by Pam Crooks
“Not surprising. You’ve got a lot on your mind,” Nick said. “I was saying that you’re doing an excellent job. Happy to see construction is on schedule.”
“She works nonstop,” Roger said with a small smile on his weathered face.
“I have a tight time frame.” She shrugged. “I don’t want to get behind. Nor do I want to leave any part of my phase of this project incomplete before I must return to New York.”
Ginny sighed. “That will come too soon, I’m afraid. I don’t mind telling you, gentlemen, she’s been a joy to have around.”
Ava’s throat tightened. Please, Ginny. Stop. Her kind words only made the inevitability of leaving worse. She wouldn’t know it’d be more difficult than Ava ever imagined to drive away from these good, God-fearing, fun-loving people and this beautiful, wild land and Beau…
“In fact, there’s my son now. He’ll agree with me. He’s become friends with her.” Ginny’s arm lifted in a wave, which jangled the bracelets she never seemed to be without. “Come in, Beau, honey.”
Ava’s head whipped toward him, and her pulse accelerated, like a revved-up motorcycle. Friends? Was that what they were? Nothing more? Was that what he’d implied to Ginny? Had Ava completely overestimated her relationship with him?
Then why did she feel her world tilt, her breath catch, and her body temperature skyrocket just seeing him show up?
His big body filled the doorless doorway; he tipped his head just a bit to keep from knocking his Stetson as he strolled through, only to stop short.
“Sorry to interrupt. One of the guys said Ava was in here,” he said in his deep, smooth-as-leather voice. “He didn’t tell me y’all were in a meeting, though.”
Nick closed his laptop and stood. “We’re done. C’mon in.”
Ava stood, too, and nearly upended her folding chair. “You’re not interrupting anything. What do you need?”
She kept her tone businesslike, the way she would with anyone who approached her on the jobsite. To sound anything less would suggest something more between them. Which, she was beginning to believe, there wasn’t.
But friends didn’t kiss friends like Beau had kissed her, her heart insisted. Not with such sensual, knee-weakening, never-can-forget thoroughness.
“Donnie’s outside,” Beau said. “He wants to talk to you, but he can wait a few minutes if you’ve got things to do.”
“I don’t. Is everything all right?”
She headed right toward him, like a nail to a magnet, without telling the others good-bye. They were talking among themselves, anyway. Besides, whatever Donnie had to say was more important.
“You’ll see soon enough,” Beau said.
Trying not to expect the worst, she fell into step with him as he headed toward the giant elm in the front yard. Nearby, Beau had parked his pickup, and a few members of the crew worked on unloading bundles of shingles from a flatbed truck.
One of them strolled toward her, out of the sun and into the elm’s shade.
“Hi, Miss Howell,” he said.
Ava halted. Blinked. And it was only after he stood a few feet away, in clear view and wearing a sheepish grin, that she finally recognized him.
Donnie. Without his golden, waist-length hair.
She stared at the new Donnie, hair shaved on the sides and in the back, sporting a neat part and enough left on top to do a little styling.
Her jaw dropped. “Oh, gosh. I didn’t know it was you at first.”
“Yes, ma’am. Figured it’d be a surprise for you.” He dropped his gaze shyly. “Still getting used to it.”
“I’ll bet you are. I love it.”
“Cooler, at least.” Though he shrugged, his self-conscious smile hinted that her compliment pleased him.
“Well, now, look at that.” Roger approached them with a chuckle. He set his hands on his narrow hips and gave the teen’s hair a good looking over. “Guess you gave in to all that razzin’ the crew gave you about your long, pretty hair, eh?”
“Yeah. Guess I did.”
“It’ll grow back if you decide you don’t like it,” Roger said, matter-of-fact.
“Go on,” Beau said. “Tell Miss Howell the rest.”
“Mr. Paxton, he, uh, ran me into town. With Roger’s permission,” Donnie added with a quick glance at his foreman. “Took me to the bank so I could cash my check. I gave him the money to pay off your window. So now we’re all square.”
Her mouth softened. “Yes, we are. I appreciate you helping to install the window last week, too.”
“Not as hard as I thought it would be, at least. Mr. Paxton taught me a lot.” Once again, his gaze lowered, and he stared at his boots.
His fluster ignited an old memory inside her, the time when she, too, experienced the unfamiliarity of goodness from someone. In those awful months after Granny Mae died, months that rolled into years, goodness hadn’t come often enough. In fact, the times were so rare, she often thought they’d never come at all. Until she met Erin. And Lucienne. And Carter, who would eventually become her boss, and only then did her world turn around, and her life improve.
Maybe the goodness Beau had shown Donnie would be the beginning of change for him, too.
“It was his idea to swing by the barber shop before we came back out here.” Beau’s expression had approval written all over it. “Took some courage, I’m sure.”
“Not so much.” Donnie shifted, one foot to the other. “One more thing, Miss Howell,” he said. “My dad is coming home this afternoon. My brother thinks I need to be there while he’s back in town. We don’t want him to cause problems.”
“I hope you’re not quitting.” Ava couldn’t help the disappointment in her voice. “We have plenty of work out here to keep you busy.”
“Not sure what’s going to happen, ma’am. I like earning my own money and all. Just that, my dad doesn’t know I’ve been staying out here, and, well, he might not like it.”
Ava exchanged a glance with Beau. She raised her brow. Feud? He nodded grimly. Afraid so.
“I understand,” she said to Donnie. “Would you like me to call him? I’ll be happy to explain how well you’re doing and that we could really use your help.”
“No, thanks. I’ll talk to him.”
His expression didn’t show much enthusiasm, and she had little choice but to honor his wishes. The last thing she wanted was to get him into trouble; God knew he’d had enough of it already this summer.
“You have my number, son,” Roger said. “Let me know what’s going on.”
“Yes, sir.” The pair shook hands, and Roger left.
“I’ll run him into town,” Beau said to her. “Going to meet up with Will at the park, so he and Donnie can drive home together. They should make it in plenty of time before their dad drives in.”
“Good luck to you, Donnie,” she said. “Hope to see you back here very soon.”
“Thanks, Miss Howell. I appreciate everything you’ve done. Don’t reckon I deserved it.”
“Of course you did,” she said. How sad he had so little self-esteem and would say such a thing. “Don’t you dare think otherwise.”
“Go on and wait in the truck,” Beau ordered. “I’ll be right there.”
Donnie headed toward the pickup, but after a few steps, he turned back.
“The Giants are one of my favorite teams.” He indicated her baseball cap. “You ever been to one of their games?”
“I have, yes. Several. They’re a lot of fun.”
“Must’ve been something to be there.”
She smiled. He sounded so wistful, she couldn’t resist taking off the cap and handing it to him. Erin would approve of Ava giving it to him; besides, she could always get another. “Here. I want you to have it. It’ll be a reminder of how proud I am of you.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Hey, thanks!” He plopped the cap onto his head, hiding most of his new hairstyle. Face creased with a broad grin, he strode tow
ard Beau’s truck and hopped inside.
Beau seemed in no hurry to join him. He lifted one muscled arm and casually grasped a low-lying branch, leaving Ava with a yearning to move closer, tuck her shoulder under his armpit, and burrow against him.
“I’ve missed you,” he murmured. Her belly curled; the admission sounded torn from some innermost part of him.
She refused to look up at him, finding his shirt button far more manageable. “So what kept you away?”
“Good sense, I reckon.”
She made a tiny sound of understanding. “I get it.”
“But then I decided good sense was a mistake.”
Of anything he might’ve said, she never expected that. Her gaze lifted.
“What changed your mind?” she asked quietly.
“I missed you too much. And time. The calendar telling me it’s already the middle of summer.” He shrugged a big shoulder. “Whatever you want to call it when the days are going by too fast. Days that I’ll never get back with you.” He paused. “Wasted time, Ava.”
“My being here…is what it is.” She clung to her composure; getting weepy was not only unexpected, it was unacceptable. “Temporary.”
“Yes.” He knuckled her chin up so gently, she didn’t care if her entire crew noticed them together, under the tree. Standing close and talking in near-whispers. “Being deployed to a place like Afghanistan taught me plenty of things. Most important is that life is too short not to embrace every moment. Don’t want you to head back home and leave me wishing we would’ve done things differently.”
“Like what?”
“Teaching you how to ride, for one thing.”
“A horse?”
His mouth curved in a deliberate, flirty grin. “Now, honey, you’re making me think of something else.” He drew his finger down the bridge of her nose. “Yes, a horse is what I meant.”
She didn’t grin back. “What would be the point? I’ll never own a horse in New York.”
“You won’t regret the experience.”
“Don’t try to turn me into something I’ll never be, Beau.”
His arm lowered from the tree branch. “You think I want to make you into some sort of Texas cowgirl? Believe me. That’s not my intention.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear. Already, anticipation tripped through her veins, pushing her imagination into overdrive. The thrill of riding fast over the wide-open range, all on her own, with the wind in her hair. The challenge of learning a new skill so completely different than anything she would’ve thought to pursue while living in the city.
It would be fun.
But it would also mean she’d spend more time with him, something she’d vowed to avoid. Hours of togetherness. Enjoying his company, soaking in his masculinity, reveling in his cowboy sexiness. Acclimating herself to the Paxton lifestyle, their livestock, their land, and was she just setting herself up for more regret when it came time to leave?
“You’re not telling me no, so I’m going to take it as a yes.” Beau headed toward the pickup. “Meet me down at the Big House after supper. Send me a text when you’re ready. We’ll take a few spins around the corral before it gets dark.”
Whatever resistance might have tried to rear its stubborn head evaporated. As in poof. Gone. Beau, in all his take-charge bossiness, made the decision for her, kept things easy and spared them an argument she didn’t want Donnie to overhear.
She took the coward’s road and told him she’d be there.
*
Ava took a quick shower after returning home from the jobsite, then dressed in denim shorts, tank top, and running shoes. After blow-drying her hair and applying her favorite shade of pink lipstick, she was ready for her visit to the Paxton corral and her very first riding lesson.
Except for one thing.
She headed for the hatbox still on the floor, next to her couch. Untouched for weeks. She set her hands on her hips and tapped her toes. She couldn’t put it off any longer. Wearing the Stetson was the right thing to do.
At least for tonight.
Maybe tomorrow, too. And the days after that.
Giving away her baseball cap was also the right thing to do, but it left her bareheaded under the Texas sun. She got it now. Understood perfectly. Out here in cowboy land, wearing a practical, protect-you-from-the-sun-and-wind kind of hat was mandatory.
She might as well go with the tried-and-true.
She carried the box to her dinette table and lifted the lid. The straw Stetson really was charming with the turquoise medallion and chin cord. A nice color. Feminine. And once she settled it onto her head, adjusting it just as Mary Thurman showed her, well, the hat fit right, too.
On her way to the bathroom mirror for a final look, her cell phone rang. Lucienne’s name and number appeared on the screen.
Ava talked to her whenever she could in the evenings, usually while kicking back on the glider with a cold drink, but why would she call now? Last they’d spoken, Lucienne mentioned having a social function tonight.
Ava picked up. “Hey, girlfriend.”
“Busy?”
“Actually, I’m leaving in a few minutes.” Finding her purse on the bed, she rummaged one-handed for the cosmetic bag inside. “Ask me why.”
“Why? Got a hot date tonight?”
“Sort of but not really.” Cosmetic bag in hand, Ava held the phone between her ear and shoulder while she unzipped and searched for her cuticle scissors. “Beau wants to teach me how to ride a horse.”
“No way.”
“And I’m cutting the price tag off the Stetson he bought me. As we speak. I’m going to wear it after all.”
“Uh-oh.”
“I know I said I never would because I’m not going to be a cowgirl. But things have changed. It’s actually necessary since I gave away the only hat I brought with me.”
“Ava.”
The clock on the stove reminded her she had to hurry if she was going to meet Beau in plenty of time before the sun went down.
“It’s actually starting to grow on me.” She tossed the price tag into the trash can and returned the scissors to their place in the cosmetic bag. “The Stetson, I mean. And I’m more excited than I thought I would be for those riding lessons. Beau will be a great teacher.”
“Ava. Stop babbling and listen to me.”
She stilled. Babbling? Was that what she was doing?
In all the years they’d been friends, Lucienne never once told her she babbled.
“Is everything all right?” she asked carefully.
“Don’t get too attached to any of it.”
She frowned. “You mean the cowgirl thing?”
“Yes. The Stetson, the riding lessons, Beau, especially. The whole ball of Texas wax.”
Ava didn’t like the direction their conversation was going. No one had been more supportive or more encouraging of her time and work at the Blackstone Ranch than Lucienne.
She waited for her friend to explain herself. The silence stretched so long, the dread grew inside Ava, prickly and uncomfortable, like a nasty heat rash.
“I talked to Carter Ronson tonight,” Lucienne said finally.
She didn’t move. If Lucienne had some juicy tidbit to share about her boss, the company, or even one of Ava’s coworkers, she’d sound more cheerful and much chattier.
Instead, her inflection ran grim. Uneasy.
Which couldn’t be good. Ava braced herself. “And?”
“Ashton Beacher and I were at the New York Society Library’s Member Happy Hour. You remember him, don’t you?”
“Yes. He’s been drooling over you from the moment you two met, and his mother underwrites the event every year. Carter only joined the society after we built their addition. A courtesy.”
“Right. Well, I barely had the wineglass in my hand before Carter came over. First thing out of his mouth was that the Cambridge hotel project is set to begin earlier than anyone expected.”
“What?” Her brain clawed thr
ough the information, tried to make sense of it. “That property has been vacant for two years. We weren’t supposed to begin building until the fall, and even that was sketchy. What changed?”
“Does it matter?”
“I helped bid that hotel when I was an intern. It’s been on the back burner forever.”
“Ava. He wants you to manage the construction.”
“He’s mentioned that, yes,” she said, her pulse slowing. “It was something we discussed before I left.”
“He wants you to manage it now.”
Her pulse kicked into high speed. She sank onto the bed, the panic building fast and almost choking the words from her throat.
“I can’t now, Luce. I’m here. In Texas. He knows that.”
“He’s going to call you.”
“He gave me the summer for the Blackstone project. That’s three full months, and they’re not nearly over yet. He wouldn’t go back on his word.”
“Money talks, Ava. You know it does. Business is business, and for whatever reason, suddenly the Cambridge investors have cash in their pockets. They’re controlling Carter like a puppet on strings.”
Her hand shook as she pressed her fingers to her mouth. “I can’t believe this.”
“Carter sounded so, I don’t know, unyielding about the whole thing. Of course, he knew I’d call you first chance I got. He probably figured I’d pave the way for him before he dropped the bombshell on you.”
Carter Ronson had taken Ava in at a young age, showed her the ropes in the construction industry, and earned her respect. She’d long credited him with being instrumental in shaping her career. But now he threatened to upend her responsibilities here in Texas.
Surely he knew how important it was to keep her promise to Erin? To Ginny?
Of course he did. She had told him so, again and again.
Would he really force her to go home early? Before her work at the Blackstone was done?
