Ginger paced in the stables, sure Nate had seen her indicate he should meet her there. She turned and stalled when she saw him framed in the doorway. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, and the way he radiated contriteness from his very being made Ginger’s perfectly prepared speech dry right up.
“Look,” she said. “I’ve kind of had…a rough time in the whole going-to-dinner thing, and I just got a little flustered.”
“Perfectly understandable.” He made no attempt to come closer to her. With the sun haloing him from behind, and with that sexy cowboy hat perched on his head, it was difficult to see his face.
Ginger nodded. “So, do you think you can do the riding lessons?”
“Oh, there’s no way I can do this,” he said, and while he spoke with a tease in his voice, she suspected he believed his words.
“You’ll learn it,” she said.
“You sound so confident,” he said. “I wish I had some of that.”
“Did you grow up in White Lake?”
“Yes.”
“Never rode a horse?”
“I mean, I did,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean I can teach others how to do it. Especially kids.”
“The kids are the easiest group, trust me,” Ginger said.
“Did you grow up in Sweet Water Falls?”
“Right down the road,” she said. “My grandparents lived in the house where I live now, and my father added the East Annex when he moved there. I was fifteen, and he taught me how to shingle a roof and texture a wall before painting it.” She put a smile on her face, because she’d enjoyed learning things from her father.
“And I suppose you’ve been riding since you could walk.”
“Of course not,” she said. “We don’t start riding until we’re three or four, and that’s years after we first learn to walk.”
Nate let a beat of silence go by, and then he laughed. It was a wonderful, deep sound that set Ginger’s heartbeat racing. She joined in, glad for this single moment in time and hoping they’d have more.
She took a few steps toward him, wanting to reach out and take his hand in hers. She wasn’t quite brave enough for that. “So, you know, I eat dinner every night, and if you really wanted to eat with me, I think that could be arranged.”
“I don’t want to break the rules,” he said.
“There are no rules about who can eat dinner with who.”
“I don’t want to make your life harder.”
“Nate, I brought you here to make my life easier.”
“Then I will do my best to do that,” he said, and he was just so wonderful. In that moment, Ginger realized just how different he was than Hyrum too, and she allowed herself to believe that perhaps they could have something that went beyond friendship.
The days passed, and Ginger saw plenty of Nate. She had to, because she had to complete a daily check-in with him. She also kept in constant contact with Spencer and Nick, who were helping him learn the ropes, literally. They both said he was agreeable, and a quick study, and very, very good with horses.
Ginger finally went out to the stables on Sunday morning to see for herself. Sure enough, Nate worked with the horses as if he’d been born to do it. Even one of their newer, wilder horses settled right down the moment Nate took the reins from another cowboy. He talked to the equine in a quiet voice, and everything about Nate was a very strong version of quiet.
He put the horse in its stable and turned, catching her standing there, watching him. “Hey,” he said. “What are you doing out here?” He took off his gloves and clapped them together as he came toward her.
“I’ve been getting good reports about you,” she said. “So I came to see for myself.” She smiled at him as he neared. “How are you feeling? Ready to start the riding lessons tomorrow?”
“You know what?” he asked. “I think I am.”
Ginger nodded, glad he’d settled in so quickly. “Good.” She’d run out of things to say already, and she couldn’t imagine eating dinner with him. He’d not asked again, and Ginger couldn’t get herself to bring it up either. “All right, well, I have work in the fields to do. I’ll see you later?”
“Maybe for dinner,” he said, touching a couple of fingers to the brim of his hat, turning, and walking away.
Ginger simply stared at him as he retreated, her pulse pounding through her whole body. He’d gotten a new cell phone when they’d gone to town on Monday, and she had the number. In fact, she could take him to town. They could make up any excuse—not that anyone would truly ask.
Ginger couldn’t believe these crazy thoughts as they wound through her head. The guy had gone to prison for almost five years. Could he really be a different man than the one who’d gone along with a scheme to defraud people out of their money?
She’d never truly believed a person could change that much, but everything she’d seen from Nate was making her question that belief. He had worked in the Unit Manager’s office, and he’d been nothing but hard-working and just…good since she’d picked him up a week ago. She could hardly believe it had only been a week since his arrival at Hope Eternal Ranch, as it seemed simultaneously much longer than that but also the days had passed by in the blink of an eye.
She got herself out of the stable and into the fields to test the soil and make sure the sprinkling system was working after the maintenance that had been done last week. Now that May was a couple of weeks old, the sun had really intensified, but Ginger didn’t mind the sweat running down her face. It testified of a good day’s work, and she needed to feel like she’d done something worthwhile every day.
By the time she returned to the West Wing, her stomach roared for food. Emma had put something in the slow cooker that morning, because the house smelled like something slow-roasted and full of garlic.
“French dip sandwiches,” Emma said as Ginger walked through the kitchen.
“Gonna shower first,” she said.
“Okay, but don’t take forever,” Emma said. “Spencer, Nick, and Nate will be here in fifteen minutes.”
Ginger stumbled, throwing out her hand to balance herself against the doorjamb. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Emma said, not even looking over to Ginger. “I caught Nate as he finished with our weekend riders, and I invited them.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Is that okay?”
“You invited them? Or you invited him?”
Emma put down the tongs and turned toward Ginger. “I invited them all,” she said. “He was alone, but I told him to pass on the invite, and he said the three of them would come. He’s a nice guy, Ginger.”
“No, I know.” Ginger’s voice pitched up too much, and Emma would hear it. Her eyes narrowed as she took a couple of steps closer to Ginger.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Ginger said. “It means nothing.”
But Emma could clearly see it meant something. They’d been friends since the moment Emma had first brought her students to the ranch, and she’d been living and working at Hope Eternal for ten years now. “Ginger.”
“It’s nothing,” she said. “I need to shower.” She left quickly then, because Emma’s questions could be relentless. Ginger had no answers for them either. She’d been so sure about how things would go with the new inmate she’d agreed to.
But Nate wasn’t anything like what she’d expected. He wasn’t anything like Hyrum, and Ginger didn’t know how to make the two of them line up.
By the time she finished showering and left her bedroom, she could hear deeper voices in the kitchen. It’s not a date, she told herself. Emma would be there, as would Spencer and her cousin. And if there was anyone who could see through her easier than Emma, it was Nick.
She squared her shoulders and shook her hair out. It was still damp from the shower, and a tremor of nervousness moved through her. She should’ve dried it and put on makeup. But if she did that, everyone would know why. And Ginger didn’t even know why.
“Go on,” she muttered to herself as the people in the kitchen laughed. She went down the hall and entered the kitchen, where Jill and Jess had joined them.
Her eyes went straight to Nate, and he wore a smile but he wasn’t laughing with the others. His gaze flicked to hers too, and the chemistry between them bubbled and boiled.
“Ginger,” Connor said, and she looked down at the boy.
“Oh, hey.” She grinned as she dropped into a crouch. “Have you had a good week on the ranch?”
“Yeah,” he said, extending an envelope toward her. “Uncle Nate and I made you a card.”
“You did, huh?” She smiled at him, his blue-blue eyes too much for her to handle. “That’s so sweet of you.”
“He made it himself,” Nate said, appearing at the child’s side. “I just found an envelope.”
“It was too big,” Connor said.
Ginger flipped over the envelope and slid her finger under the sealed flap. “It’s just perfect.” She grinned at him again and took out the card. Clearly, Connor had done this, and she couldn’t quite tell what the brown and black lines were meant to be. “Show me,” she said.
“That’s Ursula,” he said. “See her purple collar?” He pointed to it, and pure happiness flowed through Ginger.
“Oh, she’s beautiful,” she said. The dog came over and licked Ginger’s arm, and she showed her the card. “Look, Ursula. It’s you.”
The dog didn’t much care about the card, but she did take a step toward Connor. He threw both arms around the dog’s head and hugged her.
“Not too tight, bud,” Nate said, but Ursula didn’t seem to care. Ginger straightened, because her knees couldn’t take the crouching for much longer, and opened the card. She could make out a couple of the letters—a T, an A or two, and some O’s. A lot of O’s.
“What does this say?” she whispered to Nate, tilting the card toward him.
“He wanted to tell you thank you for letting us come live with Ursula.” He smiled, and Ginger’s heart grew and grew and grew. Emotion gathered in her throat, and she couldn’t believe it, but tears burned behind her eyes.
She’d had no idea that having Nate and Connor at the ranch would affect her so much. She felt like someone had tied her to the end of a yo-yo, and she was being thrown down and then lifted back up, over and over again.
Reaching down, she lifted Connor into her arms and said, “Thank you for coming to the ranch so Ursula would have a new friend.” He hugged her back, and Ginger had never known pure love as strongly as she did in that moment.
“All right,” Emma said. “We’re ready to eat. Everyone gather over here.”
Ginger took Connor with her, moving the child to her hip, and joined the others gathered around the kitchen island. Nate followed her, easing into the perfect place just behind and to the side of her. His hand slid along her back, and her blood popped as if someone had poured fizzing candy into her veins.
She wanted this to be her reality every day. She wanted him solidly in her life, and while she still couldn’t quite believe that she did, she also couldn’t keep denying it.
May blurred into June, and Ginger had started meeting with Nate on a weekly basis instead of a daily one. They’d gone to town several times for groceries and errands, and Nate was always proper and polite.
He’d eaten dinner at the West Wing a few times now, but they had not gone anywhere alone. With so many people at Hope Eternal, catching a moment alone wasn’t that easy. They’d gone to lunch when they came to town, and Ginger didn’t mind the slow pace of the relationship.
If anything, it actually helped her undo another sticky point with each day that passed. Nate never got angry. He never lashed out. He barely spoke in a voice louder than normal. He worked amazingly well with children, and he seemed to have a great rapport with Connor.
He was almost a little too perfect, if Ginger were being honest.
His one real flaw was how little he spoke. She didn’t get a whole lot of time to ask him about his personal life, and the once or twice she had, his answers had been short and clipped. She liked him. She liked his work ethic. But she felt like she didn’t know him.
The second Monday of June found her waiting in the house for his parole officer to show up. Martin Landy had called last week, and Ginger had been on the phone with him for an hour. They’d arranged this visit, of course, but Nate didn’t know it was happening. He’d never been hard to find on the ranch, as he seemed to stay fairly close to the epicenter.
The appointed time for Martin to arrive came and went, and frustration built in Ginger’s chest. She had work to do, and she hated it when people showed up late. Of course, everyone ran late sometimes, but Martin had her phone number. He could’ve called her.
Finally, almost thirty minutes later, the doorbell rang. Ginger looked up from her phone, where she’d been playing a card game, as Ursula filled the house with a few barks.
“Hush,” Ginger said. She answered the door to find a tall, silver-haired man standing on the stoop.
“Ginger Talbot?” he asked, already smiling.
“That’s me.” She extended her hand for him to shake, which he did. “You must be Martin.”
“That I am.”
“Come in.” She stepped back, keeping one leg in front of Ursula. “Are you dog-adverse?”
“Absolutely not,” he said, stepping inside. “I have four dogs.”
“Oh, wow,” Ginger said. “Ursula will love you.” The dog moved around her to make her initial sniff of Martin. He smiled and patted her, and they took their business into the kitchen.
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s been the best inmate I’ve ever gotten from River Bay,” Ginger said.
“That’s what I like to hear.” Martin put his briefcase on the kitchen table and opened it. “Says here he’s got his brother’s son?”
“Yes,” Ginger said. “He’s doing great with him. At least he seems to be. They both seem to be eating and sleeping. Connor isn’t in school yet, so we have a rotation of cowboys and cowgirls that watch him out here.”
“Good, good.” Martin pulled out a paper. “We talked a lot last week, so if you’re comfortable with that, and you don’t have any other questions, I just need you to sign this.”
“I’m good,” Ginger said. She knew the drill. This wasn’t the first time she’d had a parole officer out to the ranch. She signed her name and added, “Should I call Nate and get him here?”
“If you would, please,” Martin said, taking a seat at the table. “If he’s as good as you say he is, this shouldn’t take long.”
Ginger nodded and stepped back to pull out her phone. She dialed Nate, and the line started ringing. And ringing. And ringing. He didn’t answer, and she got sent to voicemail. She frowned. “Strange,” she said, already dialing again. She’d only had to call him once in the past few weeks. Texting was much easier, and much less immediate, and anything she needed to talk with him about certainly wasn’t urgent.
He didn’t answer for a second time, and Ginger’s nerves heaved. “He’s not answering.”
Martin looked up from a stack of paperwork he’d pulled from his briefcase. “Should we go find him?”
“Sure,” she said, pocketing her phone. “He works in the stables. It’s not far.” She led him out of the house, trying to find something they could talk about on the ten-minute walk from the house to the stables. But her mind raced in so many different directions, she couldn’t land on any one topic.
They finally reached the stable that took her entire crew a week to paint and Ginger went down row F, where Nate usually worked. He wasn’t there. Everything was still and calm, and all the evidence pointed to the fact that he had been there. The horses had been fed; Domino’s leg had been re-bandaged. The tack was neat and polished and ready for use.
“Strange,” she said again. “This is where he should be.” She turned in a full circle, her embarrassment increasing with every moment that Nate didn’t appear.