He told her about the ridge.The clearing, the view, the sunset timing.He may have mentioned the wind direction and the temperature differential at elevation, which the kids undoubtedly didn’t care about.But he was nervous.He tended to over share when he was nervous.
Cassidy’s eyebrows climbed incrementally as the explanation progressed.
“You looked up how fast the wind is supposed to blow tomorrow?”she asked.
“I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t be too cold for her.”
“Did you check the humidity?”
“Thirty-one percent.Dew point well below the evening temperature, so no fog ...”He broke off.He couldn’t be sure, but he thought she might be teasing him.
Cassidy stared at him for a long moment.Then a smile broke across her face.Not the guarded assessing one she usually wore, but a big fat delighted grin that made her look, for once, like the nine-year-old she actually was.
“You aresucha nerd,” she declared.
“I’m aware.”
“Mom’s going to love it,” Cassidy said with conviction.“I’ll make sure she doesn’t work late tomorrow.I’ll tell her you need her to come to the ranch to look at something.”
“That’s deceptive.”
“It’slogistics.You’re supposed to be good at those.”She paused.“Mom can drop off me and Noah at Jenna and Sully’s house.Noah will be too distracted playing with Bobby to give anything away.”
Noah looked offended.“I can keep a secret.”
“You told Mom about her birthday present while she was still unwrapping it.”
“It was a really good present!I was excited!”
“Don’t be excited about this.”
“I’m only alittleexcited.”
“Noah,” Cassidy’s voice took on a note of sisterly threat.“If you tell Mom about this, I’ll hide your question notebook for a week.”
Noah’s eyes went round.“I won’t tell.I won’t evenhint.”
“No meaningful looks.No winking.No giggling.”
“I don’tgiggle.”
“You do so giggle when you’re keeping a secret.You giggled at Christmas for three straight days.”
“That was different.I could see her Christmas present every time Mom opened the hall closet.And she never saw it sitting behind the coats.”
Cassidy let out the long-suffering sigh of an older sister who had been struggling to manage her younger brother’s impulse control since birth.She turned back to Gray.“Tomorrow.I’ll get her there by seven.”
“Seven-twenty,” he corrected.“For the optimal ...”
“Fine.Seven-twenty.”The look she gave him was so like her mother’s: fond, amused, faintly amazed by the precision of his ridiculousness, that his heart did a flip-flop in his chest.He was taken by her kids nearly as much as he was taken by Bonnie.
Friday afternoon, Gray packed his truck with a cooler, a wool blanket, two camp chairs, a battery-powered lantern, a thermos of coffee, a backup thermos of hot apple cider in case she didn’t want coffee, and a third thermos of hot chocolate in case she didn’t want either.He added in a cardboard tube containing a star chart because Jupiter was going to be visible above the western horizon twenty minutes after sunset and he’d checked its exact location so he could point it out to her.
He’d called Rose that morning to make a special food request.He picked it up on his way back out to the ranch after he got a haircut at the barber shop in town.
Rose handed him a bag packed with lemon chicken, roasted potatoes, and pecan pie Rose’s had made specially for him that afternoon.He didn’t tell her who the meal for two was for and she didn’t ask.She just smiled secretively and wished him a good evening.
Noah had briefed him on Bonnie’s food preferences with the thoroughness of an intelligence operative.“She always gets the lemon chicken.And potatoes with little bits of green stuff sticking to them.”
