“Troy.” Grady grabbed his arm. “It’s not what you think, man. We’re dating.”
“No. Nope. Nuh-uh.” Troy shoved him again. “You crossed a line. Friends don’t mess with friends’ little sisters. We’re done, man.” He threw his hands in the air and stormed into the office.
Ronnie hooked her left hand over her right elbow. The confidence she’d ridden here tossed her aside. “You didn’t tell him.” It wasn’t a question.
Grady’s body curved forward, like he wanted to take her into his arms but was afraid she wouldn’t let him. She might have. Which made her madder than Troy’s interruption. She was such a fool for Grady that she let him make a fool out of her. “It didn’t come up.”
Thankfully, her brain had turned back on. “That makes me feel important.”
His eyes pleaded with her to listen—to let him fix this. “You are important to me.”
Ronnie pinned him with a look. They should have been past this—waaaay past it. Left it in the dust. But no, he hadn’t thought their relationship important enough to tell Troy. “No girl likes to be a secret, Grady.” She headed for the door. “Happy Halloween.” She stormed through the office and slammed the outside door on her way out.
This Halloween certainly scared the heck out of her. She had no idea what all this said about her. Was she desperate? Lonely? Had lousy taste in men? Was she a sucker? Should she have seen this coming?
Troy paced in front of her truck. Ronnie marched up to him and punched him in the shoulder—hard. “You’re a jerk.” She hit him again. “The biggest jerk.”
Troy rubbed his arm and shook his head. “No one messes with you, Ronnie—not even my best friend.” His words were calm in a way that ticked her off even more.
“What do you even care? You’re hardly home and you don’t even know me. We spend as much time together as distant cousins.”
He lifted his arm as if she’d hit him again. Her words had. She’d thrown her best right hook with that comment. What made her stomach hollow was that she meant it. She wasn’t close to her brother, and as much as she liked to blame him for leaving, she could have come after him once in a while—sent a text—anything.
“You’re my sister.” He shrugged. “I’m not letting anyone hurt you.”
Ronnie muttered a shop-word. Even if she should have made more of an effort, that didn’t give him the right to dictate whom she dated, when, or how often. “He wasn’t messing with me.” She shoved him this time, though her effort was only half what she’d put into the punch. “You’re stomping all over my happy.”
He wrinkled his nose.
“Stop it,” she commanded him. “You don’t get to be my big brother when you feel like it.” She tore open her car door, ready to leave the two idiots to work out their business and friendship on their own.
“Wait—”
She rolled her eyes and put one foot in the car to let Troy know she wasn’t going to stick around for long. “What?”
“You guys are really dating?”
She exaggerated her nod.
“When I saw—” He wrinkled his nose again. “I thought he was taking advantage of the crush you’ve had on him for forever.”
Ronnie’s blood ran cold. “You knew about that?”
“Please. You went into puppy-dog mode every time he came over. We couldn’t shake you. Mom even knows.”
“Well, he wasn’t taking advantage of me. At least, I didn’t think so.” Her mind went back to their dates, so carefully planned by Grady and the nights they’d stayed in together. None of the time together had been fake—like he was using her. He’d been really interested. Either that or he was an A-list actor. “But if he didn’t tell you about us, then maybe he wasn’t the good guy I thought he was.” She shut the door, turned the car on, and headed back to Snow Valley.
To think she’d thought of leaving her home town for that guy. What a mistake that would have been.
Chapter 23
Grady gathered himself together. He needed to go after Ronnie and explain everything. He needed to tell her he loved her. He needed to stop her from running away from him. He needed to break this cycle where he messed up. He had to do this right.
Troy met him at the door. “She left.”
“I know. I’m going after her.”
“What the …? What is going on?”
Grady dropped his chin to his chest. “We’ve been dating since the cattle auction. As much as we can with all the time I have to put into this place.”
“So you’re dropping out of the business?” Troy kicked a chair. “It takes two people to run this place.”
“No, it should take three—maybe even four. But we’ve been killing ourselves to keep costs down.” Grady half-sat on his desk. “We can’t keep doing this, Troy. I want to—” His shoulders slumped. “I want to get married, have kids, be a dad. Not the kind of dad who doesn’t show up to T-ball. I want to be the kind of dad who coaches the team.”
“You don’t know anything about baseball.” Troy paced the room. “You’ve gone nuts.”
Grady swiped his thumb across his lips. He had gone crazy. Crazy for Ronnie. He couldn’t live without her, and he spent much too much time watching her leave because he was an idiot. He needed to turn his brain on and do some of that thinking she said was so bad for them. The only reason thinking had been bad for them was because his thoughts were going in the wrong direction. It was time to turn them in the right direction and make things work.
“Troy,” he said as calmly as he could, “I think I’m in love with Ronnie.”
Troy stopped mid-stride and stared.
Grady hurried on. “Ronnie is … amazing. She’s funny. Man, she is so funny. Do you know how she thinks? She connects things that don’t normally go together, but they work, and I can’t wait to hear what she comes up with next.
“She’s wicked smart too. She fixes everything from cars to her dishwasher. I showed up one night and she had it all taken apart and there was a piece of macaroni stuck in something, and she put the parts back together and it worked. I mean, how does she do that? I just look at her and think that there’s nothing she can’t do—you know?”
Troy opened and closed his mouth.
Grady’s phone rang, and he answered praying it was Ronnie. “This is Grady.”
“Boss.” Rick always called him and Troy boss. Grady often wondered if he knew their real names. “I have some bad news.”
Grady rubbed his temple. “What?”
“There’s been an accident. The truck is on its side and the payload is all over I-90.”
Grady jumped to his feet. “We’ll be there ASAP.” He motioned for Troy to get into his truck and locked the shop on his way out. “You okay?” he asked Rick.
“I’m shaken, but I’m all right.”
“Okay—hang tight.” He clicked off the call and climbed into the passenger side of Troy’s truck. He quickly explained the situation. They called one of the other drivers and had him bring out a truck and a tractor to clean up the mess. Highway patrol would be all over them to get the road cleared.
“I’ve got to call Ronnie.” Grady started to dial. He was interrupted by flashing red and blue lights in their rearview mirror.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Troy pulled over to the side of the road.
“Maybe he’ll buzz past us.” Grady hoped. The officer pulled over behind them, and they waited for him to approach the driver’s side window. Grady’s fingers itched to dial the numbers. The father Ronnie got, the harder it would be to make things right between them. He didn’t have any luck tonight. First Ronnie and now this. “I have to call her,” he said through gritted teeth.
Troy rolled down his window. “I’ll take care of Ronnie. I messed that up pretty good. You work on that mess up ahead.”
Grady nodded. He dialed the driver of the second truck to find out his ETA while Troy explained to the officer that they owned the truck in the wreck up ahead and were in a hurry to
get there.
Grady hated being stuck here while Ronnie was driving the other direction. Things in his life needed to change. There was no way he could be the man she deserved tonight. He couldn’t leave a truck laying across the highway, and he couldn’t leave his employee to deal with it on his own. And yet, his whole being cried out for him to walk away—just walk away and find Ronnie. But he couldn’t. And that was a hard pill to swallow. He hated failing, but he hated failing her most of all, and that’s all he’d done tonight. If she ever spoke to him again, he’d make things right.
He promised himself he’d find a way to make it all right.
Chapter 24
Ronnie could judge the passing of time by the number of empty cookie dough tubs in her trash can. Three weeks had passed, and so had one mint chocolate chip, one white chocolate lemon, and one peanut butter fudge.
Trent Snow won the city council election. He was thrilled. Dad? Not so much. Trent ran on a big-business platform. He wanted to bring in a large company to provide jobs. Ronnie got his message—it would be great if the next generation didn’t have to leave Snow Valley to find work. But she didn’t want to see the grazing land, the wheat fields, the hayfields, and the open spaces chewed up by small houses and developments.
The first snowfall of the season hit and hit hard. They were officially into coats and mittens weather. No matter how many layers she put on, Ronnie never could get warm enough. Not knowing if Grady’s arms would never wrap around her again. She’d used a lot of shop words because of his absence. She might have to talk to Pastor John…
Thanksgiving morning, she dragged herself over to her parents’ house to help with food preparation. Her mom was a champ, making a big turkey dinner for the five of them. Dad and Troy would stuff themselves into a turkey coma, they’d all watch some football, and Ronnie would leave with three weeks’ worth of turkey for her freezer.
It sounded great … and awful. Ronnie hadn’t spoken to her brother since Halloween. He’d called her at least once a day, and she’d sent the calls to voicemail. He’d text that he needed to talk to her, but she was too hurt and angry to reply. She figured she’d answer when she no longer wanted to punch his arm.
Of course, she was mostly upset with Grady, but Troy was a casualty, because if he was any type of reasonable about things, then Grady would have been able to talk to him.
As far as she knew, their friendship and their business partnership had survived. If Grady cared about her, he would have left them both behind. Okay, that was expecting a lot. The man didn’t need to give up the business he’d built from the ground up. Besides, she wasn’t the type to hand out ultimatums.
She arrived two hours before dinner and zombie-walked her way into the house.
“Hi, hon.” Mom waved from the sink where she was washing celery. She took one look at Ronnie and turned off the water. Ronnie didn’t even notice she was being hugged until the water on Mom’s hands soaked into the back of her shirt.
“Hi, Mom,” she said quietly.
“Still not over that boy?” Ronnie had driven straight home to tell on her brother. No. Not really. But she’d fallen into her mom’s comfort and home cooking and told the whole story—minus the spicier kisses. When she explained about Troy being a giant, pig-headed jerk, Mom shook her head and threatened to beat some sense into her son. Ronnie talked her off the edge of her anger. Troy wasn’t the problem. Not really. If Grady wanted to be with her, he would have followed her home and made sure she knew where his heart lay.
“How do you get over someone?” she asked.
“You can’t, really—not if you love him.”
“I must love him, then.” The gray cloud that followed her around twisted to release an extra dose of heartache. “But that doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“Of course not. Time will help.” Mom rubbed her arms.
“All I can think about is that he’s in Snow Valley today, and I’m not going to see him.” Ronnie unwrapped her scarf and threw it over the back of a barstool. “I’m so mad at him and I miss him.” She tossed her hands in the air. “I’m an oxymoron—emphasis on moron.”
Her mom laughed. “At least you still have your sense of humor.”
Ronnie scrubbed her face. “Keep me busy, Mom. I need to get my hands dirty.”
“Actually, you should get them clean first. No grease fingers in my stuffing.” She pointed to the sink.
“Fine!” Ronnie feigned insult and made her way to the sink. Candace showed up a few minutes later, toting their traditional chocolate cream pie.
“Here, hide it behind the eggnog.” Mom moved a few cartons out of the way, and Candace put the pie carefully in the fridge. This pie was for those who did dishes, and since the guys didn’t do more than clear their own plates, the ladies kept it hidden and all for themselves.
Ronnie loved their chocolate cream pie tradition. She loved that her family still got together on Thanksgiving. She loved that the town decorated Main Street with dried cornstalks and garlands of fall leaves even though it had snowed. Her pumpkin, the one she’d carved with Grady, was old and wrinkly. For a vampire, he wasn’t aging well.
A couple hours later, they’d finished setting the table. Dad checked his watch and stared at the door. “I can’t imagine that Troy would be this late. Maybe something came up at his shop?”
Ronnie’s gut churned. What if she had caused a rift between Troy and Grady, and Troy was trying to run the place all by himself? What if that’s why he’d been so persistent?
“I’m calling him.” Dad reached for his cell only to be interrupted by the front door hinge creaking open. “It’s about time!” yelled Dad.
Ronnie exchanged a smirk with Candace. Troy strode into the room wearing a plaid flannel shirt, but he wasn’t alone. Right behind him was Grady, wearing a brown button-up shirt, his best pair of jeans, and a worried expression. “I brought a friend,” Troy said like the obvious idiot he was.
Ronnie clenched her hands into fists under the table. She hadn’t hit him hard enough last time. If she had, he’d have a bruise to remind him not to bring her ex-boyfriend over for Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe she should have sent him a text with ex-boyfriend rules listed out. Then he wouldn’t be standing there with this innocent look on his face after bringing the one person to their table who could ruin Thanksgiving.
The whole room stared. Mom twisted the dishcloth in her hands as if she could wring Grady’s neck. Candace hummed low and menacing.
Dad, who had no idea what had transpired between Ronnie and Grady, grinned and got to his feet. “Come on in.” He pumped Grady’s hand as if he were running for city council. “It’s good to have you. Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Thank you, sir.” Grady’s gaze cut to her, and Ronnie turned away. Now that he was here, she was mostly angry with him. If he left, she was sure she’d miss him again. Moron.
“Teresa, grab another plate. Troy, get that chair out of the front room.” Dad was all smiles and totally impenetrable by the glares from the female side of the family. “This is extra special having you here, Grady. We sure appreciate you and all you’ve done for Troy.”
“Guess he’s staying,” Candace whispered.
“Can I die of mortification? Is that a real thing?” Ronnie stood as Troy came back with the living room chair. They shifted chairs and plates and made a general commotion in the process—one that ended with Grady sitting next to Ronnie. She wasn’t even sure how that happened. One minute she was between Mom and Candace, and the next his leg brushed against hers and sent waves of heat through her dumb stomach.
Dad picked up his glass of eggnog to begin another of the Thanksgiving traditions. Ronnie took hers, the cool glass doing absolutely nothing to calm her nerves or settle her anger.
“I’m thankful for my family and for the shop that’s provided for us for over thirty-five years.” Dad lifted his glass and everyone took a sip.
Mom went next. “I’m thankful for my family, first off and forev
er. You are the biggest blessing in our lives.”
Troy went next. “I’m thankful that my sisters are so forgiving. That they love me even when I’m a jerk.” He winked across the table at Ronnie.
She glared back.
Dad cleared his throat.
They all took a sip and then Grady lifted his glass. “I wasn’t planning on this—thanks, Troy, for dropping me in the middle of your family holiday.”
Troy lifted his empty hand and feigned innocence.
“Jerk,” Candace whispered, just loud enough for Ronnie to hear. Ronnie nodded her head slowly to show that she’d heard. Troy was really pushing her buttons today. He should have known that once a guy reaches screen-saver level—you can’t go back to just friends.
“I guess I’m just going to go for it.” Grady blew out a quick breath and reached for Ronnie’s hand. The minute their skin touched, her brain did that fuzzy thing where it refused to create words. Some days she really hated her brain. “I’m thankful that I got to know Ronnie. She’s a wonderful person, funny as all get out, and beautiful.” Red began creeping up his neck. Ronnie’s mouth fell open. She glanced at her dad. The frown on his face was so deep she could have planted a pinecone in there.
But Grady wasn’t done. Oh, no. He plowed ahead like it was spring and he was planting crops. “I’m grateful to you, Mr. and Mrs. Martin, for raising such a wonderful daughter, and I’m hoping Ronnie really is as forgiving as Troy claims and will forgive me for being a colossal dufus.”
Ronnie’s heart started racing, and she had to set her glass down so she didn’t drop it.
Dad rose halfway out of his chair. “What do you mean, you’ve gotten to know her?”
“Sit down, Brian.” Mom swatted him with her napkin. “They’ve been dating since the cattle auction.”
Dad forced himself back into the chair, the look on his face saying it was painful. “And you’re okay with this?”
“I’m fine with it,” replied Mom. “But it’s not up to me if they keep dating. That’s up to Ronnie.” Mom turned curious eyes on her. Ronnie stared back, unable to form a response. Grady had just outed them at Thanksgiving dinner.
Lucy McConnell's Snow Valley Box Set Page 50
