A Wedding for the Widower (Brush Creek Brides Book 1)

by Liz Isaacson

  Wild ideas of stepping right up to him and pressing her lips to his ran through her head. She entertained them, just like she had all week. She wanted to let go of her inhibitions, the way she’d let go of everything in her previous life. She hadn’t been able to grab onto her old life anyway, and she’d left Salt Lake City behind because of it.

  And now, with Walker grinning at her, she wanted to do it again—leave behind who she was without him and find out who she could become with him.

  Chapter Seven

  Walker was sure the gorgeous woman walking toward him was a mirage. Sure she was there to see someone else, maybe Justin in the next cabin down. He seemed to have plenty of female admirers.

  Tess arrived in front of him, and he focused on her instead of the other cowboys at the ranch. “Hey,” he said. “You look fantastic.” He slipped his hand around her waist and drew her close. His lips brushed across her brow, and his eyes closed in a moment of bliss. He couldn’t believe how easy it was to touch her, to kiss her, even if the real mark he wanted lay a few more inches south of where his lips had touched.

  “Thanks,” she whispered.

  “Cheesecake’s ready,” he said, indicating the cabin behind him. He glanced out the yard and called to Michael.

  He paused at the front gate, Graham and the two dogs right behind him. “Can we go over to the pool?”

  Walker shook his head before his son had stopped asking. Landon hadn’t said anything about a pool party for that night. He’d missed last week’s because of the trip to the hospital, but the boys had really enjoyed themselves. Landon had a soft spot for dogs, and apparently everyone had gotten in the pool, human and canine alike.

  “Dad, Landon said we could.” Michael marched back over to him. “Bruce is dripping with sweat. He wants to swim.”

  Walker glanced down at Michael’s swimming trunks. He hadn’t even noticed when his son had changed, worried as he was about Tess’s arrival. “I think you want to swim.”

  “Can you just text Landon?”

  Walker whipped his phone from his back pocket. “When did you talk to him?”

  “This morning after church, while you were—”

  Walker whistled so Michael would stop talking. He cut a glance in Tess’s direction, noting the open curiosity on her face, before focusing on a text to Landon. He didn’t need her knowing he’d watched her for a good fifteen minutes while she chatted with her friends. He hadn’t been close enough to hear, but he could read lips well enough, and he knew the shape of his name on Tess’s lips.

  He wanted to know a lot more about Tess’s lips. He cleared his throat like she could hear his thoughts and finished his text. To give himself more room to think—room without her intoxicating floral perfume—he stepped back.

  Landon’s text came back in the affirmative. “You were right.” He nodded to Michael. “Grab some towels and the sunscreen first. You listen to Landon and Megan. Be respectful.”

  Michael whooped and dodged back into the house. With the boys and the dogs gone, Walker had nowhere to focus his energy but on Tess.

  “So it’s just you and me for cheesecake.”

  She ducked her head, her left hand reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. It was so short, it didn’t stay, but the gesture indicated that she’d had long hair at one point in the past. She’d had the pixie cut for as long as he’d known her.

  “This cheesecake is going to blow your mind,” she said.

  “I’m counting on it.” Walker opened his cabin door and waited for her to walk through it.

  A couple of weeks later, Walker’s patience hung at the end of a very short rope. He’d spent a couple more evenings with Tess. One sitting across from each other at Crusiers, the diner where everyone hung out on the weekends. One side-by-side at the movie theater, their sons sitting in the row in front of them. They’d sat beside each other at church. Held hands whenever they were together.

  But he hadn’t kissed her yet. And he knew she wouldn’t be the first to make that move. For some reason, he hadn’t been able to either. He had been scared about her cancer returning and the impact that would have on him emotionally, as well as Michael. But he’d spent time outside, away from the cabin, early in the morning before work. And he’d found peace about dating Tess.

  Now he just needed to gather his wits, find his courage, and kiss the woman.

  “Time for school!” he called up the stairs. Michael should’ve been down ten minutes ago. He’d have to eat breakfast on the go. Walker picked up the new backpack they’d bought the previous weekend as Michael came thundering down the steps.

  “Dad, I can’t find my shoes.”

  “Your shoes?” Walker felt stitched together wrong. Michael seemed so old, starting fifth grade. It felt like a milestone, and Walker generally struggled with the milestones of Michael’s life, because Libby didn’t get to experience them.

  He glanced around. “The shoes we bought two days ago? Didn’t you wear them over to Landon’s last night?”

  “No, I wore my skate shoes.”

  “Did you take—?”

  “Here they are.” Michael dove under the kitchen table and pulled out the blue athletic shoes. He jammed them on his feet and Walker draped him in the backpack.

  “Let’s go. We have to stop and get Graham too.” Walker hustled Michael out to the truck and he drove faster down to town than he ever had. He had to get the boys to school on time and get back to Brush Creek to work with a new horse that Landon had bought last week.

  Magnolia was a real firecracker, and she’d been giving Walker a run for his money. Still, he loved the tall, leggy, Appaloosa. She’d make a fantastic barrel racing horse, and Walker was determined to make her the best the rodeo circuit had seen in decades.

  He pulled up to Tess’s house and found her and Graham standing on the front porch. He hadn’t anticipated seeing her; she’d said she liked to sleep in. But she walked toward him, not a hair out of place, with makeup on her face, and a bounce in her step. He rolled down the window and she leaned her elbows against the truck.

  “So Michael will come home with Graham. You’ll be down around six?”

  “Yep.” He let the movement from the two boys distract him. “Six. Michael has the money and the signup form for the soccer in his backpack.”

  She grinned and tapped his truck as she stepped back. “Sounds great.”

  “Hey,” he said as she continued to back away. “I heard you cut hair in your basement.”

  “You heard?” She cocked her eyebrows and laughed. “You’ve known that for years.”

  His fingers wandered to the back of his neck. “Wondering if you could cut mine tonight.”

  The rosiness in her cheeks vanished and her hand fluttered around her throat. “Sure, I guess,” she said with a heavy dose of doubt.

  He gave her a wide grin. “Great. See you at six.”

  Walker arrived back at Brush Creek along with a heavy gust of wind. He pressed his hat to his head and hurried past the shed and bunk house toward the indoor horse arena. Justin, a lanky cowboy with bright blue eyes and a loud laugh that always made Walker smile, lounged on the top rung of the fence. Inside the circle, Landon rotated with the horse, a male Quarter Horse who’d come to them from California. He was originally being trained to be a team roping horse, but he bucked too much. Landon wanted to train him according to his strengths, make him into the greatest gelding the rodeo had seen in the bronc riding category.

  “He’s big,” Walker said as he leaned on the fence next to where Justin sat.

  “There you are.”

  Walker’s defenses came up. “Had to drive Michael to school.”

  “Megan was looking for you.”

  Walker kept his face blank, his eyes on the brown horse trotting around the arena, one eye on the plastic bag Landon kept tapping on the ground, and one navigating himself around the oval.

  “How’s Bear doing?” Walker asked, ignoring Justin’s statement completely. He’
d catch up with Megan later, probably at lunchtime. He’d like to keep his sanity for the next three hours, thank you very much.

  “Saddle,” Landon called, and Walker hustled away to get the equipment. He lost himself to saddling, and brushing down, and training horses. He enjoyed the quiet, steady work. The way his muscles tightened and released. The way the air tasted clear and crisp out here in the Utah wilderness.

  By the time he finished with Magnolia, the mare he was trying to get to trust him completely, the arena and barns were empty. Walker dusted his hands together and headed toward Landon’s house. The pool glinted in the sunlight, almost blinding Walker, and he glanced around the backyard where he’d enjoyed many summer barbeques. He tapped on the glass of the backdoor and then opened it.

  Landon stood at the kitchen counter, spreading mayo on a piece of bread. “How’s it going with Magnolia?”

  “She’s comin’ along,” Walker said. “I think she’ll be ready in a couple of weeks. Then I’ll start her with the barrels.” He stepped to the sink and started washing his hands.

  “Sandwiches.” Landon nodded toward the spread. “We’re eatin’ out front.”

  Megan had set up the front patio area with what she called “the cowboy pad,” and the boys ate there most days. Walker put together a turkey and ham sandwich, and had taken three steps toward the front door when Megan appeared in the mouthway of the hall.

  “Not so fast, Mister.”

  Walker didn’t try to conceal his groan. “I’m starving, Megan.”

  “Talk fast then.”

  “Talk about what?”

  She folded her arms. “Tess Wagner.”

  “Nothing to talk about.”

  Megan scoffed. “Right. You’ve been sitting by her in church. Driving down to town in the evenings.”

  “So what?”

  “Are you dating?”

  “You could say that.”

  A wide grin split Megan’s face, and she squealed as she closed the distance between them. “It’s about time, Walker.” She hugged him, nearly smashing the sandwich between them. Walker held it out to the side and awkwardly patted Megan on the back.

  She stepped away, and he said, “I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

  “You’ll figure it out. Dating is like riding a horse.”

  Walker chuckled, the sound without much humor. “Well, that’s not true. Riding a horse is a lot easier.”

  “Says you.” She cast him a look over her shoulder and went into the kitchen to clean up the meat and cheese.

  Walker escaped to the patio, hoping to calm his churning stomach with food.

  Chapter Eight

  Tess finished her only haircut for the day by eleven and then paced in the kitchen for an hour until she finally pulled a pan out of the cupboard and practically cracked her stovetop when she dropped it onto the burner. She set another pot a little more carefully onto another burner and flipped on the hot water.

  She went through the motions of making her mother’s macaroni and cheese recipe. She didn’t have to think. She didn’t have to measure. Her hands just moved, completed tasks, and half an hour later, she had a steaming pan full of ooey gooey mac and cheese.

  Her stomach revolted at the thought of eating it, but she served herself a bowlful anyway. She stared at it, her thoughts finally catching up to her actions.

  “There is no way,” she muttered to herself. Having Walker in her tiny hair studio was not going to go well. Touching his scalp so intimately? With his intoxicating scent filling the air from floor to ceiling?

  No way she could survive such a close encounter without kissing him. She took a bite of the mac and cheese, glad she didn’t need conscious thought to create something so creamy and delicious. Maybe she should just kiss him when he showed up. Get it out of the way.

  They’d been spending more time together, but he hadn’t made a move farther than holding her hand and draping his arm around her shoulders. Her lips tingled in anticipation. She would definitely be kissing Walker before she went to bed that night.

  “He’s going to be in the house.” Sudden fear seized her though he’d been there a few weeks ago, after the apricot festival. She pulled out the air freshener and the vacuum, did the dishes, and had both bathrooms sparkling by the time the boys burst through the front door, laughing and pushing each other.

  “Hey!” She tossed the paper towel she’d been using to clean the mirror into the trashcan. “How was the first day of school?” She drew Graham into a hug, surprised when Michael joined them. “Third grade and fifth grade. Must’ve been awesome.” Her voice stalled in her throat as she hugged not just one son, but two.

  Not her son, but a boy who needed a mother’s touch.

  “It was great,” Graham said, pulling away and dumping his backpack in the middle of the floor. “My teacher is so funny. She told us this story about her son and her dog and they were so muddy!”

  Tess nodded and “hmm”’ed in all the right places, but she kept her eye on Michael. He was polite and accepted the bowl of mac and cheese she gave him, and when Graham finally stopped talking, she said, “How was fifth grade, Michael?”

  “Good. We had to take a lot of tests,” he said, and that was all. She wondered if Walker would be able to draw more out of him, get him to say more, but Tess didn’t quite know how. “Any homework?”

  “Just papers my dad has to sign.”

  “Graham?”

  “I have some notes too.” Graham finished eating and headed toward his bedroom, calling for Michael to come with him.

  “Clean up your bowl first,” Tess said.

  Michael got both dishes, slid Tess a smile, and disappeared down the hall with Graham. Though they’d just eaten, she knew they’d be hungry by six o’clock, when Walker was supposed to make an appearance. So she took the cookbook from the cupboard above the stove and started flipping through it, her thoughts running through what a cowboy would like to eat after a long day of breaking horses.

  She’d just taken the meatloaf out of the oven when the roar of a truck’s engine outside caught her attention. She strode to the back door. “Boys!” she called. “Time for dinner.” Graham came tearing toward her from the swing set in the corner of the yard.

  By the time the boys spilled into the house and Tess turned around, Walker filled the doorway. His broad shoulders distracted her and Tess stumbled back into the kitchen.

  “Something smells amazing.” Walker’s gaze followed her and it felt like it weighed two tons as she stirred the mashed potatoes one final time and dropped in a slip of butter.

  “Meatloaf and mashed potatoes,” she said.

  “Can’t go wrong with that.”

  Graham slid onto the barstool where he normally sat to eat, and Michael joined him. “Do you like meatloaf, Michael?”

  He glanced at his father, who nodded. “Yes, Miss Tess.”

  She grinned. “So polite.” She filled two plates with food and said, “Let’s say grace. Walker, do you want to say it?”

  Color shot into his cheeks, but he nodded. She bowed her head, her heart tap dancing in her chest like it wanted to make as much noise as possible. Walker said a beautiful prayer about gratitude and he asked a blessing on her for her health, which touched her so much she didn’t hear the rest of his sentiments until the boys said, “Amen.”

  Walker joined her in the kitchen and collected a plate. “It doesn’t seem fair that you can cook and bake.”

  Her heart tripped at his near proximity, at the amount of food he piled onto his plate. She took her food to the table in the corner of the kitchen, which only housed two chairs. With just her and Graham, she had two of everything. Two barstools. Two chairs. Two bedrooms.

  Two chances? she wondered. She’d fallen in love with her first husband after only a few dates. Dared she hope she could have another chance at having a partner in life?

  “You’ve hardly eaten.” Walker’s voice cut through her thoughts.

  “I ate a
lot for lunch,” she said.

  Walker took her mostly full plate and took it with his back into the kitchen. “I sent the boys over to the park. Should we go get them?”

  She glanced around, just now noticing that the kids weren’t there. Foolishness snaked through her. How catatonic had she gone? “What about your haircut?”

  “We can do it after we grab the boys.”

  Tess swallowed. “All right. But just a sec.”

  Walker paused on his way to the front door, turning back to look at her. “Yeah?”

  She moved toward him, and she must’ve had something on her face, because Walker backed up, a stern look on his face. “Oh, boy. Just a minute.”

  “Just a minute?” She leaned into him and put both of her hands on his chest.

  “I didn’t think you’d make the first move.” A smile flirted with his lips. “But I have a plan, missy.”

  “A plan?” Confusion made her smile collapse. “A plan for what?”

  He leaned close. Closer still. He was going to kiss her right now. Her eyes drifted closed. Right now. Any second now.

  “A plan for kissin’ you,” he said, his breath drifting across her neck, his voice almost a growl. He stepped back and said, “So come on. We’re going down the street to Oxbow.”

  With his absence, she nearly fell forward. He tucked her hand into his and asked her about her day as they went down the sidewalk. The park seemed full of families, couples, dogs running after Frisbees. Even though it was the first day of school, the sun would be up for hours still, and Tess enjoyed the fall evening breeze against her skin.

  He didn’t take her toward the playground area, and he strayed from the path in favor of walking closer to the stream she loved. He talked about a horse named Magnolia until Tess thought she’d go mad.

  “When are you going to get to the plan?” she asked.

  He stopped and chuckled. “Impatient little thing, aren’t you?” He reached up and ran his fingers down the side of her face. “You’re a beautiful woman, Tess.”