by Liz Isaacson
“Not true,” Gray said. “I’ve known you your whole life, but I had two years here without you.”
“Oh, jeez,” Colton said. “I know you, Gray. You don’t do anything without a plan.”
“Well, I’m going to dinner at an unknown location without a plan,” he said, turning away from Colton. His insides quaked a little just thinking about what he’d said.
“Take her to Wok This Way. And tell me how you even set this up. Last I heard, she wouldn’t talk to you.”
“Also not true,” Gray said, walking away from Colton and going into the living room. Colton’s house was large and new, and Gray actually really liked it. He had two cushy couches that both faced an enormous TV, and Gray figured they could have their movie right here and the only thing they wouldn’t have was the greasy movie theater popcorn. After eating a burger and fries for lunch, Gray couldn’t afford the popcorn anyway, not if he wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon. And he did.
“She would talk to you?”
“We weren’t talking,” Gray said. “Period. It wasn’t like I kept calling and texting and she ignored me.” He sat on the end of one couch and crossed his ankle over his knee.
“But you are now.” Colton sat on the other end of the couch, his expression earnest. Gray knew he just wanted what was best for Gray. Colton wanted everyone to be happy, and Gray thought for a good, long moment about if he was happy or not.
He loved running, and he was happy when he did that. He loved Hunter and even when he didn’t want to check homework or meet with his son’s teachers, he did it. He had a nice house too, and a nice truck. If he was hard-pressed to answer, he’d say he was happy enough.
And he knew “happy enough” wasn’t good enough. He wanted more. He wanted to be blissfully happy, the way Colton was with Annie. The way Wes was with Bree.
Could he find that level of joy with Elise?
He wouldn’t know if he didn’t try, though his first instinct was to back away slowly, hands up so he didn’t startle anything in his life. He didn’t particularly enjoy change, but at the same time, he knew for certain that something needed to be modified in his life. And soon.
“Gray,” Colton said, clearly exasperated.
“We ran into each other at the courthouse this morning,” he said.
“What? Why was she at the courthouse?”
“Jury summons,” he said. “And I’m not exaggerating when I say we ran into each other. The wind literally picked her up and pushed her into me.”
Colton’s eyes widened, and he looked like a child on Christmas morning. “It’s fate.”
“Oh, it is not.” Gray waved his hand. “I don’t believe in fate.”
“But you asked her out.” Colton leaned back and folded his arms, this probably extremely entertaining for him. “Or did she ask you again?”
“I asked her, if you must know,” Gray said.
Colton grinned. “I must know,” he said in a mock British accent. “And I also must know what your plan is.”
“What plan?” Gray asked, hitting each word quite hard.
“Gray, you live in Ivory Peaks. She does not. You have a son, who, I believe, is the reason you haven’t been out with anyone in years.” He cocked one eyebrow in that maddening way of his, but Gray couldn’t deny any of it.
“Hunter likes Elise,” he said, his voice definitely filled with a defensive note.
“He liked Maddie too.”
Gray jerked his eyes to Colton, who had gone too far.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Gray got to his feet, his chest storming and stinging.
“Gray, I’m sorry.”
He shook his head and headed for the stairs, pins and needles stabbing every organ in his body as he stomped away from his brother.
“Gray.”
He paused with his foot on the bottom step. “I love my son,” Gray said.
“I know that. I shouldn’t have said that. Elise is nothing like Maddie.”
“I don’t need you to tell me about Elise,” Gray said.
“Come back. I’m sorry.”
He’d apologized several times, and Gray didn’t want to spend the afternoon in the spare bedroom on the second floor. Sighing, Gray turned around and walked slowly back toward the living room, glaring as he sat on the couch.
“I won’t ask you anything more about Elise,” Colton said, making a cross over his heart as if they were in grade school. He leaned back into the couch. “So. Tell me about your training schedule for the marathon.”
Gray blinked at him, thinking it would slowly kill Colton to talk about anything but Elise. And he sort of wanted to watch that, so he launched into all the details about his diet, the sports drinks and tablets he used, and how tonight, he really needed to run seven miles but wouldn’t have time.
Colton made a fake snoring sound and let his head fall forward as if he’d fallen asleep, and Gray couldn’t help laughing. Colton joined him, and Gray shook his head.
“Just promise me one thing,” Colton said. “Don’t tell any of this to Elise tonight.”
Gray quieted and looked at Colton, sudden nerves moving through him. “What should I talk about?” His mouth felt too dry. “I haven’t been on a date in a long time.”
“You’ll be fine,” Colton said, which wasn’t helpful at all. “But it might be good to know why you’re willing to go out with Elise now, when nothing else has changed with you and Hunter.”
“Maybe I have changed,” Gray said, but deep in his soul he knew there was no maybe about it. “And, you know, uh, Elise isn’t like other women I’ve been out with.”
“I can’t wait to hear how it goes tonight.” Colton looked absolutely giddy, and Gray could only hope it was better than the last time he’d tried to have a meal with Elise.
In fact, he started praying for that simple thing. Just better than last time, please, he thought. Honestly, he wouldn’t need the Lord’s help to make that happen, but he asked anyway.
Chapter Four
Elise stood in her cabin, the Broadway musical soundtrack she’d put on chasing away the silence. Bree had gone to Maui with her boyfriend, Wes, and they’d gotten married the very first night they got there.
Elise had been shocked when Bree had called to tell her the next day—only four days ago—but she was happy for her friend. Of course she was. Bree had gone through quite a few difficult relationships in the past few years, and she deserved someone as amazing as Wes Hammond.
She looked at herself in the mirror. “You’re going to have to learn how to live by yourself,” she told herself in a very stern voice. But she didn’t want to. Last fall and winter, when Bree had gone to Vermont to visit her parents, Elise had gone down the canyon to stay with Colton and Annie more often than not. She’d also stayed with Patsy and Sophia a couple of times. She really didn’t like being in the remote cabin when it was dark, and during the winter, Wyoming always seemed to carry a bit of darkness in the air.
She shivered just thinking about coming back here alone, but she was determined to do it. She’d locked every door and window last night, double checked them, and then curled into her pillows. It had only taken an hour to fall asleep, and nothing had been disturbed in the snow around the cabin in the morning.
“Two nights in a row,” she vowed. “Then three.” She wondered if she’d have to live alone now permanently, or if the Whittaker brothers would hire someone else that would need Bree’s room. That also brought a round of nerves to Elise’s system, because while she thought she was agreeable and likable, it was still hard for her to meet new people. Especially if she had to live across the hall from them.
Someone knocked on the front door down the hall and through the living room, and Elise nearly jumped out of her skin. And it wasn’t even dark yet. She pressed one palm over her now-rapidly beating heart and pressed her lips together, the image of Gray Hammond filling her mind.
She couldn’t believe he’d asked her out, and she’d sta
rted to think she’d overreacted back in December. That only made her feel an increased measure of embarrassment, and she considered not opening the door.
But her car sat in the semi-permanent carport outside, and surely Gray would see it. He was a corporate lawyer, for crying out loud. And he hadn’t taken her evasiveness for an answer, and he’d been so handsome and so strong and so….
Elise sighed, because she knew she was already completely smitten by the tall, muscled cowboy lawyer who liked to run marathons. Elise hadn’t run intentionally a day in her life, and panic reared as she considered what they might talk about over dinner.
The doorbell pealed, interrupting her thoughts, and a moment later, her phone chimed. Without looking at the message, she swiped it off the bathroom counter in front of her and headed down the hall. “Coming,” she called, everything inside her buzzing with anticipation.
She reached the door and twisted the knob, but it didn’t budge. Of course. She’d locked it behind her when she’d gotten back from the lodge. Her fingers felt sticky and unattached to her body as she fumbled with the lock to get it twisted the other way.
A second passed, maybe two, but they felt like years. She grumbled under her breath, finally getting the mechanism to move, and she gripped the doorknob like it was a poisonous snake she needed to strangle into submission. She yanked the door open and looked up into Gray’s devilishly handsome face.
He hadn’t shaved, and oh, wow, Elise’s fingers started itching to touch that face and feel his beard against her cheek as he kissed her. Heat bolted through her body when he smiled and said, “Evening, Elise,” so easily. Not a hitch or hiccup in his voice at all. His dark gray eyes slid down to her feet and back to her eyes. “Cute boots.”
“Thanks,” she managed to say, looking down too. “Patsy gave them to me.” She loved the knee-high crocheted boots. “She actually made them. She’s a whiz with a needle.”
Gray nodded like he cared, and Elise commanded herself to stop talking about someone he didn’t know. “Let me get my purse,” she said, turning to find it. She always put it in the same spot, so luckily it was sitting on the sideboard she and Bree used for mail, car keys, and purses.
He waited on the front porch, and Elise kicked herself mentally for not inviting him inside. It was cold out there, especially with the sun already down. She joined him, a smile stuck to her face. She didn’t need to be so nervous around him.
Just because he was a cowboy-lawyer-god didn’t mean he wouldn’t like her. At least that was what Bree had texted that afternoon. Elise had been trying to convince herself of it ever since.
“You’re not going to wear a coat?” Gray asked, and another dose of heat filled Elise.
“Oh, right.” She ducked back inside, calling, “You can come in,” over her shoulder. The cabin was small, and it belonged to Laney. She’d built it as a refuge from her ranch just a mile down the road; somewhere she could stay if she got caught in bad weather or she needed an escape for a couple of hours.
It wasn’t fancy by any means, and it didn’t have a coat closet in the front room. In fact, the house only had one closet, and it was in the hallway, where she and Bree kept their towels, sheets, and coats. Elise ducked around the corner, the distinctive click of the front door closing as Gray came inside echoing in her ears.
Don’t freak out, she told herself. You like him. Big deal. He likes you too. She practically ripped the door off the closet and pulled out the coat she wore to church. It was a cute little black number that had a cinch in the waist.
She went around the corner and almost ran right into Gray. “Oh, sorry.”
He simply smiled at her, took her coat from her hands, and held it up to help her put it on. Elise turned around slowly and put her arm through one of the sleeves. “How are your parents in Colorado?” she asked, trying not to focus on the warmth from his body or the scent of his woodsy cologne. But he’d come inside, and she’d be able to smell that forever now.
“They’re okay,” he said. “Ames is watching after them and Hunter while I’m gone.”
“And Ames is one of the twins.”
“That’s right.”
“Who’s the other one?” She pulled her hair above her collar and turned as she zipped up her coat.
Gray gazed at her, a new edge in his eyes now. If Elise wasn’t mistaken—and she didn’t think she was—it was a heated edge. He licked his lips before saying, “Cy. He’s in California. Has a motorcycle shop there.”
“That’s right. I knew it was a short name. I would’ve said Ty, though.”
Gray ducked his head, that dark, delicious cowboy hat hiding the upper half of his face as he reached out and touched her hand. Elise pulled in a breath, and she thought Gray did too. But he didn’t pull his hand back, and a moment later, his fingers slid between hers. “I was thinking we’d go to Wok This Way for dinner.” He looked up, a boyish charm in his eyes now. “Sound good?”
“Sounds amazing,” she said, her words full of air. “I meant to text you back when you asked, but there was so much going on.” Her heartbeat skipped around.
“No big deal,” he said. “I figured out how to Google.” He turned and led her through her own house, his hand very secure in hers. Elise could hear symphonies playing and fireworks booming, and she couldn’t stop smiling. “This place is nice,” Gray said when he opened the front door.
“It gets the job done,” Elise said, stepping out behind him and turning to pull the door closed behind her. She’d have to let go of his hand to lock it, and she paused, considering just leaving it open.
She and Bree hardly ever locked the cabin. It was only Elise’s overactive imagination that had her thinking an intruder would enter while she was gone and be waiting for her in the bedroom closet.
“You don’t like the cabin?” Gray asked.
“Did I sound like I didn’t?” Elise couldn’t just leave it unlocked. She let go of his hand and reached into her purse for her keys.
“I sensed some doubt,” he said.
“It’s…I don’t like being alone at night.” She quickly locked the door and turned back to him. “Kind of silly, I know.” She tried to smile away the nerves, but they didn’t really go.
He nodded. “Hunter doesn’t like being alone at night, either.”
“Great,” she said, being bold and putting her hand back in his. “You’ll probably do better not to compare me to a ten-year-old boy again.” She gave him what she hoped would be a flirty smile, and she knew she’d succeeded when he chuckled.
“I didn’t mean to do that,” he said. “And he’s eleven. Almost twelve.”
“Got it,” she said, leading him to the steps. “When’s his birthday?”
“March.”
“My birthday is in March.”
“I don’t see how I’m supposed to not compare you two when you’re so similar.” He nudged her with his elbow. “But I’ll work on it.”
Elise smiled, and she let him take her to the passenger side of the truck, open her door, and wait while she climbed inside. She’d ditched the checkered pants, and tonight, she wore a pair of black jeans that could’ve been a second skin with a pale pink sweater. With the coat, though, she was wearing black from head to toe.
As she watched Gray round the front of the truck, her heart pounded. Hunter was almost twelve. That meant Gray had to be a lot older than her. She wondered if that would matter to him. She wondered if he’d dated a lot in the past. She wondered if he’d been able to stop thinking about their geographical differences.
She hadn’t.
She’d almost texted him half a dozen times after she’d been dismissed from the jury selection to tell him she couldn’t make it to dinner. What was the point, anyway?
Bree had told her that people dated over long distances all the time, and to just give Gray a chance.
He opened the driver’s side door and got behind the wheel. “All right. Let’s get some heat in this thing.” He started the engine and
started pointing to buttons. “You can control your air right there,” he said. “Make it hotter or colder. You have a seat-heater here. Bottom and back, or just one.” He pushed and turned and got his temperature controls where he wanted them.
Elise had never seen so many fancy features on a vehicle before. Of course, she’d been driving the same hatchback for a decade, and she saw no reason to replace it as it still ran great.
Gray backed down the snow-packed lane with the help of a rear-view camera as if he’d done it a thousand times and started down the canyon. “Did you end up on the jury?”
“No, thank goodness.” Elise sighed. “What about you? How did the hearing go?”
“I won,” he said.
“Naturally.” She shook her head, her smile genuine now. “I bet you’re used to that.”
“I mean, I don’t normally do trial stuff,” he said. “Or hearings.”
“No?”
“Corporate law is much more boring than the TV shows,” he said. “I’m not a defense attorney or a prosecutor. I advise executives on what the law is, and I make sure we follow it so people don’t sue us.” He gave her a fake yawn. “It’s all very boring.”
“Interesting,” she said.
“What is?”
“Did you like it?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, and he seemed so relaxed. “I really liked it.” He looked out the window on his side of the truck, keeping his face from her view.
She giggled and tucked her hair, her flirtations likely going unseen as he didn’t look at her. She quieted, her stomach cinching slightly. “What are you doing now?”
“Nothing,” he said quietly, finally glancing at her. “That’s the real problem, not that my job was boring.”
“Yeah, because you did it for how long?” Maybe the length of his career at his family’s company would give her a hint to his age.
“Twenty years,” he said.
Elise nodded and smiled, smiled and nodded, because her panic was about to boil over. “Most people would kill to do nothing.”
“Yeah, for a day or two,” he said. “Maybe even a week. Not indefinitely.”
