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Jake was headed into town for some supplies he needed, and a few things the center required. As he navigated the road, he was trying to focus on the task at hand and not the woman in his passenger seat. Belle had volunteered to join him for a tour of Little Bend today. He had only made it into town a handful of times, and that was to the grocery store and the local Wal-Mart. Today, they had no clients on the roster as it was Saturday, and no emergencies had been called in before they left. He made plans with his parents last night for them to come to the ranch in a couple of weeks for a visit. He did not see himself going back to Chicago anytime soon, so he had given in about their coming this direction.
“This is where I crashed my car when I was seventeen,” she said, pointing to a bend in the road. “Want to see how we memorialized it?”
“Okay?” Jake said, pulling over on the side of the road. There were no cars in sight.
There was just a field, flanked by trees. “It was severe weather that night, icy conditions,” she said, walking into the grass toward the trees.
Jake followed her.
“I wasn’t supposed to be out that night, but Margaret and I decided to toilet paper our coach’s house,” she said with a huge grin.
“Our responsible boss Margaret was a petty criminal as a teenager?”
“Oh, anything I did wrong; she was right next to me. We got grounded from each other for two weeks after this episode,” she said laughing.
“There,” she said, pointing to a tree.
He moved forward and there in the bark was a carving of M.K. and B.T. were here!
He laughed aloud. “Oh, my goodness. Did you carve this before or after the grounding from each other?”
“Oh, after,” she said. “About a month after, when we could laugh about it again.”
“So, the two of you have always known each other? Is she the reason you came back to Living River Ranch, rather than staying in the city?”
“Yes and no. I missed the people, the land, and the simpler way of life. Everyone is just what they seem, not a lot of hidden agendas like in the city. I found it hard to be with all those people and not really know anyone. I did like that there was always something new to experience, but after a few years when given a choice – I came home to my roots.”
“I know that feeling, but mine didn’t turn out the same. I went home, but it just – didn’t feel like home anymore.”
“I heard about Danny,” Belle said lightly. “That must have been so hard.”
Jake thought back to that dark time in his life, “it was harder than anything I had ever experienced, including the loss of life in Iraq. Being injured and then losing him just changed my outlook. I remember hitting my knees repeatedly praying for a week after he died – and then I saw the ad for Living River Ranch. I didn’t even think about it,” he said, staring off and thinking about how things fell into place.
“Well, I’m glad you are here – you know at some point, I might need a new boyfriend,” she said, making a joke about the night in front of the fire.
Jake felt his blood pressure heighten. He knew she was teasing, and yet he thought he needed to clear the air on that front also.
“Belle,” he said, trying to get her to turn to him. “I know it was just Matthew being Matthew but – “
“Matthew is special in that he just says what he feels,” she said, not meeting his eyes.
“Maybe we should all be more like him.”
Belle did bring her eyes to his at that. She looked to be trying to figure something out. “I don’t want anyone to be a rebound or think that it is just – too soon.”
Jake’s heart stuttered to a stop. She was not saying no, in fact just the opposite.
“When Reagon walked in the first day I met you, I kind of wanted to pummel him on the spot. I was convinced I had just met the woman of my dreams,” Jake said quietly, shocked at how easily the words were flowing. “And then he came and dashed all hope to the ground.”
Belle released a deep breath, “thank you, God!”
He cocked his head to the side, “what?”
“I felt this pull – right from the start and beat myself up for days about it. I mean, Reagon and I had been together for years at that point, he was supposed to be here for us to be planning our future – and bam you walk in!”
Jake laughed. “So – what I am hearing is maybe we need to try a date?”
“Maybe?”
Jake moved closer to her, “any place, any time,” he said and bent his head to her.
“I’m thinking lunch sounds good today,” she whispered before he lightly brushed his lips against hers.
At that moment, he knew his parents had better love this place because he did not have any plans to leave for a good long time!
