Amy sat with Cassie, the two women shading their eyes against the afternoon light as they watched Brock play tag with the young twins, while the new cows lowed happily in the pen Brock had built over the past two months. If Amy hadn’t been so preoccupied with thoughts of her date in just a few hours, the antics of the three males would have been hilarious. As it was, though, she was hardly able to even hold a basic conversation with Cassie, let alone anything else.
After the third time Amy had to apologize for not hearing what Cassie had said, Cassie gave her an intense clinical stare. “Is everything okay, Amy? You’re almost as difficult to talk to as Brock was when he had a concussion. Did you hit your head recently? Who was the first President of the United States?”
Amy chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t have a concussion, Cassie. I’m just...preoccupied.”
“With what?” Cassie asked, her demeanor shifting from doctor to sister instantaneously.
Amy didn’t have any sisters—well, didn’t grow up with any, at least, she amended—so it felt odd to confide in Cassie like this, but she needed to talk to someone. Pop was a good listener but not one for advice and long conversations, and Ma would end up trying to play the ultimate matchmaker if she even got a whiff of an opportunity. Amy took a breath and spilled her thoughts to her soon-to-be sister-in-law.
“Do you know Jack Stuart?” she asked, knowing the answer.
“Sure,” Cassie said. “He was at the riding school with Tom today for the boys’ lesson. Zach said he is, and I quote, ‘a really cool rodeo cowboy.’”
Amy agreed with Zach’s assessment, but it didn’t even scratch the surface of everything there was to say about Jack.
“He’s also my high school sweetheart, my first boyfriend,” Amy added. “He’s taking me out tonight and I’m just a bit nervous. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other and so much has changed and Jack—” Amy cut off the torrent of words, not sure what she wanted to say.
Jack was special.
Jack could be a chance to start over.
Jack didn’t know who she was and what she’d done, and she wasn’t sure he’d still like her when he found out.
Cassie seemed to have filled in the blank her own way, because she hopped up and grabbed Amy’s hand, pulling her inside. “If you’ve got a date, we have much more important things to do than sit here watching three guys tumbling around the yard. Do you even have any nice clothes in that backpack of yours?”
Amy smiled as Cassie’s enthusiasm calmed some of her worries. “Nothing but travel clothes, jeans and a few summer dresses. Jack won’t care what I’m wearing but—”
“But you do, of course,” Cassie said before Amy could finish the sentence. “I’m a bit shorter than you, but I bet a few of my things will fit. Want to go shopping in my closet?”
Amy nodded, relieved she would have something to wear that hadn’t been tainted by her recent past. Amy cut that thought off before it could gain any more traction and followed Cassie. In a few minutes they were ankle-deep in discarded dresses. Each one had been pronounced too something for this date. Too conservative. Too risqué. Too formal. Too short.
Finally, Cassie clapped her hands in delight, and Amy had to agree. She was holding a knee-length dress in a shimmery navy blue with little cap sleeves that Amy loved. “Go try it on,” Cassie urged, and Amy took the dress into the bathroom.
When she stepped back out, Cassie’s squeal of happiness confirmed her thoughts: it was a beautiful dress.
“He’s going to fall in love with you the moment he sees you,” Cassie said dreamily.
The thought made her heart stutter. Did she want him to fall in love with her again? The thought sent a wave of fear through her, and she knew she wasn’t ready to talk about anything resembling love.
“What’s wrong, Amy? This isn’t about the dress, is it?” Cassie asked, putting her hand on Amy’s arm.
Amy sat on the bed, feeling sudden tears spring into her eyes. Cassie sat beside her. “You can tell me anything, Amy. Doctor-patient confidentiality,” she added with a smile.
“Are you a therapist?” Amy asked with a little laugh as she brushed a tear away.
“Not technically, but I can sure try, if that’s what you need.”
Amy sighed. “In Morocco, I met a man. Armand. He was—”
She searched for the right word while Cassie waited patiently. “He was incredibly charming,” Amy finally finished, though that didn’t really do justice to the pull he had over her.
“I gather it didn’t end well?” Cassie prompted quietly.
Amy laughed. “That’s the understatement of the century. He wasn’t who I thought he was. He was married, for one thing.”
Cassie pulled Amy into a hug, and Amy was grateful she didn’t have to explain any more about her relationship with Armand. The way he manipulated her feelings, the way he’d treated her after he’d known she was hooked. How difficult it had been to get back her independence and leave.
“Anyway, I got away from all that and came home. And now I’m going on this date and feel like a complete basket case for even agreeing to it after all that,” Amy said, trying to end the conversation and stop herself from becoming completely overwhelmed with still-fresh feelings at the same time.
Cassie gave her a look of concern. “You can still call off or postpone this date if it’s too much for you, you know. This dress will wait, and I’m sure Jack would understand.”
Amy only thought about that for a second before dismissing it. There was no way she was going to cancel this date. “I need this date, I think. It might help me get rid of Armand, but mostly...” She paused, struggling for words. “It’s Jack,” she finished, sure Cassie couldn’t understand everything he meant to her. Heck, she didn’t think she did, either.
“Well, if you’re going on a date tonight, we need to figure out something for shoes, because I don’t think mine will fit you,” Cassie declared, shaking her head.
Amy smiled, glad the conversation had turned to less serious topics. She looked at her feet and knew instinctively what shoes she wanted to wear with this dress. “Shoes I’ve got taken care of. Thanks so much for the help, Cassie. And for listening. I promise next time we’ll talk about fun things like your wedding instead of having a therapy session.”
Cassie shrugged and started picking up the discarded dresses. “It’s no problem. I mean, how can I ask you to be my bridesmaid if I’m not willing to be a shoulder to cry on once in a while? I’ll probably need you to return the favor as the big day approaches and the inevitable wedding disasters occur.”
Amy’s eyes widened in surprise. “You want me to be one of your bridesmaids?”
Cassie looked up. “Of course I want you to be a bridesmaid. I was hoping to have three. Emma from the bakery, my sister who lives in Minnesota and you. I really do want us to be sisters, Amy.”
Amy felt her eyes sting with tears again, but managed to hold them back. There had already been too much crying today.
“So, will you be my bridesmaid?” Cassie asked.
Amy nodded and the two women hugged.
A door slam and thumping footsteps heralded the entrance of Brock and the boys. “Momma, why are you hugging Auntie Amy?” Zach asked, looking concerned.
Cassie leaned down low and ruffled her son’s hair, sending a pang through Amy’s heart, just as it always did when she saw mothers interacting with their children. “Auntie Amy is doing me a favor, so I was saying thank you with a nice big hug. She’s going to be in the wedding with us,” Cassie explained.
Carter’s face broke into a wide grin. “We’re going to be in the wedding, too! We get to hold the rings and stand next to our uncles!”
Brock held out a hand for each of the boys to high-five. “That’s right. Y’all are going to do me proud, I know it.”
Carter and Zach both puffed with pleasure.
“So I know now’s not the time, what with your imminent date and all,” Cassie said, turning back to Amy, “but we need to get you fitted for your bridesmaid dress soon so there’ll be time to alter it before the wedding. We’re less than a month away at this point.”
Amy nodded, taking her role as bridesmaid very seriously. “I’ll be here for whatever you need,” she said earnestly.
Brock cut into the sweet, sisterly moment. “Wait, you have a date? With who?” he asked, sounding almost protective.
Cassie gave Amy a worried look, as if she was waiting to see if she’d already slipped up as a sister and confidante. Amy gave her brother a steely gaze. “I’m going on a date with Jack Stuart, and you are not to say anything overprotective or big-brotherly about it.”
Brock held up his hands in mock surrender. “I wouldn’t think of it. Have fun, my adult sister who can make her own decisions.”
Amy and Cassie both smiled in relief.
“But if he tries to get fresh with you—” he began, pointing a finger in warning.
He was cut off when Cassie shoved him out the door. “Sorry about that,” Cassie said, grimacing.
Amy laughed. She’d forgotten what it was like to have a big brother around watching out for her. It was a little obnoxious, sure, but also nice in its own way.
“So, let’s talk about the wedding,” she said, filling the silence.
Cassie shook her head. “Nuh-uh. We’re not done here. Next is makeup and hair.”
Amy twirled a strand of her blond hair around one of her fingers as she was dragged into the bathroom. “How do you know how to do all this stuff?” she asked.
She’d assumed her doctor sister-in-law was just as clueless as she was, but it seemed very clear that she was wrong. Cassie shrugged as she opened a drawer of brushes and powders. “I have a sister. This is what you do when you’re bored over summer vacation.”
Amy had never felt like she’d missed out having only brothers, but now she wondered what it would’ve been like to grow up with a sister. She couldn’t go back and change her childhood, but maybe she’d be able to have the closeness of a female sibling now, as an adult. The thought made her smile as she closed her eyes so Cassie could apply eye shadow.
* * *
JACK WALKED TO the door of the McNeals’ ranch house, a combination of nervousness and excitement turning his stomach into knots. He could well remember being seventeen and feeling that same emotion as he stood waiting for Amy. That was on the occasion of their true first date, when he had nearly convinced himself that it was all a hallucination or something. Or a cruel prank.
It was funny how history repeated itself, he thought as he quelled the sudden voice insisting Amy wouldn’t be home. What if she’d changed her mind and taken off again, leaving him without explanation for another decade?
Jack took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It opened almost instantaneously, and he breathed a secret sigh of relief. Amy stood there in all her glory and then some.
“You look...” he began, but words failed him as he took in the sight of her.
Amy’s long blond hair cascaded over her shoulders in wavy curls, and her dress was a blue that made her eyes sparkle. Or maybe they were sparkling because she was looking at him.
A man could hope.
When his eyes landed on her scuffed cowboy boots, his expression broke into a wide grin. “My girl knows how to dress for a night out on the town, that’s for sure,” he commented, chuckling.
For just a split second, Amy’s smile faltered and Jack wanted to smack himself. He’d forgotten that this wasn’t a decade ago, and Amy wasn’t his girl anymore. But then the moment was gone and they were just two strangers standing awkwardly, unsure what came next.
“Is this okay? Since I wasn’t sure where we were going, I didn’t know how to dress,” Amy said as she stepped out onto the porch and closed the front door behind her.
The old Amy would have put some attitude behind the words, teasing Jack for his insistence on making even the most mundane outings a surprise. This time, however, it was just an explanation, nothing more. “You look perfect,” he said, earning him another nervous smile.
Jack suddenly felt like this date was a bad idea. She had always been feisty to the point of exasperation, and even a simple compliment rarely went unchallenged. Now she seemed timid, nervous, and he panicked at the thought that she had changed so much and he would forever lose the perfect picture of her he had in his mind. He told himself this was just a strange moment, and they were both acting a little odd because of it.
After waiting all day filled with too much energy, Jack was already exhausted trying to live each moment in the present and the past.
He made a declaration then and there to give up the constant comparisons. Tonight was about having a nice first date with a beautiful woman.
As if to prove it to himself, he held out his hand to shake hers. “Nice to see you again, Miss Amelia. Thank you for agreeing to go out with me. I know many women would hesitate at a date with a stranger, but I’m sure glad you accepted my offer.”
The light in Amy’s eye sparkled, and she put on a really terrible Southern Belle accent. “Well, I do declare that it was a might unbecoming of me to allow your advances while I was unchaperoned, but a girl of my age must defy the rules on occasion or she may live the rest of her days as an old spinster.”
Jack tried to keep a straight face, but he was wildly unsuccessful, and soon they were both laughing.
“I seem to have come to the wrong house. I was picking up Amy McNeal, not Scarlett O’Hara,” he finally managed once the bout of laughter had passed.
“Well, I have never been so insulted in my life!” Scarlett-Amy exclaimed, putting her hand to her heart so dramatically that it sent them both back into giggles.
Jack felt relief course through him. Some things had changed, certainly, but she was still Amy.
They walked down the porch steps, still chuckling, and Jack had to restrain himself from wrapping his arm around her and pulling her in for a kiss. If she wasn’t ready yet to be “his girl” again, she probably wasn’t ready for a make-out session in the driveway.
To be fair, he wasn’t sure if he was ready for that, either. The flood of feelings just being near Amy was almost overwhelming; kissing her could send him right over the edge.
Instead, Jack rushed to the passenger side of his truck and opened the door for her, bowing slightly as he did so. She bobbed her head in appreciation and settled into the seat as he walked around to the driver’s side.
“So, where are we going?” she asked the moment he was inside the vehicle.
Jack shook his head. “So impatient,” he commented, starting up the vehicle.
“I was once trapped for three days in a shack in India during a monsoon so I could meet an ascetic monk for an article, only to be told that the weather was a bad omen and he refused to speak with me. I’m plenty patient. I just want to know where we’re going.”
Jack shook his head, not swayed by her story in the least. He turned his truck down the drive and pulled out onto the road. When she settled back in the seat looking resigned, Jack smiled. “You must’ve had some pretty amazing escapades out there in the world,” he said.
Amy nodded. “It’s been an adventure. Lonely, though,” she said, the last part quiet, as if she was speaking to herself.
Jack knew what that was like. Out on the circuit, there were times when he felt detached from every important thing in his life. His brother, his mom, his home, the town he grew up in. And Amy. Always Amy.
As if she could read the direction of his thoughts, Amy asked, “Are you taking some time off from the circuit right now?”
Jack shrugged. “Involuntarily. My partner broke his leg at our last rodeo. He’s decided to take it as a sign that his rodeo days are over, so right now I don’t have anyone to ride with. Can’t compete in team roping competitions without a partner,” he explained.
Amy nodded her understanding. “Well, maybe it’s for the best. I imagine there are plenty of people willing to ride with you, and Chester didn’t seem all that hot anyway.”
Jack was about to tell her that finding a new partner wasn’t going to be quite that easy when something she’d said made him pause. How did she know he rode with a guy named Chester? They’d only been competing together for a few years. A glance in her direction made it clear that she’d realized the same thing.
“I keep up with the circuit online,” she confessed.
“Including the team sports, huh?” he said, trying to make her blush an even deeper shade of red.
He succeeded, and she didn’t need to answer with words—her expression said enough.
So she’s been keeping track of me, he thought, feeling a little smug for just a moment, until he realized he wasn’t exactly being fair. He knew he would need to tell her his own little secret.
“I read your articles, you know,” he said. “Every one. I have for years. I even learned how to set up a filter so anything with your byline goes straight to my email.”
He knew she was staring at him, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn his eyes from the road in front of him. He didn’t want her to know everything he was sure his eyes would say.
Luckily, they soon pulled up in front of Tony’s Steak House at exactly the right moment. “I hope you’re not a vegetarian or anything,” he said as he parked the truck.
“No matter how much I’ve traveled, I’m still from Texas,” she answered, as if that obviously settled the question.
Jack went around and opened Amy’s door for her, but decided not to try to take her hand. Even after their giggles and confessions, she still seemed ill-at-ease. But that was fine—there would be plenty of time for that later. He hoped.
For now, it was enough to be walking with her into the “fancy” restaurant that a teenage version of himself had taken Amy to for her eighteenth birthday after scrimping and saving for months in order to be able to afford it.
“It’s been a long time,” she said, as if he’d mentioned that romantic dinner they’d had so long ago.
“It’s not going to break the bank for us to eat here this time,” he answered, though that might not be entirely true if he couldn’t find a new roping partner soon.
“I remember I was too nervous to order anything on the menu because I thought it would bankrupt you. You had to finally order for me just so I wouldn’t have a meal of table bread and water.” Amy smiled at the memory.
Jack could remember every moment of that evening they’d had together, and the images it brought to mind sent zings of pleasure through him. If he wanted to go slow with Amy, start from zero, a walk down memory lane certainly wasn’t going to help.
“I really wanted to impress the beautiful stranger tonight, so I thought this would be the best place to take her. It may not be the Ritz, but it has great steaks and happens to be the nicest restaurant within a fifty-mile radius.”
“I bet you take all your dates here,” Amy commented, playing along.
“Only the most interesting ones. And never on a first date. I’m not made of money.”
She chuckled. “I guess neither of us are pulling in the big bucks, huh? Weekly dates here are still just a dream.”
He remembered the “one day” conversation they’d had shortly after the birthday dinner, talking about when they’d have enough money to eat there all the time, after he’d become a star on the rodeo circuit. Teenagers with big hopes and very little real-world experience.
For Amy, though, he’d gladly take her to Tony’s for every meal until he went broke, if it made her happy.
They stepped inside the dim, romantic atmosphere of the restaurant and were quickly seated in a small corner booth. He took off his cowboy hat and slipped it onto a hat peg before holding her chair out for her. They settled in at their table, the candlelight flickering on the table.
After they looked at their menus for a few moments, Jack asked one of the many questions he’d been wondering about since he’d heard she was in town. “So, what made you decide to come to Spring Valley for a month-long visit when you haven’t been home for that long in a decade?”
He tried to say it in a conversational tone, but he doubted it hid how curious he was in the answer.
“I thought we were doing the ‘beautiful stranger’ thing,” Amy told him.
She sounded almost nervous, but Jack had to know. “How about we each get one nonstranger question?”
Amy sighed and looked at her water glass as if she suddenly found condensation to be very interesting. She was quiet for a moment, like she was gathering her thoughts. He waited, eager to hear what had changed.
“I was robbed at gunpoint about a month ago,” she said.
“Someone pulled a gun on you?” he responded, shocked.
“Shh,” she whispered urgently, ducking her head a little at his outburst.
It took Jack a second to realize how loud he’d been. Of everything he’d expected her to say, that hadn’t been it.
“Someone pulled a gun on you?” he repeated, much quieter this time.
Amy shrugged. “I was walking around the Medina in Morocco at night and got pulled into an abandoned alley. It’s fine,” she added, placing a calming hand on his arm. “I wasn’t hurt or anything, and all they got was a little bit of cash and my phone. Still, it was unnerving. I was in a bad place mentally for a while.”
She paused, and Jack waited. It seemed like she was making some sort of decision, though what it could be, he had no idea. “Eventually I realized I needed to come home, see my family. And settle some unfinished business,” she finished, her face grim.
He pointed to himself to check that she meant he was the unfinished business.
“Yes, you. And—you know, this is going way deeper than first-date conversations usually do,” she said.
He was leaning forward with interest. What else could she possibly have left undone that would be changed by a near-death experience?
“And?” he prompted.
“And I figured I should meet my half sister. She emailed me a few months back, but I hadn’t responded. I didn’t know what to say. It took that gun pressed to my head to get me to realize I wanted to meet her. We’re going to see each other next week.”
Jack let out a low whistle and sat back. He’d always known Amy was adopted, but she’d never seemed curious about her biological family. The McNeals were enough, she used to say.
Before either of them could say anything else, their server arrived, and the moment she’d left with the orders—two steaks, of course—Amy turned to him. “Okay, I answered your one non-first-date question. Now it’s my turn.”
“Fire away,” he said, wondering what on earth she might want to ask.