by Liz Isaacson
Elise giggled and reached out to hold Opal’s papery hand. “Tell me about Colton. What does he do to drive you to the edge of death?”
“Oh, he’s the worst one.”
“I don’t think so, Grams,” Gray said. “Wes got married in Hawaii on a whim.”
“It wasn’t a whim,” Elise said, meeting his eye. “They were in love.”
“Oh, so romantic,” Gray said dryly.
“You’re not romantic?” Elise asked, releasing Opal’s hand. “Come on, Gray. You bought me a dog for Valentine’s Day.”
“You’ve been dating since Valentine’s Day?” Bev asked, and Elise practically got whiplash she turned toward his mother so fast.
“Yes, Mother,” Gray said, glancing at Ames, who sat on the opposite couch.
“You haven’t said one word about her.” Bev looked like he’d betrayed her in the worst way possible, her dark eyes wide and shocked. She actually pressed both hands to her chest as if her heart was having trouble. No wonder Colton was so dramatic. Elise couldn’t wait to tease him about that either.
If she survived this visit with Gray’s parents.
“We were keeping things quiet,” Gray said without an ounce of apology. “Remember how we’ve talked about how I’ll handle my love life the way I see fit, Mom?”
“Bev,” Chris said, arriving on the scene. “Don’t badger the boy. This is why he doesn’t tell you things.”
“And I’m forty-four,” Gray said. “I’m not a boy.” He wore a smile though, and he put his arm around Elise. “Who wants to know how the marathon went?”
“Oh, the marathon,” his mother said, her voice growing animated. “I completely forgot about that. Tell us about it.”
“I wish I could forget about it,” he said, groaning. “My legs are dying.” He looked into the kitchen, where Hunter sat at the table, looking at something in front of him. Elise assumed it would be his phone, though she hadn’t seen the boy with a device. “Hunt? Can you get me some painkillers?”
“I can get them,” Elise said, jumping to her feet. “Hunter, point me in the right direction.”
He got up, and she saw he’d been working on a crossword puzzle. “They’re next to the stove.” He pointed to the skinny cupboard between the stove and a corner lazy Susan.
Elise opened it, asking over her shoulder, “Do you like crossword puzzles?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Grandpa keeps a book here for me, and I try to do one every day.” He ducked his head, as if embarrassed of this particular hobby. The mannerism was so much like Gray, and it caused affection to swell in Elise’s heart.
She got down the bottle of painkillers, but instead of taking them straight over to Gray, she detoured to the table, where Hunter had retreated. He’d finished about a quarter of the puzzle, and Elise looked at it over his shoulder. “It’s okay to have something you enjoy doing,” she said quietly.
He looked up at her. “What do you do?”
Elise swallowed, because she hadn’t even told Gray about her sketching obsession. She had used it on all of his motivational running cards, though.
“I like to sketch dresses,” she said. “But shh. It’s a secret.”
Hunter searched her face. “Is it really?”
She nodded and looked over her shoulder. Everyone in the living room was watching her, and she couldn’t judge their expressions in only a moment. “It really is, Hunter,” she said. “You’re the only person I’ve told.”
“Not even my dad?”
She shook her head. “So don’t tell him, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, glancing over to Gray too. “Are you embarrassed about the sketches?”
“No,” she said. “They’re just…personal. I don’t show them to anyone, and I haven’t told anyone about them. Sometimes it’s nice to have something that’s just yours.” She wasn’t sure how much he’d understand about this, because he was only twelve. So she patted his shoulder and said, “Good luck with this one, Hunter,” and turned to take the pills to Gray.
He finished his story about the marathon and swallowed a few pills. “If I sit here for a few minutes, I’ll recover enough to take you on a tour of the farm.” He indicated she should come sit next to him. She did, stepping past his father to do it.
“That sounds fun,” she said.
“How familiar with farms are you?” Gray asked, grinning at her. He took her hand in his, and she really liked having their relationship out in the open.
“Not very familiar,” she said. “But there are horses at the lodge. So I’m familiar with the smell.”
Bev laughed, and Elise was glad she’d been able to cause that. The conversation continued, and she told Gray’s parents about her childhood in Prince Edward Island, and her mom and her brother.
“Oh, Gray, my mom’s getting married at the end of August. I guess Henry’s parents won’t be able to travel until then.”
“End of August. If you know the dates, let me know, and I’ll put them on my calendar.”
“She texted me yesterday, while I was driving.” Elise pulled out her phone and started tapping. “August…twenty-first.” She looked up, and Gray tap-tapped to add it to his calendar.
“Got it.” He smiled at her, and Elise experienced a very surreal moment between the two of them. They sat there, making plans for months down the road, putting events on their calendars, as if their lives were so intertwined already.
“Where’s your father, Elise?” Bev asked.
Elise’s smile slid right off her face. The question was innocent enough, but she hated answering it. “Uh, I’m not sure,” she said. “I don’t know him at all.”
“Oh.” Bev looked at Gray and then Chris. “I’m sorry.”
“It was always just me, Malcolm, and Mom,” Elise said. “I think he lives in Canada, but we never saw him growing up or anything.”
“Interesting.”
Elise didn’t see what was interesting about it, and she didn’t know what to say.
“Let’s take that tour now,” Gray said, using the armrest to help him stand. “Dad, did you get the chores done this morning?”
“Most of them,” he said.
“I’ll make something for dinner,” Bev said.
“I want that sausage and orzo soup, Mom,” Ames said, following Gray and Elise into the kitchen.
“I got dough rising,” their mother said. “I wasn’t going to make soup.”
“Come on,” Ames needled. “You can bake the bread and make garlic toast.”
“Hunt,” Gray said while they continued to argue about what to make for dinner. “Come help me figure out what Grandpa didn’t get done this morning.”
He got up without being asked again. Just set his pencil down and stepped toward the back door.
“I’ll stay here and make sure they don’t say anything bad about you,” Ames said.
Gray snorted and shook his head. “Sure, whatever.”
Ames chuckled and said, “I’ll get the orzo out, Ma. What else do you need?”
Elise went outside with Hunter, and the sun was almost directly overhead now. “It’s nice out here,” she said, breathing in the pure air and bathing in the sunshine.
Gray followed her and plunked a hat on her head. “You’ll need this.”
“I will? I was just planning to loiter in the shade while you worked.” She grinned at him as they crossed the deck.
“I’m the one who ran twenty-six miles this morning. Why does no one get that?”
She laughed as she went down the steps to the yard, glad Hunter was several paces in front of them. “Your parents are great.”
“Oh, you don’t need to lie to me,” Gray said.
“No, really.” She giggled. “Your mom was a little intense in the beginning, but she settled down.”
“If you’re really firm with her, she backs off.” Gray reached for her hand. “They do bring up an interesting point.”
“There’s that interesting word again,” Elise sa
id, not really liking that word right now.
“We do live in two different cities.”
Elise suddenly wasn’t warm enough. “Yes.” She once again didn’t know what else to say.
“What are we going to do about that?”
“I don’t know.” She looked up at him, and he’d put a cowboy hat on too. Not his usual one, but he still looked country and cowboy and delicious. “School’s almost out. Maybe you and Hunter could come to Coral Canyon for the summer.”
“That’s an idea,” he said, nodding. The way he spoke, Elise knew he had other ideas.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“Dad,” Hunter called. “He didn’t do the goat troughs.”
“You get ‘em done, then,” Gray called. Hunter nodded and got to work. Elise wouldn’t even know what to do with a goat trough, but it seemed like the twelve-year-old sure did.
Gray stepped in front of her, blocking her view of his son. “It’s fairly obvious that my parents can’t run this farm,” he said. “There’s a granny house here, and I want to move them into that, buy the farm, and move out here with Hunter. We’ll work the farm together.” He took a deep breath, his eyes so deep and so serious. “That way, the farm stays in the family—we’ve owned it for four generations. Someone’s nearby to look after my folks.”
He shrugged and looked away. “I guess I’m asking if you think there’s any chance you could leave Coral Canyon.” He met her eyes again. “Or are we just kidding ourselves?”
Chapter Twenty
Gray hated the knotted tension in his muscles. He hadn’t imagined this day being more than the marathon. Elise being here had changed everything. He’d introduced her to Hunter a week early, and she’d met his parents, and now he was talking about a long-term future with the woman.
She reached up and touched his face, her cool fingers like manna from heaven for him. “You don’t mean right now, right, Gray?”
“No,” he said. “Just…in general. At some point in the future. Can you leave Coral Canyon and come live on this farm?” He looked around at his future. He’d never aspired to be a farmer, but he could see himself working this land alongside his son.
“I think so,” she said, making so many of his dreams come true. “People in Colorado need their lawns mowed, right?”
Gray smiled at her. “I’m sure they do, sweetheart.” He leaned down and kissed her, a pain pulling through his lower back as he did. He kept the kiss short, because he was aware his parents were probably watching through the big windows at the back of the house. At least his mother was.
And Hunter wasn’t far away, and Gray didn’t need to be making out with Elise in front of his son. He pulled away and asked, “I wanted to ask you about children too, Elise.”
“What about them?”
“You want kids of your own, right?”
She nodded, those clear green eyes mesmerizing him. “Yeah, Gray. I want kids of my own. Not that Hunter won’t be mine. He’s a great kid.”
Gray put his arm around her and turned around, both of them facing the farm now. “He is. What were you two talking about by the table?”
“His crossword puzzles.”
“Looked like more than that.”
“Can you not be a lawyer for like five seconds?” she asked, pushing against his chest. “Now come on. You promised me a farm tour.”
“My legs hurt,” he complained, practically limping after her.
“Fine,” she said, dancing around from him. “You go back to the house. I’ll get Hunter to give me the tour.”
Gray’s first impulse was to disagree with her. But his legs really did hurt, and maybe that would give her and Hunter some bonding time. So he said, “Good idea. I’ll see you in a bit.”
To her credit, she smiled and walked away from him, headed in the general direction of the goat enclosure. It took him a lot of effort to turn and go back to the farmhouse, where Ames had gotten his way. A pot of sausage and orzo soup bubbled on the stove, and Mom had a loaf of bread on the counter, where she slathered it liberally with homemade garlic butter.
“She’s wonderful,” his mother said the moment Gray closed the door. “I really like her.”
“Me too, Mom.”
“How old is she, really?”
Gray rolled his eyes. “She’s only thirty, Mom.”
His mother’s whole face lit up, and Gray knew what she was going to say before the words came out of her mouth. “More grandchildren,” she said. “I’m so excited.” She finished buttering the bread as if doing so brought her untold joy.
“Where did Dad go?”
“He’s in his office.”
“I’m gonna go get him,” Gray said. “I have something I want to talk to you two about.”
“Are you going to ask her to marry you?” Mom dropped the knife on the counter with a clatter.
“No, Mom.” Gray went to get his father, his mind rolling the word marriage through his mind. He was falling for Elise, he knew that much. But marriage? He could commit again—to the right person. The real question was whether Elise was the right woman or not.
“Dad?” He poked his head into the office. “Can you come out here for a minute? I want to talk to you and Mom for a second.”
“Sure.” His father kept clicking on his computer for another few seconds, and then he got up. Gray let him go first, and he seemed to move so slow. No wonder he couldn’t get all the chores done on the farm. And when summer hit in full force, there’d be yard work to do too.
Once they were all in the kitchen, Gray stuck his hands in his pockets, glad he’d had Ames stop by his house so he could shower and change real quick. Ames had gone to get gas, and by the time he’d returned, Gray had been ready.
“I want to buy the farm,” he said, straight-up. “Hunter and I will buy it all. The land, the house, the animals, everything. You guys can move into the granny house with Grams. We’ll be here if you need anything, and we’ll make sure the farm and animals get taken care of the way they should.”
“What a great idea,” Mom said.
“Now wait a minute,” Dad said, looking at her. “We haven’t even talked about selling the farm. The granny house is much smaller than this house.”
“There’s three of us,” Mom argued back. “And I barely leave the house. Grams certainly isn’t going anywhere.”
Gray looked back and forth between them. “Dad,” he said, trying to make his voice gentle and kind. “You can’t take care of this place.”
A fire entered his father’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything.
“You know I’m right.” Gray looked at Ames, nodding to get him to help out.
“It’s a good idea,” Ames said.
“Maybe someone else will want the farm,” Dad said. “We should ask everyone.”
“No one else wants it,” Ames said. “Colt and Wes are in Coral Canyon, Dad. Cy’s building motorcycles for the foreseeable future, and I have a very demanding job I love.”
“Chris,” Mom said, but Gray heard a whole conversation there.
“I suppose I’ll have to figure out a fair price,” Dad said, and he sounded absolutely miserable about it.
“This is a good thing, Dad,” Gray said. “Hunter loves this farm, and he’ll probably buy it from me one day.”
Dad started to nod, and Gray crossed the distance between them and hugged him. “This is good, Dad.”
“I know.” He hugged Gray back, and when they separated, Mom sniffled a little.
“Is Elise going to come here?” Dad asked, and the question surprised Gray, mostly because it was such a Mom-thing to ask.
“I don’t know, Dad,” Gray said. “We’re going really slow, okay? We’ve been dating for a few months, but we definitely need several more before big things like moving and marriage will happen.” He looked between his mother and father. “Okay? I don’t need you to badger me, and I certainly don’t need you making things awkward with Elise. I see her very rarely, and
you’re lucky I’m sharing her with you today at all.”
“Okay, son,” his mother said. “We hear you.” She stepped away from the finished bread and hugged him. “I love you, Gray. You’re a good man, and a good father, and if she’s the one, everything will work out.”
“Thanks, Ma.” He held her tight, because there was nothing quite so good as a hug from his mother.
“Thank you for sharing her with us today.” She patted him on the back and stepped away. “I’m just so happy you’re seeing someone.” She sniffled again, and Gray decided that was his cue to join Grams in the living room, where he could doze until his girlfriend returned with his son.
“All ready?” Gray asked the following morning. He’d dropped Hunter at school and headed downtown, where Elise had said she’d wait for him before she left to return to Coral Canyon. She’d answered the door of her hotel room and brought her suitcase into the hallway.
Right there, he held her face in his hands and kissed her, wanting more time with her in person.
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” he whispered, sliding his lips to her ear.
“I know.” She exhaled, holding onto his shoulders in such a way that told him she liked being close to him. He hadn’t been this close to a woman in so long, and a thrill ran through his whole body. “But I do. I’m already behind schedule.”
“Hunter and I talked last night,” Gray said, straightening but keeping her in his arms. “We’re still going to come this weekend.”
“Are you sure?” she said. “It’s a long drive.”
“We’re going to fly and rent a car in Jackson.”
“Oh, that’ll be faster.”
“There’s good fishing near Jackson,” he said, grinning. “So we’ll fly out on Friday afternoon. Try to fish before dark. Stay in Jackson that night. Fish in the morning and get to Coral Canyon in the early afternoon.” He watched her to judge her reaction. “I know you wanted Saturday to get as much work done as you could. Does that work?”
“It’s perfect,” Elise said, pressing into him. “You’re perfect.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Not true.”
