by Liz Isaacson
Gym equipment lined the far wall, leaving the rest of the large room open. Black mats had been fitted together to create a softer floor, and at least two dozen women loitered in small groups, chattering. None of them seemed to know the sun had barely risen.
Renee shifted one way, then the next, her eye catching on her realtor’s. The way Mya had appraised her once she’d seen Justin flashed through Renee’s mind, but she headed in that direction anyway.
“Hey, Mya.” She put on a smile she hoped looked normal.
“Renee.” She returned the smile, but it was short lived and low on actual happiness to see Renee. “This is Joy and Valerie. They live down the street from me.”
Renee grinned and shook hands with the women, one blonde-haired and one on the mousy side of brown. “Where do you guys live?”
“Over in Pheasant Springs,” Joy said, like Renee should know where that was. She nodded like she did.
“Renee just moved into Canyon Glen,” Mya said. “One of the older homes that was incorporated into the new lots.”
Joy, the blonde who certainly didn’t eat more than a single bite of ice cream, seemed interested. “Oh, do you like it? I used to live in Canyon Glen.”
“It’s wonderful,” Renee said, keeping the bit about how this was the first place she’d ever lived on her own under her tongue. “I think I’m going to paint the outside a different color, but other than that, I like it.”
Mya tilted her head to the side, her dark curls falling over her shoulder despite the ponytail she’d pulled them into. “You don’t like the blue?”
“I—” Renee cut off when Joy’s hand landed on her arm. “You live in the blue bungalow?”
Renee took in the interest in her eyes, the sparkle almost as bright as the one she’d seen in Justin’s eyes when he spoke about the rodeo. “Yeah, I just moved in a couple of weeks ago.”
“I used to live there.” Joy grinned, and Renee basked in the genuine comfort of it. “We put in the garden spot in the back the first year we were married.” She turned when the instructor called out that class was about to begin.
Renee put her purse down along the wall and lined up next to Joy, the connection there the strongest she’d had since moving to Brush Creek. “How long ago was that?” she asked.
“About ten years,” she said. “What about you? Are you married?”
“Oh, no.” Renee bent at the waist into a lunge position when everyone else did. Her back pulled like it hadn’t been bent that way in a while. It hadn’t. “I’m only twenty-four.”
Joy laughed as she twisted from side to side, her midsection already toned and ready for whatever horrors lay ahead. “I was married and pregnant by twenty-four. Trust me, it can be done.”
Renee paused in her stretching, marveling at the woman next to her. How did some people have everything so put together? When the instructor came toward her, she snapped back into motion, dismissing her thoughts. She was fine. She wasn’t worth less because she was overweight, or because she wasn’t married yet, or because she didn’t put in garden spots.
“All right,” the instructor called. The woman looked like she was made of steel and muscle. “Legs up, ladies!”
A groan escaped Renee’s mouth when she saw how high the knees in the room went. She’d be lucky if she survived ten minutes of this class.
“Oh, my stars,” she said, her mouth already watering and they hadn’t even gotten out of the truck yet. “It smells like syrup.” She twisted back to Justin who draped one hand lazily over the steering wheel.
“You like syrup, obviously.”
“Who doesn’t like syrup?” She turned back to her open window, inhaling deeply the sweet, maple scent and letting it drift through her nose. She rationalized that she could eat the sugary syrup after that brutal workout. She’d left half her body weight in sweat on those black mats, seemingly the only woman in the room who dared to perspire.
Justin parked and Renee opened her door and slid from the truck, every muscle in her body protesting the movement.
“You okay?” Justin reached for her and slipped his arm around her back. “Why are you limping?”
She straightened her spine with great difficulty—and a groan. “I’m fine.”
He eyed her suspiciously but let the topic drop. They moved through the line without incident, and Renee took one pancake when she normally would’ve taken two. With her phone at home and with light syrup on her single flapjack, Renee made it through breakfast with a smiling Justin. They walked over to Main Street from the park, where the parade would start in an hour.
“Landon always comes down on Friday night and saves a spot for the ranch,” Justin explained on the short walk over. “I forgot to tell you that. Is it okay if we sit with them?”
Renee swung her hand waist-high, taking his with hers. “That’s fine. I haven’t met any of your friends.”
“They’re great,” he said. “I think you’ll like them.” They crossed the street to the south side, where most of the trees stood. A section had been roped off with what looked like baling twine, and several camp chairs lined the grass where it met the sidewalk.
Renee recognized the family he’d come to the ice cream social with. Walker and Tess, if she remembered right. The two tween boys wrestled on a blanket in front of the row of chairs, and Renee couldn’t remember their names.
Another tall cowboy with a set of twins stepped over the twine, a dark-haired woman with hair almost as curly as Renee’s right behind him. She spread another blanket out and threw some toys onto it. The man set the toddlers on the ground and sat with them on the blanket while the woman settled into the chair behind them.
“Landon,” Justin said, and the man with the twins glanced up. “This is Renee Martin.”
Landon scrambled to his feet and grinned for all he was worth. “Renee, of course. You’re the one who’s been stealing Justin from us in the evenings.”
Renee curled into Justin’s side. “I’ve been trying.”
Landon’s smile felt infectious, and his eyes were in the same family of green as pine trees. “Well, come sit down.” Landon gestured toward the chairs at the back of the space. “Do you know my wife, Megan?”
“No, I don’t think we’ve met.” Renee stepped over to the other woman, who welcomed her without a single shred of judgment in her dark eyes.
“I don’t get off the ranch much,” she confessed. “The twins keep me running from sunup to sundown.”
“I bet.” Renee settled into a chair with Justin next to her. He secured her hand in his again, almost like he didn’t want to let her go. “So how many cowboys live up at the ranch?” she asked him.
He nodded at Walker and Landon. “Those two. Walker’s the foreman. Landon’s the owner of the ranch. There are four other cowboys. Ted, Grant, Emmett, and Blake.” He glanced around like they’d all materialize out of thin air. “Blake’s gone home for the weekend. His family lives in Colorado, only a few hours away. Grant has himself a new girl…somewhere, so he probably won’t come. But Ted—”
“Has just arrived.” A booming voice interrupted Justin and a bear of a man sank into the chair beside Justin’s. “And this must be the beautiful woman you’re always goin’ on about during lunch.”
Justin chuckled, but the sound got stuck in his throat. He glanced at Renee, and she adored the flush creeping up his throat. “Ted,” he said. “This is Renee Martin.”
Ted leaned forward, his black cowboy hat doing nothing to obscure his vibrant eyes the color of coal and his full beard. “Renee Martin, that’s right. Nice to meet you.” He extended his arm across Justin, who leaned back in his chair with a distasteful look on his face.
“Is Emmett coming?” Justin asked.
“He’s parkin’ the truck.”
Several minutes later, another cowboy arrived, and Renee thought she’d mix them all up. They must’ve only sold one color of cowboy hat in town, because they all looked identical. No one ever took theirs off, thoug
h they must’ve been sweating underneath all that felt.
Renee didn’t mind. Tess and Megan engaged her in conversation, and they didn’t seem to mind that she was dating Justin. In fact, Tess said something along the lines of “it’s about time he got serious about someone.”
She’d laughed off the comment and when she’d glanced at Justin, he didn’t seem to have heard as he was engaged in a conversation with Ted. While the band marched by, Renee stood and clapped along, a smile stuck to her face, but her mind racing.
Were she and Justin serious? They’d known each other for a month. He hasn’t dated in two years, she told herself. So yeah. Dating you for a month is probably pretty serious for him.
The smile became more genuine as her thoughts calmed and she accepted that maybe Justin liked her as much as she liked him.
Chapter Ten
Weeks passed, and Justin settled into a familiar routine. He started rising a half an hour earlier so he could take Roy for a vigorous walk before it got too hot. He worked all day, ate lunch with the other boys, and went down to town in the evenings.
He liked spending time with Renee, but he certainly wasn’t taking things to the next level. He’d heard what Tess had said at the parade, and it grated inside him every time he thought about it—which was every time he saw Tess or Walker, which was every stinking day.
He wasn’t serious with Renee after only a couple of months. And even if he was, how would Tess know?
“Come on, boy,” he called to his dog one morning in early August. The English shepherd poked his head up, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. A rush of affection for the dog dove through Justin. He loved Roy.
Just like he loved Renee.
He pushed the feelings away. So he’d developed a soft spot for the woman. Didn’t mean he was in love with her. But he did find himself looking at her the way he was currently watching Roy. With affection. With fondness for the simplest things.
Sometimes she’d fall asleep while they watched a movie, and he’d gaze down on her with that adoration curling through him. He found himself watching her when he showed up at her house and she was stirring something on the stove, her headphones in and dancing until she caught him leaning in the doorway, a satisfied smile on his face. The same smile he wore now as Roy tore through the sage brush with the ball in his mouth.
He dropped it at Justin’s feet, who bent to retrieve it, scrubbing the dog’s head affectionately. Justin sat on the ground and looked at the world around him. “What am I doing, Roy? Huh?”
The dog panted in response, put his front paws in Justin’s lap, and collapsed next to him. He seemed to wear a perpetual smile, and Justin stole from the animal’s calm demeanor.
“All right.” He pushed himself to a standing position with a groan. “Time to get to work. C’mon.” They walked back to the cabin, where Justin fed the dog and made sure he had plenty of cool water to drink. Then he headed across the lane to the ranch, where another fiery woman awaited him.
Red Star had settled a little over the course of the past couple of months, but she still had several hurdles to overcome before he could even bring out a rope. She’d been saddled, and he’d ridden her, but she needed to work on her focus and it would take months to get her to leap from the gate properly.
Justin didn’t mind. Out here, he had nothing but time.
That night, just to prove he wasn’t serious with Renee, he texted her to say he wouldn’t be coming down to her bungalow.
Renee: Why not?
Justin: I’m tired. Been getting up early.
Renee: Maybe I can come up there.
Justin: If you want.
He never in a million years thought she’d come. But a couple of hours later, just as darkness was falling, someone knocked on his cabin door. It didn’t sound like the burly knock of another cowboy—and they knocked and entered in the same breath anyway.
Justin launched himself off his couch, where he’d been dozing with Roy, and yanked open the door to find a sweaty, red-faced Renee standing on his porch. “Finally,” she pushed past him and went straight into the kitchen.
He turned to watch her, more than a little stunned. “Did you walk up here?”
“I ran part of the way,” she said over her shoulder as she filled a glass with water from his sink.
“Ran?” Justin practically whispered the word as he took in the curves of Renee’s body in her tight workout clothes. He started toward her, suddenly realizing that his beautiful, curvy Renee was a little…bonier.
He slid his hand up her side as she drained the last of her water. He knew better than to ask a woman if she’d lost weight. He also had eyes, and while he hadn’t noticed until now, looking down into Renee’s face, he could definitely tell the lines of her face were more pronounced.
She stared up at him too, something akin to wonder in her expression. “What?” he asked.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without your cowboy hat.” She reached up and ran her fingers lightly through his hair. “Yeah, this is nice.” A smile bloomed on her face, and tingles flowed down Justin’s back with the intimacy of her touch.
Unable to stop himself, he tipped his head down to kiss her. Her fingers along the back of his neck and in his hair caused the single best sensation he’d had while kissing a woman, and he vowed never to wear his cowboy hat again.
He forced himself to pull away when he wanted to keep kissing Renee. “You’re sexy when you’re sweaty,” he growled into her ear, which elicited a little laugh that was much better than the giggle she usually emitted.
She began to sway, and he went with her, this dancing to silent music sweet and peaceful.
“Justin?” she murmured.
“Yeah?” He kneaded her closer, held her tighter.
“Where do you see this going?”
His comfort fled, and his grip tightened even more. “What? You mean us?”
“Yeah, I mean us.” She nestled her face into the crook of his neck and took a deep breath, which set his nerve endings on fire.
“I know how relationships end,” he said, gazing into the dusky sky outside his kitchen window. “There’s only one of two ways, right?”
“A break-up or a wedding,” she whispered.
He nodded, his mind churning. He didn’t want to break up with Renee, that was for sure. But at the same time, he absolutely wasn’t ready to marry her either.
His gut twisted. He wasn’t even sure he could propose to a third woman for a third time. Intellectually, he knew the words to use. But getting his voice to say them?
Wasn’t gonna happen.
She put a knuckle of distance between them, enough to lean back and look into his face. He appreciated the maturity he found there, wished he could erase the fear, basked in the affection.
“I think I’m in love with you,” she whispered, the fear blanking from her eyes, leaving only the adoration, the passion.
Justin knew he should say it back. Tell her how he really felt.
But fear took hold of his vocal chords and squeezed, and he couldn’t say anything.
A week later, Justin muscled a bale of hay off the trailer and into the barn. He’d been working non-stop for days. That way he didn’t have to think, didn’t have to remember the way he’d just stood in his kitchen, mute. Didn’t have to see the horror on Renee’s beautiful face, didn’t have to endure the silent ten-minute drive back to her house.
He’d tried to explain once he’d pulled into her driveway, but she held up one hand and said, “Don’t, Justin.” Her bottom lip wobbled, and her eyes filled with tears. “Call me later.”
It was later, and he hadn’t called. He expected she would, as Renee didn’t keep anything bottled up for longer than five minutes. But she hadn’t either, which testified of her extraordinary determination.
That, or she’d found someone else to talk to in the evenings.
Justin lifted a hay bale with each hand, hefting the fifty-pound weights and tossing them o
ff the trailer. It was a bit too much weight for him, but it effectively erased Renee from his mind.
He tossed another bale and glanced up when a woman said, “Whoa. You almost hit me with that.”
“Sorry, Megan.” He straightened and pressed a kink from his back. “Is it time for lunch?”
“Lunch was two hours ago.”
Justin frowned and tried to check his watch, but the leather gloves he wore prevented him from seeing the time. “Really?”
“I yelled at you from the backyard. You even waved, but you didn’t come in.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, and he meant it. He glanced at the half-full trailer of hay bales. “Must’ve just gotten busy.”
“I’ve never known your stomach to miss a meal.” She cocked her head and peered at him. “I haven’t seen you leaving the ranch in the evenings the way you used to.”
“Been busy.” He jumped down from the trailer, eager to wrap up this conversation. “I’ll go grab something at home. Sorry I missed lunch.”
“No problem.”
He walked way, but he felt the weight of her eyes on his back. He wondered what she’d tell Landon, and if he’d show up on Justin’s doorstep to lecture him about love.
It took another week, and Landon didn’t come alone. Walker stood with him, and Megan had clearly spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, because Landon carried a paper plate full of chocolate chip cookies.
His biggest weakness, blast them all.
“I guess you better come in.” He stepped back from the door. “Hottest week of the summer, and you’re lettin’ all the air conditioning out.”
Walker cocked one eyebrow. “Are you an eighty-year-old woman now?” He chuckled as he entered the house. “But it does feel good in here.”
Landon followed Justin into the kitchen and unwrapped the plate of cookies. “Megan is worried about you.”
“Why? I’m just fine.”
“You’ve reverted back to how you were when you first came to us.”
“I was fine then too.”
Walker scoffed as he picked up a cookie. “Yeah, you were happy and full of life. Walkin’ your dog in the mornings, going fishing every weekend, whistling while you worked for those first few months. Then you dressed yourself up real nice and went down to the church. You came back a different man, JayJ.”
