To Court a Cowgirl (17 page)

“That was fast,” she said to Jason, who came to meet her at her car.

“Dad's crew set these up all the time. They tapped into the power at the bunkhouse. Joe's coming back tomorrow to plumb it into the bunkhouse water and septic lines.”

“Wow. A bathroom and everything.”

“Do you want to be the one to tell a teenage boy that he doesn't have ready access to a shower?”

“I would not.”

Jason climbed the steps and opened the door, motioning with his head for Allie to follow him inside. The interior was an empty box. There was a row of cabinets with a small sink at one end, a door at the other and nothing in between.

“Zach wanted to move in tonight, but I told him to wait for water.”

“Good plan.”

Allie crossed the trailer, her steps echoing in the emptiness, and then she opened the door to find a small bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower stall. “Adequate,” she said.

“I had to do some fast talking to get a trailer with a bathroom, but I didn't think you'd want a Port-a-John in sight of your house.”

“Zach and I both thank you.”

Jason smiled down at her, their gazes connecting in a way that felt more intimate than the casual level of conversation called for. Allie tore her gaze away and set her hands on her hips, giving one last look around. “Thanks for doing this.”

“Glad to be able to help—you and Zach.” His voice was low, sincere and somehow deeply sensual. Allie felt her skin start to prickle.

They left the trailer and then Jason walked with Allie as far as his truck, which was parked next to her front walkway. “Garden looks good.”

“What there is, yes.”

“Will there be more?”

“A lot more.”

Jason didn't move. He studied the garden as if there were an answer to a serious question in the long neat rows of tiny plants. Allie pushed back her hair as she frowned up at him. “I get the feeling that you're in no hurry to go home.”

He shifted his attention back to her, a small smile playing on his gorgeous mouth. “I'm telegraphing?”

“Totally.”

Jason sighed and leaned back against the front grill of his truck, folding his arms over his chest. “Dad and I have been going the rounds and I'm in no hurry for round, I don't know, eighteen or nineteen.” He gave her a wry smile. “I'll probably get kicked out again soon.”

“You can move in with Zach.”

He grimaced as he shot a look at the trailer. “That would be kind of crowded.”

It would be crowded. Jason was a big guy. “Then I guess you could have one of my spare rooms.”

“I like that idea better.”

“I'm sure you do.” Allie sauntered closer, even though she'd felt the need for space in the trailer. Maybe she'd simply needed an avenue of escape. “And next thing you know you'll be trying to worm your way into my good graces so that you can buy the ranch...things like that.”

He reached out and took hold of her wrist easing her toward him, until their thighs were almost, but not quite, touching. “I'm still looking for property,” he said. “It'll make it easier when Dad kicks me out.”

“And the job search?”

“Yeah. That.” His lips pressed together. “I've put the search on hiatus for a bit.”

Allie's heart rate shouldn't have jumped, but it did, and she wondered if Jason had felt the bump in her pulse through her wrist, which he still held in a light grasp.

“For a bit?”

“A season off won't hurt. It'll give Dad time to heal fully and me time to decide exactly what I want to do and how I need to train. I talked to the high school coach about running a summer camp for the local players and he was all over that.”

“I imagine he was.”

“I have to accept that things didn't fall into place—”

“As usual,” Allie added with mock innocence.

He frowned and then let go of her wrist and brought his hands up to span her waist, pulling her another half step closer. And Allie didn't do a thing to stop him. She didn't want to stop him. Oh, she would at some point, but right now she felt the need to teeter on the edge for just a bit before stepping back. To the safe. To the mundane.

Besides that, she liked the feel of his very large, very solid hands on her body.

“Yes. Me and my charmed life. Right?” he asked mildly.

Allie went with the truth. “Actually, I'm a little jealous that you know what you want. Even though you haven't achieved it yet, you have a goal.”

He gave a snort. “Actually, I'm jealous of you.”

Allie stepped back and he dropped his hands from her waist.

“How so?” Because she couldn't imagine what she had to be jealous of.

He took hold of her hands. “You live here. You belong.”

Allie didn't answer. There was nothing she could say, other than he was wrong. She didn't belong.

“I'd better go,” he said in a low voice, raising his hand to gently caress her cheek with a work-roughened palm. Allie allowed herself to lean into his touch before he bent his head and kissed her, a light brush of the lips that left her wanting so much more. “I'll see you tomorrow, Allie.”

Allie stepped back, resisting the urge to wrap her arms around herself and hold in some of the warmth that was so rapidly fading away now that Jason was no longer touching her.

“See you tomorrow.”

He started the truck as she walked through her front gate and then he was gone, leaving Allie with a whole lot of thinking to do. But instead of thinking, Allie went into the house, changed her clothes, put on her music and started painting.

* * *

J
ASON
WASN
'
T
THERE
when Allie got home the next day, but Zach was. He was once again driving the truck his dad had bought him—out of guilt, according to Liz—and he'd moved his belongings into the trailer.

“What are you doing for dinner?” Allie asked.

He grinned widely. “Frozen dinners. Mom hates them. I love them.”

“Good thing you have a microwave.” There were no other cooking implements, but Zach didn't seem to care.

“Jason's going to see about getting me hooked into satellite internet.”

“You can hook into mine.” Allie wrote the password on a slip of paper and pushed it toward him.

“‘I heart Gus'?” Zach said, reading the password.

“My sister made the password. Gus is her dog.”

“No one will ever break that code,” he said.

“No one is close enough to try. What's on your agenda for tomorrow?”

“We're going to check fences and start spraying.” Zach shook his head. “There's a lot of spraying that needs doing.”

“I have an account at Culver Ranch and Feed.”

“And you said that Jolie used to divide the pastures?”

“She moved the ladies every few days.”

“I think I'll call her and see how that worked out.”

Allie pulled the paper back toward her and wrote Jolie's cell number on it.

“Thanks.” Zach picked up the paper. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Going to go stir-crazy alone?”

He looked surprised. “I have the internet. I'm fine.”

Allie wished it was that easy for her. Her evenings were much better now that she was painting again, indulging in her creativity and regaining her sense of discovery. But even with her artwork to distract her, absorb her, the anxiety was still there, just under the surface. Allie woke up every single morning expecting something to go wrong and went to bed with the same feeling.

And she really, really needed to move past that.

* * *

M
AX
WAS
SITTING
at the kitchen table with a remarkably pleasant expression on his face when Jason came in through the back door after a fruitless meeting with Ray Largent.

“Hey, I just talked to Mike Czakawski down at the dealership. You're coaching football this summer?” Max raised his coffee cup in a salute.

Jason pulled off his ball cap and hung it on the hook by the door. “Nothing carved in stone, but if I'm here, yes.”

“Why didn't you say something?”

“I guess because if Jimmy found out, it'd be all over town.”

‘Jimmy found out,” Max said on a note of satisfaction.

“Then I guess it's a done deal.”

“Guess so. Is it such a bad thing?”

Jason took the chair opposite his father and reached out to pour coffee from the carafe. He didn't usually drink coffee at five o'clock in the afternoon, but he needed to do something as he attempted to explain himself to his dad.

‘My entire life has centered around football.”

“I know that,” Max sputtered.

“When I was six, I decided I was going to play pro ball. Everything I did, I did with that goal in mind. When I hit college, I decided that after my pro career, I'd coach college ball. I love college ball, Dad. I don't want to coach in the pros. I don't want to be a movie star or a celebrity like Pat did. I want to coach college ball at a high level. And I can't do that here.”

“Nobody's knocking down your door, are they?”

“Because I have no track record.” Jason took a sip of lukewarm coffee. His dad needed to get a better carafe. “I can't do anything this coming season. I want you to be fully on your feet before I leave, and I have to figure out where to intern or train to get the experience I need. But, Dad... I'm going to be involved in college ball, one way or another.”

“Because you decided to do it all those years ago? Or because you still want to?”

Jason frowned at his father. What kind of question was that? “Because I want to.”

Max gave his head a shake. “Then I wish you luck.”

And Jason wished that his father actually meant what he said.

“I'm not going to settle, Dad.”

“I'm not telling you to settle. I'm telling you to examine your motivations as well as your goals.”

“I'll do that.” Jason set down his coffee cup and rose to his feet. He stepped over a sleeping Dobe on his way out of the room. The stress that he'd managed to shed while working on the Lightning Creek came charging back, tightening his shoulders, his neck muscles, his jaw.

Get used to it. You're going to be here for a while.

If not in the house, then in the vicinity.

But what killed him was the fact that his dad had just asked him to do something that he instantly knew he didn't want to do. He didn't want to think about whether or not his goal was still viable.

* * *

L
IZ
WAS
WAITING
at the library door when Allie got to school the day after Zach moved into the construction trailer.

“Not to play the anxious mom, but how's my son?”

“Good. I have Mike Culver—Jolie's grandfather-in-law—coming over in the afternoon to talk fertilizer and such for the meadows.”

“He'll get a charge out of that. He always loved ranching, until, you know...”

“I know.” Allie unlocked her door. “I think he likes the idea of working for me now that he's come to the realization that we didn't do this as a form of house arrest.”

“Is that what he thought?”

“I heard him talking to Jason just after he agreed to our proposal and that's the impression I got. Jason talked him down.”

Liz followed Allie into the library and put her giant teacher tote bag on the library counter. “Regarding Jason, I enjoy telling people, ‘Yeah, I knew him back in the day,' even though I really didn't. I knew his sister.” Liz shrugged. “Anyway...he's been good for Zach.”

“He's a good guy,” Allie agreed.

“Are you two, uh...?”

Allie hesitated before answering. Liz was officially single now. And she was attractive and... Allie felt a twinge of possessiveness, which she wasn't going to feel bad about. Jason was good for her, too.

“We've gone out.” Not a lie.

Liz gave a faint smile. “I figured, but wouldn't Jason Hudson be the perfect revenge guy for a woman whose football-loving husband left her for a younger woman?”

“Who then dumped him?” Allie added. It was the one bright spot in an otherwise depressing situation.

Liz smiled darkly. “That was satisfying, but it didn't make up for Derek screwing up Zach's teen years. And it didn't keep him from getting another hottie.”

“No.” Allie stowed her purse, then draped her cardigan over the back of her chair.

“I heard they're going to fly the third-grade job this week.” Liz smiled broadly as she made the announcement.

“I don't think I'm going to apply.” Liz's face fell. “I've come to the conclusion that if a person doesn't love to teach, they shouldn't. It's not fair to the students.”

“The kids love you.”

“And I love them, but Liz... I'm not loving this job. If the job requirements were to have fun with the kids all day and let them run wild, I'd be a shoo-in.” She shook her head. “If I'm going to work at a job just to work, it's not going to be one that has such a deep effect on others.”

“Allie...wow.”

“I know.” But she felt good about her decision. “Please don't tell anyone. It's not by any means certain.”

“What'll you do, if you don't teach?”

“There're some administrative openings at the community college. Or I can get another bookkeeping job. I have experience.”

“Those don't pay as well.”

“But they pay well enough and I'm not high-maintenance.” After a few long nights of soul-searching, she'd come to realize that while she wanted security, she didn't want to pretend to love a job she didn't and in her mind, a teacher needed to love her job. Gnashing her teeth over money lost getting an education degree wasn't going to get that money back, nor was working in the field just because she'd trained for it.