I took it. “As far as I’m concerned, coffee can never be too strong.”
His gaze flicked to mine. “That might be one of the only things we actually agree on.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but it didn’t stop me from taking a sip. He was right, it was strong. Most men I’d been with didn’t know how to make good coffee. Slade Kincaid just earned a point, not that I was keeping track. Okay, maybe I was kind of keeping track.
He sat down next to me. “You didn’t have to come out today. You could’ve sent someone else.”
“I don’t send people into situations I wouldn’t walk into myself.” Steam rose from the lid of the thermos as I lifted the small cup to take another sip.
“I guess I didn’t expect you to know this much about planning,” he admitted.
Used to being underestimated, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “What were you expecting?”
He considered the question for a few seconds before answering. “I don’t know. Maybe I thought you’d shut down all of the plans before we even had a chance to get started.”
“I’m not here to make your life harder,” I said. “I’m here to make sure things work.”
He nodded, like that made sense.
“Thanks for the coffee. It was really thoughtful of you.” We might have butted heads most of the morning, but he obviously had a softer side. Maybe I could get him to let me see it more often.
By the time we packed up, the silence between us felt different… less uncomfortable and strained but still charged in a way I didn’t quite trust.
As we got back in the truck so he could take me back to town, I thought about everything I’d learned. “You were right about the runoff.”
He glanced over at me. “Well, you were right about the access road.”
Seemed like we’d actually found ourselves on common ground. It felt good, and I should have left it at that. That was the sensible choice. The professional one. I’d gotten what I needed from the site review, confirmed a handful of concerns, and established a working rhythm with Slade that didn’t feel like it might blow up at any moment.
“I want to look at one more thing,” I said. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wished I could take them back. We’d covered enough for one day. There was no need to push things any further.
Slade glanced up. “Now?”
“It won’t take long.”
He studied me like he was trying to decide whether this was a bad idea. Then he nodded. “All right. Where to?”
“I’d like to understand how the traffic pattern would move during an event. Where are people going to park? Where are they going to congregate before the rodeo starts?” They were valid questions and needed to be addressed but there wasn’t a rush. For some reason I wasn’t ready to go home. Not when the only thing I had waiting for me in my small apartment was a frozen dinner and an old episode of Gilmore Girls.
“I’ll show you.”
He drove over to an old barn that didn’t look like it had been used in the past decade. It sat quiet against the snow, weathered and broad-shouldered, like it had earned the right to sag a little after all these years. We got out of the truck, and I stopped a few feet in front of the big door, taking in the way the ground sloped and the nearby tree line that provided a break from the wind.
“Is this the only building you’ve got?” I asked. The question wasn’t really about the barn. It was about whether he’d thought this through or assumed the town would bend because the name Kincaid still carried weight.
Slade took a step toward me, not crowding me, but close enough that the worst of the wind hit him first.
“For now. It’s solid,” he said, resting one hand against a post. “Needs some work but the bones are good.”
I scanned the roofline, the supports, the history written into every board. “What do you have in mind?”
“We can use it for storage while we get everything else going. The arena needs to be out there.” He nodded toward an open stretch beyond the trees. “There’s a natural slope and better footing if it’s prepped right. This area drains well and won’t get slick or muddy during a summer storm.”
I looked up at him. “You’ve thought about this.”
He shrugged. “When you grow up riding the same ground, you start seeing more than what’s there.”
The wind blew harder, stealing my breath. I tucked my hands into my sleeves, annoyed that the cold was getting to me. Before I could brush it off, Slade shrugged out of his jacket and held it out.
