by Liz Isaacson
She didn’t look like she’d been crying. Not a single hair sat out of place, and her makeup looked as flawless as ever. She reached for his hand as she said, “They were happy tears, Cache.”
“I’m glad.” They walked toward his truck, Karla dropping his hand on the second step as if she’d realized she shouldn’t be holding his hand in public.
He got behind the wheel and waited for her to get in on her side. She never slid over and rode next to him when they went to church, and Cache sighed. “I’m getting tired of the games,” he said.
Karla nodded. “I know.”
He waited for her say more, but she didn’t. That was it. She knew he didn’t like it, but she had no solution. Cache didn’t have one either, for that matter. So he drove her back to her cabin and then he disappeared into his, wondering if he’d see her later or not.
That evening, he left his cabin with plenty of light left in the day. No, he hadn’t heard from Karla. No, he wasn’t going to her house. He hadn’t talked to Scarlett about time off. He was going to water his cows and get them to lie down so he could find some peace.
He stepped through the gate and got to work rinsing out the trough and filling it with clear, crisp, cold water. So cold it hurt his hands when he rinsed them and faced the twelve cows in the pasture.
He’d move six of them to a different field when he and Karla did their cuddling sessions.
With a flash of panic, he wondered if she’d still do them with him. They hadn’t exactly had a fight. He wasn’t even sure what was broken between them, only that he felt himself moving farther from her now instead of getting closer.
“Hey, Cookie,” he said to the cow ambling toward him. She drank, and Cache stepped out of the way as several more joined her. Genuine happiness touched his heart, and a soft smile appeared on his lips.
He loved these cows, as stupid as that might seem. They never tried to hide anything from him, and they relied on him to take care of them. He patted Bluebell on the rump and moved away. “Hurry up, guys. We have training to do.”
Peering toward the far end of the pasture, he found the four cows that never really came down while a human was in the field with them. He’d move them tomorrow, back in with the rest of the herd. He had enough cows trained for cuddling sessions, and there was no sense in making a stubborn cow do what it didn’t want to do.
He moved over to the right, where he and Karla had been bedding down the cows, and he got six of them into a formation in only ten minutes. They stayed right where he put them, and Cache beamed down at them.
Closing his eyes, he imagined twelve people in this field with him. He’d give them a ten-minute orientation outside the fence before they even came in. Then they’d stay by the trough while he talked to them about the cows and showed them how he got them to lay down. Then they’d get to cuddle with the bovines, and at the end, they’d have a chance to pet them, brush them, and ask questions.
Please let it work out, he prayed. With all that extra money every month, he could be out of debt and ready to face a brighter future in no time at all.
“A future with Karla?” he murmured, reaching for his phone. She might want things between them to fade away or never make it out of the shadows. But that was not what Cache wanted, and he kept praying as her line rang. And rang. And rang.
Chapter 16
Karla stepped out of the shower when the water started running colder. She’d been so cold all day, and she couldn’t figure out why.
Fine, she’d only caught the chill after church, after she’d felt the spirit of God so close to her it had brought tears to her eyes. The sense of forgiveness flowing through her as Pastor Williams had spoken about the Lord’s love for her had been utterly overwhelming.
His love goes beyond anything you might have done, the pastor had said. He is always there, waiting to welcome you back. His plea to “Come, follow me,” never expires. It is not conditional. He does not call only the righteous to his side, but all of us.
Karla heard her phone ringing in the kitchen, but she ignored it. She wanted to write down the pastor’s words before they left her head. An impossibility, as they’d been circling in her brain for hours now.
Still, she took the time to scrawl them into a notebook she kept beside her bed, reading over them and touching the words all of us as fresh tears burned her eyes.
Blinking them back, she stood to get dressed at the same time someone knocked on her back door.
Banging would’ve been a better way to describe it. She jumped, her adrenaline sending her pulse into a frenzy.
And when Cache called, “Karla, it’s me,” she ran on her tiptoes to the door and closed it, as if he’d come inside without her permission. With her phone in the kitchen and a towel as her only clothing, she couldn’t communicate with him right now.
So she flung the towel off and dressed as quickly as she could. It still took a few minutes, and by the time she snagged her phone from the kitchen and hurried to the back door, she could only hope he hadn’t left in a rage.
Cache wasn’t really the ragey type, and she wasn’t all that surprised to see him sitting on her back steps, muttering to himself.
“Hey, sorry,” she said.
He sprang to his feet and turned toward her, a perfect storm of emotions on that handsome face.
“I was in the shower when you called.” She lifted her phone. “And, uh, you knocked while I was still…I wasn’t dressed.” She reached up and touched the towel turban still on her head, as if he needed evidence that she had indeed been in the shower.
He glanced left and right. “I hope you’re not mad I came in the daylight.”
“Come in,” she said, backing out of the doorway.
He did, and Karla sure liked the presence of him in her cabin, and in her life. “I didn’t get over to the pasture yet.”
“I did,” he said. “I got all the cows down and I called to see if you wanted to come and cuddle with me.” He touched her hand, and she turned into him. “We’re okay, right?” he asked, drawing her into his arms.
“Yeah,” she said, everything in her life suddenly more than okay. “I’m sorry about…everything.” She tipped her head back and looked up at him. “I know you don’t want us to be a secret anymore, but I kinda like having a secret sweetheart.”
He grinned down at her, and that hungry look in his eye said he liked it on some level too. He bent down and kissed her, but this wasn’t one of his rougher, passionate kisses. It definitely held a level of love and adoration she’d never felt before, because he moved slowly, as if he wanted to savor each moment.
She felt drunk on his touch, and when he finally pulled away, Karla kept her eyes closed as her awareness spun.
“I like our privacy too,” he said. “But people are asking about us, and I don’t get why I can’t just tell them.”
“Who’s asking?” she asked. No one had said anything to her, but she spent most of her time alone, in her cabin, working. Or in a large groups as she fed the workers on the ranch.
“Dave,” Cache said. “He knows, though I’ve denied it. And Lance.”
Of course. The men he spent a lot of time with. His friends. Of course they knew. Cache’s whole routine had changed since they’d started seeing one another.
He ran his lips across her jaw, sending a shiver through her whole system. “I don’t want to deny it anymore,” he said. “I really like you, Karla.”
She held onto those powerful shoulders for dear life, because she really liked him too. “I’m almost there,” she said. “I swear.”
“So a little longer.” The man could work magic with that mouth, and Karla sighed as she nodded.
“A little longer.”
A couple of days later, she worked all morning in the kitchen to put out lunch for the ranch. Forever Friends would be feeding everyone that night as part of the tri-sponsored holiday event, but their traditional Fourth of July ranch luncheon was still happening.
Adele ma
nned the grill each year, but Karla had taken over all of the condiments for the burgers, as well as a variety of salads to go with them. The dessert bar was a potluck, and when she finally stepped out her front door with two big silver bowls of salad—on potato and one macaroni—she found the tents and tables already set up.
She was running late, because she’d been texting Cache’s brother Leo about his upcoming birthday.
Just two weeks away, Karla wanted to do something special for him. For her, that meant food, brownies, cakes, balloons. Maybe she’d fill his whole house with balloons while he fed and watered dogs, shoed horses, and then cuddled with cows.
The very thought brought a smile to her lips. Leo had been very helpful, and she had a good idea of how to surprise Cache on his birthday.
Six desserts sat on one of the serving tables, and she hurried to put her heavy salad bowls down next to them. She’d made a green salad too, as well as one with cherry gelatin.
“Smells good,” she said to Adele, who stood at the smoky grill. She smiled at Karla and flipped another couple of burgers.
Karla returned with the rest of her salads, as well as serving tongs, forks, and spoons. Several people milled about, but the party didn’t start until Adele called everyone over.
“I think we know the drill. You load up on what you want over there, and tell me what protein you want. I have some burgers at medium, and some at medium-well. Some with cheese and some without.”
Karla’s mouth watered at the scent of hot dogs—there was nothing better than a good hot dog in her opinion—and she stepped next to Amber as Adele finished her speech.
The two women exchanged a glance and a smile as Scarlett said a few words about how grateful she was to have everyone there. “Our first lunch was so much smaller than this.” She sniffled, and leaned into Hudson with a brilliant smile. “We really are so glad to have you all here with us every year. You are our family.”
Cache appeared at her side, and Karla only half-twisted toward him. He slipped his hand into her and leaned in to kiss her, and it felt like every eye within a hundred miles zeroed in on them.
She pulled in a breath, her gaze immediately flying to Scarlett, who had stopped talking. She was staring at Karla and Cache, her eyes a little wider than they’d been a moment ago.
“Carson’s going to say a prayer, and then we’ll eat,” Hudson said, seemingly nonplussed about Cache’s public display of affection.
He inched away from her as if he’d realized what he’d just done. Karla still couldn’t believe it. They’d just talked about their secret relationship a couple of days ago. Had he completely lost his mind?
She didn’t hear a word of the prayer, and her insides quivered as if they’d been set in gelatin and then been shaken up.
“Amen,” everyone chorused when the prayer ended, but Karla remained mute. She looked at Cache, and he wore guilt all over his face before stepping away.
“Are you dating Cache?” Amber asked, and Karla wanted to crawl in a hole and cover herself with dirt. Before she could even answer, Scarlett appeared in front of her.
“You and Cache?”
Karla could only shake her head, but she didn’t even know what that meant. No, she wasn’t dating Cache? She sure did kiss the man a lot, and think about him constantly, and cook for him more than was healthy if they weren’t dating.
“She doesn’t want to talk about it,” Adele said, a greasy spatula in her hand. Karla met her eyes, gratitude streaming through her. “So, Karla, here’s a question you might have an easier time answering. Hamburger or hot dog?”
“Hot dog,” she managed to say, ducking her head so her long hair fell between her and the rest of the women. She took her dog and moved over to the table to get the salads and desserts she wanted.
When she turned and faced the tables, Cache had an empty spot next to him. She swallowed, suddenly so nervous. She had to sit by him. She couldn’t snub him that way. Didn’t even want to.
Before she could take a single step, Scarlett sat beside him, with Hudson across from her. Relief spread through Karla, and she went over to the table and sat beside Hudson, a quick smile in Cache’s direction.
He barely looked at her, and Scarlett said, “We’ll need all hands on-deck to move the animals down to the church this afternoon.”
Karla didn’t know who she was talking to, but several of the cowboys said they’d be around to help. Karla dug into the macaroni salad, hoping she could quell the jittery feeling in her stomach with carbs.
The mood surrounding her felt so foreign, though she normally loved the Fourth of July picnic at the ranch. In fact, it had been the highlight of her year last time. But she felt like she existed on the other side of a clear barrier. Inside a balloon, where the laughter couldn’t reach her ears.
People could see her, sure. She could hear them. But she couldn’t get herself to participate, and her smile felt fake all the way back in her mouth.
But she kept it on her face, got up when everyone seemed finished, and started cleaning up. If she kept busy and around people, she wouldn’t have to face Cache.
At least that was what she told herself.
Chapter 17
Cache loitered as long as he dared, but Karla didn’t glance in his direction once. He supposed he had hidden in the shadows along the side of the house. For one, it was too hot to stand out in the sun. And two, he wanted to gauge how upset Karla was.
By the looks of it, she was pretty upset. Cache was too, for that matter. He should be able to step next to her and press his lips to her temple. He hadn’t done anything scandalous, but he’d seen the way the women on the ranch had descended on Karla.
And he knew she hated that.
His phone buzzed, and he turned away from her curvy form as she took another few plates up the steps and into her house. He had a ton of work to do at the Canine Club to get the dogs ready for transport down to the church and the adoption event in just a few hours.
Sure enough, Hudson had texted to find out where he was and to let him know they were all waiting for him at the Club. Cache put his head down and wished he could turn off his thoughts, but they kept streaming through his mind like water out of a broken faucet.
They needed carriers, and the list of dogs Cache had put together, and a dozen other things. He put in the code to the door and stepped through it. The octagonal buildings spread out before him, the first one only a few paces inside the gate.
He entered it and found Hudson and a few other volunteers standing there. “Hey, everyone,” he said. “Sorry I’m a little behind you all.” He stepped into the tiny office just inside the front door where he managed the care and feeding of the canines. “I have our adoption list right here.”
He glanced at the five or six people looking at him. “We’re going to need more people. I know Adele has a list like this in Feline Frenzy too.”
“We’ll get started,” Hudson said. “Forever Friends has people down at the church ready to take over the dogs for us as soon as we get them down there.”
“All right,” Cache said with a big sigh. “Hudson, I’m going to give you building five.” He tugged a sheet free with the six dogs from building five that would be going down to the adopt-a-pet events tonight.
Hudson took the paper with a quick smile, and Cache continued handing out the assignments until he was left with three buildings for himself. He worked, luring the dogs into the kennels and heaving as many as would fit into the back of his truck.
He drove down to the church and unloaded the canines into the large area the Forever Friends volunteers had set up for the dogs.
Four trips later, his back hurt and he’d been sweating for an hour. But all the dogs were in the pen, and the Forever Friends volunteers stood waiting for the details on the animals he’d brought down.
“I think we’re just waiting for Adele,” he said, glancing around for her. She pulled up as if Cache saying her name had summoned her. She unloaded the last three c
ats from the back of her car and came toward him.
She looked just as hot as he felt, and he smiled at her. He handed over a thick folder with the one-sheet information on all fifty dogs they’d brought down today. Adele had brought down forty cats, and she gave a longer speech than he did.
Dave came over and took a couple of the more excitable dogs from Hudson, saying, “Let’s go, guys,” he said to the pups. Cache wished he could take the dogs and leave the crowd, but Dave looked like he needed the break too.
So he answered any questions about the dogs the volunteers had, and he noticed Lance standing a little too close to Amber as she manned the main adoption table. Her being there made sense. Forever Friends actually paid her salary. She was only stationed at Last Chance Ranch, and like Sissy, Amber lived down in Pasadena somewhere.
And Lance was totally making a move on the volunteer coordinator for all the animal adoptions on the rescue ranch.
Cache finished with the dog adoptions and turned, wondering if he could escape back up to the ranch and the sanctuary of his cabin. Karla wouldn’t be there; she’d committed to helping serve the dinner provided by the church that night.
Food started showing up, and he caught sight of her blonde hair as she helped organize people and plates. The pastor started the event about ten minutes later, and once again Cache found himself loitering on the outskirts of Karla’s attention.
She did glance around a couple of times, but she never saw him standing over by the big tree where she’d gone a few times after church. Quite a few people had come to the event, and the atmosphere was fun, and shiny, and lively.
In any other situation, Cache would’ve been one of the first through the line. He’d have shaken hands with the pastor and grinned at the kids as they ran around. He’d be eyeing a dog to take home later and hoping he’d get to kiss Karla while the red, white, and blue fireworks popped overhead.
She finally went through the line and settled at a table with several other people from the ranch. He might as well face her in a crowd. Get their first interaction since his flub that day out of the way.
