“A little. Also a little wired. Did you know they were going to do that? Of course you did, you jerk.” She laughed when she answered her own question.
“Audrey wanted it to be a surprise. You have a powerful ally there. What are you going to do with the grant money?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Build a covered arena. Right now if the weather’s bad, we have to cancel sessions. It’s really disruptive for the kids.”
“I want to show you something,” he said, turning onto a dirt road. “Not even my family has been out here. It’s been my secret.”
“I feel honored.”
“You should. It’s my get-away-from-the-world spot.” At the end of the drive, a house sat on a bluff.
“Whose house is this?”
Ash glanced at her and back to the bumpy road. “It’s mine. It’s under construction. It wasn’t in livable condition when I bought it, but the house isn’t why I bought the property.”
He opened the car door for her and held her hand as she got out. Somewhere along the way, she’d ditched the heels. He didn’t go into the house, instead grabbing a battery-operated lantern from the trunk.
Taking her hand, he walked with her closer to the edge, where they could see the dark ribbon of the river winding through the ravine. “Sometimes I come out here to sit and just listen. Life’s hardships seem far away out here.”
“I think I can see a million stars.” Her voice was husky smoke.
He slid his arm around her waist, his fingers skimming across the smooth silk, and tugged her closer. For a minute he closed his eyes, just breathing her in, swaying in the moonlight to the music of the river.
His voice was a rough whisper against her ear. “I didn’t ask you to the dinner tonight because I knew you were being honored. I did—know, I mean—but I asked you because I wanted to be with you away from the farm, away from the hospital and the day-to-day pressures.”
She didn’t say anything, just laid her head in the hollow of his shoulder.
He cleared his throat. “I know you think I’m not the relationship type. And that’s okay—I haven’t been. Ever since a close friend of mine died in high school, I’ve had this attitude. Life is short. Live it. Expend it. Go down in flames on empty. I kind of feel like I’m living her life, too. I don’t know if that makes sense at all.”
Jordan stopped swaying and lifted her head to look into his eyes, hers dark and luminous in the light of the moon. “It does. I’m so sorry about your friend.”
“Thank you.” He skimmed his fingers down the curve of her neck. “Jordan, I’ve never had a relationship because since Victoria died, I never found anyone that I wanted to have one with, not really. I watched you tonight, after the dinner. You share that bright light that’s in you with everyone you meet. With me. I don’t know what to do with that kind of generosity.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll give this a chance. Say you like me. Say whatever it is you’re feeling.”
“Oh, Ash. I’m just a farm girl and for this one night I’ve gotten to be the princess. You brought me flowers.”
“You are so much more than a farm girl.” He slid his hand around to cup her neck and lowered his mouth to hers, letting all the feelings he’d tried to suppress over the past months pour into that one simple gesture.
He didn’t know what the future held, and right now he didn’t care. It was this moment that mattered.
Her arms slipped around his neck and he pulled her closer. He didn’t want to waste a moment of the moonlight.
Chapter Eleven
It was after midnight when Ash pulled the car into the driveway and turned off the ignition. Jordan’s head was spinning with everything that had happened. The awards dinner, the civic group’s incredible generosity to Triple H and, most of all, the time with Ash at the river.
They sat for a moment with the car ticking in the silence.
Because the kiss on the riverbank was what her mind lingered on, she rambled. “I had a really nice time tonight. I have to admit that I felt like an idiot getting all dressed up. And those shoes. Well, the shoes were as bad as I thought they’d be, but the party wasn’t. The people were amazing. The award. I don’t know what to think about that, still.”
“It was a really great night. But next time we go on a date, maybe you pick the place.” His phone buzzed and she wondered who it was contacting him after midnight, but he cleared it from his screen without a glance. “I can walk you to the door.”
She shook her head. “I’m going in to check on Levi before I hit the bed at my place.”
Before she could get out, he had his door open and was around the car opening hers. He held a hand out. She slid her fingers into his and stood, the torture-shoes dangling from her other hand.
His eyes were on hers, a mischievous, flirtatious look that she knew she would be thinking about after he left. His lips were inches—millimeters, really—away from hers. Her breath caught as he ran a single slim finger down her jawline. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She held his gaze, wishing she could see inside that quick, agile mind. “Okay.”
Brushing past him with a rustle of blue silk, she walked up the steps and into the house. She leaned back against the door, her eyes closed. What a night.
“About time you got home.”
The shoes hit the floor. “Claire? What are you doing lurking in here?”
Her twin sat up on the couch. “Waiting on you. Yoga pants in the powder room. Ice cream in the freezer. I want details.”
Jordan found the stretchy black pants and an oversize T-shirt in the bathroom and slid into them with no small amount of relief. Claire had even left a padded hanger on the hook on the back of the door for the dress.
Grabbing the tub of ice cream from the freezer, she dropped onto the couch beside her sister and passed her a spoon. She dug it into the rocky road and looked into Claire’s expectant face. “It was the most horribly boring evening I’ve ever had. I can’t believe you all talked me into going.”
Claire’s face fell and a half second later, she was laughing. “You almost had me. But you won an award that came with fifty thousand dollars tonight. That’s not boring.”
Another spoon of ice cream and a sigh. “It was magical. I can’t even believe I’m saying that because I had on a formal dress and killer heels for hours, but it was just one of those nights that was...perfect.”
“You got home awfully late.” Claire mumbled with her mouth full.
“We might’ve sat by the river to look at the stars.” Ash’s property and plans were his secret to share when he was ready to share it.
Claire squealed, abruptly dropping her voice to a whisper when there was murmured movement from the bedroom down the hall. “Was there kissing? Please tell me there was kissing.”
Jordan didn’t say anything, but her fair skin gave her away every time. She took another bite of ice cream and willed her cheeks to stop burning.
Her twin sister shot to her feet, dancing a little boogie, which was hilarious considering she was five months pregnant. “I am such a genius. I knew, knew, you guys would hit it off when I asked Ash to hang out with you and help you with Levi.”
Jordan stopped laughing when she realized what Claire had just said, a knot forming in her stomach. Her sister had asked Ash to spend time with her?
She put her spoon down. “I’m gonna run upstairs and check on Levi and then I’m going to bed. Can I leave Levi here until tomorrow?”
Claire stopped dancing and searched Jordan’s face. “Of course. You can stay here, too, if you want.”
Jordan went upstairs to what they thought of as the toddler room. There were three little toddler beds in a row, each with cartoon character bedding. She stepped over the gate in the doorway and k
nelt down by Levi’s bed. He was sleeping soundly, his hand lying open. She brushed a finger down his cheek and he smiled in his sleep before turning over to burrow into the covers.
Sweet boy.
She went back down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Claire was putting the ice cream into the freezer.
“Are you all right? Did I say something?”
Forcing a smile, Jordan picked up the hanger with the borrowed dress. “I’m fine. It just hit me how tired I am. I’ll see you in the morning. Thanks for the ice cream.”
She closed the door quietly behind her and headed for her cottage. The water of the pond was still tonight. The same stars she’d felt like a princess under just hours ago glistening in the surface.
Was what she’d felt for Ash real?
The smart, funny girl ends up with the cutest guy in town. It was straight out of a romantic comedy, but did it happen in real life?
Not to people like her. Hadn’t she had that very thought?
She’d told Claire she was exhausted and she’d been telling the truth. She let Gus out and took the opportunity to go into the bathroom and wash the makeup off her face. Maybe she’d enjoyed it a little, being someone else, someone a little prettier, someone with a little more polish, but as her freckles appeared, she knew that person wasn’t who she was.
When Gus came back and let her know with a deep low bark that he was waiting, she let him in and went straight to bed.
Gus jumped up beside her, which he never did. He knew he wasn’t allowed on the bed. He shimmy-crawled until he was lying next to her and she put her arm around him.
On her bedside table, her cell phone buzzed. Message from Claire.
She ignored it. It wasn’t like her, but she didn’t want to get into it with her sister, not until she had time to process. Right now she was leading with hurt. Once upon a time, she’d been the sick twin, the unwanted one. Rejected first by her biological parents and then by adoptive parents before their mom adopted them both together. This situation felt like a new wound on top of some old scar tissue.
Maybe that was melodramatic. Okay, it was melodramatic and she knew it, but she wanted Ash to want to spend time with her because he liked her, not because her twin sister asked him to.
Her heart ached as she went over every second of the evening in her head. Had she imagined the connection?
It had seemed real.
She buried her fingers in Gus’s thick fur. Maybe tomorrow she could sort through her feelings and let the hurt go.
Or maybe not.
* * *
Ash pulled to a stop in the driveway at Red Hill Farm. He had no excuse for being there, other than a flat of zinnias in the back seat, which he bought because they reminded him of Jordan. They were hardy little flowers but incredibly bright. They made him happy just looking at them.
And yeah, he was fully aware that it was a silly gesture, but there was something about Jordan that made him feel a little silly and romantic.
He dropped the flowers and a half-empty bottle of water off on her porch and set out to look for Jordan. He found her outside the equipment shed, tinkering and muttering as she worked on the engine of the ATV she used to drag the area where she held therapy sessions. “Hey, what’s going on?”
Jordan looked up, scowled and rubbed sweat off her forehead with a gloved hand, leaving a swipe of dirt behind. “I’ve got a wire connected to the ignition that’s chafed and frayed. The thing won’t start.”
“I can get Joe’s truck and trailer and help you get it to the repair place.” The look she gave him could have withered those zinnias instantly.
She blew the hair off her face. “I’m not some airhead who depends on other people to do everything. I never said I couldn’t fix it.” Soldering gun in hand, she leaned over the engine again.
“Airhead?”
She went still for a second then looked at him sideways, still bent over the engine. “Give me the electrical tape.”
He handed it to her and she turned back to the wire she was repairing.
“I, ah, I think I’m going to go see what Joe and the kids are up to.”
Her voice was muffled. “See ya later.”
It had been a whim to come out here when he saw the bright-colored zinnias. He was happy. Happy flowers. Now he was wondering if he’d made a big mistake. She hadn’t exactly reciprocated after he shared his feelings last night.
Maybe she’d just been caught up. The moonlight, stars, scent of honeysuckle heavy in the air. It was a heady mix. So maybe it was understandable if she was having second thoughts. Maybe?
Her gardening tools, the small ones, were in a bucket on her front porch. He picked up the trowel and spade and began to plant the flowers he brought her in the beds right beside the steps to her cottage, where she would see them every day.
“Hey, Uncle Ash. Whatcha doin’?” His thirteen-year-old niece, Amelia, was sprawled on the steps the way only a long-limbed teenager could do. “I brought you a Popsicle.”
He squinted his eyes at it. “It looks good but I probably shouldn’t.”
“It’s made out of fruit, no sugar. And Claire has pretty much banned food coloring, so there’s none of that, either.”
Amused, Ash took the dripping Popsicle and bit into it. It tasted weird.
“There might be sweet potatoes in it. She throws all the leftovers in the blender and makes smoothie Popsicles.”
Gross. “Oh...yum. Healthy Popsicles.”
“So why are you planting flowers?”
He grinned. “I saw them and thought Jordan would like them.”
“You crushin’ on Aunt Jordan?”
“I don’t know. I guess. She was a little cranky when I talked to her a few minutes ago, though, so I don’t think she’s crushing on me back.”
Amelia shrugged one slim shoulder. “I don’t know. My dad always says if a guy is mean to you that means they probably like you and don’t want anyone to know.”
Ash sat back on his heels. He was going to have to have a talk with Joe about what kind of advice he was giving his daughter about guys, but in this case, it was worth a thought. Maybe last night was overwhelming for Jordan and she didn’t know how to react to him today. It didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t on the same wavelength.
Maybe she did like him. Or maybe she didn’t and she just didn’t know how to tell him.
He scowled at the flowers.
His niece finished off her Popsicle and stuck the stick in the back pocket of her cutoffs. “Personally, I think if a guy is mean to you, you should punch ’im in the face. Life’s too short.”
“Agreed. I mean, no. Punching people is not allowed. But you’re right. Life’s too short.” With considerable effort, Ash held in his laughter until Amelia was well away from Jordan’s cottage. He called after her. “Thanks for the treat.”
She threw one arm in the air in response and the laugh rolled out. Amelia had been dropped by her mom on his brother’s doorstep as an angry, undernourished kid with no idea what a real family looked like. Joe, and then Claire, too, had been showing her love every day since and she had turned into a feisty, confident kid he adored.
He patted the dirt down around the last little flower and sat on the porch steps, leaning back on one elbow, taking a swig from his bottle of water. Jordan said last night that her evening had been magical, but she never said she shared his feelings or that she was falling for him, too.
He felt like an idiot, but he guessed the biggest question was where did he go from here? Did he chuck the whole idea or did he fight for her?
His mother, Bertie, had a saying: Love is always worth it.
If that was true, he only had one choice.
* * *
Jordan finished dragging the ring where they did the the
rapy sessions and put the ATV back into the shed. She grabbed the hand rake on her way out the door. There were a few spots that she’d had trouble getting to with the drag and she would break those up by hand.
The horses were turned out to pasture today. She’d seen them cavorting and rolling and having a good time earlier this morning. It had warmed up now and they were sleepily grazing on the far side of the pasture.
When she rounded the corner of the barn, she saw Joe. He’d gotten the hose and sprayer out of the barn and was wetting down the top layer, which would’ve been her next job. “Hey, thanks.”
He looked up. “It’s nap time inside and I saw you out here working so I thought I might give you a hand. Nice day. A little sunshine, you know.”
“I appreciate it.”
“No problem. I heard y’all had a good time last night.”
All the good feelings she’d had toward Joe for helping her evaporated. She narrowed her eyes. “Who’d you hear that from?”
Joe studied her face for a minute and calmly continued watering while she slammed the rake into the clumps of clay and sand. “You won an award, I heard.”
Either Joe was smart enough to avoid her question or he was actually interested in the award. Either way, the award was a much safer topic than the fact that she’d been kissing his brother in the moonlight last night.
She grinned. “Fifty-thousand-dollar grant and the first thing on the list is a covered arena. We’ll still have to pick and drag and water, but we can work in all weather, and have space enough to do some really awesome things with our therapy sessions.”
“And you and Ash had a good time? Wynn said you looked really beautiful, which I don’t have a hard time believing.”
So apparently her brother-in-law wasn’t interested in sticking to safe topics. “I had a good time.”
Joe glanced up as she stabbed viciously at a hard clump of clay. He cleared his throat. “Jordan, I’m not going to ask about what happened last night, good or bad. That’s between you and Ash.”
She eased off on the rake a bit, but then he kept talking.
“You know, it’s no secret that I had a rough childhood. I cheated, fought, lied, stole...whatever it took. I can’t imagine how my mom could look at me and see that there was something worth working for on the inside.” He wasn’t looking at Jordan now, but they worked side by side.
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