"There's a first time for everything, Sunshine." The grin is back, dimmer than usual, but there. "Hand me the cucumber."
We finish cooking and eat at my small table, talking about the winery's new distribution accounts and the foals Charlie expects at Twin Oaks next spring. Normal things. Easy things. The kind of conversation that reminds me why I fought so hard to stay in this valley in the first place.
Later, we curl up on the couch with the television on low, and Charlie pulls me against him so my head rests on his shoulder. His fingers trace lazy circles on my arm until my eyelids grow heavy, and when I start to drift off, he presses his lips to my hair and murmurs, "Come on, Sunshine. Let's get you to bed."
I take his hand and lead him down the hall, and we fall asleep tangled together, fully clothed, with the windows cracked to let in the night air. He holds me like I might disappear, and I lethim, because tonight I need to feel anchored to this place and to this man.
The next morning, Charlie pulls up to the departures curb at the airport and kills the engine. He comes around to my side, pulls my bag from the back seat, and sets it on the curb beside me.
"Call me when you land?" he asks, and the casualness in his tone doesn't match the way his hands grip the strap of my bag before letting go.
"I will." I rise on my toes and kiss him, and his hand finds the back of my neck and holds me there for an extra second, his forehead pressed against mine.
"Go give Evan the conversation he deserves," he says against my lips. "And then come home to me."
I nod and step back, slinging my bag over my shoulder. He watches me walk toward the sliding glass doors, and when I glance back, he's leaning against the truck with his arms crossed, looking like every cowboy fantasy I never knew I had, and every reason I have to come back to this valley.
The doors slide open, the rush of air conditioning hitting my face. I step inside, and the noise of rolling bags, overhead announcements, and a thousand people milling about swallows me. I am halfway to the security line when the weight of what I'm doing settles over me.
As I hand my ID to the TSA agent and step into the line, the knot in my stomach pulls tighter, and a voice in the back of my head asks the question I've been dodging since last night.
What if I'm making a terrible mistake?
Chapter 15
Charlie
The highway northeast of Stephenville stretches flat and straight, and I should be reviewing our business strategy for the Fort Worth Stock Show. Instead, I am staring at the center line and replaying the look on Sunny's face when she told me she was flying to California.
Mason drives because I asked him to, which is unusual enough that he didn't press for the reason. Cody sits in the back seat of the crew cab with his nose buried in the auction catalog, marking pages with a highlighter and muttering about conformation scores. The kid has been buzzing since we left Twin Oaks, and under normal circumstances, his enthusiasm would fuel my own.
But these are not normal circumstances.
"You've been quiet since we hit the road," Mason comments finally. "You want to talk about it, or do you want to keep brooding like a bull with a burr under his tail?"
"I'm not brooding."
"Charlie, you've been staring at the same spot on the dashboard for forty miles." Mason shifts lanes around a slow-moving flatbed. "Cody, back me up here."
Cody glances up from the catalog. "You do look kind of rough, Uncle Charlie."
"Thank you both for the assessment." I lean my head against the window and close my eyes. The glass is cool against my temple, and the vibration of the road hums through my skull. "I'm fine."
Mason lets the silence sit for exactly one mile before he pushes again. "Is this about Sunny?"
Leave it to Mason to cut to the chase, he never misses a thing. When he does speak, he digs straight to the marrow.
"She flew to California yesterday." I open my eyes and stare at the Texas landscape scrolling past. "She's visiting Evan Reynolds at Beaumont Crest."
Mason's hands shift on the steering wheel. "The mentor. The one her ex brought to the tasting event."
I snort. Of course Rachel would have filled Mason in on what happened.
"One and the same." I run my hand down my face.
"And?" Mason prompts. "Do you think she’s taking their offer?"
"I have no idea. But I know she loves that man like a father." I swallow around the tightness in my throat. "Evan asked her to visit and give the proposal a proper hearing. She couldn't turn him down."
