He grabbed her bag from the back of the vehicle and she reached into the passenger compartment for her purse.
Once she heard the back door open, Loopy raced across the distance, beat them inside then threw herself down in front of an air-conditioning vent.
“Watching her exhausts me,” Sofia said.
“Something to drink?”he offered.
“What time is dinner?”
“You hungry?”
“Not really, just trying to decide whether to have wine or iced tea.”
“You’d have to brew the tea.”
“That’s fine.”She opened a cupboard and filled a large glass jar with water.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sun tea.”
He watched her move confidently around his kitchen and he savored having her there.She grabbed tea bags from the cupboard then plopped a handful of them into the jar and screwed on the lid before carrying it outside.
“Won’t that take a while?”he asked when she came back in.
“Yes.So I’ll have wine for now.We’re having steaks, right?”
“Yeah.”
She selected a bottle of cabernet and extended it to him.
“That was decisive.”
“Why fool around when you know what you want?”
“Why, indeed?”He uncorked the bottle then took down two glasses.
“I sent you, Erin and your grandfather a sample of the save-the-date email and a couple of drafts of a logo.”
He nodded.“I saw.”
“And?”
“Impressive.I liked the combination of the Running Wind logo, the ranch house and the picture of the entire four sections.And the verbiage worked for me, too.”A century of success.He was beginning to see how she was going to draw the various elements together, the history, the present, the future, for the presentations and the program.Erin had been correct.The centennial celebration was much more complicated than he’d expected.At every turn, he was glad Sofia was handling the event.He had confidence in her abilities, and he’d appreciated the way she’d handled the Colonel at the meeting.Not only was she competent, but her outward gentleness was wrapped around a steel core.
“I hope the others like it, too.I put a call in to your grandfather, but I haven’t heard anything back yet.”
“He goes to his trainer on Tuesdays.He’s planning a five-k race this fall.”
“Good for him.He’s really a remarkable man.”
He felt something in him go cold again.His whole life, he’d had an uneasy relationship with the Donovans.All except Erin.For the most part, he was willing to accept the blame.He refused many of the invitations to the family meetings.But the truth was, he’d never forgiven the Colonel for the way he’d treated his mother.
Jeffrey had been expected to marry well, to a woman who was a strategic match.And to her credit, Angela had loved Jeffrey, remained faithful while he’d gone to college and learned everything he could about the family’s varied interests.
But he’d met Stormy.
Stormy was every bit a ranch woman.She loved the land as much as Jeffrey did, maybe more.It was easy for Cade to see why his father had fallen for her.But it wasn’t as easy for him to understand why she’d refused to marry him when Jeffrey had proposed.
