He shrugged and walked over to place his hand on her shoulder lightly. “Keep the jar. Take more if you want.”
He thought about losing it all, losing everything in this room to his uncle and cousin, and felt his stomach turn. “Come on, dinner will be ready.”
“Nick.” Kara stopped him by putting a hand on his arm. “Your mother would be very proud of you. I remember how much she loved you. You were lucky to have as much time with her as you did.”
He remembered that her mother had died before she and her father had moved there. She’d spent years without a mother before her father had finally remarried. He couldn’t imagine growing up and not having his mother there, even for the short amount of time he’d had her.
Nodding, he took her free hand and walked back out into the kitchen.
“I set the dining room table.” He walked her through the kitchen. “There’s some wine chilling, but if you want—”
“Wine is good,” she said as they stepped into the dining room.
“Sit,” he said, pulling out the chair. “I’ll pour some wine, and you can sip it while I grab the food.”
She sat down, setting the jar next to her plate. He’d done everything except light the candles, which he did now.
“This is very nice,” she said, after taking a sip of the wine. Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You didn’t make it, did you?”
He laughed. “No, I draw the line at fermenting anything.” She smiled. “I did try making some currant wine once.” He visibly shivered. “It didn’t go well.”
He left her laughing as he went into the kitchen to plate the meal, which he’d left warming in the oven.
After poking his head into his father’s room to make sure he was okay, he took the plates into the dining room and sat down.
“Wow, okay, some serious chef skills,” Kara said after the first bite. “Why hasn’t anyone tied you down?”
He smiled. “I just haven’t found the one that I want to tie me down. How about you?”
“I’m married to the ranch,” she said between bites. “Besides, you know what’s available in this town.” She rolled her eyes. “Other than Willy and his gang, there’s…” She tilted her head as if she was thinking. Then she shrugged. “There’s about five other men, most of whom are either married or…” She shook her head. “Nope, they are either part of Willy’s gang or married.”
“Not all guys in town fall into those two categories,” he said.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Name one. Besides you,” she added quickly.
He thought about it. Thought back to all the guys in his class. Few of them, except for the handful that hung out with Willy, had stuck around. The ones that had stayed had married their high school girlfriends shortly after graduation. Then he thought to the classes before and after his.
“Todd,” he said quickly. “He works down at the hardware store.”
“Todd?” She laughed. “Todd Brewer?”
“Yes.” He lifted his chin. “He’s not married and doesn’t hang out with Willy.”
“But he is gay,” she said with a little head nod. “You knew that, right?”
He frowned. “Todd is not…” He dropped off and suddenly everything made sense. The man always went out of his way to help Nick whenever he was in the store.
Kara smiled. “Don’t worry. He hasn’t officially come out yet.” She leaned her elbow on the table and lifted her eyebrows. “Anyone else you can think of?”
He frowned as he ran through names and faces.
“Okay, you’ve got me,” he finally admitted. “I can’t think of a single one.”
“That’s because there aren’t any.” She leaned back and took another sip of her wine. “Liz and I have gone through all our yearbooks. No one stuck around Cedar. If they did, they got married within the first year out of school.”
“You’re telling me you haven’t dated since school?”
She shook her head. “I went out once or twice, but it was with guys from Casper.”
“What about Liz?” he asked. “She’s dated a few guys from town.”
“Nope. She may brag about it, but most of them she met on a dating app and they are from Casper as well,” Kara answered. “Trust me, men are scarce in this town. Unlike women. I bet you have at least two dozen women our age to pick from. Most of them stuck around town after graduation.”
He thought about it and could easily name at least a dozen women he could take out. He’d gone out on dates with at least three in the past year alone.
“Okay, Cedar is really not equal in that area,” he admitted. “At least you have me.” He held up his wine glass towards her.
“Until you find someone to fall in love with,” she said, tapping her glass against his.
He frowned. “Who says I won’t fall in love with you?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward slightly. “How much wine have you had?”
He set his glass down. Did she really not feel that way towards him? Not even the slightest? Maybe she was only here tonight on the makeshift date because she’d lost the bet.
“What would be so bad about…” He waved between them.
She opened her mouth to answer, but just then there was a loud crash from his father’s room. He jumped up and rushed down the hallway, spilling the glass of wine he’d just set down.
The red liquid seeped into his mother’s rug and stained the material. A mark he would always look at and remember just how his first date with Kara had ended.
Chapter Nine
Kara stood in the Howe’s living room three days later. Only this time, the place was filled with townspeople she knew. The smell of food carried in from the kitchen. The hodgepodge of aromas made her stomach turn slightly.
What she needed was air. Glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, she slipped through the crowd and stepped out onto the back deck unnoticed.
The snow had stopped, and the sun was warming the fields. Only a few patches of snow remained on the silhouetted hills, where the sun hadn’t hit.
In the darkness of the shadows, the air was crisp, unforgivingly cold. But the sun shone on the back of the house, and she leaned against the railing, taking a deep breath of the cool air while the rays warmed her.
“How are you holding up?”
Kara jumped slightly and turned to see Nick leaning against the back wall of the house, in the shadows. His arms were crossed over his chest. He looked like he’d been there a while.
“Me?” She stood straight and ran her eyes over him. He was wearing a suit but had removed the tie he’d been wearing earlier that day at his father’s funeral. “How about you?”
“You look tired,” he said, not paying any attention to her words.
“I’m fine,” she said, worried about him. He looked… lost. “Have you eaten anything?”
His eyes closed for a moment. “I just got done meeting with my father’s lawyer.”
She wanted to go to him, but she just wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the chill that suddenly hit her. Even though she was wearing a black sweater dress, the sun’s rays suddenly weren’t enough to keep her warm.