Dana picked up the phone and called him.
“Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Dana.”
It was a soft curse, a pause, then a loud clatter that had her jerking the phone away from her ear.
When he came back on the line, Mark sounded slightly breathless. “Sorry. Dropped the phone. Good to hear from you. Everything okay with the kids?”
Dana held in her amusement. “Since you’re probably working with Gabe, I’m sure you got apprised this morning about exactly how everyone’s doing.”
“I haven’t seen Gabe today.” Then Mark chuckled. “Although Rafe left about half an hour ago, so yeah. I’m up to date.”
“Why are you working for the ranch?” It was the one point Dana had gotten hung up on over and over again and still not been able to figure out. “You left Rocky because you didn’t want to work the ranch anymore.”
“It was a little more complicated than that, Dana.”
“Then uncomplicate it.” It might be an unreasonable request, but she no longer cared.
“It’s not a conversation I’m willing to have over the phone,” he returned.
Dana took a deep breath for courage and pushed ahead. “Then I guess you need to have a private conversation with me in person sometime soon.”
That was as bold as she could get. Even knowing she wanted to explore these feelings inside, she simply couldn’t—
Thankfully, Mark picked up the reins and ran with it. “Tonight. Dinner in town.”
“Darts at the pub,” she countered. If she was going to do this, it wasn’t going to be at a quiet dinner table the first go-round. That would be too intimate. “Drinks, if you still drink.”
A long, low chuckle carried over the line. “Traders? That’s fine by me. And once we’ve done some talking, we can try a round or two on the dance floor. I promise I won’t step on your toes too much.”
“You were the only one in our class who didn’t step on my toes,” Dana admitted. “Dear God, high school phys ed classes were a long time ago.”
“Don’t look that direction,” Mark ordered. “Our date is five hours from now, which is way too long, but thankfully getting closer by the second.”
Dana hesitated.
“This is a date,” Mark repeated. “Which means I’ll pick you up at the house. Six-thirty?”
She was a teenager again, with everything from the flutter in her stomach to the goose bumps rising on her skin. “Six-thirty.”
After hitting the end of the call, Dana stared out the window for a good half hour before she had herself together enough to be able to go on with her day.
Neither Rafe nor Laurel seemed to suspect anything, even though she rushed through dinner and dishes in order to slip back into her room to get ready.
When she came out, the living space was empty, both her son and daughter-in-law having vanished. Good for them. They’d probably appreciate her not being around for an evening.
Her living situation dilemma struck again. It was more than time to move on in that area as well—this house was old and too filled with memories, good and bad. She didn’t want to live there anymore. But she didn’t want Rafe and Laurel to feel they had to, either. If anyone deserved a fresh start, it was her kids.
She was so deep in thought, the knock on the door made her pull up sharply.
Mark stood on the front porch, a paper bag in one hand and a grin on his face that said he was very pleased to be there. “Hey.”
She gestured the man in. “I need my coat.”
“Trade you,” he said holding forward the bag and taking her coat from where it was draped over the chair by the door. “I made you cookies. Chocolate chip with macadamia nuts.”
Dana peeked in the package, somewhat shocked. “You made them?”
“With my own little hands,” Mark agreed as she put them carefully on the side table near the door. Then he held out her coat, and she slipped it on, intensely aware of how near he was. The feel of him nearly wrapping his arms around her as he settled the shoulders in place.
Then he stepped back and politely waited until she’d done everything up and slipped her shoes on.
The trip to Traders passed quicker than she’d imagined. Mark asked what she’d been up to, but when she answered with a typical “worked around the house,” and figured that would be enough, he clicked his tongue.
“Didn’t ask out of politeness,” he said softly. “I asked because I’m honestly interested.”
“I don’t know that how I spent my day is honestly interesting,” she returned.
“Sometimes the stuff we do isn’t fascinating but still needs to be done.” He glanced over. “After you called, I had to finish the task list that Blake put me on over at Whiskey Creek. But I was thinking about you a lot, and that’s when I figured I wanted to have something to bring with me. So I ran into the house and got a batch of cookies going, then ran out and did some more of my chores, then ran back in when the timer on my watch went off.”
She laughed. “George must’ve thought you were out of your mind.”
“George thought I had a hankering for cookies, and since I left him a dozen, he wasn’t about to complain.” Mark glanced to the side again. “Now your turn. After you called, what were you working on?”
She wasn’t going to tell him about the daydreaming, the thought of his voice combined with the memory of how good he looked in that T-shirt stretching over his broad shoulders the evening he’d stopped in at dinner unexpectedly at Allison’s house—
The man was built in all the right ways.
“I spent a couple of hours going over information for Allison. She needed an update on garden produce harvest times from the past few years so she can give it to their chef for plotting out menus.” After that her day got really boring. “Then I made dinner. Laurel’s working at the library, and Rafe you see all over the place helping with the Coleman spread. So I told them while we were sharing a home, I didn’t mind being chief cook and bottle washer. Laurel does most of the groceries, and Rafe washes up more times than not, but it’s only right that I do my part.”
“How does it work, sharing a house with your kids?”
She’d answered this one more than a few times over the past years. “It’s not ideal, but I say that more for their sake than mine. Laurel is wonderful, and she never makes it feel as if I’m intruding in her home. It’s been sweet to see them grow from best friends into a solid couple.”
“They were friends in school?”
So many stories he didn’t know. Dana glanced over, examining his profile. “From kindergarten on. Those two got in so much trouble together over the years, I kind of figured they got married to keep on making mischief more conveniently.”
“Gabe said he and Allison also went to school together.” His smile was visible even as he focused straight ahead at the road in front of them. Wildly hinting that having been friends in school should lead to more…?
She focused back on his earlier question. “I’m trying to figure out the house thing. After Ben died, I was glad I didn’t have to be alone. But I think this might be a good time to make a move. At some point, Rafe and Laurel need a place of their own.”