Sunrise Point (Virgin River #19)(33)

She’d had a small fantasy that she knew was idiotic, that she would never reveal to a soul, that after she’d gotten on her feet a little, after she’d proven she wasn’t such a pathetic loser, that Tom might gradually develop an interest in her. She knew it couldn’t happen fast, that it was really far-fetched, but hard times couldn’t kill all her fantasies.

That was before she caught a glimpse of the perfect woman, of course.

A while later she happened to see Tom wrangling the woman’s bags up the porch steps…her designer luggage. Now this just tears it, she thought. She had no idea which designer, but she knew—those cost a fortune. Plus, if Nora were visiting for a weekend, she’d be able to get by with a backpack. There were matching large, medium and small bags plus a rather large briefcase. Wow. She must be very important in addition to being beautiful.

She sighed. Besides secretly fantasizing about a man like Tom in her life, she also saw herself sitting at that kitchen table in a bathrobe, reading the paper, waiting for her daughters to wake up in the morning. And she saw herself cooking, baking, canning and working a little in the orchard. She wondered if Maxie kept a summer vegetable garden; Nora would if she could. But by far the most delicious fantasy she had was sitting on that porch, watching the sun set over the orchard and mountains. The beautiful, lush, full and ripe orchard.

After unloading her last big bag of apples, Nora grabbed the satchel in which she carried lunch and water and headed down the long drive to the road. She let herself out and closed the gate. She usually waited for Tom by the barn, but there seemed no question that today he was a little busy.

Never mind her silly, juvenile dreaming, when she tried to picture a woman Tom would find his perfect mate, she was a lot homier-looking than the red-Caddy blonde. Nora thought it might be a requirement that his woman could bake an apple pie to rival Maxie’s. Oh, stop, she told herself harshly. There was no reason to think that magnificent creature couldn’t bake a perfect pie. After all, Nora couldn’t bake at all!

She heard the horn of the truck give three short blasts and she stopped and turned. She expected to give him a wave as he passed by, but he stopped. “No way,” she said to herself.

“What are you doing?” he asked through the open window.

“I’m going home,” she said. “Tom, you have company.”

He laughed. “She’s unpacking a few things. It looks like it could take several hours. I have time to take you home and get a shower and shave before dinner. Jump in.”

She climbed up into the big truck. “You’re so ridiculous! You could be doing something much more interesting—like helping her unpack.”

“I thought you understood I was committed to getting you home,” he said, laughing.

“I’m so grateful—but on days some totally classy blonde doesn’t bring her entire wardrobe for a weekend with you. This need to drive me verges on obsession.”

“It does kind of look like it could be her whole wardrobe, doesn’t it? When you think about it, I could put every piece of clothing I own in a duffel. Did you happen to see how many suitcases for two nights?”

“Not on purpose,” she said, and when her cheeks colored he laughed at her. “It was kind of right in my line of vision. But oh, my.” She sighed.

“What?”

“She’s so magnificent!”

“She’s pretty, I’ll give you that…”

“Tom, I picked a few pretty apples today—that woman is out of this world. Have you known her long?”

He shook his head. “One of my guys was married to her. He was killed in Afghanistan and I paid her a visit on my way back to Virgin River…to be sure she was holding up all right. At that time she was still trying to get back on her feet. She’s a lot better now and happens to be taking a class at UC Davis, so she came up for a visit.”

“Oh, my God, I thought she was your girlfriend!”

“That’s still possible, I guess. Her name is Darla and there’s nothing about her not to like. I agree with the pretty, the classy and she’s very nice and smart. But she sure doesn’t travel light!”

Nora couldn’t help it, she laughed hard. “You better look out. She looks expensive.”

“She does, doesn’t she?” he agreed. “I told her to bring a pair of nice pants and boots in case we went to the coast for dinner.” He shrugged. “I guess she had a hard time deciding.”

“Seriously, she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure she’d be beautiful in a sack, but Tom—those red boots.” She put a hand to her chest, let her eyes drop closed and her head tilt back.

“What?” Tom said.

She looked at him in shock. “What? Tom, red boots are like the top of the mountain, the epitome.”

“They are?”

She turned slightly toward him. “If you can actually afford beautiful high-heeled leather boots, you get black, to go with everything. You only get red because you already have black and you want something indulgent, magnificent. Astonishing.”

“Really?” he asked. “And you know this how?”

“Tom,” she said with some impatience. “Red is special. You only have red for important things, because red doesn’t go with everything. Black goes with everything so to be practical, you buy black.”