Ginger had looked for ways Nate could potentially mess up. After the one time he hadn’t been in the stables where she’d expected him to be, her stomach clenched whenever she went to find him. But he was always right where he said he’d be. He learned quickly, and he was one of the hardest working men she’d ever met.
She’d been toying with the idea of offering him a permanent position on the ranch once his reentry term expired. But he didn’t seem to be hurting for money, and he’d mentioned moving into Ward’s house in White Lake more than once.
So Ginger had kept her mouth closed. White Lake was only about twenty minutes down the road, and she could easily make the drive to see him. Heck, after his residential program ended, he’d be a free man, and he could drive to see her.
She set the curling iron down, deciding she couldn’t make every lock of hair into a wave. Nate would know she’d spent an hour in front of the mirror, and she didn’t want him to think she was trying so hard. Even if she was.
They were going to the mall today to get her favorite Chinese food. She hadn’t told him it was to celebrate her birthday, but it was. She should probably text him just to let him know. As soon as she thought so, she recalled the idea. No, she told herself. It’s fine. She didn’t need him to buy her anything.
She knew he liked her, because he poured everything into his kisses, and Ginger had felt it time and time again over the past few weeks.
“There you are,” Emma said, leaning into the doorway. “I just put the cheesecake in. Jill, Jess, Michelle, and Hannah have all confirmed for tonight. So did both of your sisters.”
“Both of them?” Ginger turned away from her reflection. She was as beautiful as she was going to get, and another layer of lip gloss wouldn’t help. “Sierra isn’t going out with Max?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “She actually asked if she could bring him, and I told her irrevocably that she could not.”
“I’m surprised she’s coming then.” Her sister couldn’t do anything without her fiancé, and no one had the heart to tell Sierra that she and Max had been engaged for four years. Ginger wanted a man who couldn’t wait to get her to the altar, not one that put the wedding off and off and off…
No one in the family—or anyone who’d been around for the past four years—believed Sierra and Max would actually get married. In fact, the plans for the non-existent wedding had stopped years ago.
But Sierra worked the weekend tours, and she helped with Connor, so Ginger respected her. She loved her because they were related, but sometimes Sierra could pull a diva card out of nowhere.
“We’ll see if she actually does,” Emma said, scanning Ginger. “How are things with Nate?”
“Fine,” Ginger said with an air of coolness. She didn’t make direct eye contact with Emma as she approached the door, and her best friend fell back into the hallway.
“Must be,” Emma said. “You’ve gone to The Green Dragon by yourself for five years. Wouldn’t even let me come so you didn’t have to be alone on your birthday.”
“I’m never alone on my birthday,” Ginger said, pausing in front of Emma. She had gorgeous dark hair that had a natural wave, not like the too-tight one Ginger had put in her hair with a curling iron. Emma’s big, brown eyes looked at Ginger, practically begging her for all the details.
It seemed that everyone around the ranch knew Ginger and Nate were something. They just didn’t know how serious it was. Ginger herself didn’t know that either, though she’d felt herself slipping more and more the past couple of weeks.
Everything Nate did and said made her foothold on reality a little less sure. She wanted a fantasy life with the strong, handsome cowboy, and the towheaded little boy. She could admit she loved Connor, but going all the way there with Nate…Ginger still had a tight grip on those reins.
“You always make me an amazing cake and a delicious dinner.” Ginger smiled at Emma and leaned into her for a hug. She did love this other woman, who had been by her side for the past ten years here on the ranch. Emma had started as a teacher’s aide, bringing first and second graders to the ranch to do the Monarch butterfly classes.
She loved horses, and soon enough, Ginger had pulled her from the school system and onto the ranch, where she’d been ever since. Ginger didn’t trust anyone more than she did Emma, and they worked incredibly well together to make sure Hope Eternal Ranch thrived under any circumstances.
Emma held her tight and breathed in deep. “Okay, but I know you and Nate are something serious, even if you won’t admit it.”
“I never said I wouldn’t admit it,” Ginger said.
“You’ve never even admitted that you’ve kissed him,” Emma said with a laugh, pulling away from Ginger. “And I don’t get why. We all know you have.”
“Maybe I just don’t want to talk about it over dinner,” Ginger said.
A new light entered Emma’s eyes, “Great. I’m going to get a ton of butter pecan ice cream, and you’ll come to my room tonight. Ten o’clock. Wait. Nine. And then we’ll chat.” She turned and started down the hall before Ginger could protest.
When she finally did, Emma just waved over her shoulder. “Nine o’clock,” she said, disappearing around the corner. That was that. Ginger would go, because she’d always talked to Emma about her boyfriends.
Boyfriend.
Was that what Nate was? Would he classify her as his girlfriend?
She hoped so.
Several minutes later, she sat in the truck as Nate helped Connor onto the seat. “Slide over, bud. All the way.”
Connor did, and Ginger helped him with his seatbelt. “How’s the little cowboy?” she asked. Nate slammed the door, so she didn’t hear the beginning of what Connor said, but it didn’t matter. The boy had been dipped in magic, and then gold, and she couldn’t imagine a better child than Connor.
“You guys hungry?” she asked as she pulled through the garage and circled the house instead of backing out into the driveway.
“I am,” Connor said, bouncing a little on the seat. “Uncle Nate wouldn’t let me eat breakfast.”
“Is that so?”
“No,” Nate said, somewhat crossly. He wore a displeased look on his face as he gazed at Connor. “That is not true. You ate French toast, Connor. And bacon. I wouldn’t let you eat a Twinkie fifteen minutes ago, because we’re going to lunch with Ginger.” He looked at her from across the cab. “For her birthday.”
She sucked in a breath and dang near drove them into the fence post. She corrected sharply, throwing them all to the right. Nate started laughing, and Connor said, “Whoa there,” like a real cowboy.
“Who told you?” Ginger asked.
“Nick,” Nate said.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Why?” Nate’s gaze on the side of her face was too heavy. “What’s the big deal if I know it’s your birthday?”
“Yeah, don’t you want any presents?” Connor asked in his innocent little boy voice.
“Yeah,” Nate echoed. “We could’ve gotten her so many presents. Now we’ll just have to settle for what we can find at the mall.”
“No,” Ginger said. “I don’t want presents.”
“Who doesn’t want presents?” Nate asked.
“I don’t,” she said. “My friends throw me a big birthday dinner with cake every year. I just want Chinese food and good company.”
“You don’t like your friends?”
“I love my friends. They’re just…loud.”
“The mall is loud,” Nate said.
“But it’s not the ranch,” Ginger said, finally letting herself look at him. “So, to the bank first? Chinese second? Mall third?”
Nate nodded, a curious look on his face still. Thankfully, Ginger had to look away to check the traffic before she pulled onto the highway.
“You gotta be good,” Nate said in a mock whisper to Connor. “She said she wanted good company.”
“What’s company?” Connor asked back, and Ginger’s face broke into a smile.
“It’s who you spend your time with,” Nate said. “So she wants to spend lunch with us, but only if she likes us.”
“She likes me,” Connor said. “Does she like you, Uncle Nate?”
Ginger looked at Nate then, and he looked at her. “Yeah,” he said with a wide grin. “I think she does.”
“Then we’ll be good,” Connor said, satisfied now.
“And I’m buying lunch,” Nate said.
Ginger shook her head, but she wasn’t going to argue with him. If he wanted to buy her lunch, that was fine. Perhaps she could use the topic of who paid to find out if they were dating, casually walking in the mornings and kissing each other, or what kind of labels he might use if he introduced her to say, his mother.
Or how she might introduce him to her sisters, both of whom were coming that night. Her heartbeat picked itself up and threw itself down, causing a slight echo in her pulse.
She and Connor waited in the car while Nate ran inside the bank for a few minutes. This was definitely his shortest trip to the institution, and he came out a few minutes later with an envelope he tucked into his backpack.
At the Chinese restaurant, he insisted on sitting beside her instead of across from her, and as Connor colored all over the animals that comprised the Chinese New Year, Nate slipped his hand into Ginger’s and leaned real close to her. “Happy birthday,” he said. “What would you wish for?”
She liked the intimacy between them, and how dim the inside of the restaurant was even in the middle of the summer. “That’s a hard question.”
“Is it?”
“What would you wish for?”
“Oh, let’s see. Cooler summers, for one.” He grinned at her, and Ginger couldn’t contradict his wish. “The ability to sleep in every day. And world peace.”
Ginger giggled and nudged him with her shoulder. “That’s a good list.”
Nate chuckled and lifted his water glass to his mouth with his free hand. “Oh, that’s not good. That tastes like flowers.” He made a face and looked at her. “You like this place?”
“The lo mein is incredible,” she said. “And the shrimp fried rice. That’s what I’m getting.”
He looked down at the menu. “What do you want, bud?” he asked Connor.
“Sweet and sour chicken,” the little boy said as if he’d frequented many Chinese restaurants.
Surprise crossed Nate’s face, but he said, “All right,” and ordered the child what he wanted when the waiter came. Ginger loaded up on carbs, because it was her birthday and she could. Nate got teriyaki beef and pork fried rice, and she watched as he took his first bite.
“Good, right?” she said as his face lit up.
“Really good.”
“Now you know why I come here on my birthday every year.” She happily dug into her shrimp fried rice, more joy coursing through her than she’d felt in many long years.
“Do you always come with ‘good company’?” he asked.
“I usually come alone,” she said. “At least since….” She trailed off, not sure how to bring up Hyrum. But she felt like it was time. Nate had been at the ranch for over two months now. Ten weeks, maybe. They’d been kissing for a while.
He didn’t press her to finish her sentence, and she twirled her chopsticks through her noodles, focusing on the bean sprouts and green onions as she said, “I used to be with a guy named Hyrum. We came together once.”
“Was he the last guy you’ve been out with?” Nate asked.
Ginger nodded and scooped up her noodles. “What about you? Pen pal girlfriend from prison?”
Nate chuckled and shook his head. “Nope. Not much of a love life before prison either. I was pretty focused on my career.”
“Oh, come on,” she said. “You expect me to believe that? A handsome guy like you didn’t have a girlfriend?”
“It’s true,” he said. “Though, I mean…yeah, I can tell you.” He put his fork down and glanced at Connor. “The last woman I dated—her name was Brittany. She’s the one who introduced me to the guys who got us all entwined in the fraud. So…yeah, I’m not really that lucky in the girlfriend department.”
Ginger nodded, trying to sort through which question to ask. The fraud? The girlfriend? “So…what are we?” she asked, going with girlfriend. “If you saw someone you knew, for example, right outside those doors.” She pointed with her chopsticks. “How would you introduce me?”
Nate reached for his fork again, his head bent. “Well, I guess I’d say you were my boss.”
“Oh, that’s the wrong answer,” Ginger said as his words dove deep into her heart and gouged out a hole. But by making her tone flirty and adding a plastic smile to her face, maybe she wouldn’t spiral into self-loathing.
“In that case,” he said. “I’d say you were my girlfriend.”
“Yeah, because it’s kind of icky to be kissing your boss, right?” she asked.
“Is it icky to kiss your boss?” he asked, throwing her a flirty smile too. “Oops. Done that.”
A beat of silence passed, and Ginger burst out laughing. “See?” she asked when she’d sobered up enough to talk. “You have had other girlfriends.”
“No.” He shook his head, still chuckling. “No, I haven’t. The boss was Brittany. Same woman. She’s still in prison too. Got ten years.”
“Oh, wow.” Ginger quieted all the way, and Nate seemed to disappear inside himself for a minute.
He drew in a breath, and she imagined him to be throwing off the cobwebs in his mind, because when he looked at her again, those bright, striking blue eyes danced. “I’m going to run next door for a minute. Will you be okay here with Connor?” He tossed his napkin on the table, already starting to stand.
She shouldn’t let him go off on his own, but how could she say no? “I don’t need any gifts,” she said. “Really, I don’t. Lunch is what I wanted, and you’re buying that.”
“Give me fifteen minutes to find something,” he said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet. He tossed a card on the table that actually made a thud like it was made of metal. “Use that to pay. If I can’t find anything in fifteen minutes, you’ll get lunch and that’s it.” He grinned and acted like he was getting ready to run a race. “Okay?”
“Okay,” Ginger said with a laugh.
Nate took off for the exit, taking his backpack with him. He didn’t look back, and Ginger couldn’t help giggling as he left. She looked at Connor, who had bright orange sauce around his mouth. She tapped his napkin. “Wipe your lips, bud.”
He did, and then he said, “Nate is gonna be my dad.”
“Yeah,” Ginger said. “I heard that. Are you excited about that?”
“Yeah,” Connor said, and that was all. She wondered what it was like inside a four-year-old’s head, but she couldn’t remember when she was four.
So she asked him why he liked sweet and sour chicken, and he said, “My dad used to get it all the time,” he said, launching into other foods his dad used to make or feed him.
Ginger handed the credit card to the waiter when he came by, and it was indeed made of metal. She’d never seen such a fancy, metal card before, and she was once again reminded that Nate Mulbury was not like other inmates.
Fifteen minutes came and went. So did twenty. When she and Connor had been sitting there alone for thirty minutes, Ginger reached for him. “Come on, bud,” she said. “Let’s go find Nate.”
Worry ate at her insides, and she couldn’t believe she’d let him go to the mall by himself. He could be anywhere by now. Literally anywhere.
Ginger stepped out of the dark restaurant and into the bright sunshine, blinking as if she’d never stepped foot into downtown Sweet Water Falls. The truck still sat in the parking lot only a few yards away, so he hadn’t stolen that.
Just the fact that she’d assumed he might’ve stolen from her made her frown. But why hadn’t he come back?
“Hey,” he said a moment later, rushing toward them. “Sorry. I’m sorry. Did you get my texts?”
Ginger could only blink. There he was. He hadn’t left. He hadn’t hitched a ride to the bus station and gotten on the first Greyhound to come by. He’d never given her a reason not to trust him, and guilt gutted her.
“No,” she said. “Sorry, I didn’t look.” She pulled her phone out of her purse, and sure enough, Nate had texted several times. “Long lines, huh?”
“They were having a big sale,” he said, still trying to catch his breath. He thrust a fancy, gold-foil lined bag toward her. “I think you’ll like this.”
A brand name was embossed on the bag, and Ginger wondered how in the world he knew she loved Arbortia lotions. A smile filled her from top to bottom as she pulled the tissue paper out of the bag and found not only the hand cream she adored, but a fancy, sparkling bottle of perfume.
“Nate,” she breathed, lifting it out. She’d seen this perfume before, and she knew it was very, very expensive. “Thank you.”
Their eyes met, and Ginger suddenly didn’t care who was watching. Not the general public. Not Connor. She stepped into his arms, still clutching the gorgeous bottle of perfume, and kissed her boyfriend.