Was that only last night?
She tended to be neat, so she hadn’t been worried about anyone seeing a mess. In fact, right at the moment, she didn’t know what she’d been afraid of.
“Where’s your bedroom?” Randy gave her a mock leer, and she chuckled.
“Down the hall. The door on the right.”
The door stood open. “Well, now.”
She knew those two words from Lewis referred to her bed. She had completely forgotten about them seeing her bed.
“You can blame Bailey,” she said. “After Dad passed, Bailey came out to give me a hand and then told me the spring-supported, two-inch-thick single-sized mattress that passed as a bed that I had been using in here was against the law. Something about a torture device and the Geneva Convention. So she and Jenny brought this. I don’t even know what size it is, but it’s similar to the ones they have, so…” Michaela shrugged.
“We owe Bailey some flowers, at the very least,” Randy said.
“Because now we know where we’re bunking tonight.” Lewis lifted her face and gave her a sweet kiss. “No, we won’t be naked, and neither will you. You’ll be under the sheet, and we’ll be on top, but at least we’ll know how you’re doing through the night, and our inner cavemen will know you’re safe.”
“You really were scared,” Michaela said. Randy had said so, but she hadn’t understood that they’d really been fearful, for her.
“All we knew was you were on your way by ambulance to the clinic. I’m still waiting for my heart to settle down.”
Lewis ensured that Randy had his arm around her, and then he pulled the blankets down. They sat her on the bed and removed her shoes.
“Jeans on or off?”
Her face heated. “Off, please.” They’d gotten dusty as she’d worked, and she didn’t want them on her sheets.
They both helped her up, and then Lewis made quick work of stripping the denim off her. She told herself that her panties were just like shorts.
“Now, let’s get you comfy. Sleep, baby girl. We’ll be here when you wake up.”
“’Kay.” Lying down, the covers drawn up and her head on her feather pillow, Michaela felt herself drop.
* * * *
Lewis wasn’t the least bit surprised that Michaela had fallen asleep so fast. He looked over at Randy and then nodded toward the door. They crept out of the room, though he didn’t think she’d wake up easily. Leaving her door open, they began to explore the downstairs and, seeing the back door in the kitchen, opened it. A screen door revealed another, smaller porch. They both stepped out onto it and took in the view of the fields and trees beyond. He knew he was looking at a good-sized ranch, if all that he was looking at was her land.
“Bet that’s her Legacy Tree,” Randy said. He pointed, and Lewis saw it immediately. His breath caught. It was special.
And a large one, that was for sure. Maybe a half-mile from the house, it rose above the others, as, with them, it appeared to form a line that he bet delineated one pasture from the next.
His hands on his hips, he scanned the view, his rancher’s eye taking in every single detail, just drinking it in. “Holy hell, Randy.”
“I know. The feeling is exactly what I’d imagined it would be. I just didn’t think it would be here.”
Lewis shook his head. “Yeah. I’m gonna have to think on this some.” Think on the fact that the moment I drove down her laneway, I knew.
“Me, too.” His best friend huffed out a breath. “I’ll have a look in the kitchen, see if I can get some soup or something out for her. And see if there’s any coffee to be had. I could sure use a cup.”
“I’m going to go clean up her tools in the front, there.”
He headed back toward the living room, taking a short detour for a moment to look in on Michaela. He didn’t think she’d moved, and that was good. At this point, sleep was the best medicine for her.
Lewis picked up the nail gun, which was, he guessed, more or less where Michaela had dropped it. His belly clutched, and he knew a moment of wishing for a sledgehammer. The only thing that saved the tool was the lack of blood on it.
Having caught one of his own fingers once with a nail gun, he could attest there’d been no blood—until the nail had been removed.
Shoving aside seeing Michaela’s wounded finger bleed as Doc Jessop had cared for it, he turned his attention to the doorframe she’d been in the process of mending.
“I just had a quick look.” Randy came to stand beside him. He, too, looked down at the nail gun then at the gap in the frame. “Coffee’s on. The cupboards are a little on the bare side, though. I think I’ll head to the grocery in Lusty, grab a few things. Won’t be long.”
“Good thinking.” He handed over the keys and then put the nail gun on the old-fashioned TV table Michaela had set up.
The house didn’t need him doing a thing to make it tidy, because it was already there. Instead, Lewis decided to take advantage and shamelessly snooped. The other bedroom downstairs likely had been her dad’s. The bed was a double and stripped of sheets and pillows. The room had a closed-up feel to it. He exited and shut the door. The door beside that bedroom was open and revealed the bathroom, which felt fresh and clean compared to the bedroom next door.
Michaela still hadn’t moved, so he carried on with his tour. He found two more bedrooms upstairs and another bathroom. While the bedrooms were empty, the bathroom was spotlessly clean. There was some work needed up here but, from what he could see, mostly just the cosmetic kind.
Downstairs again,
