* * *
“Mom?”
“In here, dear.”
Liz poked her head into the kitchen to see her mom happily humming to some music playing out of Jake’s speaker and Jake setting sandwiches and what looked to be spinach salads studded with strawberries into the lidded tray that bolted to the ATV.
“I can take the lunch to the crew if you want, they’re out checking the high pasture,” she offered.
“You stay here, my dear, and have lunch with me. Jake is just getting it ready for Harry to drive out to them. He says he has to get into the office, right, Jake?”
“Your mom is saying she wants to talk to you, I think,” he stage-whispered as he passed by her, muscling the tray up by the handles. He winked at her, and her body betrayed her by flushing with heat when his arm brushed hers.
“Okay, then. I’ll come by later, distract you?” she asked, hopeful. Anything to get her hands back on that big sexy body of his.
“Please do,” he replied, let out a heart-stopping smile and disappeared through the door.
Liz turned back to find her mother giving her that look she had when she was waiting for Liz to spill the story. Liz ignored it, willed herself to stop blushing, and instead headed to the cupboard to grab a mug for coffee.
“That’s quite a grin on your face, young lady. I have to say, Jake is doing wonders for your demeanor,” her mother remarked, and poured from the carafe as Liz held out her mug.
“What grin?” Liz replied after she’d plopped some milk into the mug, sipping and studiously avoiding her mother’s gaze. “I’m just relieved everything is back to normal after yesterday, and we’re all safe.”
“Bullshit, young lady. You have the look of a well and truly laid woman,” her mother said, and Liz choked on her coffee, spraying it everywhere.
“MOM!” she sputtered. “What in the hell?”
Her mother was laughing, and Liz glared at her, gripping her mug tightly as she wiped at her mouth. What had gotten into her? Her mother wasn’t a prude, but that was a little bit of a . . . a what Liz didn’t know, but her mother had never talked to her that way before.
“Come sit with me in the back den, we can chat,” her mom offered. They grabbed two wrapped sandwiches from the fridge and made their way to the back of the house. The den was a safe space for Liz, comfortable and less decorated than the rest of the house. Liz preferred it here, the lumpy leather sofa and mismatched throw pillows, the piled-up DVDs on the side shelves, and the myriad of framed winner photos a reminder that this was home just as much as the bunkhouse.
The sun was streaming in through the window, and Liz lifted her face to it for a moment, breathing in. Despite her mother’s odd mood, she felt good after the morning of riding. Her back was loose, all her tight muscles gently complaining but not stiff. An improvement on the start of the day, for sure.
Her mother sat down and leveled a look at her that made her sit up.Uh-oh.
She’d come in to steal a bit of lunch before it got sent out so she wouldn’t have to eat with the crew today, just maybe deliver it and leave before she would have to rehash the story once again. Now she wasn’t so sure she should have. She was about to get the third degree from her mother.Wonderful.
“I want to ask you, Liz, and I’ll be blunt. Are you sure you know what you’re doing with him?” her mother said the moment Liz met her look. Liz glanced at her sandwich, the cling wrap rustling as she fiddled with it.
“Yeah, I think so,” she replied, not knowing how to answer.
“Wanting a man and caring for a man are two different things, Elizabeth,” her mother said, reading her mind. “I understand the want part. I look at him and I see Brett in his prime. Lord that man was hotter than the sun and burned just as bright wherever he went. But caring for him was a whole other kettle of fish. That care burned me to a crisp in the beginning.”
Liz hummed and bit into her sandwich. “But you married him.”
“I wanted to be burned, because I thought the two things were one and the same,” Peony replied, a tone in her voice that Liz wasn’t sure what to make of. Was this her mother talking about desire? Attraction? She’d already said that marrying Brett was for convenience, companionship . . . it didn’t make sense.
“I don’t get it. I knew you were doing something with him, I wasn’t a stupid kid, but then all of a sudden, you were engaged. No one even knew you were together, and BAM! You couldn’t have been that burned if—”
“And what are your plans with Jake?” her mother interrupted with an irritated sigh, changing the subject. “Because, honey, I see you. You care about him, and I am dreading what it will do to you if he leaves. You might think—”
“If? What do you mean by that?” Liz asked. There was noif.
“You never know what could happen,” her mother said.
“I don’t think there is a forever. This is a just-right-now!” Liz blurted back. “We’re filling a need for each other, period. When he goes back to New York? I’ll be fine because we’re not, you know, together.”
Her mother shook her head and sighed. “You will not be fine, Elizabeth Jaqueline Baker. I know you don’t see it that way. I watched you two last night and just now. That man is mad about you, and you are mad about him, even though you’re fighting it with every ounce of stupid in your body. If he sews it up here and jets back to New York, it will hurt, for both of you. I guarantee it.”
