Holidays on the Ranch (Burnt Boot, Texas #1)(9)

“Thank you,” she mumbled.

After supper was finished, Finn helped clear the table and dried the dishes as she washed them. She slipped the dishes into the drainboard; he scooped them up to wipe them dry. It seemed that more times than not, their hands touched, and sweet Jesus, the chemistry between them was hot.

“That really was a great meal. Now you need to unpack. Either bedroom is yours. One has twin beds. One has a queen size.”

He led her back to the hallway by the hand. She could hear Martin talking to the cat, but the buzz in her head kept her from hearing the words. Not in her wildest dreams had she thought she and Martin would get a reception like this. Like Martin, she was almost afraid to go to sleep for fear that she’d wake up in a WITSEC program in some remote city so big that she couldn’t find her way around.

“Bathroom.” Finn opened a door.

She spun around and spontaneously hugged Finn, throwing both arms around his neck. “Hot damn, Finn! This is unbelievable. The women in our tent would have hunted down the terrorists on the deck of cards and killed them with nothing but their bare hands for a setup like this.”

Finn’s lips turned up at the corners. “Glad you like it. While Martin takes a shower or a bath, you can pick out your room.”

She backed up a step and called out, “Hey, Martin, bring your pajamas and your toothbrush. You want a shower or a bath?”

“Shower. I don’t want to leave the cat alone very long. She might get lonesome,” he answered.

She adjusted the knobs to get the water just right. Martin’s big brown eyes opened so wide, she could see the whites all around them when he crossed the hall. The bathroom was as big as the bedroom in their old apartment. A vanity stretched the length of one wall. Three mirrors hung above three separate sinks with plenty of storage underneath them. A huge claw-foot tub, a walk-in shower, and a toilet were on the other wall.

“Oh, Callie, this is huge. That tub looks like a swimming pool. Is one of them sinks all mine? I can put my toothbrush and toothpaste right there and my comb, and it’ll be mine?”

“That’s right. Choose the one you want, but you have to be responsible to keep the area all neat,” she said.

Heat radiated from the small of her back when Finn laid a hand there to show her the two bedrooms.

“Do you help him take a shower still?” he asked.

She shook her head. “He’s been taking care of himself for years. Long before I came on the scene.” Her voice came out an octave higher than usual, but Martin was so intrigued with the bathroom he didn’t notice.

“This one?” Finn opened a door into a room with twin beds and then led her across the hall to the room adjoining the bunk-bed room. “Or this one?”

“This one. A queen-sized bed all of my own. It’s heaven,” Callie said.

“I thought you might like it.” He sat down in a gold velvet overstuffed rocking chair. “Tell me about your sister. You talked about her and I remember you telling me that you worried about your nephew. You were always sending money home to them, right?”

She sat down on the edge of the bed. “She didn’t have a lick of sense when it came to men, but she was a good mother, Finn. Other than moving several times a year and never putting down roots for Martin, she adored that boy. When she had the car wreck and died, there was no family until I got home. It took a few weeks to get all the paperwork to go through so I could have him. Foster care turned him into a shy, frightened little boy, but kids are resilient. Now he’s probably too outgoing, but it’s better than before. My turn. What happened with Lala?”

“I asked her to marry me, but she gave me a song and dance about our cultures not mixing, so I brought a broken heart home with me and two weeks later got the news that she and her brother were killed by an IED on their way to the base. Last summer a friend with classified clearance told me their deaths had been staged because their cover had been blown at the base. They are really terrorist spies who are still alive and well to my knowledge. They don’t have their pictures on the deck of cards, but they work for someone who does. It took me a long time to process the idea that I’d been played.”

“I’m sorry, Finn.”

“That’s the past. Can’t redo it. Can’t undo it. Just got to put it in a box and bury the damn thing. I’ve still got some unpacking to do myself, so I’ll leave you to get yours done,” he said.

Emptiness set in the moment he left the room. A whirlwind of emotions had surrounded her since she stepped out of that van. Suddenly, she had no center of gravity. She flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Then she shifted her gaze to the nicest bedroom she’d ever had and the two bags on the floor inside the door where he’d brought them from the hallway. Maybe unpacking would make it all real and give her some sense of stability.

***

Finn laced his hands behind his head and watched the shadows move across the ceiling. The kid was a fast learner and took orders without fussing. He hefted a shovel full of wet hay pretty damn good for a scrawny little boy. By springtime, he’d be a pretty good hired hand, the way he’d taken to the work.

Callie could cook, so he wouldn’t have to live on frozen pizza and soup out of a can. The living room was all cleared out. Boxes she thought were personal had been marked and lined up in the spare bedroom next to his. Blankets, pillows, and the rest had been put away. The house didn’t seem nearly as empty that evening as it had the two days before.