The water turned lukewarm and then downright chilly, but she refused to get out of the tub until she had made up her mind. Finally, when she was covered in goose bumps, she admitted complete failure and flipped the lever at the end of the tub with her toes to let the water out.
When she was dressed in warm sweats and had brushed her wet hair out, she left the bedroom. She was surprised to see that Cody had set the table. She hadn’t heard him come in. He had poured two glasses of sweet tea, and when she made it across the living area to the kitchen, she noticed he had already made each of them a salad. Now, he was busy slicing a loaf of homemade bread, most likely sent down from Pearl and Sonny’s house.
“Are you in a better mood?” Cody asked.
“What makes you think I’ve been in a bad mood?” She brought butter and salad dressings from the refrigerator.
“You’ve been all buttoned up and refusing to talk to me,” he answered. “What’s on your mind, Stevie? Are you tired of living here with me? Tired of being around people all the time? Do you want to move out, and you don’t want to tell me?” He brought the platter with the roast, potatoes, and carrots all arranged beautifully on it to the table and went back for the basket of bread.
“The thought of moving is my problem, but not just moving out of the bunkhouse,” she admitted. “I’ve tried to make up my mind about something for two days, and I’m no closer to making a decision than I was when you were gone off to Dallas with your dad.” She took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh.
“Whoa! Let’s just have a silent grace so we can both say our own individual prayer before we talk,” Cody suggested.
Stevie bowed her head and closed her eyes. Lord, she prayed silently, please let me make up my mind before I raise my head. It’s not fair to Cody, or anyone else for that matter, for me to sit on the fence about it any longer, and besides, this indecision is driving me crazy, and about to ruin whatever hope we have for a relationship.
When she finally raised her head, Cody was staring at her. “You want to eat or talk or both?”
“Both,” she said. “I’m hungry and this looks delicious.”
“I’ll go first,” Cody said. “I accused you of being cranky, but after I said my prayer, I realized that I haven’t been easy to live with lately either. Remember me talking about my friend Nate?”
“Yes…love.” She squirted dressing on her salad, then loaded her plate with pot roast and vegetables. “I couldn’t forget good old Nate and his British accent.”
“Well, he called and asked me to come to South Africa with him to help out at a new clinic.” Cody loaded up his own plate. “I told him no right off the bat. I don’t want to look back someday and regret not spending as much time with my dad as I can.”
“I understand.” Stevie took a drink of her tea. “I wish I’d had more time to spend with Mama before she died. You’ve got an opportunity that I didn’t have. You know that Sonny isn’t well, and that things will gradually get worse. Mama told me about her cancer, I moved home, and she was gone not long after that. But I also understand wanting to go follow that dream and be a part of something that would help others.”
She opened her mouth to tell him about the job offer from Australia and the one in Oklahoma City, but took a bite of carrot before she said a word. She had to make up her mind, act on her decision, and then never look back with regrets, like he talked about, before she opened up to anyone.
“But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to say yes,” Cody admitted. “After traveling like I did for all these past years, I get the itch to go back where I can be a real help.”
Stevie swallowed so fast that she almost choked. “And you think you’re not a help here? You are building up a pretty decent practice among folks over a three-county spread as a doctor who will make house calls. And besides, Jesse needs you on the ranch, not to mention how tough it would be to tell everyone goodbye if you took that job.”
Are you talking to Cody or to yourself? she asked herself.
Cody slathered butter on a thick slice of bread. “Ranch help can be hired, and if I wasn’t here, folks would go back to sitting in an office waiting room in town like they did before I got here. I’ll probably get over the desire to travel when I’ve had time to put down some real roots. I just don’t think I can do it in this bunkhouse, so I’m going to talk to Dad about moving into the vacant house over on the property he bought from Addy’s folks.”
“Then your mind is absolutely made up?” Stevie asked.
“Yes, it is. Family is everything.” Cody said.
Stevie was hoping that he might say she was why he was staying in Honey Grove. But when she thought about it for half a second, she was glad that he hadn’t. If she was the only thing keeping him here, he could easily resent her later for being the reason he had not followed his dream.
“Now, your turn,” Cody said.
“I don’t want to talk about it until I’ve gotten off the fence and made a decision,” she said.
“How long is that going to take?” Cody looked worried.
“It’s like this,” Stevie said. “Since my house has to be torn down and I don’t have any family left, I don’t have any of those roots that you talked about. I do have a good foundation for my vet business, and we have a date, and other things keep getting in the way.”
Cody started to say something, but then did what she’d done earlier—he took a long drink of tea before he spoke. “Sounds like you’re trying to make up your mind whether to stay in Honey Grove or not.”
“Exactly,” she acknowledged with a nod and then told him about her offer to either relocate to Oklahoma City to her old clinic or go to Australia for two years. “I know I’ve been cranky. If these offers had come before the house flooded, I would have said no, but now I’m wondering if that was an omen.”
Cody didn’t say a word until she finished. “I don’t want you to go,” he whispered, “but I can’t stand in your way if that’s your dream. You’re right, you don’t have a reason to stay, without family to hold you back, but maybe you and I could plant some seeds and see if together we could find some roots.”
In that moment, Stevie listened to her heart and made her decision. “I’m going to call Rodney tomorrow and tell him that I appreciate his offer, but I’m staying in Honey Grove. I’ve been promised a fourth date, and that burger and fries means a lot to me.”
Cody pushed back his chair, rounded the table, and tipped up her chin with his fist. The kiss was both sweet and hot at the same time, and it sealed forever the decision she had made. No matter what happened, she was determined that she would never look back with wonder if she’d made the right choice.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Stevie’s lips still felt warm from Cody’s kiss when Mia knocked on the door and yelled that she was bringing peach cobbler for their dessert. She set the plastic container on the table and pulled out a chair for herself. “We had lots of leftovers, and I know you like any kind of cobbler, Uncle Cody. Looks like I timed it just right.” She reached out and picked up a carrot with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. “I didn’t have supper, and I’m starving. Beau is picking me up in…” She checked the time on her phone. “Thirty minutes. He’s so sweet. He asked me where I wanted to go, and what movie I wanted to see. When I was with Ricky, we always did what he wanted to do. I know! I know! I shouldn’t compare them. They’re as different as a fresh cow patty and a diamond ring, but it’s tough not to, when Ricky is the only other guy I’ve been with or dated.”