She doctored her coffee with sugar and cream and took a sip. Few things in life offered a trifecta of bitter, sweet, and smooth. Coffee was one of them. Maybe Baxter was another.
“I’ve never heard them practice, but I’ve smelled the stuff coming from the culinary center. Samantha’s man can cook.”
“Dalton is my cousin, and you’re right, he can start with a can of beans and a cup of water, and make something gourmet from it.”
“I keep forgetting you have a lot of family here.”
“It’s why I moved here. I was lucky because the town was growing, and Wes needed help. Can you imagine living here a few years ago when it was basically a ghost town?”
She could envision the empty fields and the lake without a soul on it in the summer, untouched like nature intended. “It still would have been beautiful.”
A thud sounded in front of her, and the smell of buttery pancakes drifted to her nose.
“Enjoy,” Maisey said before she dashed off again.
“It must be busy since she seems to rush around.” She tuned her ears to the noise.
“The diner is about half-full, but she’s the only one on shift. My sister is delivering peacock sculptures to Denver. I heard that Louise’s kids have a bug.”
“Good for Riley, bad for Louise.” She dug into her pancakes and moaned. “So good.”
“Killing me with the sounds, Sosie.”
Her insides felt warm and fuzzy. Her heart did a cartwheel, and a double flip before it struck the landing. She arrived in Aspen Cove, feeling like her life was over, and today, she thought maybe it had just begun.
As they finished the meal, and she pulled a twenty from her wallet, Doc walked up. She recognized his arrival by his shuffle and aftershave. It was the kind he stocked in the pharmacy, the type that cost less than ten bucks a bottle.
“How are you two faring?” He asked in a gravelly voice.
She knew her face had a wide, silly grin plastered on it. Her cheeks ached from it, but she couldn’t make it go away.
“I’m great. Thank you for forcing Baxter to take me on.”
“He didn’t force me.” Baxter piped in. “He convinced me, and I don’t regret it for a second.”
Her grin turned into a full-blown smile.
“Well, I’m glad to see you two together.” He gave her a gentle pat on the back. “You could do far worse than this young man.”
“Oh, we’re not—”
“Nonsense. I can see it on your face. You’re smitten with the lad. As for you, young man, you probably couldn’t do much better, so you better lock this one down soon. I hear we’ve got a lot more competition in town with the band and the new deputy sheriff. Lock it down, I tell ya.”
She burst into laughter and reached across the table to feel for Baxter’s hand, but found his plate first. When she left her hand in the center of the table, he took it.
“I’m not looking for love, and neither is Baxter, but we’re becoming friends.” She hoped she hadn’t misspoken because she hadn’t known him for long, but she shared a lifetime of emotions with him since their first meeting. That made him closer than any friend she’d had in the past.
“Lie to yourself all you want.” Doc turned and shuffled away.
“Silly old man,” she said.
“Wise old man,” Baxter replied.
She took a final bite of her pancakes and considered his statement. Was Baxter feeling the things she was? Was a relationship, despite all the challenges, possible?
Chapter Twelve
At Red’s house, Sosie tried to sit in the car, but he coaxed her to come inside and help. She had a good handle on color, and it was fun watching her light up when she talked about how things blended together.
“I hear you’re a wizard with color, Sosie,” Red said.
Baxter watched her cheeks pink from the compliment.
“Color has always been my passion.” Her smile faltered. “I miss it.”
“Is there a particular color you miss?” Red asked.
She giggled. “Red, of course.”
“It’s the best,” Red said.
Baxter set his hand at the small of Sosie’s back and moved with her to the kitchen. “Red chose painted green, antiqued cabinets.”
“What color green?”
He knew she’d want specifics and imagined she could still visualize every color she’d ever seen in her mind.
“I’d call it sage. What about you, Red?”
“I guess. I know nothing about color. All I know is I liked the aged look, and it seemed to go with my brand-new Victorian.”
“There’s an oxymoron for you,” she said. “What do you plan to do with the counters and floors?”
“I think that’s why you and Baxter are here.”
“I’d stay neutral.” Baxter turned to look at Sosie. “What do you think?”
“I agree. What about something that pulls the dusky tones from the sage like a silver-gray, or if you want something warmer, how about a sandstone or buff-colored counter?”
Baxter pulled a sample brochure from behind the papers on his clipboard, and Red pointed to the fabricated buff-colored stone counter.
They talked about the flooring, which would be a golden oak and picked out tile for the bathrooms.
Sosie’s exuberance came forth each time they spoke about color palettes. She lived for color and was now in a colorless world, and he didn’t know how she survived.
They left Red’s house with a promise to return once the materials arrived. It wouldn’t take him long to complete the band members’ homes once he started.
Baxter watched her buckle herself into the car and sit patiently until he turned the key.
“Where to now?” she asked.
“I have to work on tearing up the old floors in Merrick’s house.”
“Oh,” her shoulders slumped forward. “I guess I’ll go sit in the diner then.”
It was obvious she enjoyed spending time with him, and he with her. He questioned the wisdom of bringing a sight-impaired woman to a construction zone. What could it hurt?
“Do you want to come with me?”
Her shoulders uncurled, and her chin lifted. “Can I? I promise not to get in the way.”
He had a thought but wasn’t sure if it was wise. “If you’re coming along, you’re working.”
“I am?”
“Are you feeling frustrated with your situation?”
“Beyond.” She shifted, so she halfway faced him.
Was it a habit that made her turn to him like a sunflower to the sun—a learned behavior to face those who spoke to you, or was it something more?
After spending the night in her bed, they seemed like something more. He hadn’t made any moves to make it so, but he felt differently about her today than yesterday.
“You can take your frustrations out on the floor.”
He drove to Merrick’s place and parked in the driveway.
“Do I get to hit stuff?”
“Do you want to hit stuff?”
“Yes, I wish there was one of those places where you can throw plates or bash TVs. I could use a rage room right about now.”
“Destroying the canvas wasn’t enough?”
“Not by a long shot. I could be a human wrecking ball if you let me.”
She unbuckled her seat belt and gripped the door handle.
“How about we start with the kitchen floor?”
“Do I get a sledgehammer?”
“Not sure if that’s wise. Let’s play it by ear.”
He went to the back of his truck, where he kept his tools, and got two pairs of safety glasses, two hard hats, and the weapons of destruction he’d need to remove the tile floor.
With her cane in her hand, she tapped her way onto the sidewalk. Compelled to take care of her, he moved toward her, but coddling her was the wrong move. She needed to be independent, and the foreign desire to care for her needed quelling.
“I’ll meet you
at the door.”
He leaned against the truck and observed her make her way. His heart shattered watching her cautiously walk to the door. He was one part devastated on her behalf, and the other part in awe of her courage to step forward at all.
He gathered the tools and joined her on the porch. “Today, we’ll take out the floors in the kitchen.”
“Just tell me what to do.”
Once in the house, they moved quickly to the kitchen, where he took the sledgehammer to the floor. Garbed in safety glasses, a hard hat, and one of his flannel shirts to protect her arms, she leaned on the counter and jolted each time the hammer crashed against the tile.
“You want to try it?”
The corners of her mouth turned up and lifted her lips into a smirk. “Really?”
It probably wasn’t wise, but it would be therapeutic. “Sure, just give me time to get out of your way.” He put the sledgehammer in her hands and moved back. “Okay, swing it over your head and give it a good whack. When you hit the floor, think of something you despise.”
She swung it and laughed when it hit the floor. Repeatedly, she beat the same section of flooring until it was nothing more than chips. She cried out in anger and frustration with every hit.
Tears leaked from her eyes. Winded, she leaned on the handle and sucked in great shuddering breaths.
Losing her balance, she fell to her knees.
The chips had to cut into the denim of her pants and dig into her knees, but her cries didn’t change. She let out a consistent wail like the kind when a child is lost and searching for their mother. It was fear-filled and mournful.
He couldn’t stand to see her in such pain, so he moved forward and pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got you.”
She curled onto his lap and held on to him like he was the last tether to her existence.
“I’m so sorry. It’s—”
“No need to be sorry. I apologize for putting you in this position. I shouldn’t have given you the sledgehammer. Maybe it wasn’t such a smart idea.”
With her hands wrapped around his waist, she rubbed her face against his shirt. “No, it was good. You don’t how much rage I kept locked away. Sure, I’m crying, but it’s from the release. I feel lighter than I have in months.”
“But you look so sad.” He tilted her chin up and thumbed the tears from her cheeks.
“I am sad. There are so many things that I can’t do anymore, and I miss those things.”
“Like what?”
She took in a shaky breath. “Like run, and dance, and drive a car.”
“You can do all those things.” He shifted her off his lap and stood. Pulling out his phone, he queued up a song from his playlist. It was a soft ballad by the Eagles. “Let’s dance.” He took her hand and held it next to his chest while his free hand wrapped around her back to pull her close. While the soles of their shoes kicked up the pieces of tile beneath them, he moved her around the kitchen as Timothy B. Schmit sang about love and loss.
The song came to a close, but they swayed to soundless music that only played in their hearts.
The beauty of the moment ended when her phone rang and told her Theresa was calling. She pulled it from her pocket and stepped away.
“Good morning, Theresa.”
He couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but he could feel the tension in the air.
“You can send it to where I’m staying.”
She asked him the address and recited it back to her manager. When she hung up, she appeared more tense than she was when they’d begun.
“What’s up?”
He picked up a long-handled scraper and went to work lifting the tile pieces still stuck to the floor.
“She said there was official correspondence she needed to forward.”
“That sounds okay. Why the glum look?” What he wanted to ask was why she allowed the elephant to sit in the room. He’d recently banished it, and while it was away for those few seconds, it had grown to twice its size.
“She ruined my dance,” Sosie complained.
“Only if you let her. I found out a long time ago that people can only influence your mood if you give them the power to do so.”
A slight smile lifted her frown. “You’re right.” She nodded. “You’re so right.” She leaned against the counter. “Did you say the band was playing on the Fourth of July at the park?”
“Yep, it should be fun. Would you like to go with me?” It was only a couple of days away. This year, they were doing two free concerts, one on the Fourth, and their annual Fireman’s Fundraiser concert in late August. By then, he should have their homes squared away.
“Are you asking me on a date?”
A chuckle bubbled up inside him. “Seems only right since I’ve already slept in your bed.”
“Then, yes. I’ll go, but I want to dance again. When I’m with you, I almost feel like myself again.”
He wanted her to feel like herself. Losing her eyesight didn’t make her less of a woman. In his eyes, she’d have to become more of one given the challenges she would face.
They worked side by side for the next hour. She enjoyed sliding the scraper along the floor, and he didn’t mind doing the cleanup.
While his hands were busy, his mind worked twice as hard. “We danced. Let’s work on that bucket list. Losing your sight doesn’t mean you have to stop living.”
“I think if I ran or drove, that might do me in for good.” She swiped at the bead of sweat running from her hairline to her forehead.
“Nonsense.” He had an idea, but it would take faith on her part and a big open piece of land. He tugged his phone from his pocket, walked into the other room, and dialed his friend Cade. When he picked up, Baxter said, “I need a big favor.”
“You’re insane,” Sosie said. She gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. He strapped himself into the passenger seat and tugged on the belt to make sure it was secure.
“You wanted to drive. You’re driving.”
“Where are we?” She turned her head as if she could see where they were.
“Don’t worry, there’s nothing you can hit. When you’re ready, hit the gas. It’ll be bumpy because we’re in a field, but don’t worry. Just drive.”
She panted out a few breaths like he’d seen on TV when women were about to give birth, and then she eased her foot off the brake and onto the gas. Slowly she sped up until they were plowing through the field.
Cade had thought he was insane, too, but he was happy to help. His friend had learned recently not to judge. It was a hard-learned lesson that almost cost him his sister and Abby, the love of his life. While he loved the ranch he was building, Cade realized it would be nothing without family.
“Woo-hoo,” she yelled as she bounced in the seat. “Can I turn?”
“You better, or we’ll hit a fence.”
Her beautiful mouth dropped open. “A fence?” She slammed on the brakes, and the seat belt pinched at his shoulder. “I was about to hit a fence?”
“No, not yet, but you can’t go forever and not hit something.”
She turned the truck forty-five degrees to the left and hit the gas again. “How much space do I have?”
He looked out the window and judged the distance. “A half a mile or so.”
“Oh my goodness, this feels so good. I wish this was a convertible. Could you imagine how good the wind would feel in your hair?”
“Roll down the window.” He reached up and pressed the button for the sunroof. It slid back, and a breeze kicked up, taking her long strands of blonde hair with it.
He watched the joy on her face, and the light dance in her eyes. When he turned back to face the window, he saw something in the distance coming at them fast.
“Brake! Brake! Hit the brake!”
She shoved her foot down, coming to a screeching halt, but it was a little too late. The truck shuddered when it hit the mass.
“Oh my
God, what did I hit?” She threw the truck into park, unbuckled, and exited quickly, running to the front of the vehicle. She dropped to her knees, feeling around. “Baxter, what did I run over? Is it dead?”
He moved beside her and stared at the bale of hay that was no longer in a neat cube and certainly dead. Wyatt must have put it out here to feed the horses that often grazed in the field. “Yep, you killed it.”
“Oh, no.”
He reached over and removed several pieces of hay from her hair. “Not a breath of life left in it.” He collapsed onto the pile and pulled her to him. “It’s hay, Sosie. You killed a bale of hay.”
She clenched her fingers into her palm and punched him. For someone who couldn’t see where she threw her fist, she had perfect aim when she hit the crest of his bicep.
“How could you tease me like that?” She pounded on his chest. It wasn’t painful, but playful. “I thought I’d killed a person or an animal.” She lifted her nose in the air. “It smells like cows out here. It could have been a cow.”
He pulled her down to lay beside him. “There are no cows in this pasture today. I made sure.” He caressed her cheek and brushed his thumb against her soft skin. “Did you enjoy the drive?”
Her tongue slipped out to slick her lips. “You don’t know how amazing that was. I actually drove with the wind in my hair.”
“Sunroofs are a good addition.” He leaned in until his lips almost touched hers. “Sosie, I want to kiss you. Are you okay with that?”
“Dancing, driving, and a kiss from a hot guy? Can my day get any better?”
“Probably, but let’s not overdo it.” He pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss.
She inched her body closer until they touched from lips to knees. She opened her mouth just a little, but it was enough for him to slip his tongue inside. Velvety sweetness glided across his taste buds, and her moan filled his ears.
One hand moved to her back while the other threaded through her hair. He turned his head slightly for a better angle and deepened the kiss. Tasting, touching, tantalizing each other, they laid in the hay, wrapped up in each other for several minutes until she broke away flushed and breathless. He’d never seen anything so beautiful.
One Hundred Glances (An Aspen Cove Small Town Romance Book 14) Page 9
