by Liz Isaacson
They shook hands and Squire took several moments to gaze around the place. “It’s looking great.”
“Yep.” Gavin could see all the little things that didn’t look great, but he kept those to himself.
“You think you’ll be able to move out here when it’s finished?”
“Yep, I’ve talked to my aunt about coming to take care of my grandparents. She might take them to Amarillo. It’s still up in the air.” He didn’t mention the job at Navy’s. That should be done in the next day or two, and it certainly didn’t prevent him from his job out here.
“Great,” Squire said. “Wondering if you’d take a break from this so I can show you our budgeting process.”
“Sounds exciting.” Gavin grinned and clapped the dust from the sanding off his hands.
Squire chuckled. “Hardly anything about ranch management is exciting, but you’re the one with the degree, so you must like it.”
Gavin followed the other man out of the cabin, which sat smack dab in the middle of the row. Six stretched to his right, and six sat on his left.
The heat hit him like a fiery fist in the throat, and he struggled to breathe for a moment. Then, as if his body remembered he lived in Texas, everything was fine.
“You’re a vet, right?” he asked Squire as they walked down the rock path.
“That’s right. I handle all the ranch animal medical needs. Pete’s got someone part-time over there. And Brynn’s looking for someone. We’ve also got Cal, who’s my assistant on the ranch.”
“Mm.” Gavin nodded. The admin building was a hub of activity, with three men at desks, talking into radios. He hadn’t met all the cowboys at the ranch yet, but he and Squire had been working on personnel board, and he knew Squire employed over thirty people just for the ranch need.
Three Rivers was a big ranch, and Gavin wondered if he should just stay here to fulfill his dreams of owning a ranch. Because whatever he’d be able to afford, it wouldn’t be half this nice or even a quarter this big.
He focused as Squire went over the budget, absorbing everything he could, whether for this job or a ranch of his own, it didn’t matter. He needed to know it, so he focused and learned it.
When Squire finished, he pushed several papers together and put them in a folder for Gavin. A listing for a ranch sat on the desk, and Gavin asked, “What’s that?”
Squire picked up the sheet of paper. “Oh, this is from Pete. There’s an old ranch out here that borders mine. He thinks I should buy up the land and get more cattle.” Squire tossed the paper back to the desk. “He feels bad about taking up a bunch of acres with his homestead and training facility.”
“It is a huge facility,” Gavin said. He’d never been inside, but the building itself said volumes. He nodded toward the paper. “Can I have that?”
“Are you lookin’ to buy a ranch of your own?” He handed the paper to Gavin.
“I mean, I don’t know.” Gavin shrugged. “It’s been a dream of mine.”
Squire watched him, but Gavin couldn’t tell what the other man was thinking. He folded the paper and tucked in his back pocket. “Thanks, Squire. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Tomorrow.”
Gavin left the ranch, the paper in his back pocket as heavy as a load of bricks. Did he really want to buy a piece of land? No cattle. No homestead. But a bare patch of land, with untold potential.
The idea was as intriguing as it was horrifying.
“Well, that should do it.” Gavin wiped his fingers along the countertop again just to make sure he’d gotten the last of the paint and dust grime. He glanced at Navy. “What do you think?”
“What do I think?” She turned in a circle inside her remodeled cottage, her face alight with wonder. “I think it’s fantastic.” She skipped over to him in the kitchen. “Just like you.”
She kissed him quick and pulled away. He stood still, watching her with a small smile on his face. The past couple of weeks of working with her, kissing her, and much as he hadn’t wanted to admit it, dating her, had been pretty great.
Navy fisted her fingers in his shirt and kissed him again, this time with double the passion. Gavin growled and pulled her closer, kissed her deeper. “Want to go to dinner in Amarillo?” he whispered just before tracing his teeth along her earlobe.
She clung to his shoulders in a needful way he adored, traced her fingernails along the hair on the back of his neck, and giggled as he trailed kisses down her throat. “Yes,” she said, pushing fruitlessly against his collarbone to get him to stop. “But I don’t want to go anywhere Asian.”
“Still recovering from that sushi place?”
“There’s a reason sushi shouldn't be served in the Texas panhandle.” She disentangled herself from his arms. “You go shower, and I’ll slip into that pink dress you like, and we’ll go.”
“Okay,” he said. “But don’t walk over. I’ll come get you.”
She paused in her retreat toward her bedroom. “Why can’t I walk over?”
“It’s probably a million degrees outside.” He leaned against the counter. “Just let me come pick you up, would you?” She always walked over, and most of the time he found her on his grandparents’ porch, waiting for him. He didn’t like it. He wanted to pick her up for a date, the way a boyfriend would.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll wait for you to pick me up.” She grinned and ducked into her bedroom, which was Gavin’s cue to leave. He hurried home, but before stepping into the shower, he went into his grandparents’ home to check on them. The scent of roasting meat made his mouth water.
“Pork and potatoes,” Grandmother said from where she sat in the recliner, doing her needlepoint. “Or are you going out with Navy again?”
Gavin leaned over and pecked Grandmother on the cheek. “Navy. Where’s Granddad?”
“Out with the roses.”
“It’s too hot for that.” Gavin looked toward the back of the house, but the walls kept him from spotting Granddad.
“He comes in every few minutes, muttering about spider mites.”
“Make sure he drinks enough water.”
Grandmother gave him a fast smile. “I will, dear.”
“Have you heard from Aunt Ally this week?”
“She called last night.” The needle went in and out, in and out. “She just started her last case, and her retirement timeline still looks good.”
Gavin sat down, though he was risking Navy walking over here. “And you guys are okay with me moving out to Three Rivers Ranch? I mean, I’m still going to be nearby, but I won’t be next door—”
“Gavin.” Grandmother put her needlepoint down. “You’ve told us all of this, and we support you. We don’t feel abandoned by you.” She reached out and cradled his cheek in her weathered, wrinkled hand. “We love you, and we want you to go out there and work your ranch.” She smiled, the warmth genuine in her still-sharp, blue eyes.
If only Three Rivers was his ranch, but he didn’t correct her.
Gavin nodded, unsure as to why he needed this reassurance from her. He normally didn’t question himself so much. But everything with Navy had shaken his confidence, and he didn’t want to make mistakes. With her. With his life. Not anymore.
Simple fact: He was scared.
He stood and said, “I have to go shower. Thanks, Grandmother.” He hurried through getting ready and feeding the dogs. They were probably out in the yard with Granddad, as none of them had shown up yet. He put their bowls in the shade and jumped in the truck.
His grandparents’ front porch sat empty, and Gavin grinned. Navy sat in the grass at the end of her lane, though, still robbing Gavin of the opportunity to knock on her front door and pick her up properly.
He got out of the truck so he could open her door at least. “You walked,” he said.
“Not all the way.” She flashed him a smile, and he brushed his fingers through her hair, thrilled he could touch her so intimately now without worry.
“One of these days I’d like to come
to your door, present you with roses or something, and kiss you hello.”
Navy paused with one sandaled foot on the truck’s runner. “What would the ‘something’ be?”
Gavin shrugged and boosted her into the truck. “Candy? Women like candy.”
She laughed, her cute little snort breaking up the sound. “If I were you, and you were coming to pick me up, the something should be Diet Coke or cupcakes. Or both.”
“Noted.”
When Gavin got behind the wheel, Navy asked, “So what do you think of taking me fishing one of these weekends?”
He nearly drove off the road. “You want to go fishing with me?”
“You seem to really enjoy it.” She scooted over next to him and tucked herself into his side. “And you’re gone for a really long time when you go. Maybe I could just read on the riverbank.”
Gavin laughed and squeezed her hand. “If you want to come fishing, you can come.”
“What about Steve?”
“Steve’s a big boy. He can handle it. Or we’ll go ourselves.”
“So it’s almost June. You said the fishing’s good until then.”
“So you’re saying you want to go tomorrow?”
“Sure, great idea.”
Gavin shook his head, knowing full-well that it wasn’t his idea at all.
But the next morning found him packing up his fishing gear, a cooler full of food and bottled water, and his backpack with sunscreen and snacks for the road trip. His nerves seemed shaky, and he finally realized it was because he was sharing something important to him with Navy, who had also become important to him.
He showed up at her house early and got out to knock. She opened the door almost instantly and said, “I waited for you to come all the way to the door.” She glanced at his hands and clucked her tongue. “And no cupcakes. This is why I walk.”
He burst into laughter and swept her off her feet and into his arms. He righted her and pressed his lips to hers. “Good morning,” he murmured between kisses. “How’s the curtain rod holding up?”
“Fine,” she said breathlessly, holding onto him even when he started to release her.
The trip to Lake Meredith seemed to pass in a moment, with times of silence, times full of conversation and laughter, times where Navy sang really loudly to the song on the radio. Gavin enjoyed every moment, glad they could exist in silence sometimes and be comfortable inside their own heads.
“You can camp here?” Navy peered through the windshield as Gavin pulled into the Lake Meredith RV Camp.
“Sure,” he said.
“Do you ever do that?”
“Haven’t for years,” he said. “Steve likes to go home to his family at night.”
“We fish here?”
He pulled into a parking spot at the RV office. “I have to get the day passes, and then we’ll go down the bank a bit. You’ll see people swimming and stuff, and we’ll want to be a little ways from them.”
He ran inside and bought their passes while Navy looked around like she’d never been inside a campground office gift shop before. “Look at this bear!” she exclaimed, holding up a saltshaker shaped like a black bear.
Gavin’s heart softened at the sight of her. So blonde. So smart. So exuberant about a black bear saltshaker. Everything inside him turned to mush, and Gavin recognized the feelings, as he’d felt them before.
This was the first inklings of love, and he twisted back to the cash register so she wouldn’t see it shining in his eyes. He swallowed as he thanked the camp manager and took his fishing passes.
He’d never been as scared as he was in that moment. That single moment before he turned around and found Navy stroking a stuffed sunfish with a giant smile on her face.
15
Everything about Lake Meredith and fishing was new to Navy. She felt like a child experiencing things for the first time. Gavin taught her how to hook on the bait, how to cast out her line. She couldn’t do it at all, but he was kind and patient, and she certainly didn’t hate how he stood behind her, a wall of solid muscle, as he explained once again how to hold the rod.
Eventually, she wandered back to the shore and just watched him cast and reel in. Cast and reel in. It seemed impossible that a fish would be able to latch onto the hook, but Gavin pulled in half a dozen fish in an hour’s time.
Gavin waded in and rested his pole next to hers against the tree where she’d set up their camp chairs. “You okay?”
“Best day ever.” She grinned. “Well, maybe. What have you got in the cooler?”
“Let’s see.” He sighed as he sat down and opened the cooler. “This one’s an old family recipe.” He pulled out a sandwich made on a round roll instead of two pieces of bread. “I’m not sure you’ll like it, so I’ll keep that one.” He put it on his lap and started to dig in the cooler again.
“Wait a second,” she said. “What is it? I like old family recipes.”
He gave her a wary look. “It’s a spam and egg sandwich. Pickles. Mayo. It’s sort of like egg salad, but with spam.”
Navy couldn’t think of anything more repulsive. Well, besides grape-flavored things.
“And I’ll keep it.” Gavin chuckled as he went back to the cooler. “Told you you wouldn’t like it.”
“I want to try it.”
“I packed that turkey and Swiss you like.” He produced a sandwich made on regular wheat bread and dangled it in front of her.
“Gavin, I want to try the spam and egg.”
“All right.” He passed her the roll and watched with amusement as she opened the sandwich bag.
The scent of pickle and mayo and egg hit her when she opened it, and her stomach squirmed. She wasn’t exactly a vegetarian, but she didn’t eat red meat. She withdrew the sandwich and took a big bite, her eyes locked on Gavin’s.
She chewed, the taste salty from the spam and acidic from the pickle. “It’s not bad.” She passed the sandwich back to him.
He glanced at it and then looked back at her. “So now I have to eat it with a bite taken out of it?”
She slapped his knee. “You kiss me. I think you can handle eating a sandwich I bit off of.”
He muttered something under his breath as he rebagged the sandwich and tossed it into the cooler.
“What was that?” she asked in a teasing tone.
“I want my whole sandwich,” he said in a clear voice. For a moment, she thought he was mad about the bite, but when he looked at her, she found the mischievous glint in his eye. He reached for her and kissed her, really taking his time to explore her mouth.
She melted into him, a feeling of safety and a rush of adrenaline pouring through her. She really liked Gavin, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. It had only been a few weeks since they’d met, but she felt like she’d known him for years. She trusted him in a way she hadn’t trusted a man in a long time.
Navy couldn’t make sense of how comfortable she felt with Gavin. She suspected the fact that he met some of his grandmother’s advice for who Navy should be with had a lot to do with it. And she wasn’t sure if she liked that or not.
Gavin broke their kiss with a massive grin on his face. “All right.” He pulled out some bottled water and her diet cola. “Drinks. And I have grapes and cheese sticks. Oh, and chips.” He opened his backpack and pulled out two bags of chips.
They ate in silence, the picturesque lake before them. Navy snapped a photo of the landscape and then a selfie of her and Gavin. He fished the afternoon away and she napped, read, and spent an unhealthy amount of time watching him.
She finally waded out to try fishing again, the water cool against her legs. She failed at the fishing, so she took her pole back to the tree. She got back in the water just to stay cool and to be nearer to Gavin.
Navy inched closer to him, careful to stay out of range of his casting arm. She took a step and her ankle twisted. She yelped at the same time she went down, flailing to grab onto him.
Next thing she knew, wat
er splashed in her face, up her nose, and then Gavin landed next to her. More water cascaded over her, causing her to sputter as she tried to figure out how she’d ended up on her backside, fully dressed, in the lake.
She looked at Gavin, who had water dripping from the brim of his cowboy hat as well as his nose. “Sorry,” she said just before she started laughing.
He joined her, the sound of their combined voices lifting into the sky. She snorted, but she couldn’t help herself. Gavin slung his soaking wet arm around her shoulder and squeezed her. “Is that your way of saying it’s time to go?”
“No, I swear….” She couldn’t speak through her laughter. She and Gavin sat in the water, chuckling for several more moments, and Navy thought there couldn’t be anything better. No one she’d dated in the last five years would be happy she’d pulled them into the lake. None of those men even liked fishing, and Navy had never found herself going on many outdoor dates.
But sitting there in Lake Meredith with Gavin felt like the most natural thing in the world. Navy took a few seconds to bask in the knowledge of that and let it settle into her mind. Then she put her hand in Gavin’s and allowed him to help her stand.
“Let’s get packed up, and then we’ll go find some ice cream,” he said, and Navy swore he was speaking her love language. At the very least, he’d been paying attention all these weeks, and that made her feel cherished.
June passed with waves of heat, and lazy days reading while Gavin worked, and sultry summer nights in various small Texas towns scattered across the panhandle—and even up into Oklahoma. Gavin took her to music festivals, and barbecue tastings, and dances. And the man could dance.
Navy woke up the day after Independence Day and practically bolted from bed. “Death by Chocolate Week.” She’d already packed her bags; they’d been waiting by the front door for days. She’d found the event three hours from Three Rivers several weeks ago, and Gavin had made their hotel arrangements.
She’d never been so excited for something in her entire life. An all-you-can-eat chocolate chip pancake breakfast. Chocolate tastings all day long, for days. And a chocolate slip-n-slide. Not that Navy would be doing that, but she couldn’t wait to watch the kids.
