what looked like a new hoodie and new jeans. He was so cute for trying to impress her. She was impressed. During the hayride out to the pumpkin patch, they’d sat up front where the driver entertained them with funny stories of his years driving horses. They laughed so easily together that it was almost scary. In the corner of the lot, a vendor sold cooked pumpkin seeds in a variety of flavors as well as hot apple cider and cocoa.
The carving tables were set up near the orchard full of apple and peach trees. Their leaves were golden and red and whispered like worn pages from a favorite book.
Grady’s pumpkin was done moments later, and they headed over to a carving station. Groups gathered around different tables—some were families, others dates. They ended up next to a single mom and her unhappy-looking kid, who stabbed holes into his pumpkin like Jack the Ripper.
In the center of the table was a flour pot with dozens of plastic knives. They were thick and strong and held their own against the pumpkin flesh. “What are you going to carve?” she asked as she sized up her oblong pumpkin.
Grady scooted around to the other side of the table. “I’ll show you when it’s done.”
“Still going for mysterious, I see.” She pumped her eyebrows.
“I hear women like that sort of thing.”
She shook her head in mock seriousness. “I don’t know who is giving you dating advice, but they are way off.”
The single mother looked back and forth between the two of them. She lightly smirked at Ronnie. “I disagree. I like a man with a little … mystery.” Her son began sawing the table with the knife, leaving unsightly gouges in the edge of the wood. The mom batted her eyelashes at Grady, who didn’t take his eyes off the pumpkin.
“See?” Grady tipped his head. “She appreciates me.”
Ronnie made a sour face. She was appreciating him, all right. Her eyes roamed over Grady’s body like a serpentine belt over pulleys.
“Is that your son sawing the table in half?” Ronnie asked.
The woman nodded, not tearing her gaze away from Grady. “I think a more mature woman would understand your needs better.”
Grady glanced at Ronnie, caught her watching him, and winked without answering the woman to his left.
Ronnie smiled at the woman an
d decided to ignore her, too. She wasn’t here to fight over Grady—though she certainly would fight for him if needed. But he obviously wasn’t interested in the absentminded mother, so she wasn’t going to worry about her.
A few minutes later, the pimply teen came over to tell the woman she and her child had to leave. She pitched a fit that had Grady scrambling to hide the knives, and a few minutes later the sound of Eric Church’s “Springsteen” could be heard over the speakers once again. Happy chatter began at the table next to them. Ronnie worked on her vampire pumpkin—eager to see what had Grady’s tongue poking out in concentration.
“Okay.” He stood up tall and shook out his arms. “Are you ready?”
She set her knife down and tossed the last of her pieces in the garbage can. “For, like, forever.”
“On the count of three, we turn them around.”
“Deal.”
“One, two, three.” He spun his around to show a crazy good image of a pumpkin pie.
“A bit untraditional, but I like it.”
“It’s pumpkin pie. Do you see the brilliance?”
She laughed. “I see some carving skills. That latticework on the crust is especially impressive.”
“Thanks. I thought about going into professional pumpkin carving when I was younger.” He plucked the front of his hoodie, all cocky and so darn handsome.
“Reeeeeally?” She batted her eyelashes. “I can totally see it. What happened?”
“I realized I’d have to deal with the fame and the screaming fans.”
“Professional pumpkin carvers have it so hard.”
“Right?! I mean, how would I ever know if a woman liked me for me?”
“With talent like that, you’d always wonder.”
“Exactly.” He sighed heavily. “It’s so nice to talk to someone who understands.”
Ronnie shoved his shoulder. It was nice to talk to someone who could BS just as well as she could. He reached for her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist. The world slowed down and her pulse pounded in her ears.
Lucy McConnell's Snow Valley Box Set Page 48
