Page 41 of Boston (Coral Canyon: Cowboys #12)

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

B ailey McAllister glanced over to the ten dozen doughnuts riding shotgun in her SUV.

She needed to get back up the canyon before her parents had a riot on their hands.

She’d never volunteered to drive down the canyon for much of anything, but when her mother had said that someone needed to go get the doughnuts in the morning, Bailey’s hand had shot up.

Her eyes landed on the clock on the dashboard next, and because she’d left early and picked up the doughnuts first, she had time to go by one more address.

She’d only been in town for a full day, and as today was a holiday, everyone would be out and about, just not at seven a.m. Coral Canyon did do a hot air balloon launch at six-thirty and that, combined with the people who liked to sleep in, had left the roads relatively bare.

Bailey turned right onto Main Street instead of left and headed east. When she reached the south highway that would take her down toward bigger roads and bigger towns, she made another right, and then almost an immediate right again.

She brought her SUV to a stop and looked at the facilities in front of her. She’d built a veterinary clinic in Butte, and she could easily see where she could add pastures for horses and cattle and what that long metal shed could be used for: supplies, feed, stalls and more.

The little red brick building next to it would be the lobby where people would bring their sick animals, and Bailey could put dog kennels out the back of it.

Tall trees stood here, and while the parking area was dirt and would need to be completely redone and marked, she could see her veterinary clinic here.

Of course, she’d been able to see it at the last place she’d driven by and the one before that too.

Yesterday she’d driven by two sites, though one of them was definitely more rural and farm-like than she would like.

She wanted something a little bit more commercial, with easier access, and good bones.

It would already be an astronomical amount of work for her to move here and restart a clinic with basically zero clientele.

On Monday, she had a meeting with Dr. Monroe, a current veterinarian in Coral Canyon.

She had a list of questions she wanted to ask him, as she had gotten used to the cattle sickness and other ailments of animals in Butte.

Every area would have its specific needs, including Coral Canyon.

From her research, she would be the fifth veterinary clinic in town, should she choose to move here.

A scoff fell out of her mouth.

Choose.

As if she was being given a choice.

Bailey’s jaw locked, and she stared at the double-glass entrance doors to the red brick building.

This had been a bottling facility in the past, and with a couple of phone calls, Bailey would be able to get out and walk the property, open every cupboard and drawer, and peer into every nook and cranny, to really get an idea of the amount of work she would have to do.

Bailey wasn’t afraid to work hard, though. Not if she’d sunk her teeth into something she believed in. She was still trying to believe that she should be in Coral Canyon, despite the many and frequent pulls she had to the area.

Bailey didn’t like being told what to do, even from God, and she naturally dug her heels in and resisted.

Her phone rang, startling her and making her jump. She lifted her foot off the brake, and the car started to inch forward. She jammed it into park and fumbled to pick up her device.

Her mother’s name sat there, and Bailey cursed under her breath as she swiped down from the top corner of her phone. She tapped to turn on the Bluetooth, because then she could talk and drive at the same time. It didn’t connect in time, and the call went to voicemail.

She put the car in gear and swung it around again, and she’d just pulled onto the highway when her mother called for a second time. This time, it rang through her stereo speakers, and Bailey reached out to tap the infotainment screen on her dashboard to answer the call.

“Hey,” she said as brightly as she could, which meant it was the equivalent of an overcast day. “Sorry. I didn’t have my phone connected to the Bluetooth, and I couldn’t get it done fast enough before you went to voicemail.”

“It’s all right,” her mom said. “Why are you out on the eastern highway? Are you lost?”

“No,” Bailey said. “I’m on the way back right now. I thought you didn’t need the doughnuts until eight.”

“We don’t,” her mother said. “Stockton was just asking about a package of fireworks, and I told him you were in town, and he wondered if maybe you could stop. So we checked your pin, and that’s when I saw you out east.”

The light turned green, and Bailey hastened to turn onto Main Street that would take her back toward the western canyon where she had grown up in a luxury lodge after her mother had married billionaire Graham Whittaker.

“Aren’t we going to the fireworks in the park?” she asked. “Why does he need fireworks?”

“You’ve met Stockton, right?” her mom asked. “He says we can do fireworks for three days before and three days after, and he wants to set some off down at the cabin.”

“You better check with the fire marshal,” Bailey said.

“I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear that,” Momma said. “Because if I tell him that, he’ll probably skewer me alive.” Momma gave a light laugh, and Bailey forced herself to join in.

“Well, I’m thirty minutes away,” she said. “But I can stop and get the fireworks.”

“He says there’s a booth right on the corner before you come up the canyon.”

“Sure,” Bailey said, picturing it in her mind. “I just drove by it.”

She heard Stockton saying something on the other end of the line, and then Momma said, “He wants the grand package. He said he can pay for it.”

“Oh, he’s paying for it,” Bailey said. “I’m not paying for fireworks when we’re going to fireworks tonight.”

“He said he can send you money on the cash app right now.”

“He doesn’t need to do that,” Bailey said. “I’ll get it and bill him.”

“All right, see you soon,” Momma said, and Bailey let her hang up.

She told herself that if she lived here, coming home for a visit wouldn’t be such a big deal.

Her parents wouldn’t stage enormous dinners and try to invite every single person they knew.

It wouldn’t be an event. She wouldn’t be a novelty.

They didn’t have to try to do everything in a day, or a weekend, or a week.

She drove past Becks Books on Main Street, her mind moving to Otis and Georgia Young and then, of course, their son, OJ.

She’d planned dinner at their house on Monday night, and then she was going to go horseback riding with OJ out at Bryce’s farm on Tuesday.

Again, if she lived here, she’d get to see them more often, and OJ wouldn’t feel like he had to text her about every little thing, or that he didn’t get to see her as much as he would like.

She was honestly surprised that he wanted to see her at all, but he’d inherited all of Bryce’s vivacious personality, as well as his forgiving heart of gold.

Thoughts of spending time with Bryce and Codi, OJ, and Otis and Georgia didn’t make Bailey as riddled with anxiety as they once had. In fact, they almost felt normal now. Commonplace. Like this was just her life…because it was.

She made it back to the luxury lodge after stopping to get Stockton his fireworks, and she found him waiting for her on the front porch.

She pulled into the circle-drive where guests normally parked to unpack their baggage—not that Momma and Daddy had run Whiskey Mountain Lodge as an actual lodge in a long time.

“You’re going to have to come get it yourself,” she called as she opened the back hatch.

Stockton rose to his feet, a wide smile on his face. “Thanks so much, Bay.”

She stood and waited for him to approach. “What do you really want them for?”

He grinned at her. “Who says I’m not gonna do exactly what your momma said I’m going to do?”

She bumped him with her hip and grinned. “I do, because I know you. Who are you going out with?”

Stockton reached into the back of her car, where she’d had to lay down the seats just to get this enormous package of fireworks to fit.

“Her name’s Lana,” Stockton said as he backed up and pulled the long package out. “We’re going up to Silver Lake tomorrow with some friends, and I told her I’d bring some fireworks.”

“Oh, Lana ,” Bailey said. “Is this someone we know?”

“It’s someone I know,” Stockton said. “And believe it or not, this is my fifth date with her.” He grinned at Bailey and headed toward his truck.

Bailey watched him go, shock moving through her. “The fifth date?” she called. “And you haven’t texted me?”

Stockton laughed but didn’t offer an excuse or a reason.

Bailey closed the back of her car and rounded it to the front passenger side so that she could start getting out the doughnuts. The tall door to the lodge opened and her mother came out, as did Aunt Lily.

“I brought reinforcements,” Momma said, and Bailey started handing out doughnut boxes, noting the difference between her family and the Youngs.

She was the oldest of all the cousins, at thirty-six, with Stockton only a couple of years behind her, and none of them had gotten married yet.

Meanwhile, the Youngs seemed to be getting married left and right, and she wondered what the difference was.

She picked up the last two dozen doughnuts, and turned and kicked the door closed with her foot before following her mother inside the lodge.

She suspected the Youngs were simply better at changing, at forgiving, and at doing what they needed to do in order to find true love.

She felt like she’d been on this path for fifteen years and was finally coming around, finally morphing into the person that she needed to be in order to allow herself to be loved again—and to give that same care and attention to another person.

She’d barely entered the kitchen when the beeping of the public address system filled the lodge, and Patsy Hammond’s voice said, “The doughnuts have arrived. I repeat, the doughnuts have arrived.”

Chaos descended on the area, and Bailey practically threw the last couple of boxes on the table and backed up to the safety of the kitchen. They didn’t have tons of little kids anymore, but Daddy always invited the Hammonds to everything at the lodge, as well as a few close family friends.

He came to her side and said, “Thanks for going to town to get these.”

“Of course.” She leaned into him as he put his arm around her, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. So many things stormed through her as she watched the boxes get opened and the doughnuts get taken, chocolate milk poured, and little cups of peaches set on the table that no one touched.

“Daddy,” she said quietly. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” he said, and Bailey looked up at the man who had raised her from the age of seven. Thirty years he’d put up with her, loved her, cherished her, forgave her, and worried over her.

She knew both of her parents prayed for her constantly as well, and it felt like someone had shoved a square, steel block down her throat. She swallowed and then tried to clear it away, all while Daddy waited and watched.

“I guess I have a couple of questions,” she said.

“Hm.”

“One, what time is church on Sunday? And if I met you there, would you save me a seat, so I don’t have to sit alone?”

“It’s at ten,” Daddy said, the words scraping his throat as they came out. He cleared it and said again, “It’s at ten. We go to that little white chapel on the corner of Main and Apple Street.”

Bailey nodded, because she knew where it was. They’d gone there as she’d grown up too. “It’s a long drive for me,” she said. “But I’ll be there.”

He nodded. “That’s great, Bay. What else can I help you with?”

She took a deep breath, because once she asked this question, she couldn’t turn back.

Of course you can, whispered through her head.

She had gotten pregnant in college, and turned back from that.

All kinds of things could happen between this question and her moving her clinic to Coral Canyon.

Since Bailey didn’t like feeling trapped or caged or roped into something she couldn’t get out of, she had to tell herself that she absolutely could go back after she asked this question.

“You can say no,” she said.

“Maybe I will, if you’d ask me the question.”

“I’m wondering if we can sit down, me and you.” She looked over to the table where her mother sat laughing with Annie Hammond and Violet Christofferson. “Fine, my mother’s probably going to have to be there.” Bailey said. “I want to ask you about getting a loan.”

She blinked and pressed her eyes close together. “That’s not what I meant. I want to ask you for a loan. I want to borrow money from you .”

He looked at her, his eyes wide and full of questions. Bailey nodded, fully committed now. “I want to borrow money from you to buy land and facilities for a veterinary clinic here in Coral Canyon.” She swallowed, the steel box completely gone.

“So I can move home.”