Long Hard Fall
Page 19
“Abbi…” He licked his lips like he was nervous—because he had a horse, at a bank, in the middle of winter. “Abbi,” he started again, “dammit, I’ve been miserable. Tell me you’ve been just as miserable, too.”
“You know him?” Jessica breathed. She stood right next to Abbi, staring out the window.
God, Cash looked good. The clothes he wore under his standard tan coat made her mouth quirk. Black jeans and a white button-up shirt. He’d worn his good clothes for her.
“I just want you to know how sorry I am.” Hope flared in his expression, then died. “I can finally see why you were angry. You and I were a good team and I know we didn’t date long, but I didn’t need long to know you’re the girl for me.” A spark of alarm lit his gaze. “Unless you’ve found someone else, then Patsy Cline and I will get on along.”
Jessica slapped the speaker button. “She hasn’t. Totally single.”
“Jessica,” Abbi hissed. She slapped Jessica’s hand away to talk to Cash. “Cash, you’re on a damn horse in Green Bay in January.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Since we’re having a streak of unseasonably warm weather, the guys and I planned…this.”
“Just to talk to me?”
“We thought it struck a good balance between crazy and sincere.”
“They helped you plan this?”
Cash nodded solemnly. “They called me a ranching zombie on Christmas.”
Abbi swallowed, her throat suddenly tight with emotion. “I think they’d call me that, too. A banking zombie.”
“I would,” Jessica muttered.
“I talked to your parents,” he said.
Abbi’s jaw dropped again.
“I explained everything about Dan—Perry. And me.” He lifted a brow and gave her a pointed look. “Everything. I can’t say I won them over about me, but I think they’re reserving judgment until they see what you do.”
“You talked to my parents?”
He ducked his head. “Me and Dillon.”
Oh. She had to take a moment to process. What had they thought when Cash had shown up on their doorstep? How much did it matter to her what they thought?
Pasty Cline shifted, Cash atop her, calm as could be. Granted, they’d had a warm streak all week, but he’d driven here—with a horse. For her. And her parents. Because no matter what she told herself, it was important her parents accepted Cash. Not critical, but a deep need she wanted met.
He was here. After she’d given him a huge brush-off. Patsy Cline whinnied. Cash wouldn’t risk his horse. He was being smart, and crazy, but not irresponsible—because he knew that was what she wanted.
She tapped the speaker button. “Got room for one more?”
***
Cash waited for Abbi to slide into the booth, then he parked himself next to her.
“Oh!” Frankie’s mouth flickered like she was fighting a huge grin.
He glanced up. “I hope you don’t mind I brought a friend.”
“Travis’s plan worked, I see.” She sat across from them and her coworker loaded their table up with water and coffee.
“Barely.” Abbi rolled her eyes. “I mean, he had to beg and plead, and I just felt sorry for him and gave in.”
He draped an arm over the back of the booth and around Abbi’s shoulders, as if he hadn’t held her all weekend. Well…they’d been doin’ other stuff.
“Yeah, that’s why you rushed out and vaulted onto Patsy Cline’s back.”
“I did not vault.”
“High-jumped?”
“At least I waited to put in my notice at work until after we talked.”
“You were yelling as you ran out of the building.”
Frankie seemed to enjoy the banter. “I know Cash said he couldn’t meet last week and I wondered how it’d worked out.”
Cash nodded. “I wanted to surprise you, but we were moving her down.” He couldn’t get Abbi out of the shit-hole she’d lived in fast enough. Her meager belongings were piled in his garage to air out the stale smoke smell.
Frankie’s warm expression jumped back and forth between them. “I’m really happy you two are together.”
“I won’t crash every Monday,” Abbi said, “but I wanted to invite you over for dinner this weekend. Whenever works for you.”
Surprise crossed Frankie’s expression, replaced by delight. A flash of regret popped through his mind. He’d meant to be more than a melancholy grandson every Monday morning, but he’d never gotten around to having Frankie over for anything. He hadn’t been good enough company for anyone.
Frankie folded and unfolded a napkin. “Will it be just…us?”
Abbi nodded. “We’ll start slow and work others in as you’re more comfortable.”
“We all want you around,” he reassured her.
Abbi plowed forward, asking about the cats until Frankie visibly relaxed.
Before he met Abbi, it had been him. He had his cousins, his parents, Sissy, and Frankie, but ultimately, it’d been just him. But Abbi stepped into the circle with him and strengthened each and every bond to his family.
“I’m learning to ranch!” Abbi’s excitement was the best belated Christmas present.
Frankie chuckled and smiled at him. “You have a good teacher.”
Cash nodded. “We’d been talking about expanding the operation, and now that we have an extra body, we might as well put her to work.”
Abbi’s bright eyes sparkled. She ran through their unofficial plans. Cash kept her tucked in close until Frankie glanced at her watch. Her break had come to an end.
They gave her a time to show for dinner. Then Cash grasped Abbi’s hand and led her out.
“What now, boss?” Abbi teased.
“I think a girl needs a horse.”
Abbi stopped so suddenly, he almost ricocheted back to her. “You don’t just go buy a horse.”
“I know people.”
“But…aren’t they expensive?”
Cash ushered her to the pickup to get her out of the cold. He jogged around and climbed in. “You’re working for the ranch. You need your own horse. Besides, how else are you going to ride off into the sunset with me?”
She stared at him. “I feel like you trusting me with a horse means more than anything.”
It was why he was buying her the horse before the ring. He wanted her to know he had complete faith in her abilities before he proposed.
And to keep her parents from having a small heart attack at how fast they were moving.
She reached over to caress his face. “I love you, Cash.”
He gripped her hand in his. “I love you, too, honey.” And she’d find out how much when he gave her back the sketchbook he’d found when he was moving her out. She’d been in her bedroom packing and he’d opened it to see the drawing of him.
Right then, he’d flipped to the next page and scrawled the words he wanted her to read in exactly one month on Valentine’s Day.
Marry Me.
___________
Thank you for reading. I’d love to know what you thought. Please consider leaving a review at the retailer the book was purchased from.
~Marie
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About the Author
Marie Johnston writes paranormal and contemporary romance. Before she was a writer, she was a microbiologist. Depending on the situation, she can be oddly unconcerned about germs or weirdly phobic. She’s also a licensed medical technician and has worked as a public health microbiologist and as a lab tech in hospital and clinic labs. Marie’s been a volunteer EMT, a college instructor, a security guard, a phlebotomist, a hotel clerk, and a coffee pourer in a bingo hall. All fodder for a writer!! She has four kids, an old cat, and a puppy that’s bigger than half her kids.
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Fanboys:
Unmistaken Identity
Highest Bidder (Book 2—Coming Soon)
The Walker Five:
Conflict of Interest (Book 1)
Mustang Summer (Book 2)
Long Hard Fall (Book 3)
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
About the Author