“I SAW THIS COMING from a mile away,” Darby said in a duh voice.
“There’s no way you saw this coming.” Cassie reached back to adjust the pillow behind her knot-free neck. Then, because her curiosity got the better of her, she asked, “How?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the way he stepped in to try to protect you from Ray.”
“He was just...”
“What? Putting himself in harm’s way for you?”
“He would have done it for anyone.”
Darby’s silence said more than a contradiction would have.
“I’m starting to regret this call,” Cassie murmured into the dark bedroom.
“Uh-huh. What’s your plan?”
“We’re not supposed to have a plan.”
“You guys laid out parameters to not have a plan?”
“Travis laid out parameters. We’re going to go with the flow and see what happens until the wedding.”
Darby started laughing. “I want to see that.”
Cassie bit her lip to keep a wry smile from forming. This wasn’t a laughing matter. It was serious stuff. “I can go with the flow.” The smile broke through as Darby snorted in response. “I can fake it,” she amended, even though she wasn’t very good at faking anything with Travis. He had a magical ability to make her utter deep truths.
“I’m curious to see where this takes you,” Darby said.
“Me, too. And a little afraid.” Total truth. She was afraid of wading deeper into a situation that could end in any number of ways.
“Take things as they come. Roll with those punches. I know you can do that.”
Cassie pressed a hand against her forehead as she stared up at the dark ceiling. “I’m supposed to embrace chaos?”
“It doesn’t have to be chaos.”
“No. I think it’ll be chaos.”
“It could be an adventure. If it doesn’t work out, then you fake it at family functions. And honestly, how many of those will you actually attend?”
Ouch.
“Have an adventure, Cassie.”
Cassie closed her eyes and rolled over onto her back. Maybe she could have her adventure and control things, too. Or maybe she could let go for a while. She wanted to let go, to not think of consequences, but her brain was hardwired into cause and effect.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Check back in with me regularly. It gives me something to think about while I wait for a job offer to save me from this sinking ship.”
“Sorry I hogged the entire conversation. How’s the job search going?”
“It goes and you don’t get to deflect. I want you to focus on loosening up. I’ll expect a progress report soon.” There was a brief silence, then Darby said, “Relax. Embrace. Enjoy.”
Cassie let out a breath and squeezed her forehead again. “I’ll try.”
“Atta girl. Progress report. Soon.”
Cassie set her phone on the nightstand and rolled over, folding her arm under the pillow. An adventure. Right.
TRAVIS PICKED UP a board from the jumbled pile the wood had been dumped into when they dragged it off the flatbed the previous day. He sighted down the length of the board and found it to be surprisingly true, considering the number of Montana winters it had been through. Recycled wood of this quality brought a premium price and they had at least two or three more loads they could collect. He wasn’t certain what they’d do with it, but maybe it was time to get it out of the weather.
After setting the board in what was to be the good pile, he took hold of the broken end of a wider board and started working it free. Cassie’s car pulled around the house, pulling to a stop on the opposite side of the driveway from the barn, under the elm tree that hung over the backyard fence.
He had no idea how the day would play out. Yesterday, the rain had started coming down in sheets again as they started for home with the load of reclaimed lumber. He’d focused on keeping the truck on the slippery road, while Cassie had braced herself to keep from being tossed sideways when the truck bumped and skidded. By the time they’d hit the Forest Service gate and drove into the high pasture, neither of them seemed to have anything to say.
Will stepped out of the back door as Cassie got out of her car. She waved to him, and he raised a hand in greeting before continuing on his way to the tractor idling near the barn. Travis breathed a silent sigh of relief. At least his grandfather was acting a lot more like his old self. He hadn’t casually grilled Travis about his trip with Cassie yesterday evening, and he’d been equally silent on the matter that morning over coffee.
Maybe he thought his job was done...or maybe Rosalie had had a word.
Either way, Travis was good with it.
He laid the broken board onto the not-so-good stack, evening it out with the toe of his boot as Cassie entered the barn. What effect would her night of deep thought have on their plan?
That plan being no plan, of course.
Cassie pulled her gloves out of her back pocket as she came to a stop next to the damp wood pile. Then she glanced back over her shoulder at the sunny sky. “Wouldn’t you know it? No rain today.”
“According to Grandpa, we’re good for several days.” Which was why Will wanted to start cutting hay as soon as possible.
“After yesterday, I believe him.” She tapped her gloves in her palm as if she was about to launch into something.
“What’s up?”
One corner of her mouth twisted up. “I’m off my game.”
Not what he expected. The Cassie of old would have never announced a weakness.
“Maybe because it’s not the same game as usual?”
“I did a lot of thinking last night.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Most of it in circles.”
“You need that plan.”
“I’ve never done much without one.”
“Except the impulsive stuff.”
“I’m talking big picture.”
“I’m talking not talking.”
She frowned at him and he reached out to take her hand and lace their fingers together. “We have mundane stuff to focus on—wood to sort, panels to build. And...good news,” he said in an encouraging voice, “that involves a plan.”
She fought a smile and lost, and Travis had just decided he might have to kiss that mouth when the tractor engines coughed and sputtered and then died, followed by a colorful curse.
He met Cassie’s gaze, lifted his eyebrows, then stepped back as Will came stalking around the barn.
“Trouble?” he asked.
“Dash lights are flashing like crazy. And right when I need this thing to behave,” Will grumbled. He nodded at Cassie. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” she said as he headed past them to the toolshed. He disappeared inside, but left the door open.
Travis nudged the pile of lumber in front of him with the toe of his boot. “I sorted the boards into those that will need damaged parts cut off and those that are usable as is. And I set up the chop saw.” He jerked his head toward the makeshift bench where he’d set up the power saw and other tools. “I’ll show you what I have in mind.”
“What will happen to all the stuff outside?” she asked as they crossed to the bench.
“Grandpa has it separated, and most of it will go to either the landfill or to scrap. I’ll load a trailer using the tractor bucket after he gets done in the field today. If he gets out in the field, that is.”
“If you have to help work on the tractor, I can handle the woodworking.”
“You just want to show off.”
“My skills are considerable,” she said. She lifted a rusty hinge that he’d set on the table that held the chop saw. “You’ve been gleaning. I saw these in the scrap trailer earlier.”
“Guilty. I have enough to make hinged dividers, which means that they’ll be easier to set up than those that need other means of support, and they’ll look cool.”
“Kind of getting into this, aren’t you?”
“I am,” he said in a voice that clearly indicated he was speaking about more than a woodshop project. “And you?”
She took a step closer, holding her hands behind her back as if she was afraid of what she might do with them. He took a quick glance at the toolshed, was about to reach for her when his grandfather popped out again. Instead he dropped his hand and rolled his eyes as Cassie laughed.
“You’d best lay out the plan for me, just in case you end up mechanicking.”
“Lester’s on his way and he is a mechanic.” Travis smiled and reached out to tap her chin. “Fine. You can have your plan. I’ll show you what I have in mind.”
And he was more than a little amazed that she wasn’t pushing in with her own construction ideas.
LESTER ANDERSON, Will’s longtime buddy, arrived not long after Cassie did. He parked next to Cassie’s car, then slowly got out of his truck and ambled toward the barn. He’d been Cassie’s 4-H leader for years, although his hair had been dark then, and he’d walked a lot faster.
She started toward the bay door to say hello, but had barely taken two steps when Will came barreling around the corner.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said, jerking his head in the direction he’d just come from. “That piece of junk beside the barn broke down on me. Did you bring your tools?”
“Don’t you have your own?”
“We’ve been cleaning,” Will said shortly.
Translation—he’d dumped all the tool-related stuff into a shed near the barn to be sorted later.
“I have tools.”
“Great.” Will turned and headed back the way he’d come, leaving Lester shaking his head as Cassie closed the distance between them.
“Good to see you, Cassie.”
“Likewise,” she said with a smile.
“I’m going to take care not to get too close to those elbows of yours.”
It took Cassie a second to catch on, and when she did, she laughed—something she might not have done a week ago when she was a lot touchier about Travis’s injury.
“You’d better take care. I’m deadly.” She pointed an elbow in Lester’s direction and he pretended to duck.
A metallic clatter came from the direction of the tractor and Lester motioned toward the noise. “I’d better go see what’s what.”
“Good luck,” Cassie called. Travis had already taken a look and come up blank, but Lester was a mechanic and had a better chance of getting to the root of the problem fast.
“Good luck, Les,” Travis echoed once the sound of the saw died down. He raised a hand in a salute as Lester disappeared.
Cassie picked up the board she’d set down and carried it to the chop saw.
“I hope Lester brought his tools,” Travis said as she started measuring the board. “He’s the best mechanic I know.”
“It sounds like he got here in the nick of time,” Cassie said.
“He probably did.” He glanced toward the bay door.
“You want to be out there, don’t you?”
He fixed her with a candid gaze. “It is my job.”
“But you drew wedding-decoration duty and Will isn’t going to let you escape.”
“That’s it. Rub it in.” He started tacking together strips of pine for the frame that would support the weathered wood. “When I first came home, I thought about escape a lot.”
Cassie’s hand stilled before she marked the measurement on the board. “And now?”
“Now I’m good.”
She wondered.
“I love the life, Cass. What’s not to love? A lot of people would give anything to be doing this.”
But it would be a choice those people made.
Lester wandered in a few minutes later. “I need a place to plug in my extension cord,” he said as he went to the junction box. After plugging in the cord, he wandered over to take a look at what Cassie and Travis were building.
“Those will be cool,” he said.
“Rosalie is really happy about them,” Cassie said as she hooked the measuring tape on the end of yet another board. She wanted to get all the cutting done for all the panels, and then they could assemble.
The plan for the dividers was simple—weathered boards in a simple pine frame, two of which would then be hinged together. The hinges didn’t match, which, to Cassie, only added to their charm. After Lester left, they began construction, and, as expected, they had a few things to adjust as they made the prototype.
After tweaking the height and the amount of space showing between the boards, the others came together more easily. During the construction of the third set of panels Cassie realized that she and Travis were working together, barely exchanging a word, yet somehow agreeing as to who did what. Travis measured and marked the boards, Cassie cut them. He screwed together one side of the frame and Cassie the other, passing the cordless drill back and forth with neither of them vying for control.
They worked well together for two people who’d made careers out of being at each other’s throats.
She was considering pointing out that small fact when a quick movement behind Travis caught her eye. “Look at that.” She pointed at the tiny little bundle of fur peeking into the open back door behind him.
“Not another snake, I hope,” he said as he turned.
“It’s one of the kittens you thought I mistook for a snake.”
“That’s pretty common, right?”
“Come here, baby...” Cassie slowly approached the little tabby puff ball, but it turned and skittered toward the old building behind the barn, disappearing underneath it. “Darn it.” She turned back to Travis.
“Thinking a kitten might work out better than a horse?”
“All signs point to yes.” Travis had ridden McHenry’s Gold two more times, and while the mare was fine for someone who knew what they were doing, and enjoyed being on alert full-time, she wasn’t shaping up to be a pleasure mount. Cassie had enough battles at school. She did not need another during her trail rides.
He reached out to tip up her chin. “I’ll keep putting hours into her.”
“I don’t want to waste your time.”
“It’s a challenge,” he said.
“And you do love a challenge,” she murmured.
“I think that’s why I like hanging around you.”
A warm feeling flowed through her at the softly spoken words. She was about to step closer when a loud bang had her wincing instead.
Travis laughed lowly, then stepped back. “We need to get to work before Grandpa catches us and thinks he’s a genius for bringing us together.”
“For now.”
Travis scowled down at her and Cassie wished, really wished, she could pull the words back in. “You do know how to enhance a moment.”
“Hey,” she said stubbornly. “You have to take the good with the bad.”
“I think ‘for now’ can last awhile,” Travis said in a low voice.
“Talking about the future is not letting things flow,” Cassie said stubbornly. “You’re changing the rules. Just like you did in that stupid pig-catching game.”
“I’m not changing the rules. I’m being realistic about my feelings. It’s part of the flow.”
“Your feel—” Cassie pressed her lips together, then when she had control of herself, she said, “I thought we were just going to...” That was when she realized she couldn’t articulate what she’d thought going with the flow meant.
“What? Flirt? I’m good with that.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Look. I understand that you have a lot of reasons not to get involved with a guy like me. But could you at least come to this with an open mind, instead of being absolutely certain that nothing will come of it?”
“I’m scared to do that.” The words came blurting out. “And I don’t want to be scared.”
Travis studied her for a long moment, then slowly opened his arms. Cassie walked into them as if she was coming home, hugging him tightly.
“This is nuts,” she muttered against his chest as he closed his arms around her, bringing a hand up to cup the back of her head.
“Yeah. I know. And I also know that in about ten seconds Lester or Grandpa is going to walk through that door.”
Cassie gave a choked laugh and pulled back. “Okay.” She pulled in a breath as she tried to determine exactly what was okay. “Start again?”
“Start again,” he agreed with a half smile, his gaze locked on to hers. “And as long as we can do that, I think we’re okay.”
ROSALIE PARKED HER CAR next to Cassie’s car near the McGuire main house, then glanced over at Gloria, who was regarding the barn with a sour expression, while the girls began unbuckling in the backseat.
“Are you sure about this?” Gloria asked.
“I am.” Rosalie pulled the keys out of the ignition and set them on the console.
The weather forecast hadn’t shifted even one day, so her wedding day was going to be a wet one, and at that very moment, Will and Lester were in the fields, swathing hay in an attempt to get it bailed before the rains. Thankfully, Lester had finally managed to get the stubborn tractor running. Rosalie only hoped that Will took her words to heart yesterday after she’d explained that he was being too obvious pushing the kids together. “And with two stubborn people, that simply isn’t going to work,” she’d said.
Will had grudgingly agreed, but she didn’t know if he could successfully rein himself in.
“You’re certain the roof doesn’t leak,” Gloria said, eyeing the barn suspiciously. “Because it looks like it might leak.”
“It rained like crazy the day we carted all that stuff back inside, and I didn’t see one leak.” Her friend didn’t have a lot of experience with ranch buildings and had been slow to convince, despite many journeys through Pinterest, that the barn would be a suitable venue for the wedding.
These are refurbished barns, she’d pointed out more than once while looking at the photos. Yours is pressure washed. It’s not the same.
“Grandma,” Kendra said as she and Bailey scrambled out the rear car door. “Can Bailey and I go exploring?”
“You’d better come to the barn with me and Gloria.”
The girls didn’t quibble because, after all, they were going to get to run around in a barn. The high-pitched whir of a saw came and went as they approached, and in the dim interior, Rosalie saw Cassie pass a board she’d just cut to Travis.
“There was a time,” she said to Gloria out of the corner of her mouth, “that we wouldn’t have allowed them to be near a power tool together.”
Gloria cackled, and Kendra said, “What?”
“Nothing, sweetie.” She lifted a hand as Cassie caught sight of her. “Hi.”
“I heard you were coming to line us out,” Cassie said, pulling off her gloves.
“I thought we’d finalize the decorating plans, since we only have a week to go, so I brought my decorating guru.”
Gloria had an eye for design and the only difficulties the two had ever encountered were in choosing the colors for their house and shop. Gloria had wanted the deep jewel tones that were her go-to shades, and Rosalie had wanted more muted neutrals. It was a testimony to their friendship that they’d managed a compromise that they both loved.
“This isn’t bad,” Gloria said on a note of surprise, turning a full circle as she studied everything between the floor and the rafters. “Much better than I’d hoped for. We’ll easily get the rented tables into that area.” She pointed to the west side of the barn. “The floral archway can go there and the gift table here.” She tapped her chin as she studied the interior. “I like those rustic...walls...you guys are making. We could put the buffet tables in front of them. Perhaps a quilt or two draped over the walls for a bit of color?”
“That’s a good idea,” Rosalie replied. “And quilts for the gift table?” Which she hoped would be empty, because she and Will had expressly stated on their invitations that they’d prefer donations be made to the local food bank.
“Butcher paper with burlap runners for the tables, and twig baskets with live petunias.”
“Yes.” Rosalie noted with some amusement that Travis and Cassie were standing side by side with identical looks on their faces as she and Gloria batted ideas back and forth.
“I’d like to drape the edge of the loft and those columns with some kind of floral garlands,” Gloria said, and Rosalie immediately picked up her thread.
“And those could be switched out for evergreen garlands for Katie’s wedding.”
“Instead of quilts over the walls, we could mount wreaths for hers.” Gloria tapped her chin again then glanced at Rosalie. “Would you like wreaths instead of quilts? We could do flowers or just greenery.”
“Quilts,” Rosalie said. “They’d be easier to deal with all in all. I don’t want to go to a lot of trouble—Girls!”
Kendra and Bailey stopped in their tracks, Bailey’s little leg frozen on the bottom step of the ladder leading to the loft. “Stay on the ground floor. No going into the loft.”
There was nothing that even vaguely resembled a safety rail at the edge of the half floor above them.
“But, Grandma, we saw a kitty up there,” Kendra said. “A little baby one.”
“He might fall,” Bailey added.
“Cats don’t fall,” Rosalie said. “Little girls do.”
She waited until the girls were clear of the ladder before turning to Travis, who said, “I’ll have that blocked off for the wedding. Otherwise the braver young souls will probably attempt to climb the ladder of death.”
“What’s that?” Kendra said on an awed breath.
And, being a rookie with children, Travis pointed to the ladder leading up the wall from the loft to a smaller crow’s nest at the top of the barn. Rosalie’s eyes went wide as she saw the long ropes draped up there. “Please tell me you didn’t swing on those.”
Travis gave a shrug and Rosalie quickly looked down to her granddaughters. “You are not to go up into the loft. Understand?”
They nodded in unison.
“Thank you.” Rosalie gave them an approving smile, then turned her attention back to Gloria. “Now, where were we?”
“With our feet firmly planted on the earth,” Gloria said with a mock shudder.
Rosalie firmly agreed. Thank goodness Travis was going to block off the loft, and she, for one, would check his work the next time she was there. The last thing she needed was for her little granddaughters to tackle the “ladder of death.”