by Liz Isaacson
“Storms, huh?” She looked at him, not expecting the big, broad-shouldered cowboy to be afraid of a little thunder.
“Yeah,” he said. “And being the only brother who can’t manage to find a wife.”
Simone opened her mouth to respond, but the comeback died in her throat. She wanted to assure him that he would. Of course he would. He was a great man. Anyone would be lucky to have him.
All of those reassurances ran through her head, but she couldn’t say any of them. If they were true, why had Simone broken up with him twice in the past few years? Why couldn’t she marry him right now? They’d been dating for a few months now—what was she waiting for?
“I’ll be back in a little bit,” he said, turning and striding out of her house. The door slammed close, and Simone blinked as she jumped. She suddenly wanted to look her best for carb consumption that night, so she went down the hall to the bathroom, thinking of how she could accelerate her relationship with Micah.
They’d been seeing each other again for a while, but he hadn’t kissed her yet. He was probably waiting for her to make the first move. Or maybe waiting to see if she’d break up with him again. He’d definitely been a little more closed off in this relationship compared to their others.
“Tonight,” she told herself as she reached for her toothbrush. “You’ll kiss him tonight.”
“So you’re not even going to try for the lead?” Simone asked later that night. She trailed along behind Micah as he zipped through the salad bar. But Simone actually liked salad, and she added some cauliflower to her plate.
“I’m not going to get it,” Micah said. “I’ve been in one play.” He waited for her at the end of the bar.
“Yeah, but that’s why you audition.” She put on peas, cheese, and croutons before slathering it all in ranch dressing. She nodded to the pasta bar behind him. “Your noodles are ready.”
He turned and picked up the bowl, sliding down to the pots with all the sauce choices. Simone’s fettuccine came up, and she thanked the man who reheated the noodles and followed Micah, mixing some Alfredo sauce with the meat marinara sauce.
Back at their table, Simone looked at Micah expectantly.
“What?” he asked. “I just don’t see why I should humiliate myself for something I’m not going to get anyway.”
“You’re a great singer,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about with humiliating yourself.” His lack of confidence was a little odd for him, as he’d always seemed larger than life. Not only that, but the man was literally good at everything he did. He was building his own house, for crying out loud.
And he’d built Skyler’s, and Simone had only heard good rumblings about his new luxury ranch home design and building business around town.
“Maybe I don’t want the lead.”
“At least that’s a reason,” she said. “Not because you’re afraid you won’t get it.”
“I’m not afraid,” he said.
“Unless there’s a big storm during the play.” She gave him a sly smile and took a bite of her salad.
“Oh, okay,” he said, chuckling. “So you’re going to throw that in my face. I could do the same you know.” He made a hissing sound that was entirely too close to those rattlesnakes.
“Okay, okay,” Simone said, giggling. She loved that a meal with Micah was so easy. For a while there, they hadn’t even been able to be in the same room together without shooting daggers at each other.
“I do think you should audition for everything, though,” she said. “That way, the director will cast you where he thinks you’ll be best.”
“I thought Susan was directing this play,” he said. “What’s it called again?”
“A Long Way Home,” Simone said. “And I forgot Susan was going to direct.” Simone took another bite of salad, one with lots of different veggies and a crunchy crouton. If there was something better than a salad bar, she didn’t want to know about it. Fine, maybe the pasta bar was better.
She reached for a breadstick and swiped it through her ranch dressing, another combination of foods made in Simone’s version of heaven.
“A Long Way Home,” Micah said. “That’s right. It honestly doesn’t sound that interesting. I might not audition at all.”
“Oh, come on.” Simone paused with her fork in midair. “You don’t think the play sounds interesting? Have you read it?” She couldn’t fathom someone thinking A Long Way Home was boring. “It’s the story of a man who’ll do anything for the woman he loves.”
“I read it,” he said, a bit defensively. “I guess it’s romantic.”
“Well.” Simone sat back against the bench seat. “I just…I can’t believe it.”
He chuckled and shook his head as he cut his sausage and twirled his pasta around his fork. “It’s definitely a play for women,” he said.
“You’ll come see me in it, right?”
Their eyes met, and Simone wondered what a play of their romantic relationship would look like. Probably a lot like A Long Way Home, which featured a couple torn apart by circumstances, then family, then themselves. It wasn’t until the end that they confessed their love, and the final scene was the couple getting married and sailing off into the sunset of their happily-ever-after.
Simone wanted the love story for herself, minus the threat of war taking the man she loved, or her father disapproving of him and forbidding the relationship. Not that Daddy would ever do that.
“Yeah, sure,” Micah said. “And I’m just teasing. I am going to audition. I’m hoping to get the part of the best friend.”
“Yeah?”
“I suppose you want the lead.” He wasn’t asking a question.
“Of course,” Simone said. “What’s the point if you don’t want the lead?” She grinned at him. She hadn’t had one lead part in any of the plays she’d performed in, and she didn’t expect to get Adelaide in A Long Way Home either. But she always auditioned for all the roles, because the director’s job was to see in someone what they couldn’t see in themselves.
Micah shook his head again, and Simone moved the conversation to something else. Auditions weren’t for another couple of weeks, and there was plenty of time for Simone to obsess over the role, read more about the play, and practice her singing.
Fully carbed up, she and Micah took their time at the restaurant, and then he drove her back to her cabin. He’d walked her to the door several times over the past few months, and Simone had the wild thought to invite him in.
“Do you want to come in?” She turned back toward him.
Micah looked at her with surprise in every fleck of his eyes. “In?”
“I could make coffee or hot chocolate or popcorn…I don’t know.” She tiptoed her fingertips up the front of his shirt. “I’m not quite ready for you to go yet.”
“Is that right?” Micah grinned at her, pressing closer and closer to her. He reached past her and twisted the doorknob to open the door. It settled open, but Simone didn’t enter the house.
“Micah?”
“Yeah?”
She stared at his chin, determined not to look at his mouth. “When do you…I mean….” She looked up just as Micah took another step toward her, his hand coming up to cradle her face. Before she could close her eyes all the way, his mouth touched hers, and everything female inside Simone sighed with happiness.
Chapter Four
Micah wasn’t entirely sure what Simone was going to say, and he hoped he hadn’t cut her off. But she’d never invited him into her cabin after one of their dates, and he’d taken it for a sign that he better kiss her tonight.
And kiss her he did. And she kissed him back in that slow, sultry, Texan way that he loved. He sure did like this woman, and that wasn’t a secret anymore.
He got control of himself and pulled back, a smile on his lips. “Sorry,” he murmured. “You were saying?”
“Mm.” Simone swayed slightly on her feet, and Micah steadied her with one hand on her waist.
/> “I’d love some of that white chocolate popcorn you made for the light parade,” he said. “But if I drink coffee, I’ll be up all night.”
“Too old for that, huh?” she teased, and Micah’s face grew warm again.
But he knew better than to tease her about her age. He’d done that once, and it had not ended well. The fact that she was six years older than him was one of the things Simone was sensitive about in their relationship.
Micah didn’t see why it mattered. It wasn’t like he was only eighteen years old. Some of his confidence had returned now that he’d successfully kissed Simone without getting slapped, and he stepped into her house. He knew he shouldn’t fantasize too far ahead with Simone.
After all, he’d been in a kissing relationship with the woman before. For months and months.
But he couldn’t help thinking about them as man and wife, living together in that house he’d designed and was building, attending all the Walker family celebrations together. She came to a lot of family functions, but while he’d been dating Ophelia, he’d started bringing her as their relationship had grown more serious, and Simone’s attendance had dropped off.
He had the very real feeling that they belonged together, and he hoped they could fix whatever had been broken between them in the past.
“So,” Simone said from behind him. “I’m thinking about getting a dog.” She closed the door, sealing them in her cabin, and Micah turned to look at her.
“A dog?”
“A small one,” she said. “Not anything big like what your brothers have. Not a ranch dog.”
Micah smiled at her. “You think you have time for a dog?”
“I think the dog could come to the shed with me,” she said, moving into the kitchen and pulling out a bag of microwave popcorn. “And around the ranch, and she could keep my feet warm at night.”
“You need a big dog for that, sweetheart,” he said, joining her in the kitchen and taking her into his arms. The moment between them sobered, and Micah whispered, “Simone, I sure do like you.”
She swayed with him, and Micah liked this private dance. “I like you too, Micah.”
He wondered if she knew why Ophelia had broken up with him, but he didn’t want to ask. “Maybe we could run lines together,” he said. “You know, if I’m going to audition for the lead and all that.” He smiled at her, and Simone smiled back, tipped up, and kissed him again.
Best date ever, he thought to himself, and he hadn’t even spent any time planning it. Something Micah Walker had always been very good at was planning dates. He liked putting in more effort than dinner and a movie, and every woman he asked out had eventually become his girlfriend because of the research and effort he put into making every date the most amazing it could be.
But this one—any one—where he got to end the night with a kiss from Simone Foster was better than anything he’d ever planned. He knew he was in deep with Simone, but he didn’t care. He just hoped she’d dive in and get as deep as him. Soon.
The next morning, Micah stepped into the kitchen at the homestead, a piece of happiness burrowing way down deep in his soul. He didn’t even know he was humming until Jeremiah said, “You’re happy this morning.”
He glanced at his brother, who sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of him, along with a bowl of oatmeal. He hated oatmeal, but his last visit to the doctor had revealed that Jeremiah had high cholesterol, and his wife had told him to cut out the sausage, bacon, and hot dogs he loved so much. He could still have eggs, but Whitney had put him on a strict diet for the first couple of weeks, and that meant oatmeal.
Problem was, Jeremiah wasn’t the only one who liked bacon and eggs for breakfast, and Micah eyed the pot of porridge on the stove like it might suddenly attack him. He skipped it and opened the fridge, where he took out the milk and then reached for a box of cereal. He could make his own eggs, but he didn’t want to flaunt the fact that he could eat them in front of his brother.
With his sugar pops loaded with milk, he joined Jeremiah at the table. “You haven’t eaten,” he said.
“Would you eat this?” Jeremiah growled, a disgruntled look on his face.
Micah started laughing, the rumble of it starting low in his stomach and moving up. He couldn’t argue with Jeremiah, and he took a big spoonful of cereal and ate it.
“We’ve got ten cows left to deliver,” Jeremiah said, reaching for his coffee again.
“Okay.” Micah hoped he could be off the ranch by noon or so, as today he wanted to go hang out with Wyatt and Warren. Marcy had gone to a business conference, and Micah liked hanging around Wyatt’s huge house in the hills. He felt accepted by Wyatt, no matter what, and the man had a gift for that. “I’m headed to Wyatt’s this afternoon.”
“Right,” Jeremiah said as a cry came down the hall. He looked that way, and Micah followed his gaze. Whitney came into the kitchen carrying one baby on her hip and prodding along her toddler, promising them milk and juice and cereal.
She looked up at Jeremiah, and he got up to go help her. Their children were only thirteen months apart, and Clara Jean looked like she’d had a rough night. Jeremiah took the six-month-old baby from his wife and together, they worked on getting their children from the crabby, just-woken-up stage to small humans who smiled.
Micah felt completely out of place. Neither Jeremiah nor Whitney had ever said anything about him living with them, but he felt the urge to get out of their hair. He wanted his own place again, and a battle started inside. Maybe he should stay here and work on the house instead of driving out to Church Ranches to soak in Wyatt’s hot tub while Warren babbled happily on the edge of it.
He finished his cereal quickly and stood up to put the bowl in the sink. “Morning, Whit.”
“Hey, Micah.” She gave him a smile and handed JJ a pouch of cinnamon applesauce. “Go sit down, bud.” But the boy couldn’t climb into his highchair alone, so Micah scooped him up into his arms.
“Come on, Jay,” he said, grinning at the little boy. He looked so much like Jeremiah, with everything just one shade darker due to Whitney’s nearly black hair. The child laughed as Micah put him in the highchair and strapped him in.
He turned back to Whitney, and he felt like she hadn’t looked away from him yet. “I heard you rescued Simone from some snakes yesterday.”
“Just a couple,” he said, though there had been at least five snakes writhing in the long grass by that old barn.
Jeremiah took Clara Jean’s bottle out of the microwave and looked at Micah. “How are things going with her?”
“Good.” Micah walked over to the hat rack by the back door and plucked his cowboy hat from the hook. He settled it on his head and added, “I’ll get out to the barn and check on the cows.”
“Orion is there,” Jeremiah said. “He took the overnight shift.”
“I’ll go relieve him,” Micah said.
“I think someone doesn’t want to talk about his girlfriend,” Whitney teased. “Oh, Jeremiah, I have to go to the store this morning. I’m taking the kids to Ivory’s. I don’t think I told you.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Jeremiah said.
Micah listened to them discuss the minutiae of their life, and a surge of jealousy threatened to drown him. He wanted to arrange details like childcare and what time he’d be back for dinner with his wife.
He slipped out the back door without another word about how things were going with Simone. Thankfully. He answered enough of those kinds of questions from Wyatt, Skyler, and Momma. The homestead had always been a safe haven for him, but if Jeremiah was going to start asking, Micah really needed to finish his house faster.
Out in the barn, he found Orion and Dicky rubbing a newborn calf, trying to get it out of the shock of being born. The calf’s eyes opened, and Orion said, “There you go. He’s okay now.”
Dicky turned back to the mother, and Micah asked, “How many delivered overnight?”
“Just two,” Orion said, and he loo
ked absolutely ragged. He picked up the calf and took it into a pen with a lot of straw to keep it warm. Once the mother was okay, she’d join her calf. “One I think is ready to drop, and we have another we need to assist this morning.”
“Can she wait twenty minutes?” Micah asked. “Jeremiah and I can do it if so.”
“Yeah, she can,” Dicky said. “I’ll bring her in and get her ready.”
“Jeremiah is on his way out.” Micah turned toward the other door. “The other one is out here?”
“Yep.”
Micah left the barn, preferring to be outside than in right now. He wasn’t even sure why so much unrest existed within him, only that it did. He found the pregnant heifer standing strangely, and he yelled back into the barn for help.
If the cow fell back, she’d block the birth canal, and then the calf would die. Skyler and Jeremiah had been working the ranch together for several months now, and Skyler had been “shocked” by the state of the finances.
Jeremiah had plenty of money, but Skyler believed the ranch should be able to support itself. So every calf mattered come market day in the fall.
Micah arrived at the cow’s head and pulled it up so she’d take a step. She did, a low-pitched moo-moan coming from her mouth. Dicky arrived, and he stood at the back of the cow.
“Oh, she’s ready now.”
“Yep.” Micah didn’t think she’d need much help, and sure enough, the heifer delivered her calf only a few minutes later. Dicky rubbed its ears and face, and a moment later, the healthy calf stood up, and Micah felt a sense of triumph that had nothing to do with him.
“Seven to go,” Dicky said, meeting his eye.
“Feels like a thousand,” Micah said darkly.
Dicky laughed, the sound flying right up into the blue sky. Even Micah had to smile, but he’d be thrilled when calving season ended. Of course, on a ranch, there was always another chore just around the corner, and Jeremiah would start cracking the whip on planting as soon as the last calf was born.
