by Liz Isaacson
“So let’s go over it,” he said, coming into her cabin. She loitered in the doorway, checking the yard. No one was there, but that didn’t mean people hadn’t seen him standing on the front porch.
Who cares? she asked herself. She was allowed to date Cache. But for some reason, she wanted to keep their relationship a secret a little longer. Just until she was ready to have the spotlight on her.
She backed up, closed the door, and turned to find him inches behind her, that desire-filled glint in his eyes. He kissed her, pushing her against the door she’d just closed.
“I missed you,” he murmured against her lips before claiming them again. Karla felt herself falling for him, and she desperately tried to hold on as he deepened the kiss.
Heat filled her, and her face felt flushed when he finally pulled away. “Okay,” she said, breathing in the masculine scent of his skin, the woodsy quality of his cologne, the glorious weight of his hand on her hip.
“So you’re happy about the approval.”
“Yeah,” he whispered, this serious version of Cache also sexy and a man to be admired. “And it’s better than I thought.” He backed up a couple of steps, finally turning and walking over to her couch. He sank onto it with a sigh and held out the folder in his hand.
Karla took it from him and perched on the edge of the loveseat beside him. She grinned at him before flipping open the folder to look inside. She scanned, reading quickly, and finally looking up at him as wonder spread through her.
“Cache,” she said. “She approved eighty percent?”
“They’re my cows,” he said simply.
“And you’ve done all the work.”
“Well, not all of it,” he said, smiling again. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “It’s almost fourteen hundred dollars per session.”
Karla did the math quickly, using her phone as a calculator. “Actually, if we get six couples per session, and you get eighty percent of the fee, it’s just over fourteen hundred dollars per session.”
She tilted her phone toward him so he could see the 1440 on the screen. But he had his eyes closed, and he looked absolutely gorgeous as he sat there with a look of pure peace and contentment on his face.
And Karla knew in that moment that the Lord had answered her prayers. His too, probably, but definitely hers. Because this was going to be a great weekend.
The days marched on, and June started to die. Karla spent time with Cache every day in the cow pastures and usually at night too.
The last Sunday of the month, she and Cache stayed for the entire sermon at church, and Karla felt a new, invigorating sense of life come over her. As she sat there, listening to Pastor Williams talk about letting her light shine before the world, Karla finally felt like she had a light again.
She made lunch a few times a week for the people on the ranch, in addition to her marketing duties. She’d announced the cow cuddling during the morning show she’d been on at the end of last week, and they had five sessions full already.
Five.
Almost three full weeks, as she and Cache had decided to do two sessions per week. One on Saturday mornings, which had filled up first. And one on Wednesday evenings. That way, Cache wouldn’t be stressed about getting his chores done, and the cows would have plenty of time to improve their cuddling techniques should they need extra training in between sessions.
Soup and salad bar for lunch today, she sent to everyone on the ranch. She stepped over to the stove and stirred the chicken noodle. She felt a little insane for making soup in the middle of the summer, but she decided she didn’t care.
Number one, she was a little insane. Number two, her sausage tortellini soup was to die for. She smiled, hummed to herself, and got everything set up on the lawn outside her cabin.
Cache came by to help her set up the tents, and she couldn’t help glancing at him every so often. Their eyes met, and that electric charge zipped through them. “You coming to lunch later?” she asked as she put a folding chair at the table where he’d just put one.
He glanced left, then right, then behind him. “Yep.” He leaned down and kissed her. Something quick and light, but a kiss that zapped her pulse into an irregular beat.
She ducked her head and smiled as he finished with the chairs, waved to her, and left. He’d be back—but so would everyone else.
Eleven-thirty came, and Karla started serving soup to the first few cowboys that showed up. She’d feed anyone who came through the line, and sometimes volunteers joined the cowboys. Not many, but a few.
Karla enjoyed the sound of people talking. The laughter. Even the dull roar of the fan that tried to keep the mid-summer California heat from being too unbearable.
Cache came through the line and asked for the tortellini soup. “Seen Sissy yet?” he asked.
“No,” Karla said, her eyes automatically moving to the corner of the homestead. “She’ll come. She’s just a little later than most.” They needed to talk to the ranch accountant today about the cow cuddling. Scarlett had approved Cache’s request for how much he’d get paid, but they needed accounts set up and a way to get paid by the ranch too.
And for that, they needed Sissy Longston.
More people went through the line, and Karla started to get nervous at Sissy’s absence—especially when Dave showed up without her. Those two had been joined at the hip—or the lips—for several weeks now.
She was just about to pull out her phone and specifically text Sissy when the woman appeared at the corner of the house. She paused and scanned the scene before her, and even from a distance Karla could see the fury on her face.
Oh, so she and Dave weren’t getting along.
A pinch of sadness hit Karla, and she ducked her head to check on the salad bowl. It was fine, of course.
Sissy arrived at the table—a miracle in Karla’s opinion, what with the heels she wore. How she walked on grass in those was a mystery. “Hey, Karla,” she said loudly. “This looks so good.”
“You’ve got a couple of choices,” Karla said, wishing she could reassure Sissy the way Cache did for her. “This is sausage tortellini soup. Or the regular chicken noodle.” She looked at Sissy for her choice, trying to convey that she cared about her.
“Sausage tortellini.”
Karla ladled soup into Sissy’s bowl. She moved down to build her salad, and when she had her food ready, she turned back to the tables, clearly hesitating. Genevieve and Ames arrived, and Karla distracted herself by serving them.
She wouldn’t want someone to ask her what was wrong if she was having a tough time with her boyfriend. In fact, she’d hated it when her friends back in the city had asked about Jackson. About the divorce. How she was doing.
How did they think she was doing?
No, Karla didn’t need any spotlights on her, and neither did Sissy.
A moment later, she moved over to the table where Cache had his folder of cow cuddling information spread before Amber and Adele.
Karla hurried to finish serving, and she left the ladles in the bowls so people could serve themselves. It was almost two o’clock, and lunch would be over in a few minutes anyway.
“You tell her Cache.” Adele beamed at the cowboy as Karla arrived and sat beside him. She almost put her hand on his leg under the table but stopped herself just in time.
He glanced at her and then back to Sissy, his face turning a bit red. He cleared his throat. “I’ve been working with my cows,” he started. “And Adele trained all the goats for the yoga program.”
“Amber trains them now,” Adele said.
“Yeah, I know,” Cache said. “But you did. And you started this program everyone thought was crazy, but it wasn’t. Anyway, there’s this thing called cow cuddling. People come out to the ranch, and they get to…spend time with the cattle. I’ve been teaching them to lay down and let me ‘cuddle’ into them.” He made air quotes around the word cuddle, and Karla thought he’d done a great job explaining what they did with the cows
in the pasture.
Sissy glanced around, a dubious look on her face. “And people pay for this,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said.
“They pay a lot,” Amber said. She turned her phone toward Sissy, where she had the website Karla had built pulled up. Pride flashed through her. That was one good-looking website, if she did say so herself.
“Three hundred dollars?” Sissy abandoned her food then to take the phone from Amber. “A new wellness trend,” she read. “Two people. Ninety minutes. Fascinating.” She handed the phone back to Amber. “And we want to do this at Last Chance Ranch?”
“Yes,” Adele and Cache said at the same time. “It brings in money for the ranch, and people learn about what we do here. We can send them over to volunteer, or to adopt animals, and they get to learn about cattle.”
“They brush them down,” Cache said. “I teach them a little about the cows. They get to pet them, play with them, and cuddle—if they want.” He cut a glance at Karla, and she wondered if she was supposed to say something. They hadn’t rehearsed this part. He’d asked her to be there when he talked to Sissy, because he was nervous he might forget something.
But he hadn’t.
“And you need money to start? Is that why you need to talk to me?”
“We need an account, yes,” Cache said. “We’ve already got registrations. But we need an account set up for us, and we’ll put in a budget, all of that.”
Sissy smiled at him kindly and lifted her spoon to her mouth. After swallowing, she said, “You have no idea what ‘all of that’ means, do you?”
“No clue,” he said with a grin.
Karla laughed with the others, putting her hand on Cache’s knee. He swung his full attention to her then, and she smiled at him in what she hoped was an encouraging way.
“Come over to my office whenever,” Sissy said. “I’ll get you what you need, and we’ll go over it.”
“Great.” He beamed at her, collected his folder of information, and got up. Karla followed suit, her heart lighter than it had been in such a long time.
She cleaned up, glad when Hudson and Ames stayed to help take down the tables and tents. With everything put away and Karla back inside her air-conditioned house, she tipped her head toward heaven and said, “Thank you, Lord.”
And for the first time in almost a decade, she actually felt Him smiling down upon her. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world, and Karla wanted to hold onto it forever.
And Cache. She wanted to hold onto him forever too, and the thought actually scared her a little bit.
After all, if she really wanted him in her life, their relationship couldn’t stay secret forever. And that meant people would know. They’d ask questions. She’d have to give answers.
“Can I really get married again?” she asked herself. Maybe she was asking God. She wasn’t sure, and she didn’t know the answer.
Chapter 15
Cache entered the church first on Sunday, his palms hurting from where the rope had slipped during that morning’s chores. He was tired of leaving Karla in the truck and hoping she’d follow him inside, found the whole ruse almost unethical.
He knew they weren’t hurting anyone, and he wasn’t really lying about anything. He spotted Dave sitting alone, which was odd as he’d had Sissy with him for weeks now. Not only that, but Dave seemed relentless in his pursuit to find out what Cache was doing all the time and if he liked Karla or not.
He’d admitted it to Lance, but he’d denied things to Dave over and over. But, in order to keep up the charade of not dating Karla, he walked down the aisle to where Dave sat. “Is there room for me?” he asked, mentally calculating that there was enough space for him and Karla.
“Sure.” Dave moved down and Cache sat on the end, pressing his hands together to try to get the sting out. Sometimes the rescue dogs on the ranch got spooked, and that was exactly what had happened with Bulldozer today while Cache had him on a lead.
He’d held on a little too long, his skin getting burned until his brain caught up to the situation. Then he’d dropped the rope and managed to stomp on it before Bulldozer got too far away.
The Fourth of July celebration and dog adoption event was in two days, and Cache wanted to give as many dogs as possible a new home, Bulldozer included. So he’d been taking the dogs out in groups to get them away from the compound and comfortable out in the open. They’d been doing really great—until that morning.
“Is there room here?” Karla asked, and Cache glanced up at her.
“Yeah.” He got to his feet and stepped out into the aisle so Karla could sit between him and Dave. Dave inched down a little, smiling at Karla and giving Cache a knowing look. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything.
Sitting in church with Karla so close and not being able to hold her hand usually tortured Cache. Today, it actually annoyed him. He folded his arms and focused his attention up front, hoping Pastor Williams would have some wise words for him this morning.
He spoke about the unfathomable love of the Lord, and Cache allowed himself to get caught up in the man’s deep voice. He relaxed, finally finding his center after a long week of sneaking out late and getting up early to get chores done quicker so he and Karla could have a private hour in the pastures too.
His phone buzzed, breaking his attention, and Cache pulled it out of his shirt pocket to see Dave’s name on the screen.
She’s crying.
Cache looked over at his friend—and saw that Karla was indeed crying. His first instinct was to put his arm around her and whisper all the same condolences he had a month ago. But he hesitated.
Before he could decide what to do, she got to her feet and said, “Excuse me,” as she stepped over him without waiting for him to get up and let her out. He looked back up front as if the pastor would stop his sermon because of Karla’s departure, and then looked at Dave.
“Better go after her,” Dave said quietly, and Cache didn’t think this time. He just went after Karla.
A call flashed on his phone, which he still held in his hand, and he glanced at it. His brother. He looked left and right, the vibrations from the call moving up his forearm as he hurried out of the chapel.
In the lobby, he couldn’t see Karla and he swiped on the call at the same time. “Leo,” he said in a hushed tone, his legs still taking him quickly toward the exit.
The sunshine outside almost seemed oppressive, and Cache’s eyes squinted as a natural response. Dang, Karla could move fast when she wanted to. She’d never run out of church before—well, at least not after that first time. But he’d expected that, and he’d already been on his feet to follow her.
He’d reacted too slowly this time, and he had no idea where she’d gone. Surely not back to the truck, which was parked on black asphalt and would be boiling hot inside. He had the keys. She couldn’t just leave.
“Cache?”
He realized he was on the phone with his brother. Blinking, he said, “Yeah, I’m here.”
“What do you think?”
“I didn’t hear you,” he said, still distracted. “Say it again?”
“I said Dad has been seeing someone, and they’ve gotten serious. He wants you to come out here and meet her.”
A sticky feeling coated his throat, and Cache didn’t know what to say. He’d lost his mother when he was only a teenager, and his father had never dated. Never tried to find someone else. He’d been a good dad, working hard on the dairy farm and taking care of Cache and Leo. It had been the three of them for so long, Cache wasn’t sure there was room for anyone else.
“Yeah,” he finally said, moving over to the shade of the tree in front of the church. “When?”
“He’s thinking next month. We’re always here, but he’s not sure what your schedule is like.”
Cache rubbed his free hand over his face, not wanting to think about anything today. He didn’t want to go back to the ranch and do more chores. Didn’t want to worry about the cow cuddling that
began that weekend.
That weekend.
Panic gripped his gut, but he kept it from rising through his throat. “That should be fine,” he said. “Let me look at my schedule and talk to my boss.”
“Sure,” Leo said easily. “I think you’ll really like Brenda.”
“You think so?” Cache asked.
“I do,” Leo said. “I’ve met her several times. She’s nice, and she has two grown daughters. She’s really good for Dad.”
“That’s great,” Cache said, but he wasn’t entirely sure if that was true or not. But Leo and their father had moved to Shiloh Ridge together two years ago while Cache had chosen to come west. He didn’t see his father all that often, but they kept in touch with texts and calls.
He was closer to Leo, and he’d always trusted his younger brother. “What about you?” he asked. “Are you seeing anyone?”
Leo burst out laughing, which brought a smile to Cache’s face. “I’ll take that as a no,” he said while his brother continued to chuckle.
“It’s a no,” Leo said. He didn’t ask if Cache was dating anyone, and Cache wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t exactly known in the family as a ladies man. He asked about the cows instead, and Cache told him about the cow cuddling and how they were starting in six short days.
They talked for several minutes, and when people started exiting the church behind him, Cache said he had to go. He’d lost his private window of opportunity to find Karla, and he glanced around, wondering what to do.
He looked down at his phone and decided to call her, praying she’d pick up. Thankfully, she did, and he asked, “Hey. How are—? Church is over.”
“Who called?” she asked.
Cache frowned, his brain moving fast but seemingly so slow at the same time. “My brother.”
“I’m coming.” She hung up, and Cache had no idea what to expect when he came face-to-face with her again. He turned back toward the church and caught sight of her coming around it from the side. So she’d been able to see him standing there in the shade on his phone.
