“You already know that answer. I thought I’d missed my chance at the one because you were that cowboy and you had rejected me. I figured I’d be settling for someone who came in second in my heart,” Stevie answered. “Now that we’ve had time to get to know each other, and for me to even bury the hatchet, I think that it takes getting to know each other a lot better than just one date and a make-out session to know if you want to spend your whole life with someone.”
“You really are blunt,” Cody said.
“You asked.” She shrugged. “I answered.”
“I wouldn’t call what we had a make-out session.” He got a bottle of water from the fridge. “Want one, or a beer, or a…”
“Maybe a bottle of orange juice,” she answered. “And you are so right. What we had was not a bona fide make-out session.”
From the change in his expression, it looked like Cody had seen the light. “Oh! So Mia and Beau did some kissing? When? In the barn when she was showing him the alpacas?”
“I don’t tattle on my friends,” Stevie said with a grin.
Cody handed off the orange juice to her and said, “If after our fourth date you know that I’m the one, will you be honest with me and tell me?”
“Of course I will, and I will also tell you if you are not the one, so that neither of us waste our time.” She twisted the top off the juice, took a drink, and headed toward the sofa. “I guess, since you brought leftovers home, we aren’t going to the ranch house for supper, right?”
He sat down at the same time she did, kicked off his boots, and propped his feet on the coffee table. “Right. Sunday nights we’re on our own. So, movie, television, or…” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Were you going to say strip poker?” she teased. “If that’s what you had in mind, then I don’t play that until after the fifth date, and even then, you better be sure about dealing the cards. I do not have a tell, and I’m very good at poker. I won enough at the Thursday night games in college that my folks didn’t have to give me spending money.”
“Another surprise layer of the mysterious Stephanie O’Dell,” Cody answered, “but I was going to say Monopoly.”
“Sure you were,” Stevie chuckled.
Before either of them could say anything else, her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyway. “Hello?”
“This is Bobby Blalock. Sonny Ryan called me this afternoon about a house that you own that needs repair, or at least a look over to see if it’s worth remodeling. I’ve got an hour or two free in the morning if you could meet me there about nine,” he said.
“I’ll be there. Thanks for calling and getting to it so fast. Can you make up a couple of estimates for me to give to the insurance adjustor?” Stevie said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Bobby said. “I’ll bring the forms with me. See you there.”
“Nine o’clock,” Stevie said and ended the call, not sure if she was glad that Sonny had talked to him, or if she was a little aggravated that he had made the call rather than just giving her the name and number.
You wanted a family, her mother reminded her. That’s what families do. They get into your life and take care of you.
“That was Bobby Blalock,” she explained. “I’m supposed to meet him at the house tomorrow at nine.”
“Do you remember Bobby?” Cody asked. “He graduated from high school a couple of years before I did. He never left Honey Grove but went right into construction with his dad. He took over the business when his father retired. Dad says he’s really good at what he does, and he’s honest.”
“That’s good, but I’m really afraid my house is like that truck of yours sitting out there by the barn—a total mess. Mama complained for the past few years that one side of the foundation was sinking and making the floor slope. I have to be ready to accept whatever happens, but it breaks my heart. And yet, Mama would tell me not to hang on to the past, just to get a new lease on life and move forward without looking over my shoulder.” Stevie sighed.
“Sounds like something my mama would tell me.” Cody drank down part of his bottle of water and then set it on the coffee table. “Do you ever hope you’re as wise as they are when you get to be their age?”
“Only a dozen times a day, and especially when I hear her voice in my head,” Stevie answered.
“Sometimes, I hear Dineo laughing or saying something cute, and I turn around to see if he’s there before I remember what happened.” Cody’s voice seemed to crack a little and he stared off into space.
Stevie reached across the distance and laid her hand on his shoulder. “But we’re glad for the memories those little voices bring back to us, aren’t we?”
“Dineo was such a bright little boy,” Cody said, and finally smiled. “I had even thought about creating a scholarship for him so he could go to a boarding school.”
“Wasn’t he in school over there?” Stevie asked.
“Yes, but those remote little schools wouldn’t have challenged his mind. He was so bright, Stevie. He might have grown up to be a doctor if he’d had a chance,” Cody said.
“You did what you could.” She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
He laid a hand on hers and said, “Thank you for that. Sometimes I play out scenarios in my head about what I could have done to prevent him and his father from being shot. If I’d grabbed him and run to the caves where we hid in dangerous times, or if Bodi had done the same thing, but it all happened so fast.”
“That’s because those people wanted the element of surprise,” Stevie said, and remembered the shock she had felt when she turned around and Cody Ryan was standing right there in front of her in Max’s barn.
“Let’s watch something funny on television to take our minds off the sadness,” he suggested.
“How about Blue Collar Comedy Tour? Last time I checked, it was on Netflix,” she said, and nodded.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“You’ve never seen it? It came out not long after we graduated from high school,” she answered. “Comedians Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy…”
He picked up the remote. “Oh, I remember that, but I never got around to watching it. I was more into books than television back in those days when it first came out on DVD. Is it guaranteed to make me laugh?”
“If it doesn’t, then you’ve got a heart of stone, and there will be no second date with me.” Stevie already knew that she was going to miss bantering with Cody and having his family around her every day when she got back to a place of her own and had to move away from Sunflower Ranch.
Chapter Eighteen
Stevie’s house always smelled like scented candles. Her mother had especially loved gingerbread, hazelnut, or butter pecan that came in a jar. Ruth had burned one so often that the scent had permeated the walls, and that aroma was what Stevie was used to when she opened the front door. But that day, something nasty like musty old quilts or maybe a wet cat that had been caught out in the rain met her when she entered the place. The carpet was still soaking wet, and the tile in the kitchen had curled up on nearly every corner. She was glad that Cody and Addy had a full morning of appointments because she wanted some alone time with the house before Bobby arrived to give her an estimate on remodeling.