Heat rushed into his face. Thank God for his beard. “Yeah.”
“I don’t need the right words, either, you know. I just want to spend time with you before I have to leave.”
He stared at her, at the woman who’d driven two thousand miles to meet a version of himself that only existed in carefully crafted letters. The woman who’d stayed anyway, even after seeing the truth. The woman who’d spent three days feeding abandoned kittens alongside him in comfortable silence.
The words he needed to say stuck in his throat. Three simple words:Please don’t leave.
But he couldn’t force them out, couldn’t make his mouth form the sounds. Instead, he nodded once, the barest dip of his chin.
She smiled and turned back to the kittens. “Let’s feed these little ones. Spark’s probably starving by now.”
“Always is,” he agreed, relieved at the return to safer conversational ground. “Greedy little thing.”
“Fighter,” she corrected and filled the tiny bottles with kitten formula. He watched her mix the formula. In three days, she’d learned the exact temperature, the perfect consistency. Those same hands rebuilt houses on TV, he reminded himself. Restored broken things, made them beautiful again.
Like the Airsteam.
Like the kittens.
Like him, maybe, if he let her try.
ten
Maggie slammed her laptop closed with a groan. She’d spent the morning blocking all of Landry’s many emails—another forty had arrived since she’d last looked, alternating between anger and adoration.
But now there were three emails from Taryn, each more desperate than the last, all demanding the same impossible thing—her return to Tampa and the show. As if Landry wasn’t still out there, as if the restraining order hadn’t been “misplaced” for the third time, as if she could just waltz back into her old life and pick up where she left off. She rubbed her temples, the headache that had started with the first message now pounding behind her eyes.
The network’s patience was “wearing critically thin.” They needed to “confirm filming dates immediately.” Sponsors were “expressing concerns about her second extended hiatus this year.” The same pressure wrapped in different words, all carrying the same subtext: her trauma was inconveniencing everyone.
She reached for her coffee mug, found it empty, and sighed. Five days at Valor Ridge, and she was still trapped in limbo—unable to go back, uncertain how to move forward. The kittensgave her purpose, a reason to set an alarm, to function. But they wouldn’t need her forever.
A sharp knock at the door jolted her from her spiral. Bramble would have scratched, and Anson would have stood silently until she sensed his presence. This was someone else.
She opened the door to find a man with tousled russet-brown hair and a smile that crinkled the corners of his hazel eyes. A tiny Jack Russell terrier sat at attention by his feet, tail whipping back and forth like a metronome on cocaine.
“Jonah Reed,” he said, offering a hand. “Operations manager, horse whisperer, and the guy who keeps this place running while everyone else broods dramatically.”
Maggie shook his hand, returning his smile despite her lingering headache. “Maggie Rowe.”
“I know.” He leaned against the doorframe. “Anson’s been hoarding you since you got here. Five days and I’ve only caught glimpses of you running between here and the forge.”
Heat crept up her neck. “The kittens keep us busy.”
“So I’ve heard. Lila says they’re thriving.” He glanced at his watch. “Which is why I’m here. They’re due for a feeding in two hours, right? Plenty of time for me to give you the grand tour.”
“Oh, I?—”
“No excuses.” He stepped back, gesturing broadly toward the ranch. “You can’t live here and only know the path between your cabin and Anson’s forge. That’s not healthy for anyone, especially him.”
She hesitated.
Reading her thoughts, Jonah added, “I already cleared it with Sutter. He said, and I quote, ‘Fine.’” He mimicked Anson’s gruff tone perfectly.
She laughed despite herself. “That does sound like him.”
“So? You coming?”
She grabbed her jacket—or River’s jacket; she really needed to get her own—and followed Jonah into the crisp morning air.
