“We both knew this day would come,” Cody had said. “I like you, Stevie, but…”
He had left the sentence hanging, and she had managed to keep the tears at bay until she got home that evening. When she finally stopped crying, she vowed that she would prove to him that she would have been worth the wait. She would study hard, become a veterinarian, and show him that he made a wrong choice.
She let go of the steering wheel for a brief moment to touch the locket around her neck. Inside was a tiny picture of wildflowers as a reminder to never give every bit of her heart to a man again. She’d taken the picture the last night she and Cody were together, and she didn’t have to open the locket to see the photo of the sun setting over a field of yellow, purple, and red flowers. She had taken the picture out the window of the bunkhouse out on Sunflower Ranch. In the foreground was a blue vase filled with wild daisies and small purple flowers. That had been more than twenty years ago, and she had moved on since then, but the picture was still with her urging her to go on with life like the wildflowers that popped up every spring.
Stevie really thought she had moved past that teenage love until Cody Ryan came back to Honey Grove. Just seeing him again made her angry—proving that she still carried a little torch for him.
The cria began to hum, which meant the poor little girl was missing her mama.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. In another hour or two, we’ll have you in a herd of your own kind, probably in a nice warm barn. You’re going to be fine,” she told the baby. “Just hang on. I’m going as fast as I can.”
Stevie still thought she could get home before the storm hit—right up until the gray skies opened up and began to dump flakes on her so thick that she couldn’t see two feet in front of her van. The wipers could hardly keep up, so in between swipes, she felt as if she were driving blind down the country road. She was still a long way from Sunflower Ranch when she felt a pull to the right and realized she was getting a flat tire. At the same time, she remembered that she was already using her spare tire and had left the other one at the garage to be fixed two days before.
“Sweet Jesus in heaven!” She turned in to the next lane she saw. “I hope I’m where I think I am,” she muttered as she slowed to a crawl and fought with the steering wheel. “Max Hilton’s barn should be right up ahead of us. If I am right, we can stay there until this damn thing passes over us, and we can get some help. Don’t you worry, little darlin’. I’ve got alpaca colostrum in the van to get you started and milk to mix up for you after the first twenty-four hours.”
She glanced down at her phone lying on the console. The last time she had come out to this area, she hadn’t been able to get a bit of service, but today she could see one bar up there at the top of her screen.
“This is damn sure not what I expected when I made up my mind to move back to Texas,” she grumbled.
Up ahead, she saw the shape of the barn and tapped her brakes, but that put her van into a long, greasy slide that ended when she slammed into the big, sheet metal barn doors.
Stevie picked up her phone and tried to call Sonny but got a busy signal. So she sent a text: Had a flat tire. Am at Max Hilton’s old barn. I’m fine. Cria is fine. Send help when this blows over please.
Sure enough, when she opened the van door and glanced down at the phone to see if she’d gotten a response, she had a NO SERVICE message.
“Hope it went through,” she said as she grabbed the handle of the big sliding door and gave it a shove with all the strength she had, but nothing happened. Then a force from the other side slid the door wide open, and there was Cody Ryan standing right in front of her.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she gasped.
Cody folded his arms over his chest. “I might ask you the same question, except that I figure with those two flat tires, you got as far as you could and then tried to plow through the doors and into the barn.”
“I just need to get my van inside so my supplies don’t freeze, and I’ve got a baby cria to take care of.” Stevie pushed past him. “Don’t just stand there letting the snow blow all over you. Help me get the van inside.”
“Give me your keys. The tack room is heated up. Take the baby in there, and I’ll take care of the vehicle. Tires are ruined anyway so it won’t matter if I drive it on the rims,” Cody said.
Stevie shook snow from her red hair and slid the van’s side panel door open.
“Come on, pretty little girl. Let’s get you to a warm place and fix you a bottle. You don’t get to join a new herd tonight. You’ll just have to make do with me.” She crooned as she picked up the cria still snuggled down in an old plush blanket and carried it inside. “I’m sorry your mama didn’t make it, but when we get you to Sonny’s place, there will be lots of alpacas ready to adopt you.”
She took the baby into the tack room and laid her on the floor beside the stove. “You stay right here, and I’ll be back in a minute,” Stevie whispered as she hurried back out into the barn.
Cody glared at her and pointed to the tires. “Why in the hell were you driving in this kind of weather on tires like these? The two that aren’t flat have hardly any tread left on them.”
“Don’t.” She glared at him. “Just don’t. It’s not easy trying to start a business in a small town. I was trying to get one more month out of the tires before I replaced them.”
“You could have been killed, or worse yet, you could have frozen to death if…” He returned the dirty look.
Stevie blinked and then looked around the barn. “Where is your fancy-schmancy truck with all the bells and whistles? Don’t tell me…” She got inside the van and began digging around in her supplies. “Let me guess. It’s sitting somewhere out there with a flat tire, too, right?”
“Nope, it’s at the end of the lane in a ditch,” he answered. “A deer jumped out in front of me. I swerved and wound up facedown in a ditch. I managed to send a text to my folks, and then I lost power.”
Stevie brought out a bag of powdered colostrum for alpacas and a baby bottle. “Is there water in there?”
“In the bathroom,” Cody said, nodding. “Max told me that he built this barn on top of an old well. Since he had water, and since this is so far from his other property, he put a bathroom just off the tack room. Only cold water, though.”
“I can warm up some on the stove,” she said as she edged past him.
In a few long strides, he was across the barn floor and had opened the door for her. “Guess we’re stuck here together until this storm passes and the folks come to help me.”
“Maybe they’ll be coming to help me. I sent them a message too,” she said.
“Oh, really,” Cody groaned.
“What are you moaning about?” she asked. “At least I got a message out to tell them where they can find me. That’s a good thing, right?”
Cody followed her into the tack room and closed the door. “Can you even begin to imagine the teasing we’re going to face tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow, nothing!” Stevie said. “The weather report has been updated. This isn’t going to let up for at least two days, and then we’ll have to dig out from under anywhere from ten to eighteen inches of snow. They’re expecting power to be down for a week. And who gives a damn about teasing? I’ve got a cria to save who needs others of her breed around her. You want to learn to hum like that baby’s mama?”