“How ‘bout you let me decide that?”
She bites her lips before speaking again. “I’ll preface this by saying that I’m in no way trying to get free therapy.”
I can’t help but snort. “Sorry, but that’s the last thing I’d consider. You, Blair Littlefoot, are one of the most level-headed, calm, and open-minded people I’ve ever met.”
“OK. Good. I’ve fooled you then. That’s great,” she jokes before pushing herself up and spinning around so she’s sitting cross-legged in front of me. I follow her move, wanting her to feel comfortable. “You seem to know that here—the town, the ranch, the mountain—is where you belong. I’m just wonderinghow?” I think about the question and how to answer her withoutherthinking I’m the crazy one. “Sorry, is that too deep for a first date?”
“I like talkin’ with you, Blair.”
“I do too. I feel like I could say anything and never have to worry about being judged for it.”
My entire body reacts to that truth bomb, my mind racing at exactly what that could mean.
Feeling bold, I reach over and place my hand on her knee. “In the name of honesty, I’m livin’ my twenty-three-year-old-self’s dream, so you could ask me anythin’ and I’d still think you were the coolest, hottest woman in Timber Falls right now.”
That earns me a blush and a lip quirk “Just Timber Falls?”
I wave my other hand in the air. “Alaska. The world. You know what I mean.”
“I do,” she says, her gorgeous green eyes dancing with amusement. “Doesn’t mean a girl doesn’t like hearing her date say it.”
My lips twitch as I nod. “I’ll remember that. But to answer your question, I can’t really explain it. I just haven’t ever felt settled anywhere else. It’s always been on the mountain—on our family land.”
She tilts her head and I find myself distracted by the sun shining off the golden tones of her hair. “You said you weren’t from here. But you visited often?”
“We’d visit every summer once we were old enough. Will first, then Case and I, and then Jude.”
“Not your sister?”
“Oh yeah, she’d come too, but she got sick of bein’ the only girl and havin’ to do ‘boys’ stuff’.”
Blair giggles. “Sounds like a girl after my own heart.”
“Yeah. Well, our grandfather was very much a guy’s guy. He was also a bit eccentric and very much into life off the grid. He was a bit of a prepper too.”
“Really?” she says, leaning forward. “Like with a bunker full of provisions and stuff? Tin hat stuff?”
I nodandshake my head. “A lot of the first, not so much the last. Though he would flip his lid knowin’ that Case put up a satellite dish.” I chuckle. “Wedohave a bunker though. I can show you it one day if you’d like.”
“Is itstillfull of stuff? Like the world could end and we’d all be OK at the Ranch for a few years?”
I can’t help but laugh at just how intrigued she is. “Yeah, and then some.”
“Wow. I definitely need a tour now.”
I arch a brow. “Second date sorted then. That was easy.”
“Deal! Sorry to hijack your story though. Carry on.” She covers my hand on her knee with hers and flexes her fingers against mine, reminding me it’s there but also setting my body alive like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
“I just–the ranch has always felt like home. Gramps was always there, and I knew that whatever happened, however bad or sad or lost I felt, I always had the mountain. I always had?—”
“Home,” she finishes.
“Yeah.”
“I’m not sure I have aplacelike that,” Blair says, her eyes a little glassy now. “Don’t get me wrong, I have people—my family and then Alex and Cate. But seeing you with your brothers and Wy and the soon-to-be Cooper ladies, I wonder if I’m ever going tofindit.”
My heart clenches because I know what she’s saying. She’s lost like I was before moving here. She’s spent so much time making her stamp on the world, and now she’s searching for a place where she truly feels home.
