But he didn’t deny it, didn’t outright say those things, and she didn’t ask any questions.
They just let it sit there. Then he pulled out of the parkinglot and headed back down the main street toward the largest grocery store in town.
“I’d like to cook you dinner tonight, if you have the time,” he said.
“Are you kidding me? I would love that. I mean, I’m getting spoiled just eating out of the Painted Ridge kitchen every night.”
She had a kitchen, and she could certainly cook, but she had never been hugely into cooking, and it was way too easy to just rely on the hotel.
But whenever Cody cooked for her, it was a treat.
Because she did like being taken care of. He did that better and more completely than anyone else in her life ever had, she hadn’t just been saying that to him.
There was something caring about the way he went about everything. Like he genuinely wanted to give her something, but what troubled her was that he didn’t seem to want to take that in return.
“Actually,” she said. “What if I cooked for you?”
“Why?”
“Because I do know how to cook, Cody, and you’ve done it for me a bunch of times.”
“I don’t mind it…”
“Did your brother and sisters ever cook for you?”
“I mean, sometimes they get pizza and…”
“No. I’m going to make you some pasta, and you’re going to like it.”
After that, she took total control of the shopping trip. She bought a loaf of garlic bread, salad fixings, and some jarred pasta sauce that she was going to dress up a little bit with more vegetables and meat. She got some ground beef, and he grimaced as she picked it up out of the freezer case.
“I have beef from the ranch at the ranch,” he said, sounding scandalized.
“I know. But I’m cooking for you. So, you have to accept it.”
“I’ll fill your freezer up after this,” he grumbled.
“Sounds like a euphemism.”
“It’s not,” he said.
“Okay.”
She also picked up a really nice-looking chocolate cake for dessert from the bakery, because while she loved to eat, she was no fancy hand in the kitchen.
But she just wanted to take care of him, the way he had taken care of her. And it didn’t feel like the kind of care that was management to keep someone happy so that they would stay.
The kind of care that made her have to be better than the man she was caring for, so that he felt like he was getting good value from her.
It was too easy for her to see Cody, young and with the weight of caring for everyone else on his shoulders. Serious and determined, this part of him that she had taken as cold when they had first met.
He was just serious. Because he had to be. Because everything had had to work toward a larger goal.
He didn’t have a choice.
It made her sad to think about the eventuality that someday they wouldn’t be together, but maybe there was something good in that, too. They were just spending time together. Enjoying each other. For a man who had never done anything of the kind, she hoped it was a gift. She hoped it was something that made him happy. Something that made him feel good.
They checked out and got back into the truck. “I have to stop at the hardware store too. Gotta pick up some screws.”
