Rose stood in the middle of the little garage apartment and closed her eyes. She wanted to feel like this was the right place and not just take it because it was convenient. Molly said that Nikki had lived here for several years before she moved into a cabin over on Longhorn Canyon.
The apartment had a tiny living room, a galley kitchen barely big enough to be called a kitchen, and a bedroom. She could buy a small table to work on, set it right there in the kitchen, and it would be just fine, but it didn’t feel right. Maybe she had too much of Luna in her and not enough Molly. Emotional versus practicality. Mind over matter. She had never even considered her heart when she made her decisions before, but now it seemed to be the most important thing. Evidently, Luna had made more of an impact on her than she realized.
Rose tried to imagine furniture put here and there, but it still didn’t seem like the right place for her. She walked out, went down the stairs, and returned the keys to the sweet little lady who owned it.
“Do you like it?” the woman asked.
“Very much, but I’ve got another one to look at. I’ll call you this evening and let you know one way or another,” Rose said.
Two apartments later, and none of the three felt right. Why couldn’t that third time is the charm thing work for her that day? She drove to the Dairy Queen and ordered an ice-cream cone, sat in a booth with a notepad, and wrote down the pros and cons of each place.
She was down to the cone part of the ice-cream cone when her phone rang. Thinking it was Hud, and he’d have some insight into which place she should rent, she answered it without even looking at the caller ID.
“I’ve looked at three apartments and I don’t like any of them.” She almost groaned.
“Good,” a female voice said. “This is Emily. My brother dropped by today and said that you were looking at apartments. I’ve got one more for you to check out before you decide. If you’ll drive out here to Longhorn Canyon, I’ll be glad to show it to you.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” Rose slid out of the booth, dumped the rest of her ice cream in the trash on her way out, and sent up a silent prayer that this place would be the right one. It had been dark when she and Luna had gone to Emily’s house for Paxton’s going-away party. She wasn’t sure how to get there in the daylight, so she called Emily when she turned into the lane leading up to the house.
Emily answered on the first ring. “I’m sitting at the ranch house in a red car. Just follow me. The path might get a little bumpy, so we’ll go slow.”
“I see you. See you there.” Rose ended the call and tossed the phone over on the passenger seat. She began to wonder if Emily was teasing her when they drove past a huge barn, and a mile down the road, she still hadn’t seen an apartment of any kind. The trees in this area were small and gnarly, not at all like the sugar maples, sweet birch, poplars, and beautiful magnolias in Kentucky. The land didn’t have hills and hollers, but somehow it felt the same.
The road curved to the left and Emily pulled up in front of a rustic cabin. She got out of her car and stood beside it. Rose turned off the engine, opened her car door, and sat staring at the cabin. Wagging his tail so hard that it was a blur, Red came from the porch to greet her.
“He was just a pup when he showed up over on my brothers’ ranch, and in those days, Tag lived here in the cabin, so Red thinks both places are his home,” Emily explained. “The door is always open, but I have the key right here. We’ve never charged rent because only family and very close friends have lived in it, so it’s yours if you want it. I thought it might be a nice quiet place for you to work.” She pointed to her right. “That barbed wire fence separates our ranch from my brothers’. If you were standing on top of the cabin, you could be able to see Hud’s house. It’s less than a quarter mile as the crow flies, but if you’re driving, it’s maybe three miles.”
“Can I go inside now?” Rose asked.
“Of course!” Emily handed off the key and started back to her car.
“Aren’t you going in with me?” she asked.
“Nope.” Emily smiled. “You need to see it and get a feel for it without anyone around. I will tell you that it’s got a reputation, though. Justin and I lived in it before we married. Levi and Claire met here, and Tag and Nikki lived here. We all believe that the place has magical love powers, and it is pretty close to Valentine’s Day, so you might get a double dose of Cupid’s power.”
“Aunt Luna would love that story.” Rose smiled. “Thank you so much, but I don’t expect miracles.”
“Neither did I.” Emily laughed as she got into her car. “Call me when you decide.”
Rose nodded as she walked up on the porch. When she swung the door open she was surprised to see that the cabin was furnished. She reached for the light switch, but there wasn’t one. Surely she wouldn’t have to work by candlelight, would she? Then she remembered how the lights got turned on in the place where she and her folks had lived in Louisiana and looked up. Sure enough, there was a string hanging from a bare bulb in the middle of the living area. She crossed the floor, tiptoed just slightly, and got a grip on the wooden spool hanging from the string. When she tugged on it, she had light.
A sturdy coffee table with dents and dings sat in front of a well-worn brown sofa with a quilt thrown over the back of it. Red bounded inside and sniffed around the fireplace and then looked up at her.
“I bet you’re used to having a blaze in it, aren’t you?” Rose asked.
He wagged his tail, jumped up on the sofa, and went to sleep.
She took a couple more steps and saw four mismatched chairs pushed up under an old wooden table with another light bulb above it. A tiny kitchen area was against the far wall. A king-size bed over to the side was covered with a lovely quilt. She went to the refrigerator and opened it to find a six-pack of beer and a withered apple, but the freezer was packed with roasts, steaks, and even a package of frozen burritos. Dishes were stacked in the upper cabinets, which had no doors, and the lower ones held a few pots and pans, along with a pretty good stock of canned goods.
She left the cabin, went outside, and looked around. The only noises she heard were a few birds chirping and a squirrel fussing at her from the top of a scrub oak. The place took the best parts of the commune—the sweet freedom and the peace of being away from the world—and set it right down in the middle of a Texas ranch where none of the rules and laws imposed on the folks at the commune applied.
She noticed firewood stacked up at the west end of the place and figured maybe she’d start a fire to ward off the chill. She picked up her phone and called Emily.
“So, how do you like it?” Emily asked without any preamble.
“It’s perfect, but I really have to pay rent. There’s electricity and gas and someone has to put wood out there for the fireplace,” Rose told her.
“No, ma’am,” Emily protested. “The utilities are tied in with the ranch, and we’d have no idea how much to charge for them. The wood is just the by-product of when we clear the land. We all have fireplaces, so the guys keep us stocked. Have you even seen the bathroom?”
“No, but I’ll go look at it now.” Rose carried her phone with her.
“Oh, my!” she gasped when she opened the door to the tiniest bathroom she’d ever seen in life. The toilet and wall-hung sink were on one wall, and a narrow shower on the other.
“Still want to live there?” Emily giggled. “You should have seen me in that shower with my height and size.”
“Of course I want to live here.” Rose told her about how much work she’d gotten done that morning. “I was just surprised. The cabin is small but roomy—I love it here.”
“The bathroom was the one thing I hated, and I wanted you to see it before you said yes,” Emily said.
“Do I sign a contract?” Rose asked.
“Of course not,” Emily told her. “We’re almost family. When you move out, just leave it like it is right now for the next folks.”
“Thank you seems like so little, but it’s coming from my heart.” Rose could hardly believe her good fortune and couldn’t wait to send pictures to Molly, Luna, and her mother. She could already hear Luna giggling and saying that there wouldn’t be room for Rose and Hud both in that itty-bitty shower.
“Hud is here, and champing at the bit to know if you like the place,” Emily said. “Want to talk to him?”
“Just tell him to come be my first visitor,” Rose replied.
* * *
Emily had told Hud she was going to offer the cabin to Rose, and he’d been antsy about it all morning as he plowed up the final field, getting it ready to plant alfalfa for a hay crop. He’d been afraid to get his hopes up.
“I thought she was moving in with you,” Tag said as Hud started for the door.
“I took your advice and decided it might be too early.” Hud settled his black cowboy hat on his head. “She needs time to adjust to her decision not to reenlist. Besides”—he smiled—“I still know how to jump a barbed wire fence.”
He jogged out to his truck and drove down the rutted lane to the old cabin and parked behind Rose’s new car. The brittle winter grass crunched under his boots as he started toward the porch. The cold north wind had picked up and practically blew his hat off. He reached up to hold it down and noticed a movement in his peripheral vision. He whipped around, and there was his Rose.
The wind whipped her hair across her face. She wore a pair of skinny jeans and a T-shirt that hugged her curves. His mouth went dry just looking at her. When she finally noticed that he was there, she flashed a bright smile his way that warmed his heart and soul.
She dropped the load of wood in her arms and ran across the yard to meet him, wrapping her arms around his neck and tiptoeing for a long kiss. “I’ve missed you so much,” she said when the kiss ended.
“Oh, honey”—he breathed into her hair—“this time away from you seems like years instead of days.”
“Welcome to my new home.” Rose hugged him again. “I thought we might start a fire. Red keeps going to the fireplace and whining. Have you had dinner? I’ve got some chicken noodle soup on the stove.”
“I thought you couldn’t cook.” Hud picked up the firewood.
“I can open a can, and I’m a guru at the microwave business.” She grinned as she opened the door for him. “I’ve managed to survive for almost twenty-nine years.”
“April first, if I remember right from junior high.” Hud unloaded the firewood on the rug in front of the fireplace, stood up and took her in his arms for a long kiss. “I love your new place, but it’s cold in here. We do need a little blaze.”
“You remember my birthday?” she asked. “I don’t know that I ever knew yours.”
“That’s because mine is in the summer, and we weren’t in school. Our English teacher used to tell when it was anybody’s birthday, and I wrote yours down. I was planning to give you a rose the next year, but you were gone by then,” he said.
“That is so sweet.” She rolled up on her tiptoes for another kiss.
He glanced longingly at the bed, but he’d promised Tag he’d meet him at the barn in thirty minutes. He’d already used up half that time, and he really should start a fire for Rose before he left.
As if she could read his mind, she said, “We’ve both got work to do, but when the day is done…”
“My place or yours tonight?” he asked.
“Mine, to celebrate me having such a beautiful new home,” she replied, “but be forewarned, the shower is too small for both of us.”
“We’ll see about that when the time comes.” He got to his feet and crossed the room to build a fire. “I’ll show you how…”
“I know how to build and keep a fire going,” she told him. “We had to use a woodstove for heat and to cook when we lived in Louisiana. Best grilled crawdads in the world came from the top of that old thing.”
Hud wondered if he’d ever discover all of Rose’s secrets. Maybe not, but he was willing to give it a try—even if it took a lifetime.