Gimme Some Sugar

by Stephanie Berget

  And to top things off, Marlene called at least once a day. She’d apologized and apologized. She’d wanted to move back home. She had grandiose plans for how they’d become a family again. When he finally got a word in, he’d told her in no uncertain terms to stay away. Since then, he hung up when he saw her number or heard her voice.

  He’d saddled his new horse this morning then taken off alone. Spending the day riding a good horse and checking cattle beat hanging around people who pitied him or wanted to use him. He was kind of slow, but he wasn’t going to be a patsy for anyone including Marlene.

  He dropped the reins on Cisco’s neck and let the tired horse amble along. The warm sunshine heated his back and soothed his soul. His mind wandered to the bull he was buying in a few months. He’d scoured the country to find bloodlines that would improve his herd.

  Enjoying the few minutes not thinking about Cary, he was surprised to see he was almost back to the ranch house. His pleasant interval was broken when he looked up to see Clint and Millie waiting at the barn.

  As he stepped down from his horse, Clint took the reins. “We want to talk to you. You wait with Millie while I unsaddle this cayuse.”

  Micah grabbed the reins from Clint’s hand. “I can unsaddle my own horse. I’ve been doing it since I was ten.”

  Clint just smiled. “We’ll go with you.”

  “You’ve become an expert at avoiding us,” Millie said, falling into step beside him.

  “The way you two have been hovering around me, I’m not doing a very good job.” As Micah pulled off his saddle and blanket, Clint and Millie settled on the bench by the tack room. He’d been so careful to sneak away by himself this morning. Then he’d blundered right into this ambush.

  After he put Cisco into the paddock, he turned and leaned against the fence. “What do you want?” Might as well get this over with.

  “We want to know when you’re going to get your head out of your ass,” Millie said. Her grin took some of the sting out of her words. “You’ve locked yourself up out here since Marlene screwed you over.”

  “She was a snake. You made a mistake.” Clint pulled his ball cap off his head, ran his hand through his hair then slipped the cap back on. “Cary isn’t Marlene.”

  Micah gave Clint his best mind-your-own business glare. Of course he knew Cary wasn’t Marlene. That didn’t mean he could trust her.

  “Don’t give me that look.” Clint stood. “She’d never hurt you or Willa Wild. She was leaving when she thought that guy might have found out she was here.”

  Micah shrugged. That thought had occurred to him, but he’d swept it away as wishful thinking.

  “As opposed to Marlene, who knew her old boyfriend was well aware of where she lived, and knew she was going to hit you up for money.” Millie took Micah’s hand. “This is important. We don’t want to see you and Willa Wild pine away.”

  Micah’s head jerked up. “I am not pining.”

  Millie looked at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. The sound of her mirth joined by Clint’s bark of amusement filled the barn but didn’t do anything to lift Micah’s mood. Millie waved a hand in front of her flushed face. Her laughter faded, but when she raised her gaze to his, it started all over again.

  Micah stared at them, speechless. Hell, he didn’t have to stay here and put up with this ridicule. He turned and stomped toward the house. At least there he could lock the door and keep them out.

  A few minutes later, Micah sat on the rocker in his living room looking at Clint and Millie on the couch. So much for locking them out.

  Clint had had a key to the ranch house ever since he’d been made foreman of the ranch.

  “Look, we don’t want to tell you what to do.” Clint slapped his hands on his knees. “I wish I knew what to tell you.”

  “For someone who doesn’t want to give me advice, you’re sure full of it.” Micah crossed one ankle over the other knee and rocked slowly back and forth. “This is my problem. You’ve both made your opinions very clear. Now can you let me figure this out on my own?”

  Clint stood and took Millie’s hand. As Micah rocked, he heard the front door close. Silence fell at last except for the soft squeak of the rocker. He’d missed his grandmother every day since she’d died. She’d been the one steady person in his life. Gram always seemed to be able to look at a situation from all angles and figure out the best way to handle it. What would she do if she were here?

  He closed his eyes. A slow smile came over him as he remembered his grandmother. One thing he knew. She’d have been laughing along with Clint and Millie when he’d said he didn’t pine.

  “You’ve got to follow your heart, sonny.” Her voice was so clear Micah opened his eyes and looked around to see if, by some miracle, she was here. A pang of disappointment spiked through him at the sight of the empty room. Follow his heart. To do that, he’d have to trust Cary. He’d have to risk having his heart broken again.

  He stood and walked to the window. The ancient Cottonwoods swayed in the breeze. One black kitten chased another across the lawn. As he watched the cattle grazing in the pasture, one thing became clear. He’d allowed Marlene to come back into their lives again and again because he didn’t love her. There’s been no danger of having her hurt him again. He couldn’t say the same thing about Cary.

  A dented Ford pickup came down the drive, clouds of dirt billowing up from the tires. The new Polaris Ranger ATV he’d bought for the ranch followed just far enough back to miss the dust. The men filed in for lunch. They hadn’t complained too much about being served poorly constructed sandwiches for both the mid-day meal and dinner since Cary had left. He hoped they’d be happier with the fried chicken and potato salad he’d bought from Foodtown the night before.

  By the time the first ranch hand walked into the kitchen, Micah had the tubs of chicken sitting on the table. He pulled the plastic lids off the potato salad and pointed to the refrigerator. “There’s Coke and sweet tea in the fridge. Help yourself.”

  “Thanks, boss.” Toby grabbed a chicken leg then before he took a bite, he waved it at Micah. “I got just one question. When’s Cary coming back?”

  “Yeah,” echoed Byron and Tim. “We miss her cooking.”

  “Don’t count on that,” Micah said as he hurried out the front door. He really didn’t feel like explaining his personal business to his employees. The Ranger sat beside the old pickup, its shiny exterior beckoning to him. If he didn’t get out of here before the men finished eating, he’d have to listen to them question him about Cary again. In the short time she’d been here, she’d wormed her way into all their hearts.

  She’d become a confidant to the younger men and a friend to the guys with a few years under their belts. And she’d become more than that to him.

  He climbed behind the wheel of the Ranger and took off toward the hills. He lost himself in the joy of speeding over the land and across the streams that made up the majority of his ranch. He stopped at the top of a rise and shut off the engine.

  The silence was broken only by the pinging of the engine, and the gentle breeze dancing through the Cottonwood trees. The sparse scenery helped him to relax and clear his mind. Gram’s advice popped into his consciousness. “Follow your heart, Sonny.”

  She was the only person who’d ever called him Sonny, the only person who’d get away with that name, and she’d never steered him wrong.

  Cary hadn’t asked for anything. She’d done her job and been kind to his daughter and everyone she’d met. He’d been wrong about Cary, wrong about so many things. It was time to make things right.

  ~~~

  Cary had been back to work at Chez Romeo for one week—five days that had stretched into infinity. She’d been bawled out by Luigi five times in those five days and this was one time too many.

  “Shut up!” Her voice rang out with unsuppressed anger.

  Luigi’s tirade stopped in mid word, and he stood, his mouth hanging open, his face a purplish hue.

>   When he sucked in a breath to begin again, she held up her hand. “Just shut up.” This time her words were soft, but the tone brooked no argument. “You are not going to yell at me ever again. I do a great job for you. If you can’t see that, I’m done.” She tore off the apron from around her waist and grabbed the chef’s hat off her head, stuffing them into Luigi’s arms.

  The sound of the heavy back door slamming on that part of her life made her smile. She didn’t have a job, but she was free. The weeks working at the Circle W taught her that loving what you do is one of the most important things in life. She didn’t have time any more to put up with narcissistic assholes. She was Cary Crockett, and she’d make her own life now.

  The few blocks walk from the restaurant to the apartment she shared with Pansy gave her time to calm down. As she mounted the stairs to the second floor of the old Victorian, doubts began to creep into her mind. Her hand shook as she entered what had become home a week before. Time to tell Pansy what she’d done.

  “He threw another fit?” Pansy stood three steps away across the tiny living room, her arms crossed and a frown on her face. The black Cleopatra wig she wore today swung around her shoulders, the tiny gold beads woven into the braids accentuating the movement. “Jerk!”

  When Cary flopped onto the ancient sofa Pansy had gotten at the Good Will Store, the worn leather creaked in protest. She shrugged. “I quit.”

  Pansy’s loud shriek filled the miniscule apartment. She grabbed Cary’s hands and drew her up into a dance. “You’re my hero, Cary,” she cried as she whirled around the room. Two steps one-way then two steps the other.

  The celebration had them both laughing. She should have been worried, but the memory of Luigi standing there like a red-faced loon had her laughing so hard she had trouble breathing. Within a few short moments the laughter faded away, and the apartment became quiet.

  Cary sank onto the sofa and leaned her head against the back. She turned and looked at her best friend in the world. “What am I going to do now?”

  Pansy didn’t hesitate for a moment. “You’re going to open your own pastry shop, and I’m going to help. Let Luigi do without both of us.”

  Cary watched as Pansy’s angel face beneath the wig broke into a smile. Pansy had so much confidence in her, much more than Cary had in herself. Opening a pastry shop had been Cary’s dream. An unattainable dream for the most part. “How will I get the money? I barely have enough to keep me until I find another job.”

  “Pffttt!” Pansy waved a hand in Cary’s direction. “You are such a worry-wart. Things will work out.”

  Cary’s excitement melted away. Things didn’t work out just because you believed. If that was so, she’d be at the Circle W with Micah, and she’d be holding Willa Wild. “I don’t know.”

  Pansy looked at her, understanding lighting her expression. “You don’t know he’ll stay away.” She reached out and took Cary’s hand.

  “I do know. He thinks I could have gotten his daughter hurt or killed. I’d never do that, but if he can’t see who I am, there’s nothing I can do.” Cary stood and walked into the kitchen. “Want a beer?”

  “Sure.” Pansy followed her and twisted the tops off the bottles of Corona while Cary sliced a lime. She lifted the bottle and clinked it against Cary’s. “Here’s to us. We’ll conquer the world.”

  Cary lifted her bottle in a half-hearted toast and took a drink. “Do you really think we can open a business?”

  “You’ve got the money Ken didn’t walk away with, and I have set some aside. What better to use it for than this?” Pansy set her beer on the counter and pulled a tablet out of the drawer. “We’ll make a list. Things we need to do. First is to work up a business plan.”

  Three hours later, they had the basics but were no closer to finding the remaining money to start the business. “I don’t know how this is going to work.”

  “Positive thoughts here, Cary.”

  At the sound of a knock on the door, Pansy handed the pencil to Cary. “I’ll get that. Probably Luigi begging us to come back.”

  Cary heard muffled voices as she tried to come up with enticing ideas that would convince a banker to loan start-up money. To hell with enticing, she couldn’t even come up with boring ideas.

  Pansy looked around the corner and waved to get her attention. “It’s for you. I think it might be important.” Her usually expressive face was blank.

  Cary gave her a quizzical look then put the pencil on the pad and stood. “Who is it?”

  “You’ll have to see for yourself.”

  Cary had had about all the bad news she could handle for a lifetime. If this was more, she was checking out and not leaving a forward address. She rounded the corner then stopped in her tracks. Micah stood on the stoop, his black Stetson in his hand.

  Cary opened her mouth to speak. She’d gone over what she’d say if she ever got the chance to speak to Micah again, but she couldn’t remember a word.

  Pansy nudged her from behind. “I’m assuming this is your cowboy?” She pushed Cary toward the sofa and turned to Micah. “Come on in. Cary will regain her power of speech in a minute.”

  The apartment’s living room was barely big enough for a loveseat and a small rocker. Micah’s presence made it seem like a closet.

  Cary knew she had to speak, if just to tell Micah to go away. “What are you doing here? Is Willa Wild okay?” Her heart raced at the thought of something happening to the little girl.

  “She’s fine.” His deep voice stroked her skin. “Cary, I need to talk to you about something.”

  Pansy jumped up off the couch and grabbed her sweater from the hook on the wall. “I’d like to visit with you both, but I have a job to quit.” Before Cary could ask her to stay and act like a buffer, her roommate was out the door.

  She couldn’t make eye contact with Micah. Her head spun, and her hands shook.

  “Breathe, Cary.” He moved across the room to stand in front of her. “I’m sorry. I should have trusted you.”

  The rushing sound in her ears sounded like a day at a wind-blown beach. She raised her gaze from his worn boots to his green eyes. Had she heard him right? Even if he’d apologized, it didn’t mean he wanted her around on a permanent basis. Righteous anger burbled up from her center, and she stood, forcing him to take a step back. “You should have.”

  He reached out and touched her cheek with his fingers. “I know that now. Forgive me, Cary. I promise to trust you from now to forever.”

  “Can you do that? Trust me?” He was saying the things she’d longed to hear, but did he mean them? “How do I know?”

  Micah took another step closer, so close she could feel the delicious heat coming off his body. He tilted her head up so they looked in each other’s eyes. In slow motion, he lowered his head and kissed her. When he pulled back, he placed his palm against her cheek. “You’ll have to trust me when I say I love you.”

  There were no guarantees in this life, but this man wasn’t Ken. She’d trusted Micah since the first time she’d seen him. Her heart could still be broken, but Micah was the best bet she’d ever met. It was time to make a hard decision, to play it safe or fly.

  Well, she’d always envied eagles.

  Epilogue

  Pansy carried the giant platter of hand-decorated cupcakes out to the front porch of the ranch house. Cary followed with a plate of Key Lime cookies and another of luscious, double chocolate brownies. The two women had spent several days baking sweets for the party. Sweet tea and water sat in cut glass pitchers that had belonged to Micah’s grandmother, and the beer and pop were in ice chests on the lawn.

  Micah had insisted they invite all of East Hope, and Cary agreed.

  Millie climbed out of Clint’s truck and hurried to the porch. “Let me see.” She grabbed Cary’s hand and tilted it back and forth to see the facets of the diamond shine in the light. “It’s beautiful.”

  Cary looked at the ring. “It was Micah’s grandmother’s. It is pretty, isn’t
it?” Her smile was so wide she felt kind of silly, but there was no way she could stop.

  Millie put her arm around Cary’s shoulders. “What about Marlene? Has she been back?” With her free hand, she grabbed a couple of cookies. “Mmmm, did you make these? You’ve got to give me the recipe. No, no, I don’t cook very well. How about you make me some once a week. I might even sell them in the store.”

  Cary laughed. No only had she found Micah and Willa Wild, she found wonderful new friends and a town to call her own. “Marlene came over the first day I was back. Micah told her we were getting married. He also told her she’d need to make an appointment before coming to the ranch again.”

  Millie snorted.

  Cary couldn’t help laughing with her friend. “She wasn’t a happy camper. I think she thought she could maneuver Micah like she always had, but he took her arm and led her to her car then walked away.”

  Willa Wild came running across the yard. “Cary, can we have some cupcakes to take to the fort?” She hopped from one foot to the other, her beautiful face flushed with excitement. The neighbor kids were here for the day, and Micah had finished her tree fort.

  Cary took a paper plate and filled it with cupcakes. She placed a pile of napkins on the top, not that the kids would use them. “Have fun, sweetie.”

  Cary looked up from Willa Wild to see Micah watching her from across the yard. He excused himself from the men he was talking to and headed toward her.

  ‘Having fun?” He gazed down at her, his smile warming her heart. He took her hand and touched the ring. “This looks good on you. Grams would be proud.”

  “I hope so.” She slid her fingers through his, relishing the touch of this man.

  “I love you.”

  “I love y—” Before Cary could get the words out, Willa Wild came running, tears streaming down her face and frosting streaked down her T-shirt.

  “I dropped the-the c-cupcakes, Pa.” She threw her arms around Micah’s legs then lifted her dirt-streaked face to Cary. “I didn’t mean to, but Willy was teasing me about being slow, and I wanted to show him.”