Page 8

A t eleven o’clock on the dot, Can Opener stood up in the middle of Ashley’s bed and stretched. He made a raspy sound in the back of his throat and placed one fat paw in the middle of her belly.

She was already awake. “You’re such a night owl.” She shook his paw like it was a hand.

He purred and gave a playful yowl. Then he leaned down and butted her cheek with his head.

“Okay, okay! I’m getting up.” She sat up in bed, pushing the navy blue comforter aside.

It was becoming her and Can Opener’s little ritual to start off each night with a snuggle fest, but he never failed to take off in the middle of the night. The first time it had happened, she’d assumed he needed a pit stop. However, Clint had informed her the next day that Can Opener liked to prowl the farm like a guard dog at night and sleep most of the day. One of the coolest things about his schedule was that he spent so much time outside he didn’t require a litter box.

She opened the back door for him, and he shot outside, loping like a panther across the field behind the cabin. She watched until he was swallowed up by the darkness. Then she shut the door and bolted it behind her.

She yawned as she returned to the cozy bedroom, silently thanking the Lord all over again that the last tenant had left the place furnished. The stuff he’d left behind was no-frills and manly, but everything was clean and in good repair. She’d washed all the bed linens, just in case, but even that probably hadn’t been necessary.

She liked it here —more than she ever dreamed possible for a transplant like herself. She’d expected to miss the amenities of the city more. There was no symphony here and no ballet to purchase tickets to watch, but it was easier to breathe out in the country. It wasn’t any easier out here for her to sleep, though.

She was half tempted to stuff her feet into a pair of sneakers and go for a late-night run, but she had a personal rule against going anywhere alone after dark. She hadn’t been safe doing it while serving as a police detective, not even while traveling with an armed partner.

She yawned again and forced herself to climb back into the rustic sleigh bed to lie on her side. But no matter how many sheep she counted, sleep continued to evade her. Too many emotions were tangled inside her head tonight.

Her cell phone rang on the nightstand, making her jolt. She must have forgotten to turn off the ringer. With a groan of self-recrimination, she blindly reached for it. Squinting at the caller ID, her insides grew cold.

It was Martin. Again. What did he want this time?

The slow burn of anger chased the coldness from her stomach. Thanks to him, she was already tired and cranky, more than usual. How dare he continue to pester her! In the middle of the night, no less!

Against her better judgment, she accepted his call and held the phone to her ear. “This had better be an emergency,” she announced icily.

There was a moment of silence, followed by an explosion of breath. “You bet it is! I’m trying not to lose the woman I love!”

Her temples throbbed as she sat up again in sheer indignation. “Our relationship went nowhere!” Pretending anything else was the height of dishonesty on his part.

“Maybe because your attentions were divided between Dallas and here?” His voice grew bitter. “Have you considered that?”

Here? Did that mean he was still in town? She was so ready to see the last of him! “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her brain was too tired to dissect his latest accusation.

“You know exactly who I’m talking about,” he stormed. “Johnny On the Spot.”

It took her a moment to wrap her brain around what he was implying. “If you’re referring to my new boss, we only met a few days ago.” The moment the words left her mouth, she wanted to kick herself. Martin was clearly digging for information about Johnny Cuba, and she’d inadvertently given it to him.

“And I’m supposed to believe it’s strictly a platonic relationship?” he groused. “You moved on awfully quickly!”

It wasn’t true. “Our relationship has been in trouble for a long time.” The only reason she hadn’t broken up with him sooner was because she’d been too busy fighting crime on the streets of Dallas. He’d taken advantage of her career as a police officer to string her along indefinitely. Well, that game was over! They didn’t want the same things in life. At least one of them had been honest enough to admit it.

She could practically feel him seething over the harsh truth she’d thrown at him. However, his voice was oddly gentle when he started speaking again. “Listen, I want to give your engagement ring back. You and I are the only thing that makes sense in this crazy world. That’s the real reason I drove into town tonight. I didn’t come to argue. I just wanted to see you again.”

His words made her heart ache. Oh, how she regretted taking his call! Maybe it was the lawyer in him, but he always seemed to know what to say to twist her insides into knots. What was it going to take to convince him that it was over between them, truly over?

“I can’t do this anymore.” She hated how weak her voice sounded. She was done with getting her hopes up in his direction, only to have them come crashing back to the ground — again and again and again. “I’m in a new town, pursuing a new opportunity. I don’t want to go back to what we were before.” Never knowing where I stand with you.

“Running is never the answer,” he sighed. “You, of all people, should know that.”

“I didn’t run, Martin.” Not only was he twisting her insides, he was twisting the truth. “I stayed. I healed. I fought to keep my job.” Right up until it wasn’t worth it anymore. “But sometimes God shuts a door and opens another one.”

He snorted. “It sounds like you swallowed a church tract.”

“Goodbye, Martin.” Her thumb hovered over the disconnect button.

“What about your parents?” he protested. “And your sister? She’s new in town, Perkins. She could really use an older sister to give her some guidance.”

Perkins? Despite her outraged gasp, he plunged onward. “Do you really think your mother would’ve wanted you to stop living? She was an animal geneticist, for pity’s sake! She lived on the cutting edge of science. Her life was a celebration of life itself.”

Blah, blah, blah! Ashley tuned out his word salad. Her mind was still grappling with his insinuation that it was time to move on from her grief. As if grieving had a time limit! Her blood boiled over his casual declaration that she needed to serve as some sort of welcoming committee to her stepsister. Seriously? Her stepmother and stepsister had barged into her and her father’s lives with no regard for their collective suffering, all but commanding them to dry their tears. No compassion. No understanding. From day one, their focus had been on themselves alone.

Her stepmother had taken things a step further by calling Ashley’s ongoing grief childish. Like she was clinging to her grief out of pettiness and immaturity.

“I know you don’t want to walk away from all the dreams we’ve dreamed together.” Martin’s wheedling voice festered in her ears like an oozing blister. “No relationship is perfect. We’ll smooth out our wrinkles and move forward from this into a stronger version of us.” He adopted a conspiratorial tone. “A lawyer can be a very useful guy to have in one’s court.”

Her heart skipped a beat at the underlying warning in his words. She didn’t need a lawyer. But even if she did, he would be the last one she’d consult at this point. “I’m gonna fight my own battles from now on.” That was it. She had nothing else to say to him. “I’m hanging up now.” She disconnected their call and turned off the ringer.

Lying back on her side on the bed, she watched the face of her cell phone flash with several more incoming calls from him. One, two, three, four… She lost count of them as they rolled to voicemail. She shivered in the darkness from too many emotions to name. Not even the blanket could warm her.

After a few more minutes of shivering, she finally gave up trying to sleep. Throwing her feet over the side of her bed, she felt around the floor with her sock feet for her sneakers. Then she trudged to the kitchen to collect her coat off the back of one of the kitchen chairs.

She hugged the ends around her instead of taking the time to zip it and let herself out the front door. Half-expecting Martin to be waiting for her there, she darted a nervous look around. Then she took off running for the big barn.

She wept in silence as she ran, but even crying felt better than staring up at the walls in her cabin. She reached the barn door and let herself in, knowing her movements were probably being captured on live video. Johnny had mentioned something about having security cameras embedded across his farm. No surprise there since he was a private investigator.

Still sniffling, she hurried across the empty milking parlor to the room where the calves were housed at night. Tiptoeing inside, she found all four of them asleep. She studied them through blurry eyes and zeroed in on Brie. The little heifer was snoozing in her favorite corner. Ashley made a beeline for her and settled down on the straw beside her.

Brie stirred and raised her head to give Ashley a blank look. Then she started wiggling.

It dawned on Ashley that she was trying to stand. There was just enough moonlight pouring through the tiny square window at the top of the room to make out her thin legs scissoring against the hay-strewn floor.

“Come on, little one,” she coaxed through her tears. “You can do it.” She suddenly and desperately needed a win to offset the emotional rollercoaster she’d been riding since yesterday evening.

Brie rose a few inches on her hooves, making Ashley catch her breath. She dashed the backs of her hands over her eyes to clear her vision.

Brie wobbled and almost toppled over.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Ashley pleaded softly. “Stand up, Brie!”

Then she did. Amidst Ashley’s soft cry of celebration, Brie pushed to her feet and stood there trembling.

“Oh, you precious baby!” She threw her arms around the adorable heifer. “You did it, sweetheart! You finally did it!”

Brie pressed the side of her head to Ashley’s wet cheek, and they stood there until Brie’s legs started to crumple. Ashley caught her and lowered her gently back to the straw.

Afterward, she couldn’t bring herself to leave the calf’s side. Though the bed of straw wasn’t nearly as comfortable as the mattress back in her cabin, she curled up next to Brie. Her furry body quickly warmed Ashley all the way to her toes. Then, miracle of miracles, she drifted off to sleep.

Ten minutes earlier

Johnny frowned and reached for the security monitor resting on his nightstand. Usually when an alert came through this late at night, it was a wild animal wandering through. After Ashley’s uninvited guest tonight, however, he wasn’t taking any chances.

He frowned in concentration as he scrolled through the live feeds from the cameras embedded across his farm. Then he stopped and stared. Concern rolled through his chest at the sight of Ashley running through the moonlit pasture beside her cabin. Had Martin returned? Was he chasing her?

Johnny leaped out of bed and stepped into his boots, watching her frantically from the monitor as she headed for the milking parlor. Though he tapped through the screens of each nearby camera, it appeared she was alone. His shoulders relaxed a bit, though he remained puzzled about what she was up to. Not once in the past week had she gone skulking around his dairy farm — day or night.

As much as he hated snooping on her like this, he was too worried about security to stop. He followed her movements all the way to the room that housed the baby calves.

And then he knew.

She’s with Brie.

The middle of the night was an odd time to pay a visit to the calves, though, no matter how he sliced it. Knowing he better go check it out, he shrugged on his coat and jogged to the barn. He crept stealthily across the milking parlor to crack open the door to the calf room. Then all he could do was stare.

Ashley was snuggled down in the hay beside little Brie. She was weeping quietly and murmuring something in the calf’s ear that he couldn’t understand.

Hoh, boy!

He longed to barge into the room and beg her to tell him what was wrong, but he instinctively knew she wouldn’t want to be seen like this. As hard as it was, he noiselessly shut the door and stood outside of it with his head bowed.

Please, God. Whatever it is, give her peace about it tonight.

It was with a heavy heart that he dragged his feet back to bed. He spent the rest of the night dozing with the security monitor resting on his chest. That way, he would both hear and feel the alert if anything else was amiss around the farm.

He rose like he always did at the crack of dawn. A quick glance at the monitor verified that the door to the calf room had not reopened during the night, which meant Ashley was still in the barn.

He wondered what had happened that had spooked her into leaving her cabin. He had some guesses, but only she could clear up the mystery.

He dressed as fast as he could and headed to the kitchen without shaving. He was in too much of a hurry to waste time sprucing up. Instead, he made two cups of coffee and grilled a pair of ham and cheese sandwiches in the toaster oven. It wasn’t fancy, but he knew Ashley wasn’t a picky eater. She was too hungry to be picky.

He would never forget the way her stomach had growled last night at the mere mention of food. He wrapped the grilled ham and cheese sandwiches in paper towels, then hooked the handles of both coffee cups with one hand.

He made it to the barn without spilling any of it, but only because Can Opener didn’t come flying his way. Clint and Tucker were already at work, feeding and watering the cattle.

He nodded at them. “Morning!”

Clint eyed the coffee, but all he did was nod back soberly. Tucker didn’t appear to have heard him.

Johnny moved to the door of the calf room and tapped on it with the toe of his boot. There was no answer. He had to cradle the sandwiches against his chest to free up a hand to open the door.

The calves on the other side mooed out an eager greeting. Or a hungry one, which was more likely the case. He set the coffee and sandwiches carefully on the cabinet and went to work filling bottles.

He kept glancing over his shoulder at the still-sleeping Ashley. Man, but she was a sound sleeper! She looked vulnerable, lying there next to Brie with tear stains on her cheeks. He also didn’t fail to notice that she was sleeping on her right side, probably because her left shoulder was still healing.

He filled all four milk bottles as quietly as he could. However, it was getting noisier in the room by the second. The three other calves were scuffling and climbing all over each other, trying to be the first in line to be fed.

Ashley stirred and stretched. Then her eyelids fluttered open. Her gaze immediately found his, and she blushed. “Hey, boss!”

Though he still didn’t like being called that, he waggled his eyebrows in return. “Hey, you! Wanna give me a hand?”

“One sec. I have something to show you first.” She scrambled to her knees, dusting hay from her hair and clothing. He saw her wince a few times, which probably meant her shoulder was hurting again.

He watched her in fascination. “By all means, darling, lay it on me.” The endearment slipped out so easily that it rendered him speechless.

He and Ashley stared at each other for a tension-charged moment. Then her gaze slid away from his. “All right, sweet girl, show the man in charge of this operation what you can do.” She proceeded to coax the tiny calf to stand on all fours. It was like watching a miracle in motion. There was no other way to describe it.

“You did it,” he said quietly.

“We did it,” she corrected gleefully, throwing her arms around the heifer to give her a squeeze hug.

Her happiness was palpable. “I wish I could say my confidence matched yours every step of the way.” He couldn’t recall the last time he’d witnessed anything so beautiful. So rewarding. So worthwhile. “Which isn’t to say I’m any less grateful for what you’ve accomplished.” He was relieved, too. Relieved beyond measure that he didn’t have to watch Ashley grieve over the loss of her first calf. Not today, anyway.

She curled to her feet, leaving the little calf to wobble around at her leisure while she joined him at the bottle feeding station. She bumped him companionably with her good shoulder. “Alright, boss man. Who are we going to spoil first?”

He glanced down at her right as she was glancing up at him, which plunged him into another breathtaking moment of gazing deeply into her eyes. They were glowing with happiness.

“I wish I’d been your plus one last night instead of Caro’s,” he blurted. The timing was off, but it no longer seemed to matter. He wanted her to know what was on his heart. He needed her to know.

“Don’t, please,” she whispered, dropping her gaze. “I can’t go there right now.”

“I’m not asking you to.” His voice was husky with emotion as he pushed one of the bottles into her hands. “No demands. No pressure, you hear?” He hardly knew what he was saying, though he was inwardly begging her to understand.

She nodded and gulped. “Just be patient with me, okay?”

“Patience is my middle name,” he joked, falling back into his usual stride of joking when things got tense.

“Somehow, I doubt that.” Her lips twitched as she leaned forward to shove the bottle toward Short Stack.

The calf joyfully launched himself in her direction, but she was ready, bracing her feet firmly against the floor.

Johnny popped a bottle into the mouth of the next calf that bounded his way.

Brie continued to wobble around the room, drawing stares of fascination from her playmates. They were so busy ogling her movements that it was easier than usual to get them fed.

Ashley was the first to speak again. “I meant what I said about not wanting a rebound relationship, but only because you’re worth more than that, you hear?”

He spun her way in amazement. “It’s cool of you to say that.” Even though she was putting him in his place, which she had every right to do, she was doing it so nicely that he didn’t feel any pain.

“I need more time to heal,” she continued softly. “If you’re still around after that, then maybe…” Her words dwindled away.

Whoa! A stab of raw elation rocked him all the way to his boots. Unless he was still in bed dreaming, she wasn’t rejecting his pursuit of her after all. She was simply saying not now.

“I’m not going anywhere, babe.” Never had he been more sure of anything in his life. The way he felt about her was rock solid. One of those God things.

Her eyelashes fluttered shyly against her cheeks. “I’m not asking you to put your life on hold for me, Johnny.”

He knew what she was saying, but it didn’t feel like he was putting anything on hold. On the contrary, it felt like forward movement to him. Her sweet declaration of mutual interest was enough to tether him to her. Permanently. Her raw and humble honesty had given him the final nudge he needed to scrape himself out of the rut he’d been stuck in for so long.

He cleared his throat. “This might not be a bad time to tell you that a lot of what you hear about me around town…is just an illusion. One I’ve built for my job.”

She chuckled. “You mean as the local heartthrob?”

He flushed. “Please stop.”

“You started it.” She swapped out her bottle for a fresh one and carried it to Brie.

He picked up the fourth and last bottle and shook it at her, making her squeal and dodge milk drops. “If you want to get to know the real me, you’ll have to stick around.”

“I plan to.” Her voice was infused with affection as Brie nuzzled her hand before latching onto the bottle. “My heart is melting, Johnny.”

Yeah, he knew the feeling. Though he knew she was referring to Brie, his heart was puddling on the floor while watching the two of them together.

When Ashley brought the bottle back to the cabinet, he swapped it out for a mug of coffee.

“For me?” She sounded both awed and delighted.

He shrugged. “Unless you’ve been giving the calves coffee behind my back…”

She didn’t answer. Her gaze had fallen on the grilled ham and cheese sandwich that was sticking out of one of the paper towels. “You brought food, too?”

“Yep.” He handed her one, loving the way she bent her head in a silent prayer of thanksgiving over it before chowing down.

“You’re my hero, Johnny Cuba.” She took a bite and closed her eyes, sighing in appreciation.

“It’s just bread and ham,” he said hastily. “Nothing fancy.”

“It’s a feast,” she declared dramatically before taking another bite.

He snorted. “You really should’ve let me haul you to that Valentine shindig last night. Then you’d know the true meaning of a feast.”

She glanced curiously over at him. “It was that nice of an evening, huh?”

“I was going to turn down the invitation,” he muttered, feeling like she deserved a better explanation.

She looked like she was trying not to laugh. “And pass up all that free food?”

“Yep, but I was strong-armed into going.” He wished he was at liberty to tell her more.

“By who?” she prodded.

“My interfering boss. He means well, but…”

Her gaze sharpened, giving him the impression she was analyzing his every word and cataloguing it for future use.

There was definitely more going on with her than he’d yet to figure out. Whatever it was, it was more than her breakup with her ex. More than her wounded arm. More than leaving her family and career behind in Dallas.

There was more to her. He was certain of it. So much more, and he couldn’t wait to unravel the mystery one entrancing thread at a time.