Jenna took a minute to explain while Peggy wrote up a bill of sale.
“Do I pay now?” Jenna opened her purse.
“No, just write down your address and phone number. You can pay my husband when he delivers.”
Driving off, Jenna felt a real sense of accomplishment.
“Can we stop for drinks at Dairy Queen? If we buy Flynn one, we can go to his work and maybe he’ll let Beezer come home with us.”
Her kid had a one-track mind.
She was about to remind her that they were supposed to be calling Keisha’s mom when she spotted a plane overhead that returned her thoughts to their earlier low flyer.
Flynn had said he’d talked to the pilot. Perhaps it was time she did, too. “We can do that. Flynn may be busy preparing for the air show. If he doesn’t have time to chat, or if he’d rather Beezer stay there, promise you won’t fuss.”
“I won’t.” Andee kicked her feet against the back of Jenna’s seat. Something she only did when she was excited.
They pulled into the drive-through and Jenna ordered iced tea for herself and Flynn. Andee got lemonade and a cup of water for Beezer.
They were under way again when she said, “Look. What’s that?”
Having turned onto the road to the airpark, Jenna saw it was the carnival that had caught Andee’s attention. Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea. She offered a few sketchy details about it being Pancho Villa Days.
“The kids we went to the school playground with called it a carnival. And said they have better rides than the ones at the playground.”
To divert her attention, Jenna stepped on the gas and pointed out changes at the airpark. “Heavens, I can’t believe how fast they’ve put up a chain-link fence to cordon off all those airplanes.”
“Will Flynn take us up in one?”
“No.” Jenna’s shoulders tightened.
This definitely isn’t a good idea.
She gripped the wheel and drove to the office, where Flynn stood in full sun talking with two men.
As she’d done at their first visit, Andee threw off the shackles of her seat belt and exploded from the backseat. Unlike the first time, Jenna saw when Andee ran to Flynn, her arms up, a smile wreathed his face. Catching her, he swung her high.
The air around Jenna stilled. She fought mixed emotions as she collected their drinks and got out.
The men smiled and said something to Flynn, then walked off. He set Andee down and, déjà vu, Beezer charged out of one of the hangars. The laughing girl tackled him as Flynn strode up to Jenna.
She passed him the cold cup. In spite of condensation cooling the plastic, Jenna felt the warmth of his fingers when they brushed hers. “Why are you looking at me like that?” Her voice held a tremor.
“I’m parched and you’re a sight for sore eyes.” Leaning in, he kissed her full on the mouth.
She took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “I bought alpacas. Andee asked to see if you’d let Beezer go home with us.” By then, girl and dog had run to the car, so they made their way over. She reached in and got the water.
The adults watched the dog slurp it down to the bottom.
Flynn’s smile tilted. “I should start leaving him at home. With all his fur, the next month or so it’ll be too hot even in the shade. I’ll install a cooler on the office once I get money coming in from flying lessons.”
“I hope you give the guy lessons who owns the red-and-white aircraft. I thought he’d crash into my pens today. The fence builders hit the ground.”
Frowning, Flynn gestured with his cup as a lanky kid left the hangar. “Speak of the devil, there’s Travis now. He flew in a while ago.” Flynn raised his voice and called the young man over. “Travis, this is Jenna Wood. She’s telling me you buzzed her ostrich pens again this morning. That has to stop. We discussed it before.”
The kid glared at Jenna and she scowled back. “Stop or I will report you to the sheriff and the FAA.”
Travis swept past, stalking to a spit-polished red Corvette. He jumped in and roared off.
“Wow. Charming fellow.” Jenna signaled Andee to get in the SUV. Beezer followed, so Jenna closed the door.
“I told his dad if he doesn’t shape up I’ll refund their money and ask Travis to park his plane elsewhere. Dayton, that’s his dad, promised he’d find time to talk to his son.”
“That’s good. Hey, I’ll leave you to your work. I see the men you were talking to when I drove in are unloading a ticket booth. Looks like you’re set for the air show.”
“Almost. What do you think of the monster B-17 in the field?”
“I hope it doesn’t fly over my pens or the birds will die of fright.”
“It won’t. And neither will Travis. He’ll be back after lunch, and I’ll make that abundantly clear.”
Jenna nodded. “We drove by the carnival. Andee asked questions. It may be hard to keep taking her as a surprise.”
“Even if you tell her, since neither of you has ever been it’ll be special.” Flynn held her cup while Jenna got into the car. He stretched across her to set her cup in the holder and extricated himself slowly. At one point their breaths mingled, leaving the air in the front seat so supercharged Jenna assumed he intended to kiss her goodbye. He only smiled a killer smile that left her knees trembling as he shut her door.
She reached home before the feeling faded and decided then and there that, yes, she wanted to explore their relationship.
* * *
THE REST OF the week sailed by. Different groups of fence workers showed up to set posts, pour concrete and stretch wire to form the new pens into an L shape off the old ones.
Jenna drove to Albuquerque one day to buy canvas for shade canopies. While there, she stopped at a nursery and bought half a dozen small trees to plant strategically outside the pens.
Barney laughed when she returned home and showed him. “Ms. Jenna, those won’t shade a mouse.”
“At the nursery they said these trees are water thrifty and perfect for xeriscapes. They don’t grow fast, but give them time.”
Barney helped her plant them.
Friday came before Jenna thought about what one wore to a carnival.
“What are we doing?” Andee asked when her mom insisted she take a midmorning bath and change clothes.
“You’ll see.”
Surprisingly, it was Jenna who anxiously paced, awaiting Flynn’s lunchtime arrival. “Ah, here he is.” She hastily gathered their jackets, told Beezer to stay and hustled her daughter out. “Do you need anything from the house?” she belatedly asked him.
He shook his head as they climbed into his pickup.
“Why can’t Beezer come with us?” Andee sounded mystified.
“It’s a people outing, Andee.”
Jenna loved seeing how big Andee’s eyes got when fifteen minutes later Flynn pulled in behind a line of cars being directed to park in a vacant lot adjacent to the carnival.
Jenna had folded cash into her jeans’ pocket, but Flynn had pre-bought tickets that allowed them to pass the waiting families and go straight in.
“Look, look!” Andee squealed. “There’s Emily and Joey. They were at story hour.”
On hearing their names, the other children turned. Spotting Andee, they dragged their parents over. This wasn’t the Lipmans’ first carnival. Their kids advised starting at the Tilt-A-Whirl. “Then do the Zipper and Drop Tower before you eat, or you’ll barf,” Joey, wise for seven, said.
Jenna and Sue Lipman declined to go on the first two rides. Darrell Lipman and Flynn had no such compunction. They were as excited as the kids.
Standing below the Zipper, Jenna could see Andee clinging to Flynn once the equipment fired up and made its first spin around. Screams and laughter rose from the riders.
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Jenna, who’d only ever seen TV ads for amusement parks, stood transfixed. The whole area was awash in noise and light. The carnival breathed out pungent odors. Some tart. Some sweet. Jenna thought she’d feel lost after they parted from the other family, but Flynn slung an arm around her, holding her close as Andee chose the Scrambler.
Two rides later, the girl was beside herself because they went on the ride she’d tried to tell Jenna days ago looked like an octopus, and it was indeed called that.
“You have to ride the Ferris wheel with us,” Flynn insisted.
“Are you kidding me?” Jenna pressed the tips of her fingers against his chest. “I’m squeamish about heights.”
He hid his disappointment in delight after Andee dragged them to the carousel, and convinced Jenna to go along. “Mommy, we can all ride the white horses with the golden saddles and crowns. There are three in one row.”
“That I can do,” Jenna said and leaned her head against Flynn’s shoulder. They rode twice, and then because Andee discovered a sparkly pig she wanted to try, Flynn cajoled Jenna into joining him on a bench seat, bracketed by a pair of swans. He caught hold of her hand and draped his other arm around her, hugging her close.
Jenna reveled in the feel of his muscular torso. She let out a sigh. “I can’t believe how all these years I could’ve missed such fun,” she confessed.
“I haven’t been to a carnival in ages. I’m getting the most fun out of watching you and Andee soak in the sights and sounds.”
“It’s really like a magical world,” she said, snuggling closer.
Flynn pressed a kiss to her temple, then dropped one on the tip of her nose. Jenna’s sense of well-being blossomed like a rose.
Afternoon gave way to a lazy, warm summer evening. At a duck shoot on the midway, Flynn won Andee a giant stuffed panda. They moved toward the baseball throw, but stopped to see what had caused a small boy, age three or four, to be sobbing his heart out. The harried parents were quietly trying to explain they didn’t have any more money for rides or games.
Andee shook loose from Jenna’s hand. She went up to the boy and gave him her panda. “Here,” she said. “I have my Cubby Bear at home. I want you to have this one.”
She had such a good-hearted girl. Tears blurred Jenna’s sight for a moment.
She saw Flynn rub his thumb and forefinger quickly across his eyes before he went to the boy’s dad and pressed a string of tickets into the man’s hand. Then boosting Andee up in his arms, Flynn left the startled couple, who struggled to say thanks.
He smiled, took Jenna’s hand and they melted into the crowd. “Your mom and I are proud of you, Andee,” he said. “What you did was generous.”
“I only gave him a stuffed toy. You gave them all our tickets.” Andee looked sad until Flynn tossed her up, then caught her, saying, “I didn’t give them all away. I have plenty more for us to ride Bumper Cars, and buy corn dogs and cotton candy.”
Which they did. The junk food was surprisingly more satisfying than Jenna imagined. But once they wound down and she stopped to take stock of their time at the carnival, it wasn’t the event but sharing it with people she loved that left her floating in pleasure as Flynn drove home and Andee fell asleep in the backseat.
“You’re smiling,” he noted, his voice a low rumble.
“I am.” Burrowing into the leather seat back, Jenna turned her head toward him.
He reached out and cradled her hand in his. Stroking her knuckles, he said, “Are you overanalyzing again? I want this to be the first of many enjoyable family outings.”
“Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?”
“Maybe. But we’re not kids. I think we make a good team.” He promised something in his tone.
“Perhaps I’m dense, but it sounds as if you’re asking, uh, suggesting... Sorry if I’m misreading signals. What are you saying?”
“When I examine my life, I want you in it.” Flynn’s fingers tightened around hers. “You must think I fall in love all the time. I don’t. What I feel in my heart for you... It’s dug in. You may not be at the same point. All I’m asking you to do is think about us together for the long haul. Keep an open mind.”
“Flynn, are you proposing?”
“Not doing a good job of it, obviously.”
“I...can’t say yes. But I’m not saying no, either.” She looked up and out the window. “How long have we been parked in front of the house?”
“Awhile. Let’s call it a great night and go in, shall we?”
He carried the sleeping Andee to her bed and kissed Jenna good-night, leaving her wanting more.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JENNA DIDN’T SLEEP WELL. She wrestled with the notion of marrying Flynn. Was it too soon? He hadn’t said he loved her. But he had kissed her like a man who loved her. And he’d put his heart out there by asking her. Or had he asked? He’d implied it...
Her bedside clock ticked past 2:00 a.m., then three. Maybe she catnapped, because she dreamed of living with Flynn as husband and wife. At 4:15 a.m. she fluffed her pillow and began compiling a list of positives and negatives.
He was easy on the eyes. His smile caused butterflies in her stomach. He helped around the house and the ranch. She’d seen he kept his room tidy. She moved to the top of the list how good he was with Andee.
Then she got stuck on imagining having a baby with Flynn. She’d always wanted more kids. Flynn would be a wonderful dad. When all was said and done she had a long list of positive attributes—and only one negative. A big one.
Flynn loved flying. How could she ask him to give that up? It was part of his fabric. An integral part of the man she’d come to love. There it was—the crux of what caused her dilemma—his career.
He might crash and die.
She picked up the clock. It was 4:45 a.m. Slamming it back down, she got up and took a shower. She shouldn’t be surprised to see a light on in the kitchen or to find Flynn in there eating Froot Loops. He’d said he had to be at the airpark at six o’clock.
“I’m sorry if I woke you,” he said, looking up. “I tried to be quiet.”
Jenna was glad to see the coffee perked. Grabbing a mug, she filled it and went to stand beside him. “Yes.”
“Yes, I woke you? I am sorry.”
Clutching her mug in both hands, Jenna slugged some down. Looking over the rim at him, she said, “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
His mouth dropped but he didn’t say anything even though he tried to speak.
“You didn’t wake me,” she continued. “I didn’t sleep all night for thinking about how you half asked me so casually. You’d say I overanalyze, but I’m in love with you, and that’s the truth of it.”
Joy chased surprise across Flynn’s face. He dropped his spoon, shoved back his chair and sprang to his feet, tracing her cheekbones with his thumbs. Steadying her head, he kissed her long and deep.
Jenna closed her eyes. He tasted like cereal, milk, morning coffee and man. Feeling all tension leave her body, she feasted on his kiss and longed to touch him—to run her hands over the hard dips and muscles of his chest. Instead she gripped her mug tighter to keep from spilling hot coffee down both of them.
Flynn finally took a breath. Even then he ran his tongue over her lips and pressed his forehead to hers. “I was prepared to wait months. We aren’t finished talking. It’s a heck of a note that I have to work from dawn to dark for a while.”
Jenna felt his frustration. “It’s okay. We don’t need to rush to the courthouse or anything.”
Straightening, he let his fingers outline her chin. “True. But time is sometimes too short. We both know it,” he said, guiding her to a chair before retaking his.
Now Jenna felt shy. “I... My family will be surprised. Shocked is more like it,” she said, thinking of Melod
y and Rob, who were so sure she’d regret leaving the East Coast. “My sister teaches college. She and her husband plan to visit me over her Christmas break. We...uh... Could we get married then? Maybe my parents can come from Costa Rica.”
She stopped talking and looked at him.
“What about your family? I know you talk to your mother often. Won’t she want to be here? Unless she disapproves of you marrying someone who’s been married before and has a child.”
“Are you kidding?” Flynn swirled his spoon in his cereal. “She asks about you and Andee every time we talk. Mom will love you. So will my sister.”
“That’s nice.” Jenna feigned interest in the contents of her cup. “Nice, since you’ve not said you lo...love me.” She finally got it out.
“Oh.” Flynn chewed quickly, then swallowed in haste, too. “I thought I did, when I said I had fallen in love with you. I said that, didn’t I? I guess I supposed I’d made my feelings evident when I said, ‘You must think I fall in love all the time.’”
“You need to get better with words. I’m not the best at guessing. So...I don’t think you fall in love all the time. But...?”
He tipped her chin up. “I love you.” Each word hung between them as their eyes met, and his turned an intense midnight blue.
“I love you back.” It felt good to really make it clear.
Standing again, Flynn pulled her up and against him. “I can see there may be a big problem with waiting half a year to tie the knot.”
This time when he kissed her, Jenna agreed. When he released her and strode to the door, she was the one left without words. He went out and the screen door banged closed.
With knees of jelly, Jenna had to sit again. She registered the sound of his pickup starting and saw the headlights flash past the window and cut through the misty lavender of morning.
Maybe Melody and Rob could get away to visit at Thanksgiving. Or Halloween.
The sun rose, but she still dawdled.
Andee burst into the kitchen, bubbling over as she ate and recounted what she liked about every aspect of the carnival. After slurping milk, she said, “I’m glad Flynn left Beezer today, so he can play ball with me.”
An Unlikely Rancher Page 19
