“What’s going on?” Ty asked, a hint of weariness in his voice now.
“My dad fell,” Winnie said.
Ty pulled in a breath, his eyes wide as panic played across his features. “Is he all right?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “My mother was freaking out. Taylor was yelling. They called the paramedics.”
She swiped her chip through the third sampling of guacamole on the plate, which was a fruity guacamole with pineapple and onion. It wasn’t her favorite, but she tried to have a bite of each whenever she came.
She picked up her phone and quickly texted her brother.
“I told Brad to call me later,” Winnie said. She raised her head and looked directly at Ty. “I’m not going to let it ruin my night. My parents have plenty of help. My sister lives with them, for crying out loud.”
Ty watched her for a moment, and then his gaze turned compassionate. “All right,” he said. “But feel free to take calls and answer texts.”
Winnie silenced her phone and flipped it over. “Nope. He’s not going to die tonight. I know that he fell and probably hurt his back, because he has broken discs there anyway.”
“Do you think he’ll have to have another surgery?” Ty asked.
“I don’t know,” Winnie said. “I don’t know anything.” She gave him a glare. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“All right,” he said, his voice pitching up.
Her soup arrived, and she gave the waitress the best smile she could, then reached to put all of the sour cream from the little cup into the soup. “Tell me about the property,” she said. “I want to hear about the houses. And you said one of the barns was actually in good shape.”
“Yeah.” Light returned to his eyes.
Ty wasn’t one to go on and on, and so when he did talk, Winnie wanted him to keep going. He told her that the land was in decent condition and he could probably pay someone to grade it better and put in real concrete sidewalks instead of gravel walkways that would allow him to be steady on his feet and get out to the barn to his horse and other farm-animal pets he might add.
He made it clear that he was not trying to homestead like his friends Brandon and Lenore. Any animals he brought to his farm would be for fun, the way Conrad had mini donkeys, Mitch owned too many dogs, and Wilder’s fiancée, Savannah, had ducks and llamas and chickens.
Winnie loved this wild cowboy side of Ty, and as he spoke, she was able to set aside her worries over her dad and simply enjoy being out with the man who made her feel like a princess and treated her like his queen.
When he’d eaten his fill of tacos, and Winnie had eaten her chicken tortilla soup and the enchiladas she dreamed about, she drained the last of her mocktail and smiled at him.
“Well, there’s one more question for you tonight.”
“I’m tired of talking,” he said, because he’d detailed that the fences needed to be fixed and that the bigger house needed a new roof. But the chicken coop had good bones, and the land seemed likeit had been parceled thoughtfully for pastures and fields. Ty didn’t want to plant alfalfa or hay, but he wanted to garden—an activity Winnie encouraged. It did require a lot of bending and use of his hips, so he’d detailed how he could put in raised beds and that there was the frame of a greenhouse, though it needed to be cleaned out and rebuilt.
She worried about who would do all this work, as Ty was usually pretty exhausted at the end of his day now, and he only worked at Lone Star for about six hours three times a week and a half-day at the orchards on Tuesdays.
She kept her concerns to herself, because they’d never gone over well with Ty, and she knew he just needed her support over this property. He’d looked at so many and been disappointed over and over. This was the first time he’d actually been excited, and Winnie would not take that from him.
“It’s just a fast question,” she said. “I heard it was your birthday next month.”
Ty’s gaze went back to hers. “You heard it from who?”
“Colt texted me,” she said. “He and the boys want to take you out, but he doesn’t want to interrupt any of our—” She lifted her brows, feeling flirty and fun despite everything going on that night. “—And I quote, ‘fun romantic plans.’ I didn’t know it was your birthday next month.”
“I’m sure I’ve brought it up,” he said.
Winnie gave him a look. “Ty.”
“I don’t want it made a big deal of,” he said. “My Momma makes this huge deal of it—which, by the way, she wants us to go to dinner with her and my dad.”
A flash of anxiety moved through Winnie, but she kept it off her face and out of her voice. “Okay. We can set that up.”
“My birthday is on May eleventh,” he said. “And I’d much rather spend it with you than my friends.”
