“No, I’m not. I’ve followed the news, and I know how rough it’s been for ranching families lately. You, Noah, Stella and Maya powered through it all. I’m really proud of you.”
“Well—thank you.” They drove in silence until Liam parked outside Thayer’s Jewelers.
“Are you really going to stay?” he asked once they were inside looking at rings.
“I’ve talked to Justin and Liz about moving to Chance Creek,” she said. “They’ve agreed to give it a try. I don’t have a lot of savings, but we should be able to find a little house in town. Yes, in town,” she repeated when he opened his mouth to suggest a different arrangement. “I’d appreciate it if we can stay with you until I find something appropriate. After we move, we’ll visit the Flying W all the time, but we need our own space. And you need yours. None of you need me trying to play mom at this late date. Doesn’t mean I won’t try, though, even if I don’t live with you.”
“Fair enough. You think you can find work?” Liam asked. He pointed to a ring under the display case. “What do you think of that one?”
“Come, now, I raised you better than that.” Mary shooed away the store’s proprietor, Rose Johnson, before she could pull out the ring. “With a little ingenuity, I’ll come up with something,” she added. “Seems to be a few tourist accommodations here already. There’s the winery coming on line now, several B and Bs, and so on. Maybe there’s room for some kind of spa here.”
“Maybe there is,” Liam said, although he wasn’t sure at all if that was true.
“I won’t have to go it alone, I don’t think,” Mary added. “Leslie wants to help. So does Enid.”
Rose came forward again to retrieve a ring Mary pointed out, and Liam studied it for a moment. “I think it’s perfect,” he said, a little surprised. He’d asked his mother’s help as a pretense, but it seemed he’d underestimated her. “The real question is,” he said, handing the ring back to Rose, “what do you think?”
Liam watched as she cradled it between her fingers, her expression intent. Local folklore said Rose could somehow judge a couple by the engagement ring they picked out, and while Liam wasn’t sure he bought into such things, he could at least go along with the ritual.
The sweat on his palms was from the hellish heat of the day, nothing more.
Despite himself, he let out a relieved breath when her expression softened.
“I think it’s perfect,” she said.
“Got time for dinner?” Liam asked when Tory opened the front door to find him standing on her porch. “Thought we could run to Fila’s.”
“Sounds perfect.” Tory’s heart lifted. She’d spent the afternoon with Olivia giving the house an overdue once-over. Everyone had been so busy lately, and the dry fields surrounding them were so dusty that the place needed a thorough clean. Now she was ready for a break. “Give me a minute to change?”
“Take all the time you need.”
Twenty minutes later, she leaned back in the passenger seat of Liam’s truck and let the wind from the open window cool her.
“We could turn on the air conditioning,” Liam suggested.
“That just makes the heat worse when you get out again. Besides, I think it’s cooling down a little. Hey, where are we going?” Liam had just turned off the road that would have taken them to town.
Liam shrugged, but she saw a corner of his mouth quirk up.
“You’re not taking me to dinner, are you?” Tory slumped back. “You’re stealing me. Again.” She pretended the idea didn’t excite her, but her mind was already racing with the possibilities.
“Don’t worry. We’re not going far. And there will be food.”
“Good—I’m starving!”
“I thought we could both use a night off.”
“I sure could.”
“Here we are,” Liam said as they rolled up to another ranch.
It took Tory a moment to figure out where they were. “This is the Cruz ranch, right? It looks a lot better than I remember it.”
“Ethan and his wife turned the place into a guest ranch.”
Tory frowned. “Can you afford a room here?” As beautiful as it looked, they had to be practical.
“I arranged a trade.” Liam grinned as he led her into the massive house at the center of the spread. “They didn’t have any guests booked anyway, so I let them look over my sustainable ranching notes in exchange for a free night.”
“Ethan was interested in that?” Tory looked around the spacious foyer. They could have sublet the entry alone for a small fortune back in Seattle.
“I think it was more Autumn,” Liam said. “His wife. You’ll love her. Come on.”
The foyer led into a grandly-appointed two-story living room illuminated by huge windows on the far side. From where she stood, Tory could look out over the pastures, gardens and ranch buildings all set against the majestic Beartooth Mountains in the distance.
Tory found herself shaking her head. Whenever she’d told her friends in Seattle where she’d come from, they had swooned over their own fairy-tale imaginings of what country living was like. Exasperated, she’d done her best to set them straight.
Somehow, Ethan had captured that fantasy and made it real.
Or maybe not Ethan, she thought when she saw a smiling woman with an almost ethereal quality descending a sweeping staircase that led to the upper floor. “Hello again, Liam. And you must be Tory.” Autumn embraced each of them in turn when she reached them. “Feel free to look around. I’d show you to your room, but I suppose you won’t be needing one.”
“I thought we were staying the night.” Tory looked to Liam, who exchanged a cryptic smile with Autumn.
“We are,” he said.
When she couldn’t get anything else out of him, she put it out of her mind and focused on enjoying the evening. They lounged on the patio, taking in the gorgeous views while Autumn served them drinks. They went for a short ride along a trail that followed the
