Chemistry Lessons (31 page)

 It felt so good to be back where she belonged—with this man whose
smooth, uncalloused hands caressed the back of her neck. He wasn’t the cowboy
she had imagined falling in love with. Yet he was the one who had the patience
to deal with teenagers, grumpy old men, and spitting llamas. He was the one who
had her laughing through the flood. He was the one who could stand up against
the Moores. And now, in his strong arms, she felt both comfort and power.

“You have a way of making the oddest places seem romantic,” she said,
taking him by the hand. “Cemeteries, parking lots, and nursing homes.”

He winked. “Tomorrow we’ll try my classroom.”

“As fun as that would be, we’d better not,” she said, nudging him with
her elbow.

They found Grandpa in the recreation room of the nursing home. He sat
at a table crowded with six women in wheelchairs, all watching him like gamblers
waiting for their wins. A John Wayne movie played on the TV while Grandpa
played a game of chess with one of the residents.

As soon as Grandpa saw Rosie, he stood from his wheelchair, extending
his good arm in her direction. “Ladies, I’d like to introduce you to my
granddaughter and her future husband.”

Positive Destry would understand, Rosie didn’t feel embarrassed. “Just
play along,” she muttered. “He’s been calling you my future husband ever since I
hurt my back and you carried me into the house.”

While one of the nursing home workers rushed over to remind Grandpa to
stay in his wheelchair, Destry laughed and brought a couple more chairs to his
table. “I expect a handsome dowry,” he said in a loud voice.

He sat down next to Rosie, resting his arm across the back of her
chair. That was when she noticed he wore a pair of flip-flops with his jeans
and T-shirt. At one time, it would have annoyed her to see him wearing them on
a chilly day. Now, she just smiled.

“You want a dowry, huh?” Grandpa scratched under the strap of his
sling. “I can give you a thirty-year-old tractor and a couple of ornery llamas,
but those won’t do you much good, seeing as how you’re moving.”

“Well, I’ve changed my mind about that.” He winked at Rosie. “Back when
I decided to move, I thought I was going to have to live next door to Mr. and
Mrs. Tanner Smith.”

Grandpa slapped his good hand on the table and grinned. “What are you
going to do about all the knuckleheads who want you to stop building?”

“Well, sir,” Destry said, “for one thing, I’ve hired Janessa to run my
PR campaign.”

Grandpa squinted at him, wrinkling his nose. “You hot-wired a remote
control airplane? What does that have to do with anything?”

A few of the women giggled.

Rosie scooted her chair closer to the table, raising her voice. “Grandpa,
you didn’t hear right. He said he hired Janessa Moore to run his Public
Relations campaign.”

Grandpa tipped his head back. “You don’t say? That ought to get a few
people on your side. Janessa has a lot of work in front of her to make things
right. She can’t undo her wrongs, but at least she can work toward a brighter
future. “

Rosie watched Grandpa trying to teach the women how to move the knight
across the chessboard, but it was obvious from their blank stares that none of
them understood. It seemed like such a waste of Grandpa’s time, being here in
the nursing home. His mind was still sharp. The only reason he was here was
because his body was worn out—that, and the fact that he was too stubborn to
obey the doctors’ orders. Now they wouldn’t let him go home until he could hire
someone to stay with him during the day. Luckily, she had a plan to make it
happen.

“I have more good news too,” Rosie said in her loudest voice. She
gripped her hands, hoping Grandpa would agree that it was good news. “I
happened to sit next to a banker from El Paso on my flight home. We struck up a
conversation about the ranch, and he convinced me to fill out a loan
application on the plane. I didn’t think anything of it because I was sure I
wouldn’t qualify. But he called me this morning.” She couldn’t keep the
excitement from her voice. “I’m pre-approved for a mortgage. It looks like I
can buy the ranch after all, and, once everything goes through, you’ll have the
money you need to hire help at home.”

Destry hugged her, kissing the top of her head. “Awesome!”

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” one of the old women cooed.

“Did he give you a good interest rate?” Grandpa asked.

“See for yourselves.” Rosie took the paperwork from her purse and handed
it to Destry. “He said he was surprised I hadn’t qualified last time.”

Destry paged through the stack of papers. “It looks great to me,” he
half-shouted to Grandpa and passed the papers over. “I wonder why the bank in
Lone Spur wouldn’t give her a loan.”

Grandpa took the papers and blew out his breath. He gestured for them
to come closer. “Let’s move to that table over there,” he said, pointing to a
far corner.

Destry released the brakes on the chair and pushed Grandpa across the
room. Once they were out of everyone else’s hearing, Grandpa spoke again. “Has
it ever occurred to you, Rosie, that every one of the people who works at the
Lone Spur Bank is a Moore?”

His words hit her like a blast of winter wind. “Why didn’t you mention
this before, Grandpa?”

He shrugged. “It just occurred to me.”

All that time she thought she needed to depend on Tanner to buy the
ranch for her, and it was all because the Moores were playing their ridiculous games.

“I thought the police covered up the fact that Janessa had too much to
drink before the crash,” Destry said. “And Rosie kept her mouth shut about it
until a couple months ago. Why would the Moores keep her from getting a loan if
she’d kept quiet for them?”

Rosie didn’t wait for Grandpa to explain. It had suddenly become clear
to her. “I might not have talked about it to most people, but I told all the
first responders exactly what happened, and I told the insurance company when
they called me for a report. Janessa’s had to face a few consequences because
of what I’ve said, and the Moores could be holding a grudge against me for it.”

Destry’s forehead creased, and he shook his head. “I wonder what my
lawyer would say about the people at the bank lying to you. I’ll look into it.”

Grandpa reached for Rosie’s hand. “We don’t know for sure that they
denied your loan out of spite. The important thing is that you two will finally
have everything you want. I’ll talk to Jeff and make sure he cooperates with
you.” He placed Rosie’s hand in Destry’s. “I couldn’t be happier . . . unless
you could get me out of here.”

Eight Months Later

Thanks to another irresponsible pet owner, Rosie was late getting
started on her irrigation. How could anyone think a domestic bunny would
survive out in the desert in July? At least the poor creature was lucky enough
to find its way to Jade’s front porch.

She lifted the tiny, white rabbit out of the cardboard box on her
passenger seat and carried it to the barn, wondering if the old rabbit hutch
was still usable. It looked fine, except the door had fallen off its hinges.
She stuck the rabbit inside, gave it some hay, filled its water bottle, and
wedged the door back into place. Later, after she irrigated, she would fix the
hinges.

That’s when she heard the neigh of a horse, which was strange, because
she didn’t have any horses on the ranch. Poking her head out of the barn, she
looked around and then shrugged. Maybe she had imagined it. She pulled on her
muddy boots and headed off in the direction of her fields. She had passed the
hay barn when she saw Destry’s two mares tied to the fence, and they were both
saddled.

Destry was there too, walking toward her from the other side of the
vegetable garden. Had he forgotten today was her day to irrigate?

Then she noticed that the vegetable garden was already muddy.

 “I hope you don’t mind. I’m teaching my guests to irrigate the hard
way,” he called out. His treatment center had been open for a month now, and
last she heard, he had ten visitors.

“You mean you’re making your guests water for me?” She was about to
give him a lesson about being a good host when he pulled her in for a kiss. It
wasn’t a routine peck but a long-lasting, spine-tingling smooch that sent her
heart racing.

“They told me they wanted to experience some hardcore ranching,” he
explained.

She laughed, keeping her arms around him. “Really?” She rested her head
against his chest and gazed across the field to see four men bending over the
irrigation ditch. “I really appreciate their help. I was worried I wouldn’t get
it done.”

He ran his hand over her ponytail. “Let me guess—you had to rescue
another animal.”

He knew her too well. “Someone abandoned a rabbit out by Jade’s place,
so I had to drive out there to pick it up, and then spend another hour
reassuring Jade that I wouldn’t be upset if she started seeing Tanner.”

“I guess it’s about time you two had that conversation.” He tilted his
head toward the two horses. “What do you say we go for a ride?”

She studied the mares. It was tempting. She still hadn’t gotten a
chance to ride either one. But a quick glance at her watch proved there wasn’t
time. “I wish I could, but Grandpa’s caregiver gets off in fifteen minutes. And
I have to feed the animals and—”

“—Grandpa and I have already taken care of that,” Destry interrupted. “He’s
going to teach my guests how to do your chores.”

“But they’re already irrigating—”

“What better way to learn about ranch life than from a real cowboy?”
Destry took her hand and led her toward the horses.

Rosie could imagine how much Grandpa would enjoy bossing a bunch of
Easterners around, but she could also imagine how hard it would be for Grandpa
not to act like his younger self. “Did he promise to use his cane when he’s
outside?”

“That was part of the deal.” Destry said, almost as if he had expected
her to ask. He untied the smaller horse’s reins from the fence. “Are you ready
to ride?”

Rosie considered for a moment. It sounded like Destry had taken care of
everything. She really could take the night off. She grinned. “Let’s go.”

They rode down the lane side by side, and Rosie’s mind slowed to the
rhythmic trot of the horse’s hooves on the dirt road. This was her home—she
owned the land beside them. She owned the field of alfalfa growing green and
the cows grazing in the grass. But home had become more than the land, more
than the wispy clouds that stretched above them, and more than the mountains in
the distance. It was having Destry beside her, telling her about the crazy
things StainMaster dug up today.

It took an hour to get to the river by the scenic route, but the
minutes passed in the easy, carefree way they always did when she was with
Destry. Sometimes they talked. Other times they were silent. Rosie felt no
pressure to say the right things or defend her position.

Eventually, they dismounted and made their way to the river. Destry
offered her a water bottle while the horses grazed in the tall grass.

“I brought the slingshot,” he said, pulling it from a saddlebag. “You
want to shoot some pebbles?”

She remembered the first time she had slung rocks across the river and
how her worries had disappeared along with the pebbles. Most of those problems
were in the past now, but it would be fun to use the slingshot again.

They found a flat place along the bank and Destry handed her the
slingshot. “I’ve still got some rocks from the last time,” he said, his voice
soft and deep. “You concentrate on shooting.”

He placed a rounded stone in her hand. She enclosed it in the leather
sling, stretched the tubing, and shot. “This one’s to celebrate that you found
two decent horses that won’t buck you off.” They watched as it landed with a
splash in the river.

He gave her another and this time he stood behind her with his arms on
either side, reaching to adjust her hand in front of her face. “Don’t forget to
aim.”

 “Do you remember the first time we did this?” she asked, turning to
him instead of shooting the rock. “I was so in love, even then, that I could
have stayed there all day.”

He kissed her. “And I thought you were just into shooting.”

“That’s what I told myself,” she confessed. “I was still in denial
about how much I liked you.” She turned, aimed, and shot the rock halfway
across the river. “That one was for you knowing the irrigation schedule.”

He handed her another pebble. “See if you can get it to the other side.”

“This one’s for Allan deciding to go to college.” Remembering what she
had learned last time, she tilted the slingshot higher. When she released her
grip, the pebble landed three quarters of the way across.

The sun glowed bright orange against the horizon now, and its rays
bounced pink off the clouds. He kept handing her pebbles, but she couldn’t seem
to shoot any of them far enough to reach the other bank. “I think the river’s
higher now than it was last time. Maybe if I tried a bigger rock.”

“Here,” he said, “try this one.” He placed the rock in her hand, only
it wasn’t a dusty, gray stone. It was a ring with a golden stone, like they had
talked about so many months before.

Destry dropped to his knee, and Rosie gasped, covering her mouth with
her hand. “I once told you I thought you had a golden touch with your animals
and with Grandpa. I still believe that everything about you is pure gold—and
that you have a shimmering beauty.” He paused to nod at her while she shook her
head, smiling. “What I haven’t told you was that you have a golden touch with
me, too. Because of you, I’m living the life I was meant to lead. I’m making a
difference for people. The only way life could be any better is if you were always
here at my side. Will you marry me, Rosie?”

“Of course!” She slipped the ring onto her finger and reached for his
hand, pulling him up from his knee.

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. Then she kissed him,
hoping to communicate the rush of feelings that coursed through her. He wasn’t the
type of man she had imagined marrying. He was so much better.