She threw back her head and laughed. I came out of my chair and dragged her against me, nuzzling my open mouth against her neck. She squealed and wrestled out of my grasp, going behind the table. “Oh, no you don’t,” she said breathlessly. Reaching out, she snagged one of the dinner plates and held it out to me. Dishes first. I’m going to take a shower.”
“Slave driver,” I groused, taking the plate.
She gave me a sassy, stern look and flipped her braid over her shoulder. At the doorway, she reached for her top. “You should hurry. I might be much too tired to work any kind of machinery tonight.” Her words nothing but a teasing promise.
I started gathering the dishes as she pulled her top over her head, the creamy expanse of her back disappearing into the hall. I gritted my teeth and got to cleaning.
It took me all of fifteen minutes to get everything rinsed and in the dishwasher, all surfaces gleaming and leftovers put away, I eagerly headed for her bedroom.
I came up short when I saw her near the window, her hair a curtain of black against the flimsy garment clinging to her soft skin, a pair of panties was all she wore on her delectable lower half.
She turned at the sound of my entrance, and it only took one look at her face to know that something serious had occurred between the time she left the kitchen and now.
She almost pulled off that cool, kind of removed, slightly amused demeanor, but there was something about her that made my gaze narrow. I held her eyes and the hollowness in them made my gut clench. It was grief I saw—deep, gut-wrenching grief. That glimpse stunned me, and I stood in the doorway, my hands tightening, feeling like my legs had just been swept out from under me.
Without thinking, I crossed the room, grabbing her arm from behind. I hauled her against me and wrapped her in a tight embrace.
I didn’t say anything, just held her. Finally the stiffness left her body, and she wrapped her arms around my neck and clung to me. The soft slide of her tears soaking into my collar. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She took a shuddering breath and let it out. “After you were talking about harvesting, I started thinking how, about this time of year, we would be checking on our herd, at different locations within a sixty-mile radius, cows calving, performing herd-health measures, cutting hay and completing pasture maintenance. We were a cow/calf ranch, our calves selling through auction and leaving about mid-August. A few were sold year around to restaurants. We continued to work in the hayfield in the fall, which quickly transitioned into planting our winter forages.” She choked out a watery chuckle. “My dad used to say we were in the grass business.”
I didn’t say anything, just let her talk, her voice husky with her memories. My heart broke for her loss, making my whole situation with my daddy seem like something I could easily overcome. Sky was teaching me how lucky I was to have all my family members alive and well. We were at odds, but nothing was as final, as in her situation, as death.
“I never got the chance to tell them how much I loved them. I was angry and bitter at them, contemplating running away to ranch hand on my own. I didn’t want to leave my high school boyfriend. I didn’t want them telling me what to do, and I certainly didn’t want to go away to school. But all of that just lost its meaning when they died. I wish I had the chance to tell them how much they meant to me.”
“I know,” I said, feeling as if no words would be enough in the face of this kind of pain. I admired her so much for getting on with her life, for building something solid and good. “You’ve done them proud, sugar. I admire what you did with the Blue Coyote Spa and all you have accomplished.”
“I named the shop after these howling coyote salt and pepper shakers my mom had on her collection shelf. She was so happy to find them at an old flea market. They were very cool, and I often took them down to look at them. I lost everything in the fire, old family photos, all the furniture, everything…but I’ve been looking everywhere for those salt and pepper shakers just to have that one piece of them back. I’m sorry. I just sort of got blindsided by the memories.”
“You don’t have to ever apologize to me, babe, about your feelings for your family.”
“I can’t bring them back. Grief if one thing, but dwelling on this won’t help me move forward. That’s why I attempt to leave everything that happened back there where it belongs. You understand, Jake. I don’t want to talk about any of that stuff that happened. It’s over.”
“Sky…if you need to talk—”
“I don’t, not about any of it.”
Her tone was adamant, and I had to respect it, but I would take on anything that she had experienced if she would open up to me about what she had gone through. I wanted to be there for her. It would take time, and I was sure we would have the time together that we needed.
Chapter 14
SKY
I meant what I said as I stood there holding onto Jake. We were living in the moment, not the past, nor the future. Just now. I had no idea what the next few months would bring, if Jake and I would hold strong. I knew life wasn’t cut and dried and never took anything for granted. I’d learned that lesson when Seth disappeared.
There was no doubt I was falling for Jake. It was so easy because Jake was stronger than he knew, supportive, caring, honest. I felt a twinge that he didn’t know my whole story, and I knew everything about his. But I made a decision a long time ago I wasn’t going to drag my humiliation and shame all the way from Wyoming to Suttontowne. I had drifted and wandered for the better part of six years, shutting people out, keeping to myself. The guilt swamped me, and I shoved it back. My heart opened when I came to this small town and the people embraced me, this outsider they just barely met.
Nothing from my past was going to ruin the life I had built here. I wouldn’t let it.
“Let’s just be us, Jake. For now. For this moment.”
“It’s what I want. To be just me. No golden boy, no rich kid,” he whispered, his tone uneven. “I don’t want to live anymore like I’m always under some shadow.”
I wondered if he could get away from all that, and we could just be simple together. But he led a complicated and complex life and I was just a simple cowgirl at heart. I didn’t quite fit into Sutton stock, not like Anna Kate did. Could we really overcome everything?
I wiped at my eyes. Then drew a deep shuddering breath, and Jake took over, whisking the moisture away with his thumbs. “It’s going to be okay,” he said.
“I know,” I whispered. Pressing my head to his shoulder, he gathered me up in a tight embrace, his hand delving into my hair. Shifting so I was flat against him, I shut my eyes, the rush of sensation so intense that I had to grit my teeth. He tightened his hold on me, my heart hammering, my breathing constricted. I moved, the feel of his body sending shockwaves of heat through me, and he clutched my head, the feel of him almost too much to handle.
