He hadn’t held her hand again, though, since she’d sobbed into his chest. But Lenore now found herself sinking down onto the couch and sighing as she laid within the circle of his arms.
“Is that okay?” he asked, adjusting his bicep under her head.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
He rested his other arm across her hip, and Lenore reached out and fitted her fingers between his. She had no idea if this was how relationships started, as it sure didn’t seem very traditional.
“You want to go to dinner tonight?” Brandon asked.
Lenore stiffened. “Dinner?”
The soft wash of Brandon’s breath trailed over the side of her neck. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s an evening meal people eat?”
She smiled at the teasing lilt in his voice. “I know what dinner is.”
“Would you go with me?”
Lenore closed her eyes and zoomed out on the situation. In her mind, she could see the two of them lying there on the couch together, inside the silent cabin that sat on this expansive land that hadn’t been properly cared for in so long.
She saw the overgrown trees and the grass that needed mowing as it billowed in the breeze. She saw the greenhouse on the south side of the cabin and everything that they’d scavenged and found laid out on the tarps near the barn.
She saw the three chickens she had left, and in the blink of an eye, everything that was broken down and dilapidated and ruined changed.
The fields now flowed with green alfalfa. Her garden area had been built out and thrived with plants—squashes, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, and more.
The chicken coop stood two stories tall and had at least a dozen chickens in it. It was surrounded by more enclosures which held sheep, goats, pigs, cows, and even a couple of horses.
She had machinery that worked and tools that weren’t rusted, and right in the center of all of it stood the handsome, hardworking Brandon Rhinehart.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’d love to go to dinner with you.”
She shifted, turning in his arms until she faced him. His eyes fluttered open and met hers, and Lenore wanted to ask him what was going on between them. But she didn’t need to. She saw it all right there in his face. This man liked her, and he wanted to go out with her.
“I think we’ve earned the evening off,” he said.
Lenore hummed in agreement, her gaze dropping to his mouth. She hadn’t kissed a man in a long time, and it was suddenly all she could think about.
“Do you care if I call you Lenny?” Brandon asked.
Lenore gave a minute shake of her head. “What’ll I call you?” she asked, surprised at her ability to flirt. It had been so long, and she really had no idea what she was doing.
“I don’t know,” he murmured. “You’ll think of something.”
He ducked his head toward her, getting closer, as if he might kiss her. Lenore wasn’t sure what she wanted in that moment, but she tilted her head back, ready to follow his lead. He certainly seemed like he wanted to kiss her, but he moved oh-so-slow—only millimeters at a time—as he neared.
“Lenny,” he whispered, and then the obnoxious shrill ringing of his phone filled the air.
He startled, and Lenore gasped. She had no idea what he might have said next, and the old-fashioned ringtone he’d put on his cellphone was seriously the most annoying thing Lenore had ever heard.
“Sorry,” he muttered, jostling her around as he tried to get his hand behind him to get his phone out of his back pocket. He finally managed it and held it up as he peered at it.
“It’s Conrad,” he said, though Lenore didn’t know who that was. “I don’t know why he’d be calling me….” His voice trailed off as the awful shrilling continued to echo through the cabin.
Foolishness ran through Lenore for trying to hold on to a moment that had already gone. “Answer it,” she said as she sat up and turned her back to him.
He moved, and in the next moment he said, “Conrad. Hey, what’s up?” in a totally normal voice, as if he hadn’t just called her a sweet nickname in a husky cowboy voice as he leaned toward her.
“Oh no,” he said, pure sadness dripping from both words.
