Chapter 27

Mission Redbay leaned against a fence post a safe distance from the homestead, watching. He chewed his spearmint gum, an addiction better than others he'd had in the past, and wondered what ran through Opal Hammond's pretty little head.

"Can't think like that," he muttered to himself. She'd been dating another cowboy for half a year now, and Mission honestly expected to hear news of a proposal, engagement, and another wedding any day now.

He'd had a Rocky-Mountain-sized crush on the gorgeous brunette since the day he'd met her. He'd never gone to Coral Canyon with the Hammonds, but Opal and her family had come to Ivory Peaks and the Hammond Family Farm plenty.

Okay, maybe not plenty, but enough for Mission to seriously entertain the idea of going out with Opal.

But she'd flit in, flirt, and fly back to her big-wig doctor job in Burbank, and Mission rarely acted on his opportunities.

That fact made his eyebrows draw down—as did the way Molly Hammond met Opal on the porch of the homestead with a bottle of Diet Coke, a hug, and the hand gesture toward the table and chairs on the end closest to Mission.

Great. That meant he'd spend the rest of his break watching. Wondering what might've been had he been brave enough to make a real move in his relationship with Opal. Wishing she wasn't currently dating Taggart Crow.

Watching, wondering, wishing. Mission had wasted so much of his life doing those things.

Since Cord—a man Mission's age—had found his happily-ever-after with Jane, Mission had been trying to get outside the three Ws. He'd been out with more women in the past year than the previous decade, and no one seemed to fit.

No one from church. No one from town. No one on either of the dating apps he'd joined.

"Maybe you're too picky," he mused under his breath. Travis had originally asked him that, and Mission had denied it immediately. But would it kill him to go out with a blonde-haired woman?

One longing look at Opal said yes. Screamed it, actually. He much preferred brunettes, and he'd spend a lifetime telling himself that wasn't a crime.

Molly and Opal sat far enough away that Mission couldn't overhear them. He wouldn't want to know what they were talking about anyway, and he could guess better than most.

After all, he'd heard Opal was building a house out at Gerty and Mike's. He'd heard she was making this area her permanent home. He'd heard she and Tag were "getting serious," whatever that meant. And he'd heard all of those things simply by keeping his head down and doing his job here on the farm.

It helped that he ate dinner with Boone Whettstein and his family at least three times a week. Boone was Gerty's daddy, and he knew everything happening at her farm.

Mission almost wished he didn't know.

Opal didn't look happy, which also made Mission's heartbeat throb through his veins strangely. He lifted his bottle of water to his mouth in a slow, calculated way, so as to not draw any attention to himself. Nothing more than the waving of the tree branches in the slight wind on the farm today.

His phone buzzed in his back pocket, but his lunch break couldn't be over yet. Things on the farm definitely varied, something Mission enjoyed, so he pulled his device out, praying, "I just want to stay here a bit longer, Lord."

He wasn't entertaining inappropriate thoughts about Opal. He just liked looking at her so much, and apparently, he liked torturing himself with thoughts of his own stupidity in not asking her out over fifteen months ago, when she'd first come to Ivory Peaks.

His phone bore a message not from Matt or Boone, but from Rachelle, a gorgeous woman he'd met, believe it or not, at the bank a couple of weeks ago.

She'd been waiting to see the same loan officer as Mission, and he'd flirted successfully enough to get her number. They'd exchanged a few texts, but nothing too substantial. He hadn't officially asked her out yet, and everything inside him told him to get the job done before she started dating someone almost exactly like him.

Especially with Rachelle's message. Hey, cowboy.

Oh, so flirty, and Mission smiled at his device.

I've been thinking about you.

Always nice to hear, Mission thought.

And I won a couple of tickets to a ballet in the city. It comes with dinner at The Margarita, and I want to go with you. Any chance cowboys like you can suffer through a ballet if a steak dinner is attached?

Mission started typing quickly, not even considering his options, the way he usually did. My sister danced ballet growing up, he said. I've seen The Nutcracker and other productions en pointe more times than I care to admit.

He sent that one and kept on going. So tell me when it is, and if I can get off the farm at all, I'd love to go with you.

Rachelle sent a thumbs-up emoji and followed that with, It's not until next month.

Maybe we should go out before then, Mission sent. Restaurants around here aren't The Margarita, but they keep a man alive from time to time.

I'd love to, Rachelle said, and a glow started in Mission's chest.

Great, he said. Are you available this weekend? It was only Tuesday, and Mission could go earlier, as he didn't work in the evenings, usually. The farm had been planted, and now they were dealing with fence repair, machinery issues, and rebuilding the decks on a few of the cabins in the community where Mission lived.

I sure am, Rachelle said. Friday or Saturday.

Let's do Friday, he said. Tell me what you like, and I'll get a reservation.

About the only thing I don't like is sushi, she said. Mission half-scoffed and half-laughed.

"Good," he typed as he spoke. "Sushi shouldn't be consumed this far inland, and I'd be worried if you loved it."

He continued flirting with Rachelle until he had to get back to work, and then he returned his attention to the porch at the homestead. Opal and Molly had vacated it at some point, and Mission lamented the fact that he hadn't been able to see Opal leave. Why, he wasn't sure. He had zero chance with her, and he needed to get past this crush. Quickly.

"And you've got a date with someone else," he told himself. "And you're excited about it." And he was. So he pushed away from the fence post, turned over to the stables, and went to get the horses ready for their walking and riding lessons.