Page 74 of Rancher's Return

“Mom said grocery delivery was coming.” She looked expectantly toward the door like she expected the delivery to come at any moment. Like she hoped it would.

“Did Marigold say when?”

He called his stepmother by her first name to emphasize the fact that she wasn’t his mother. To emphasize the fact that Lilywasn’this sister.

“Uh. No,” Lily said, skipping over his intent, because that was what they did.

They didn’t call each other out, not ever. They didn’t talk like they’d ever dated.

But it was there between them. Always. The biggest thing in the room.

“I’m starving,” he said, moving past her and into the kitchen, slinging his bag onto the counter, along with his truck keys. “I might go out and grab something.”

Not because he needed a break from her.

“Oh. Okay. I’m hungry too, actually.”

“Do you want to come with me?”

He felt prodded into saying it. Like there was an unspoken dare in her proclamation of hunger.

She looked at him, her golden eyes round, her lips pressed into a flat line. “Yes. Yes I do.”

“Don’t sound so excited about it.”

“I’m very excited,” she said blandly.

“Come on, Lily, I’ll get you some clam chowder.” He turned away from the counter, grabbing his keys again, and he could hear her footsteps behind him.

“I need a coat,” she said, and he heard her footsteps depart, scampering up the stairs.

He heard her come back down, and he challenged himself not to turn to her. He did that way too easily.

Turned to her like he was a plant looking for the sunshine.

If he said that to Beth, she’d say he had unresolved feelings.

He fucking knew that.

He opened up the door and didn’t close it, and she walked out behind him, closing it. He got into his truck and she got into the passenger side. He knew he was being resolutely unfriendly in his friendliness. But it was how they were.

He started the engine and backed out of the driveway. “I really love clam chowder,” she said, far too brightly.

“How nice,” he said.

They weren’t going far. There was a little local place their family always went to on the edge of town. The parking lot was packed. Unsurprising. The weather was terrible and the place was lit with a welcoming glow that warmed him just by looking at it. It stood to reason quite a few people in town had the same idea about where to get dinner.

He did the same routine going into the restaurant that he’d done to get out of the house. Got out of the truck, heard her but didn’t look at her, and they walked into the restaurant with her a few paces behind.

The woman at the podium barely looked at them. “Booth okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” they answered at the same time.

Of course, when they were seated in the booth, they were directly across from each other, and he couldn’t avoid looking at her anymore.

She was so damned beautiful, with her red hair and freckles, those golden eyes that had always made him think of her as a tiger. So gorgeous. So dangerous.

She always had been the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. And he was sure he must have seen women who were more beautiful by now. He must have.