Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  “Because I thought long term was on the table. Tell me now if it isn’t.”

  She jerked back and dropped her feet to the floor at the sudden sharpness in his voice, gazing at him with eyes wide. “N-no. I mean, yes, it’s on the table.” She folded her hands in her lap and stared at them. “I’m sorry. I’m no good at this. I’ve never actually had a real relationship. I don’t know what the rules are or what to expect.”

  “As far as I can tell, there aren’t any. You just go with it.” He let out a long sigh. “And don’t apologize. I’m the one who should be sorry. I was thinking about Leigh, and that’s the surest way to put me in a surly mood.”

  “What were you thinking about?”

  “How stupid I was to think I could’ve married her—that I believed I loved her enough to spend my life with her.”

  “You were young.”

  “The first time, but what about the second? I let a good woman walk away when Leigh came back, and I thought that was confirmation that I loved her. Why would I let Jen leave if I didn’t love Leigh more?”

  “You loved Jen?”

  “Not as much as I should have. She was a sweetheart. Kind. Loyal. Giving. Like you.”

  “Why did she walk away?”

  “I bet you can imagine why.”

  In fact, she could. From what she knew of Leigh, the woman was as tenacious as a starving dog after a steak. And what better way to chase another woman away from the prize than to make her believe the prize was already Leigh’s? “She hit on you in front of Jen.”

  Gabe snorted. “That’s a mild way of putting it. First time I saw her again, I was holding hands with Jen—obviously with her—and Leigh walked right up and kissed me. I tried to brush it off, to explain that she’d just been excited to see me, but me introducing Jen as my girlfriend didn’t stop her from hugging me or hanging on me in front of Jen, and as you might imagine, Jen got tired of it.”

  “But you told her to stop, didn’t you?”

  “Of course I did. It wasn’t enough, and I knew it because I knew Leigh. But I felt responsible for her. Habit. And she knew all the buttons to push. She knew how to play me so I wouldn’t turn her away.” He shook his head. “Amazing what you learn when you think you know it all.”

  Annemarie didn’t like the hard set of his jaw or the disgust curling his lip because it wasn’t directed where it should be, at Leigh. It was directed inward. She opened her mouth to tell him to forgive himself, that everyone made mistakes, but he spoke first, glancing at her.

  “You want to know what I’ve learned most recently?”

  “Sure.”

  “I learned that even in high school, when things were the best they ever were with Leigh, it was nothing compared to this.” He slowed to a stop at an intersection, and he turned his eyes on her again, holding her gaze. “I’m in this for keeps, Annie. I’m not saying we’ll make it, but I want us to and I want to find out if we will. How’s that for thinking about us in the long term?”

  It was probably the wrong reaction, but she laughed. Then she unbuckled her seatbelt and stretched across the wide cab to kiss his cheek. As she buckled herself back in, she said, “We’re driving on the same road, and that is wonderfully reassuring. So… this coming weekend.”

  “What about it?”

  “You’re not getting off the hook like you did Friday night. And last night.”

  He chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Annemarie focused her attention on the road, knitting her hands together over her stomach and propping her feet on the dash again. She sucked her lips between her teeth, trying to hide the smug grin and failing miserably, but Gabe’s attention was on the road, so at least he didn’t see it. Wiggling her toes, she reclined her seat and hummed along with the radio—that same song Gabe had sung on their early morning departure from Cody and at the bar Friday night was on. She didn’t dislike country music, but she’d never listened to it much. That was likely to change. That song and every one that came on the radio after it suited Gabe and would forever make her think of him. And thinking of him was something she didn’t think she’d ever tire of.

  The ride home was pleasant. Fun even, with her son and Gabe engaging in a lively game of I Spy once Cody had decided to save what was left of his coloring book for a worktable more stable than his lap. Annemarie chimed in occasionally when they wouldn’t let her back out, but she was content to listen to them.

  The flat gray ceiling of clouds disintegrated as they headed west, and by the time they entered the Wind River Canyon south of Thermopolis, the sun broke through. Annemarie stared at the towering walls of the canyon, watched the river swirling around the giant boulders in its path, and enjoyed the ceaseless, throaty purr of the truck’s diesel engine and the hum of the highway beneath the tires. She held her breath when they passed through the short tunnels carved through the stone and let it out with a soft laugh.

  They stopped in Thermopolis to say hello to Gabe’s brother Michael and ended up staying for dinner. Though she’d only met Michael and his family once, they treated her and Cody like old friends. She had become so used to being alone out at Garrett Ranch that she found herself soaking up their love.

  “We’re very sorry to eat and run,” Annemarie said to Michael as she embraced his wife on the front porch. “But dinner was delicious. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re most welcome,” Karen replied. “Does my heart good to see you again, Annemarie. And Cody, too. I hope this means we’ll be seeing more of you both…?”

  “I hope so, too.”

  “Oh, I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of her,” Michael said. “That’s at least the twelfth time in the last thirty minutes I’ve heard either her or my brother refer to themselves as ‘we’.”

  “We’re working on it,” Gabe remarked.

  “Thirteen. And work is great and all, but if you have to work too hard, that’s not a good sign.”

  Annemarie gazed up at Gabe only to find him smiling down at her. “It’s the easiest work I’ve done in a long time. Your brother’s an incredible man, Michael.”

  “Shh! Don’t let him hear that, or all those years of whoopin’ up on him and trying to prove otherwise will be for naught.”

  Gabe rolled his eyes and took Cody’s hand. Annemarie turned back to Michael and Karen. “We could’ve grabbed something from McDonald’s, but I’m so glad we didn’t have to. Thank you again.”

  Karen dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “You’re family, and family doesn’t make do with fast food when we have a fully functional kitchen.”

  Annemarie hugged her again. “Thank you for that, too.”

  “You’d best get on the road,” Michael said. “Mom won’t be happy if she doesn’t get to spend more than a minute with you three.”

  “Right you are. See you soon.”

  “Count on it.”

  A little over an hour later, with a stunning array of tattered, gold-tinged clouds above them, they pulled up in front of the Collinses’ barn. Gabe’s dark blue Chevy pickup—not the white work truck she was accustomed to—was parked across the broad yard beside the main ranch house. At the sight of it, a pang of disappointment shot through her. Their trip was almost over, and as happy as she was to get home and sleep in her own bed, she was definitely not excited about sleeping in it alone, nor was she quite ready for her uninterrupted time with Gabe to end.

  “You and Cody head inside while I unhook the trailer and load our gear in my truck,” Gabe said after he’d backed the trailer around to the side of the barn.

  “We can help.”

  “All right. You want to back me in to the bay there after I get the trailer unhooked?”

  “Sure.”

  He made quick work of unhooking the trailer, and she hopped out to guide him into the garage bay on the same side of the barn. Not that he needed it. She marveled at his skill, wishing she had half his confidence. When she mentioned it as they transferred their bags to his pickup, he laughed it off.
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  “It’s that eight years I have on you.”

  “I seriously doubt that, Gabe. You can wire a house, drive a semi—or an almost-semi—fix a fence, and deliver a foal like it’s nothing. What can I do? I’m a half decent cook and maybe I’m an okay accountant. I’m still learning.”

  “Exactly. You’re still in the learning-new-skills stage whereas I’m finally at the stage of mastering skills I’ve already picked up. I’m telling you. Eight years makes a helluva difference.” He settled the last of their bags in the bed of his pickup and snatched her hand, bringing her knuckles to his lips with a devilish grin. “Also, you’re an amazing cook, and if I didn’t think you were a talented accountant, I wouldn’t be planning to hire you as mine when your end of our bargain has been fulfilled.”

  She blinked at him. “You’re going to hire me as your accountant? Even after Leigh?”

  “You’re not Leigh.”

  Gabe let go of her hand and waved Cody over, then hoisted her son to his shoulders. It reminded her forcefully of her first trip here, and she couldn’t help but mark how much had changed in the weeks since. It was here that he’d first asked her out, and it was strange to think that they hadn’t officially been a couple on that trip when it felt now like they’d been together for ages.

  Ruth greeted them at the kitchen door with a warm smile and strong hugs as she beckoned them inside. “You’re just in time.”

  “For what?” Gabe asked.

  “Blackberry pie. The store finally had some blackberries in stock, so I had to make one. You can stay long enough for a slice, can’t you?”

  Annemarie glanced up at Gabe.

  He shrugged. “I’m not the one with a kid to get in bed and ready for school in the morning.”

  “Not yet,” she murmured too quietly for anyone else to hear. Grinning, she added. “But I’m hopeful.”

  “Is that your way of asking me to stay over tonight, or are you referring to something a little farther down the road?”

  “Both.”

  His parents heard that and exchanged matching grins of amusement. Annemarie’s face warmed, and she ducked her gaze.

  “I guess we have time,” she said shyly, “if it’s not too much trouble.”

  “It’s no trouble at all, honey,” Ruth replied. “I’ll dish us some pie and ice cream.”

  Annemarie perched on a stool at the island with Cody between her and Gabe. She’d expected to see Sam and Isaiah and their families, but John informed her that they still hadn’t returned from camping yet. She was surprisingly disappointed; she’d been looking forward to the noise and busyness of the big family. How funny, since she’d been a little overwhelmed by them at first on her last visit.

  “A little noise is nice once in a while, isn’t it,” Gabe observed.

  She nodded. Ruth set a slice of pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream—both homemade if she had to guess—in front of her, and she was soon too awestruck by the dessert to respond to Gabe’s insightful remark. She purred when she slipped the first, tartly-sweet bite into her mouth.

  “Good?” Ruth asked, smiling.

  “Amazing. I think I’m going to be spending a lot of time in this kitchen with you. I’d love to learn how to bake like this and make homemade ice cream.”

  “You’re on as long as you teach me how you make that pizza Gabe keeps telling me about.”

  “You’ve got a deal.”

  As she enjoyed her pie and ice cream, Annemarie decided this was something else she’d love to add to their tradition—stopping at Michael and Karen’s on the way home from Torrington and then at the Collinses’ ranch. Between his family and hers—okay, mostly his—they could take any highway in Wyoming and not be too far from someone they knew. What an amazing, wonderful thing.

  “I guess Grandpa is right,” she mused aloud. “Wyoming really is one great big small town.”

  “That it is,” Gabe replied. “Did you know that Ezra took a girl from Kemmerer to his prom?”

  “Isn’t it like a six-hour-drive from there to Cody?”

  “Closer to five in good weather, which it wasn’t. I think it took her and her parents almost eight hours. South Pass was nasty, and there were a couple wrecks. They stayed out at the ranch.”

  “How’d they meet?”

  “Same way a lot of kids do,” Ruth replied. “School sporting events. In their case, they met at a wrestling tournament. She was her team’s manager.”

  “He wrestled?” Annemarie asked. She turned to Gabe. “Did you play any sports?”

  He shrugged, his mouth full.

  “He played football and wrestled,” John said. “Took state in wrestling three years in a row, sophomore through senior year.”

  She glanced over him. “Why am I not surprised?”

  Again, he shrugged.

  “What about you, Annemarie?” Ruth inquired. “Any sports? Cheerleading?”

  “Volleyball. We never won state, though. Came close once my junior year—we lost in the championship.”

  “So you know how Wyoming high school sports are. For some towns, they’re the only real entertainment.”

  She nodded. “I do to some extent, but I don’t think the bigger schools like Casper get quite as much interaction as the smaller schools do.”

  “Not as much need, I suppose,” John mused.

  After living out at the ranch for close to half a year, she was beginning to truly understand that need. She’d thought she’d understood it living out on Alcova Lake for much of her childhood, but with Casper only a forty-minute drive away—a shorter trip than those between most towns in Wyoming—she’d had easy access to friends, shopping, and entertainment. Cody had all kinds of touristy attractions with its proximity to Yellowstone, but it was quite a bit smaller than Casper and comparatively remote.

  “Needing people isn’t such a bad thing,” she murmured. “If I hadn’t needed an electrician, I wouldn’t have met your son.”

  “Amen to that,” Ruth said, raising her cup of coffee in a toast. “Cody, honey, would you like some more pie? If it’s all right with your mama.”

  “Please, Mom?”

  Annemarie glanced at his plate and realized with a start that he’d cleared it already, finishing well ahead of the adults. “I swear Karen and Michael fed him and he ate like a horse. Guess this means we’ll be going clothes shopping again soon.”

  Laughing, Ruth slid another slice of pie onto Cody’s plate. “That’s what kids do. They grow.”

  Annemarie poked Gabe’s arm. “I bet you know that better than most, what with your crew of giants.”

  “Hardy har har,” Gabe replied, rolling his eyes. He held his plate out for another scoop of ice cream. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “You two seem considerably more, um, serious.”

  Gabe caught her eye, smiled, and nodded to his mother.

  “How serious?”

  “I guess we’ll see,” he replied, “but I think we’re both hopeful.”

  “What about Cody?”

  The boy snapped his head up. “Huh?” he asked around a mouthful of pie. Abruptly he covered his mouth. “Sorry.”

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure he’s on board,” Annemarie said.

  “You’ve talked about it with him?” Gabe asked, brows lifted.

  “Sort of. He brought it up. Anyhow… that’s a conversation we may all need to sit down and have before too much longer.”

  He nodded in agreement, and Cody glanced between them with one of those smiles that was half confused and half hopeful. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but he had a good idea.

  “That serious, huh?” Ruth beamed and clapped. “Oh, I love this. About time, Gabriel.”

  “I take that to mean you approve. You know, he’s such a gentleman that I feel like I should ask for your permission to date him. He already has my family’s rather enthusiastic approval.” Annemarie laughed. “In fact, my parents are so happy about it, they’re coming out this weekend and taking Cody for a night, and the
y weren’t shy about saying why.”

  Gabe nearly choked on his last bite of pie.

  His father slapped him on the back, which only made it worse. He coughed until his eyes watered and finally managed to subdue it enough to take a drink from the glass of water Ruth brought him.

  “You bet your sweet, beautiful heart we approve,” Ruth said. “After what he went through both times with Leigh, I’ve been waiting for him to find someone like you. If everyone’s done… boys, get out of my kitchen. Annemarie, come talk with me.”

  “I can do the dishes,” Gabe said, standing with his plate in hand. “Go relax, Mom.”

  “Go sit,” Annemarie said at the same time as Ruth said it, snatching his plate.

  Gabe threw up his hands. “Yes, ma’am. Come on, Cody.”

  As soon as the menfolk were out of earshot in the living room, Ruth started clearing the table. Annemarie jumped over to the sink and had already started filling it with soapy water when Ruth pointed out the dishwasher. She laughed at herself.

  “Habit,” she said and continued hand-washing the plates. If nothing else, it’d give her more time to talk with Ruth.

  “You know, if you two ever want some alone time, we have an empty cabin here on the ranch, and I’d love to watch Cody for you.”

  “I may take you up on that. You’re really sure you’re okay with me dating your son?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because some days I feel like I’m taking advantage of him just like Leigh did. I know he says I’m not, but… that’s how I feel.”

  “How you feel and how he feels are two different things, and how he feels about it is what matters because he’s the party being used… or not.” Ruth set the plate she was drying down and tossed the towel over her shoulder. “Look at me, Annemarie.”

  Grudgingly, she met the older woman’s gaze.

  “If he had charged you for the wiring job and never done any of the other things that make you feel like you’re taking advantage of him, would you still want to be with him?”

  “Of course I would.”

  “Well, there’s your answer.”