Chapter Six

F rom the outside, the shed was no bigger than a large postage stamp. Just before she got close enough to see detail, Izzy realized she was pulling a reluctant Nathan along with her and that the feeling blooming in her chest wasn’t all that professional or connected to the building they were about to explore.

She could not, would not step over the line with the rancher who still held onto her hand. Obviously, he was too much of a gentleman to tell her to let go.

Heat rising to her cheeks, Izzy dropped Nathan’s hand and proceeded toward Zelda Lohmen’s she-shed, stopping just before taking the single step onto the porch that ran across the front of the small building. “This is so cute.”

Up close she could see the shed had been taken care of since Nathan’s mother’s passing. The light gray-green color looked freshly painted. Double doors with grids on the full-length glass were trimmed in brown wood stain. A half-moon window hung over the doors. Empty flower boxes were suspended under the front windows.

Izzy could get cozy here.

Nathan stopped beside Izzy. “Mom loved it.”

When she glanced at him, he wasn’t looking at her trying to figure out what she’d meant by grabbing his hand and tugging him along with her but was studying the building instead, a sadness taking over his expression.

She waited for him to say more, but he was quiet, which inexplicably made her feel better. Izzy didn’t like wandering off her chosen path because she’d let a sudden attraction become a distraction.

She’d found Nathan to be a man of few words. Unfortunately for him, she wasn’t a woman who preferred silence over talking when she was trying to get to know a new client better. “Did you paint it recently?”

Nathan nodded, his gaze inspecting the shed from top to bottom.

“Can we go in?” She wanted to see the reflection of his mother inside but wouldn’t intrude if it made the cowboy uncomfortable. She needed to understand him so she could come up with a business plan that would be easy for him to go along with.

Pulling out a key ring, he opened the door, and stood back to let her enter. “After you.”

“Thanks.” He wasn’t exactly smiling, but he wasn’t frowning either. A curious light ignited in the depths of his dark eyes. Izzy couldn’t look away. She caught her breath, but exhaled immediately, counting herself lucky that he was allowing her to see his mother’s personal domain.

Inside, the space was a perfect square, roomy and immaculate. She pulled out her phone to take pictures. The walls were painted a soft seashell pink and had sizable windows to let in plenty of light. Pastoral views stretched for miles.

Taking a seat in the highbacked, overstuffed rocker that made up a small sitting area in the corner, Izzy instantly fell in love. With the she-shed. Not Nathan. Though he was certainly growing on her. “I can see why she loved it and why you’ve taken such good care of this place.”

“She did all her sewing here.” In one corner was a sewing machine and a dressmaker’s mannequin. Along the wall was a table with drawers tucked underneath and two chairs scooted close. On the opposite wall was a minuscule food prep area.

Dropping her phone in her lap, Izzy breathed in the peaceful simplicity and closed her eyes as she rocked the chair. All the time she was hyper-aware that she wasn’t alone. Nathan was more than the tough customer he presented.

She took a mental step back. Her job on the ranch wasn’t just to restore the business, but to make sure the results of what she accomplished fit her client’s needs too. In this case, the Lohmen brothers. But Nathan was the one she had to impress. More than that, he was also the one who had the most to lose if she failed to do her job.

She liked Nathan Lohmen. He could be a cranky bear but that didn’t put her off at all. There was just something about the appealing rancher. If she could just put her finger on whatever it was—

A chair scraped on the floor. “I remember one time Mom made Jonas’s friend, Sloane, a dress for a winter formal. It took her a week to finish.”

“This would be the perfect place for a small cottage business,” Izzy said lazily, letting her imagination float in a hundred different directions. It took a minute before she realized Nathan hadn’t said anything.

She opened her eyes to find him watching her. His caution was back.

“I’m sorry. I tend to go overboard without realizing it.” She’d done it again. Let her creative mind run wild when what she should have been doing was sticking to a plan tailored for Nathan. She stood. “You’re probably ready to get going.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned back in the chair until only the back legs were on the floor. “What kind of cottage business are you thinking about?”

Arching her brows, Izzy sat back down. “I was thinking...” she hesitated. Then asked, “Is there a bathroom?”

“Through that door.” Nathan pointed at a door on the back wall.

“Okay. Well, with a few additions that won’t cost much, this would be the perfect place to host weddings.”

His gaze stayed on her face, making Izzy think she’d overreached. Her cheeks turned warm. Of course, she had. Sometimes she couldn’t stop herself.

“What kind of additions?”

Surprised by his interest, she said, “Well, you’d need a shed to store tables and chairs, kitchen supplies, lights, and things like that. A garden similar to the one at the guesthouse with a large arched trellis for the happy couple to stand under during the ceremony would be very charming. Guests could park on the road and that way not tear up the natural landscape.”

The front legs of his chair hit the floor with a thud. “Show me.”

She led the way onto the porch. “With very little changes, your mom’s shed could be used for the bride and her attendants’ changing area. You could also put a roof on this porch. That would make it a great sitting area for the groom and his groomsmen. Maybe turn it into an all-weather porch.” She walked to the side of the she-shed toward his parent’s tree and spread out her arms. “The garden could be here under this aspen for shade with the arch in the front. Whoever is officiating could stand with the bridal couple.”

This little shed would host the kind of small, cozy wedding she would have wanted if Jim hadn’t insisted they go big, then decided not to show up on the day he’d told her was the only one his boss would let him have off. The silver lining in the whole thing was that they’d put off planning a honeymoon until they had more time to plan a romantic trip —his idea, not hers.

Get over it, girl. It’s been a year. The voice inside her head wasn’t telling Izzy something she didn’t already know. What kept the painful disaster lodged in her chest was that Jim had left a note with his best man, a guy Izzy barely tolerated and only because he was Jim’s best friend. That should have been a sign. People who surrounded themselves with less savory friends were probably not top-shelf humans themselves.

Slamming the door on her encroaching memories, Izzy came back to the present. “We could do whatever version you like of bring-your-own-wedding.”

“I don’t want anyone carving their initials on these trees.” He’d walked a little further out to his parents’ tree. The aspen near the she-shed and his parents’ tree were stunning together and would be perfect for wedding pictures.

“We’ll add that to the contract with a hefty fee if they don’t leave everything as they find it,” she promised.

“When do you want to get started?” He was asking questions. That was enough.

She started taking pictures. “I need to put a proposal together and a cost analysis, but tomorrow or the next day?”

“That will give me time to talk to Jonas and Blake to make sure they’re on board. We’ll have to see about permits.” Nathan’s gaze took in his mother’s shed and the trees. Hopefully, he was seeing her vision of the garden and arch all set up for a couple’s perfect wedding. He finally faced Izzy and said, “I think this might work.”

She believed him and couldn’t stop watching the expressions flickering across his face. “I think so.” She snapped another picture of Nathan standing in the middle of what would become the garden. “If your brothers approve, you could call the project The Wedding Cottage.”

His dark brows came together. Sometimes, she wished in her excitement she would watch how she phrased things better. Quickly, she added, “You can take a vote.”

His brows arched.

“Draw high card?”

His lips twitched.

“I think I’ll quit there,” she said with a laugh.

He smiled at her, and Izzy’s pulse picked up as though she was running the most important race of her life. “Good idea,” he said. “Are you ready to go? We can finish the tour and then I need to get back to the horses.”

“And I have a business plan to write up.”

After driving along the edge of towering mountains on the backside of the property, the hills, and pastures dotted with trees and undergrowth along a river that bordered one side of the acreage, they got back to the main ranch house in the late afternoon.

Izzy was dying to put her fingers to her keyboard and get started on the proposal taking shape in her mind. She’d had more fun than she expected, even though Nathan had been mostly quiet through the tour, only giving historical facts when she asked.

When he pulled up in front of the barn, she’d taken enough pictures to have her pick for any promotional materials she wanted to use for Zelda Lohmen’s she-shed as a destination wedding location. She could already see the sales pitch: Welcome to The Wedding Cottage.

“I’ll help you with the horses,” she said, barely willing to postpone putting her vision into a document, but she’d promised to help with the animals. And she wanted to check on Cookie.

He shook his head. “I’ve got it. You can start work at eight tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll take care of the picnic things then.”

“Okay.” Nathan moved slowly, his limp more pronounced than when they’d started earlier.

The man was stubborn. From the set of his shoulders, he wasn’t about to change his mind. Not tonight anyway. He disappeared into the barn as she watched, concerned that the day they’d spent together had been too much.

He wouldn’t appreciate her suggesting that he needed more time to recuperate. He was right about one thing. She could use the rest of the afternoon and night to design a plan that would show the Lohmen brothers they didn’t have to lose the ranch. Silently, she promised Nathan.

Seeing him at his mother’s shed, Izzy thought she understood why in the beginning he’d been so reluctant to make changes to the ranch. Everything about the Triple L reminded him of his parents, especially his mom. After all this time, she suspected he was afraid that if he changed anything, he would lose his memories as well.

By the way he breathed in every acre, she could see how attached he was to the ranch his parents had built from scratch with little but a dream to get them started. Before the doctors had finally diagnosed her mother’s condition, all Izzy could think of was the tragedy of losing Sylvia. If she had, after watching Nathan at his mom’s sanctuary, she could believe that many years down the road she would find herself still grieving and walking in his shoes. She could read it in every bit of the property’s history he shared.

When she looked out of the window over the sink, Nathan was leading Duke into the barn.

He just needed someone to hear him. She could be that someone as long as they kept it about the business of saving the ranch and didn’t get all personal while they were at it.

Her phone rang.

“Hey there,” Malorie said into her ear when she answered without checking to see who the caller was. She was still watching Nathan. “How are things going?”

“Which things?” she asked, not especially ready to tell even her best friend about her day with Nathan and how his quiet company had been just what she needed to inspire her creative juices.

Maybe her mother was right. Even though Sylvia kept herself on the go all the time, lately she’d been telling Izzy she should think about slowing down a bit.

Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black, Mom? Izzy had asked.

Probably , her mom said. I haven’t set a good example, have I?

Izzy would settle down and plant roots when she was ready or when her mother did, whichever came first.

“The job? Nathan?” Mal said, the smile in her voice coming clearly across the line.

“Everything’s going fine.” Izzy stepped away from the window. Normally she and Malorie told each other everything. Not this time. Not until Nathan talked to his brothers. Her work for this particular client was between her and the Lohmen brothers. “How’s New York?”

“It’s been fun. We’ve taken the kids to see the Empire State Building, the 9/11 Memorial, the Statue of Liberty. And we went to the zoo at Central Park. I think we’re all ready to come home. Especially the kids. They’re missing the horses. And Nathan, of course. Any progress with my future brother-in-law?”

Izzy glanced out the window again. Nathan was slowly walking toward the house. “Some. I have an idea or two up my sleeve.”

“That sounds promising. Do tell,” Malorie said with a laugh. Izzy could hear the kids and Blake talking excitedly in the background.

Nathan looked up at her as if he’d heard her response to Malorie. Izzy waved at him. Even though he couldn’t know who she was talking to, there was no point in giving him the idea that she was blabbing his business by moving back until he couldn’t see her. “I have a cat.”

“A cat?” Malorie was just as surprised as Izzy was when Nathan had given her the cute little animal.

When he went into the house, she sat on the couch. “Crazy, right? What am I going to do with a cat?”

“I don’t remember you ever having a pet. How did that happen?” Malorie must have found a quiet place because the voices in the background quieted.

“Her mom is a barn cat and she’s still a baby. Her name is Cookie.” Izzy studied her fingernails, then shrugged. “I might have mentioned to Nathan that I wanted a cat.”

“I see.” A bed creaked in Izzy’s ear.

“I know. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Malorie laughed. “My guess is that you were thinking you wanted a cat.”

“She’s so cute, I can’t give her back.” She would just figure out how to take Cookie wherever her next job took her.

In a more serious tone, Malorie changed the subject. “Have you heard from your mom?”

“I’ll probably hear from her when she gets back to Portland.” It made her a little anxious for her mom to be out of touch, but Izzy had known the friends she was traveling with for years. They would call if her mom’s health went downhill.

“Don’t worry. It’s been my experience that no news is good news.” Nurse Malorie knew Izzy too well.

“I’d better let you go so you can play with your family.” For the first time, she was envious of her friend and the family she was building. “I want to check on Cookie before I make dinner.”

“Are you having dinner with Nathan?” Malorie asked slyly.

Snorting, Izzy jumped to her feet. “Of course not.”

“Don’t be so insulted. I admit he’s a bit on the cranky side, but he’s nothing like Jim, and you might like having dinner, just the two of you.”

“Goodbye, Mal.”

“Goodbye, Iz.” the disconnect cut off Malorie’s laughter.

Slipping the phone in the back pocket of her jeans, Izzy shook her head at Malorie’s not-so-subtle suggestion and slipped out the door to go to the barn. She didn’t need her friend to play matchmaker just because Mal was happier than she’d ever been since deciding to stay in Strawberry Ridge with Blake and Timmy.

It was quiet in the barn except for the sound of the horses’ tails swishing and the occasional nicker and thump of feet. In the tack room, Zelda nursed her kittens. Izzy scratched the cat’s head until she started purring. She didn’t want to bother the kittens while they were feeding, only she couldn’t resist gently smoothing out the fur along Cookie’s back.

So, she had someone besides herself to look after. That would be a novel change.

Leaving Zelda and her kittens just as she found them, Izzy made her way to the guesthouse, fixed herself a sandwich and a cup of tea, then settled at the table with her laptop and dinner.

Researching destination weddings was easy. She made a list of the things that would need to be done in order to have the venue at Zelda’s shed—investigate if an event permit would be required; look into insurance coverage; the cost of flyers that could be posted at the courthouse, library, and downtown businesses, online advertising on the local social media sites.

Writing an article for the local newspaper wouldn’t cost anything but a little time. She would need to build a website. All the brothers would have to do was decide on an opening date. Izzy paused, then added an open house to the list to introduce The Wedding Cottage to the community.

She’d never thought about being in the wedding planning business—she very much liked the job she already had—but it was fun turning a building no longer used except for keeping precious memories alive into a growing concern that could bring the Triple L and the Lohmen’s a steady income.

She added and expanded on a few more ideas to her proposal. Finding the right events that would appeal to Nathan especially, was a challenge she could live for.

She limited her suggestions to the top five contenders: The Wedding Cottage (her favorite). Trail riding and hiking excursions because Nathan had already half-agreed they were a possibility. Weekend camping trips. And a longshot from what Nathan had told her, restarting Mr. Lohmen’s Rangerbred breeding program.

It was close to midnight before she finished fleshing out each idea and putting it all into a presentable document. Now all she had to do was get Nathan’s approval so she could present her plan to all three brothers when they came to the presentation she would schedule tomorrow.

That might be the hardest part.