She cupped his face with her hands, lifting his gaze to her.
She searched his expression for something, but he didn’t know what.“Trust me, Nate?”
Trust.For years as a kid, he’d trusted no one but his mother, and then no one at all.But the army had required a certain level of trust.In his fellow soldiers, in his commanding officers.In what he was meant to do.He’d rebuilt that muscle, but it felt weak here in Marietta, where the ghost of an old Nate who’d learned not to trust anyone still existed.
“I do.”
“Good.Because there’s no going back now.”
Chapter Thirteen
The Bennet Ranch
Aly blinked hereyes open to a room extra bright.The predicted snow must have fallen overnight—the light reflecting off the snow tended to make everything inside that much brighter.But how late was it?
She rolled over, unsurprised to find Landon’s side of the bed empty.He would have woken up before their alarm, seen the snow, and gone to do something about it.
But she frowned at the time on the clock display.Eight couldn’t possibly be right.She pawed for her phone on her nightstand.
Eight.
She sat bolt right up in bed.When was the last time she’d slept untileight?
She heard footsteps on the stairs and glared at Landon when he entered the room.“It’s eight.”
“It is,” he agreed.He was dressed, had clearly already been out to do chores and come back.“I turned off your alarm.”
“Why?”
“So you’d sleep more.But I wasn’t going to let you sleep the whole morning away, don’t worry.”He crossed the room, held up the mug before putting it on her nightstand.“I was coming to wake you up.Court got delayed.Mr.Vanderbilt said we might as well stay put for the day.If they get a couple hours in this afternoon, it’ll just be the medical examiner.”
Yeah, Aly wouldn’t mind missing that.She picked up the coffee.Sipped.Exactly how she liked it.It wasn’t often Landon had the opportunity to wait on her, and it usually made her feel guilty since he worked so hard.
But she was a little peeved at him for letting her sleep whenhedeserved some sleep, too, so she sipped and enjoyed the coffee and the reprieve from a day of court.She patted the slice of bed next to her.“How much snow did we get?”
He took a seat she’d offered, rested his hand on the quilt over her knee.“’Bout a foot.Nice and powdery though.It’ll blow around a lot today but shouldn’t cause any extensive damage.”
“Good.”
He filled her in on a few other morning ranch things while she finished her coffee.He didn’t rush through it, but lingered, which was nice.They so rarely had the opportunity for quiet, lingering mornings.
But ranch life called.Lifecalled.She glanced at her phone, remembering the message she hadn’t had the energy to return last night.“I should have called Jill back last night.What if she needs something?Their power will be out, and now I won’t be able to call.”
“Why don’t you take a horse on up?Have Cal go with you.You can dig them out, see if they need anything.”
“Don’t you think you could use Cal’s help around here?”
“He’s already been out and about helping this morning, and I don’t really want you going alone.I’d also like to know Cal can handle being on a horse in the snow before I actually send him out in it on some of the bigger chores.You will be infinitely more patient with him on that score than I would be.”
“You don’t say?”
He grinned at her, then got to his feet.“I’ll go tell him.”
Aly got out of bed and got dressed for braving the cold.The ride up to the Harrington cabin wouldn’t be too difficult, though they’d have to go slow in the snow.Especially since it had probably been a decade since Cal had ridden in these conditions.
When she got downstairs, Cal was already pulling on his winter gear.Aly gathered a few things she thought Jill might need if they were stuck on the mountain for a few days, then got her own winter gear on.
“We should be back by lunch,” she told Landon.“But there’s some soup in the fridge if we’re not.Just have to heat it up.”
