Her Last Make-Believe Marriage

by Liz Isaacson

  “Yes,” Jeri said. “Can you come help?” If she was going to be here, she might as well hold up some fencing.

  “Sure.” Scarlett stepped over, looking behind her. “I wanted to have Karla meet with you.”

  “Oh?” Jeri asked as Karla came inside the enclosure too. She wore more professional clothes than was required for a working ranch with over one hundred and fifty animals. But she was the marketing director, so Jeri supposed that made sense. “Hey, Karla.”

  “Jeri, you’re a genius.”

  “I have a blueprint,” Jeri said. “It’s not that hard.”

  “I can’t even put together Legos,” she said, looking around the building.

  “Can you hold something for a minute?” Jeri asked, more estrogen in this building than she thought possible.

  “Sure, yeah.” Karla stepped over to the fence, her blonde hair all tied back into a knot at the nape of her neck, the perfect little side strands hanging down. She really belonged in a high-rise office building somewhere, and Jeri didn’t usually like women like her.

  But Karla put her hands on the fencing the way Scarlett did, and she did exactly what Jeri said. She got her hands dirty, and she smiled the whole time. So maybe she wasn’t as bad as some of the women Jeri had previously known.

  “All done,” she said when she was only about halfway done. But the fencing would hold itself up until she got the rest nailed in place. “I’m assuming you two needed something.”

  “Yeah, you wouldn’t come to the homestead for lunch, so I brought Karla to you.”

  Jeri paused, her eyes meeting Scarlett’s. “I thought…I’m sorry. You didn’t say what we’d be doing at lunch.”

  “Karla has an idea she wants to run by you.” Scarlett smiled at Philo as he brought in his first load of equipment.

  “We’re considering building sort of a campsite on the ranch here. Cabins, really, where people can come stay, like in a hotel—but a cabin.” Karla spoke a lot with her hands, gesturing around as if Jeri didn’t understand the concept of cabin rentals.

  “And they could have experiences with the animals, go down into town, whatever.” Karla looked at Scarlett. “I want to put in a request for the money to several private organizations, as well as Forever Friends, but I have no idea what it takes to build something like that.” Karla smiled at her. “I’m wondering if you can draw up some plans for a few different kinds of cabins, as well as a campsite map, and we can meet again.”

  Jeri felt the other woman’s enthusiasm, and she actually shared it. “Sure,” she said. “When do you need it by?”

  “Whenever you’ve got it,” Karla said. “But if we could get things out to people by the first of November, we’ll catch them as they meet for their budget talks for next year.”

  “Oh, that’s plenty of time.” Jeri grinned at her. “I’ll get it done quickly.”

  “Great.” Karla smiled back at her, nodded at Scarlett, and left the building just as Philo brought in more equipment, along with his radio. He exited again, but Scarlett stayed.

  “I suppose you want to talk about Sawyer,” she said.

  “Only if you want to.”

  Scarlett never had answered her text from that morning, so she didn’t know what Scarlett had seen on the road that morning.

  Jeri decided to go with complete denial. She shrugged, and said, “Not much to tell.”

  “That is so interesting,” Scarlett said, a sparkle in her eyes. “Because Sawyer told Hudson that you two were definitely seeing each other.”

  Chapter 12

  Sawyer didn’t hear from Jeri before lunch, so he didn’t go to the homestead. When Hudson entered the barn where Sawyer worked, he kept tossing bales of straw onto the conveyor belt that went down to Dave, who loaded them onto the flatbed below. They had stalls in the pig barn to clean out, and then Sawyer would have to help Hudson with the horseshoeing.

  So he’d have to see him them. But for now, Hudson just went about his work as usual. As the minutes passed, Sawyer relaxed, and when the flatbed had the required number of bales on it, he rode the conveyor down to Dave too.

  His fingers ached a bit from all the gripping, but he clapped his hands together and got in the passenger seat of the truck. Dave got behind the wheel and started the truck. He checked his phone and said, “Oh, Scarlett wants me to stop by Gramps’s place when we’re done here.” He stuck the phone back to the dashboard after tapping out a response.

  “She say anything else?” Sawyer asked, unsure of why Scarlett would say anything to Dave about him.

  “She wants me to help Gramps with some retirement account or something,” he said. “I’m supposed to feed the llamas….” He glanced at Sawyer.

  “I can do it,” he said. “Then I’ll help Hudson with the horseshoeing.” He rolled the window down and enjoyed the breeze. “Why doesn’t Scarlett have Sissy help Gramps?”

  “Something about how she feels bad inflicting her personal problems on her professional accountant.” Dave made a big show of rolling his eyes. “I don’t have the degree, because I dropped out of college two semesters before finishing. So apparently I’m ‘good enough.’”

  “Ouch,” Sawyer said with a chuckle.

  “Yeah,” Dave said, a bit darker than he usually was, cluing Sawyer into the fact that he was bothered by it.

  “Just tell her you can’t,” Sawyer said. “We’re swamped without Carson as it is.”

  “It’s fine,” Dave said, his own elbow resting on the windowsill as he drove down the road and around the corner. “I just hope Sissy isn’t there like last time.”

  “I don’t know her real well,” Sawyer said. “You don’t like her?”

  “I like her fine,” Dave said, but there was a falseness to his voice that hit Sawyer’s radar. Maybe it was another Carson-Adele situation, where they secretly liked each other but simultaneously annoyed the other just as much.

  “Hey, I know this is super-bad timing,” Dave said, glancing at Sawyer, and his heart sank all the way to the tips of his cowboy boots.

  “What?”

  “It’s the first weekend of the month this weekend,” he said, and Sawyer knew what came next.

  “So you’ll be at Fort Irwin.” Sawyer sighed. “I’ll arrange with Hudson to make sure the essentials are covered.” It felt like he was back to trying to keep the ranch afloat by himself, though intellectually, he knew that wasn’t even close to the truth. Since Scarlett and Adele had shown up with everything they owned in their cars, everything at Last Chance Ranch had improved.

  “Cache will be here,” he said. “And maybe Jeri could help out.” Dave cut a look at Sawyer, and he couldn’t decide if he knew something or was just seeing if Jeri could help out too.

  “Maybe,” Sawyer said, his voice a bit too high. He and Jeri had been married for almost two weeks now, and he’d never felt as self-conscious about the relationship until today. Because you kissed her right out on the street, he chastised himself.

  “I know Scarlett’s also increased the number of volunteer spots until our new help shows up.”

  “Hmm,” Sawyer said. “But she needs a volunteer coordinator.”

  “Amber’s doing it.”

  “And goat yoga? And all the goat care? And the dog-walking?”

  “I guess,” Dave said, obviously not nearly as concerned as Sawyer. Of course he wasn’t. He was leaving this weekend, and Sawyer pushed away the jealousy. Surely Dave wouldn’t be having a party during the one weekend of Army reserve training he attended each month.

  He pulled up to the pig barn, and they both got out of the truck. “C’mon, Blue,” he said to his dog who rode in the back. “Get out for a bit.” The Australian shepherd jumped down, trotting over to the shade, where a water bowl sat.

  Sawyer filled it up for his dog before starting to unload the bales of stray. He and Dave carried them into the barn and dropped them outside the stalls that needed done. The work took all of Sawyer’s energy, especially when there were two
of them trying to do the work of three men.

  “Hey, my oven’s on the fritz,” Dave said. “Can I come cook something at your place tonight?”

  Sawyer jerked his head up, panic parading through him. “Yeah, sure,” he said, because before he and Jeri had started sharing their evenings together, having Dave borrow his oven wouldn’t have been a problem. It wasn’t a problem now.

  “Jeri will probably be there,” he said, bending to cut the twine on the straw.

  “Jeri?” Dave paused with his pitchfork in his hand.

  “Yeah, she’s coming over tonight.” Sawyer glanced at Dave and went right on working. He wasn’t going to be embarrassed about being interested in Jeri. She was beautiful, and he enjoyed his time with her immensely.

  “Are you two…?”

  “Yeah,” Sawyer said, grinning at Dave. “Better find yourself someone,” he added. “All the women up here will be gone.”

  Dave burst out laughing, the sound echoing throughout the barn. Sawyer let him carry on, even adding a chuckle himself.

  “Yeah, no,” Dave said.

  “No?” Sawyer asked. “Why not?”

  “I’m fine by myself.”

  Yeah, Sawyer had thought that too. But now, with Jeri…he realized what he’d been missing. “I’m just saying,” he said. “Amber’s cute. Or Sissy—”

  “Did you seriously just suggest I go out with Sissy?” Dave asked. “We’ve, uh, done that.” He ducked into another stall, his face turned away from Sawyer.

  “You’ve been out with Sissy? When?” Sawyer wasn’t sure why he cared. He normally didn’t get involved in the gossip of the ranch, or in other relationships. He wouldn’t want to talk about him and Jeri—hadn’t he been stewing about that exact thing all day?

  “Years ago,” Dave said.

  “So that’s why you said you like her fine,” Sawyer said.

  “I do,” Dave said. “I just don’t want to go out with her.” He forked up another bunch of straw. “Or anyone. I don’t need to be fixed up.”

  “Not a problem for me,” Sawyer said.

  “But good luck to you and Jeri,” Dave said. “Seems like there’s a lot of people around here making things work.”

  Considering how Carson had just left the ranch over a woman, Sawyer wasn’t sure what Dave was talking about. It didn’t matter. He still had miles to go before he’d be done with his chores, and if he had to share Jeri with Dave tonight, he definitely wanted to stop by the dog enclosure at some point.

  Maybe sneak in a kiss. He was suddenly smiling, the lifting and pitching going much better now that he had a beautiful woman in the center of his mind.

  He’d texted Jeri about Dave needing his oven, so she didn’t come over at all. By the time Dave got his pizza out of the oven, ate it, and went home, Sawyer was cranky. He stepped out onto his back porch and sighed, gazing into the distance as the wind blew through the tops of the trees.

  His back porch faced north, same as Carson’s—well, the cabin that was empty now. He wondered if the new cowboy would take it or choose a different one. There were still five empty cabins in the Community, and Scarlett would do well to fill them all up.

  He wished his porch faced the same direction as Jeri’s, but hers faced east. He could hear the clucking of her chickens, and then he heard the timbre of her voice as she talked to them.

  Quickly, without thinking, he went down his step and around the corner of the house to find her sitting on the bottom step, throwing feed to her birds.

  “Hey,” he said, and she glanced up, the porch light illuminating her from behind.

  “All done with dinner with your boyfriend?” she teased, and Sawyer scoffed as he crossed the lawn to join her on the steps.

  “Can I sit with you?”

  “If you want. I’m going to go in soon. I’m exhausted.”

  “Me too.” He laced his fingers through hers, finally relaxing. “And we have to do it all again tomorrow.”

  She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Don’t remind me.”

  “And Dave’s going to his Army weekend in a few days,” he said. “We might need to pull you over to the ranch side of things.”

  She groaned again, her hand tightening in his. “Fine, but make sure I’m with you.”

  He smiled into the darkness, glad she still wanted to spend time with him on the ranch. Darkness covered the twilight, and Sawyer enjoyed the silence with Jeri.

  “Did you tell Hudson about us?” she asked, her voice quiet, barely above the clucking of her chickens.

  “No,” he said. “But Dave asked me about you, and I said we were seeing each other.”

  “Dave?”

  “He wanted to come use my oven,” Sawyer said. “I guess I wasn’t thinking, because I said you’d probably be there, but he could come hang out.”

  “Then you texted me, and I didn’t come.”

  “I didn’t say you couldn’t come.”

  “No, I know,” she said. “He’s not the one I’m worried about.”

  “Hudson said I told him?”

  “No,” Jeri said. “Scarlett came out the enclosure today. Said you told Hudson we were seeing each other.”

  A touch of frustration rose in his throat. “Are we hiding the relationship?”

  “No,” she said. “You kissed me in the middle of the road this morning.”

  “Yeah. That was nice.” He sighed, laughing when she gave him a playful push. He lifted his arm and brought her close to him as they settled back to stillness. “So what are we doing?”

  “I told Scarlett that we were seeing each other,” Jeri said. “But that I didn’t believe for a moment that you were gossiping about it to Hudson. I’m glad I was right.”

  “Yeah, I was just gossiping about it to Dave.”

  Jeri half scoffed and half laughed. “Yeah, I doubt it.”

  Sawyer pressed his lips to her temple. “Yeah, it wasn’t gossip. I just said you might be there tonight, and he asked if we were dating, and I said yes. Then we talked about his Army weekend.”

  “Men and women are so different,” she said with a little giggle. “If I’d have told my girlfriend I was dating you, I would’ve had to call for dinner and then breakfast while we discussed every little detail that had happened since the first time I saw you.”

  He laughed, the sound filling the sky. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed like this, and he sure did like it.

  “Do you have girlfriends?” he asked.

  “I used to,” she said. “I could probably text Evelyn, and she’d drop everything to get together for lunch. She used to run my office.”

  “Wait a second,” he said. “You told me you don’t eat lunch.”

  She laughed this time, and Sawyer’s pulse zinged around his body. “Well, I do with my girlfriends, obviously.”

  “What about your boyfriends?”

  “Oh, cowboy, you’re not my boyfriend.” She twisted to look at him, and it was as if she’d captured the stars and put them in her eyes.

  “Huh,” he said, enjoying this game they were playing. Maybe too much. Or maybe he was just really out of practice and didn’t know what was fun and flirty, and what wasn’t. “I thought I was.”

  She kissed him, and Sawyer definitely felt like her boyfriend. Her touch was tender and passionate at the same time. “Mm,” he said against her lips. “You taste like apples.”

  “Pink lady,” she said, kissing him again.

  “I thought you only ate freezer food,” he teased, claiming her mouth again. She turned more fully toward him, and he felt a bit foolish making out with her on the back steps. He pulled back before he went too far and said, “Definitely your boyfriend.”

  “No,” she said. “You’re my husband.”

  Sawyer didn’t feel like a husband, and he kept her close to him as he stared out into the night, wondering what would happen if he and Jeri really did make it far enough into their relationship to warrant marriage.

 
; Could they get married all over again?

  He didn’t think so and at some point, their secret was going to become very, very public.

  Chapter 13

  Joy came to Jeri as the weeks passed. She finished one dog enclosure and started on another, working with the dozens of moving parts it took to put a building up. From cement trucks to electricians to plumbers, Jeri managed them all by herself.

  Honestly, she was exhausted, but she was doing what she loved, and that made up for it. When she wasn’t eating dinner with Sawyer, or sitting on Sawyer’s front porch holding his hand as they talked, or going to church with Sawyer, she worked on the sketches for Karla.

  The cabins in the Community were functional for one person. She supposed a couple of people could live together if they got along really well. While there were two bedrooms, the living space was pretty small, and there was only one bathroom.

  With the amount of hair Jeri had, if she’d had to share that tiny bathroom with someone else…it wouldn’t go well.

  So she put more into the cabins that could be built for a visitor. She knew the spice of life was variety, and she designed a studio cabin, with a fold down Murphy bed and a bigger bathroom. She also roughed out a one-bedroom cabin, with the same pull-down bed, bathroom, and full kitchen, but with a bit more room for the living area. And she had a third option, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, and pull-out bed for bigger families or groups.

  All the cabins had a front porch and a back porch, as Jeri often thought homes overlooked their outdoor areas in favor of the indoor. But to her, outdoor living space was just as important as indoor. That area of the ranch had towering trees separating it from the homestead area, and it would be shady at certain parts of the day, so being outside would be a good option.

  With those done, she turned her attention to the campsite itself. She knew it wasn’t really for camping, but she wasn’t sure if cabins counted as hotels. She’d taken to calling the area a glamping paradise, because glamorous camping had become a thing, to the point where in her research, she’d found a restoration company making glampers out of old model vans, buses, and campers.