“How much farther to your folks’ place?”
“About an hour.”
“It’s really out there in the middle of nowhere, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It is. Lone Rock is a... It’s a quirky town. Not much to do. Except go to the Thirsty Mule for a beer.”
“If the mule is leaving thirsty, I’m not sure that I’ll fare any better.”
“I mean, that is a worry.”
“Thank you,” he said. “For taking me out here. It’s really something. It’s really something special, Cal.”
“You’re welcome.” And for a minute there, things felt almost normal. They walked back to the truck in silence, but this time there was an ease to that silence.
“So, your dad didn’t make it sound like he had any plans to kill me?” He asked that question when they were back on the road.
“No,” she said. “Like I said, they just seemed happy.”
She didn’t look thrilled about that.
“Look. You may never get them to feel the way that you want them to about it. But... Do you need them to?”
“I’d like them to. I mean, who doesn’t want their parents to be proud of them?”
Would his parents be proud of him? Or would his dad just be off in Southern California, living a new life, while his mom stayed on the ranch bitter as hell. Would they have sold the ranch?
Would his mother have hated who he was, how he drank and how he slept around?
He’d never know the answer to any of it.
“I suppose everyone does,” he said.
“Yeah,” she responded. “I just want them to understand. And I don’t know why it’s so important. But I wish that... I wish I was impressive rather than disappointing.”
“You’re impressive to me.”
He kept his eyes on the road, but he could feel her looking at him. “So impressive that you think I need a lot of extra training.”
“I just want to make sure the rest of the world knows how impressive you are.” He cleared his throat. “And that you’re safe.”
“Well. Thanks for that. I’m not a kid, though.”
“It’s safe to say that I know you’re not a kid.”
And that brought a little bit of tension back into the cab, though it wasn’t the same as the awkward, angry silence that had rested between them most of the way. It was something else, and it wasn’t a something that he particularly wanted to deal with. Wasn’t a something that he was all that happy about.
He shouldn’t have said anything. But he’d been baiting her since they’d gotten up. Pushing her again.
And he couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of what had happened when he’d pushed her the last time.
No.
He wasn’t going to go there. Not again.
Not again.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE ROAD TO the ranch had tall, sparse pines and flat ground all around. The rocks that rose up behind the trees had sharp, stone peaks, markedly different to the lush green that he was accustomed to. It was beautiful. Though in a different way than he was typically drawn to. But he could see how this rocky environment got underneath people’s skin. The cold, on the other hand, he found less appealing. And less understandable. The air here was dry and frigid. And if you breathed in too deep you ended up coughing. Not his favorite.
But Callie looked rapturous. Like she was enjoying the scene. Like she was enjoying the place. He did like that. Thought it was sweet. Thought she was sweet, come to that. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and turned his thoughts away from that. She wasn’t sweet.
She was a bona fide firecracker, and he would do well to remember that. There wasn’t a damn thing sweet about her.
Yeah, that’s why you like her.
He pushed that aside, too. He didn’t need to go dwelling on that kind of thing right before he met up with her family.
This would be interesting. He knew her parents, vaguely. He knew her brothers, as well as he knew any of the cowboys that he circled around the circuit. But hadn’t been to their house. Certainly didn’t know them in this context.
And he would be doing it while pretending to be married to Callie. Which, hell, he supposed he could be grateful they were pretending to shack up. The odds of him keeping all of his body parts in place were much better this way.
The sign for the Evergreen Ranch that hung over the dirt drive was bigger and grander than the sign at Hope Springs, but then the house that was maybe a mile down the road from that sign was something more than grand. In the early sunset, the floor-to-ceiling windows glowed orange, showing off the warm, inviting interior. But just because it was warm and inviting didn’t mean it was simple. The whole place practically reeked of money. Unlike any place Jake had ever been. It was difficult to reconcile this place with the rugged terrain and living that came with the rodeo and the way these people lived when they were out on the road.
“What?” Callie asked.
“This place is... Something else.”
“Yeah, it is. They just had it redone a year or so ago. And when I say redone, I mean completely rebuilt. But you know, they like nice things. Even though they spend a lot of the year practically camping.”
“Sure. Though I’ve seen your dad’s RV. He definitely does it in style.”
“My dad does everything in style.”
He had to laugh at that, because it was true.
“Am I going to where we’re staying first or...”
“No. We’ll stop at the house first. I’m sure that Mom has dinner for us.”
He’d faced down angry bulls. The family of his fake wife shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Of course, it would’ve been better if he hadn’t just kissed her last night. Except they weren’t thinking of that. They’d made a truce. Left it up at the Painted Hills.
He tried to feel that.
He parked the truck right in front of the porch, and this time he did go and open the door for her. And he took her duffel bag.
“You can leave that. We’ll have to drive over to the cabin.”
He nodded, putting it back in the car. Then since his hands were empty he... Reached out and took hers.
She looked up at him, her brown eyes serious. “I...”
“Newlyweds,” he said.
She nodded. “Right.”
He tightened his hold on hers as the two of them walked up the porch and to the front door. She had calluses on her hands, like any person who did work outdoors, who rode horses like she did. But her hands were still undeniably feminine. Fine-boned and delicate, with elegant fingers.