Chapter 29

29

" H e's fine," Abby insisted. "Really, Tex. You don't need to go check on Wade." She looked from Tex to Otis, silently begging him to do something.

"I'll go," Otis said, his face turning a shade of red that didn't fit the situation. "Come on, everyone. Let's go check on Wade."

Before she could stop the tide that was the Young brothers, they flooded out of the house. "Oh, uh," she said. "Maybe I should text my brother so he knows what's coming."

"I'm going to go change my clothes," Bryce said, and he went in the opposite direction of his uncles.

"I don't think you have time to text Wade," Tex said, turning her in his arms so they faced one another again. "Because by my count, we're by ourselves, and it's not going to stay that way for long." He wore his country music star mega-watt smile, and Abby couldn't help sinking into that.

"I suppose you want to kiss me," she said.

He shrugged slightly. "A little."

"I guess I could stand that," she said. She looped her hands up behind his neck and drew him down to her. She waited, her eyes closed, and when Tex finally kissed her, Abby's pulse rocketed up to light speed.

She breathed in, every cell in her body tingling as the love mingled between them. Now that Tex had said how he felt about her, she could feel it in every stroke of his lips against hers. She hoped he could feel it in her touch too.

He pulled away after only a few seconds, when Abby wanted to kiss him for a lot longer. "Abby," he said as he breathed in. She liked the airy quality of her name in his voice. "Do you want to try dinner tonight?"

"No," she said, smiling up at him. "I want whatever you have here and to just spend the night talking. The two of us."

"I do have a son," he whispered, his lips skating along the edge of her jaw. Her brain buzzed at her, and she wasn't sure how Tex had known to wear her favorite cologne while he simply worked on songs with his band in his own home.

"Yeah," Abby said. "I really like him too, Tex."

"It seemed that way," he said, pulling back. "I saw him holdin' your hand."

Abby beamed up at him, so much happiness flowing through her, she could finally see how perfectly miserable she'd been without him. "He helped get me over here," she said, a measure of nervousness returning. "I've been wanting to come talk to you since you walked away."

"I'm sorry I did that."

"It's not your fault," she said. "I'm the one who acted like someone building a barn on their property was against the law." She couldn't believe herself sometimes. "I really am trying, Tex."

He searched her face, then dipped his head and kissed her. "I love you just the way you are, Abs," he whispered, and then he kissed her again. He couldn't have said more perfect words, and Abby fell in love with him a little more because of them.

Her phone rang, Wade's ringtone, and her heartbeat catapulted up into her throat. She pulled away, a pulse throbbing in her neck. "That's Wade."

"Yeah," Tex said with a chuckle. "He probably wants you to come save him from my crazy brothers."

She silenced the call and looked up at Tex. "The last time he called, he'd been thrown from a horse."

"Let's go see ‘im," Tex said. Leaning closer, he added, "The night is young. We can kiss later."

She giggled and tucked herself into his arms. "All right, cowboy."

"Bryce," Tex called. "We're goin' next door."

"Kay," his son called back. "I'll be over in a little bit."

Abby looked down the hall. "What's he doing?"

"He might be talking to his friends in Boise," Tex said, glancing toward the bedrooms too. "Or Bailey. Or maybe he just needs a break. He left the house to get away from crazy, and then came home covered in another man's blood." Tex grinned at Abby, and she'd always been able to get lost in his eyes. Now, everything felt different. Now, she loved him—with a real, grown-up love—and he loved her.

She didn't want to kiss him later. Well, she did, but she wanted to kiss him right now too. She pulled his face toward hers while he chuckled and said, "You're going to make every one of my brothers talk."

"Let ‘em talk," she whispered just before his lips touched hers.

"Have a nice day," Abby said to the mother and child who'd just finished checking out their books at the self-serve kiosk. The library here in Coral Canyon only had one, and she'd just finished reshelving the non-fiction titles and had returned to the desk.

Margot Gatwood nodded at her and herded her boy toward the exit with some measure of relief on her face. Abby couldn't stop smiling, though in the past, the thought of dealing with a whiny, crying child would've irritated her.

Today, the next person she saw brightened her whole world, and she practically vaulted over the waist-high doorway that led out of the desk area to get to Tex.

"Hey," he said as he caught her in his arms. He laughed and pressed a sloppy kiss to her neck. "How are you?"

"Good," she said. "Now that you're here."

"Yeah, because I brought lunch." He held up the brown paper bag giving off the delectable scent of garlic and butter.

"Did you bring the floorplan?"

"Freshly printed," he said with a smile as he stepped back.

She led the way into her office and closed the door. She had a few printouts to show him too, but she'd been asking him for a week to show her the floorplan for the recording studio, and he'd claimed not to have it.

"Really," Bryce had finally told her. "They mocked it up on a tablet. I don't think he has it."

So Tex had asked his contractor for it, and well, contractors didn't seem to understand the need to get back to people very quickly. With all of the rain in the past week, they hadn't done anything to the foundation in Tex's backyard, and she knew his frustration had started to grow roots and branches.

Hers had too, because the rental market in Coral Canyon was intense. She hadn't told anyone—not Tex and not Wade—that she'd started looking at potential places to rent. The first had been during lunch two days ago, and she'd left in a coughing fit from all the dust.

That's a no , she'd told her real estate agent. He'd said that dust could be cleaned, but Abby didn't think anyone could vacuum up all of the dirt and grime in that carpet. Oh, no. It would have to be ripped out and replaced, the way Tex and Bryce had done at their farmhouse. Abby wasn't going to do that, not for a rental.

She'd gone to another place after work yesterday, because she didn't have to drive the Bookmobile, but all she'd learned was that "quaint" meant "microscopic" and "you can't even fit a twin bed in this place so don't bother."

Another no.

She wasn't discouraged yet. She had patience and loads of time to find somewhere. She simply didn't like the process. It reminded her of all she was leaving behind, and she'd rather just get it done quickly.

She sighed as she sat behind her desk, and that drew Tex's eyebrows up as his attention centered on her. "That didn't sound good." He pulled out the first carton of food and read the writing on the top. "This is your ravioli."

"Thanks." Abby looked down at the printouts of the houses she'd looked at that morning. Fisting them, she picked up several. "Will you help me look through these? Maybe come with me to look at some of them, if your schedule allows?"

Tex took the papers, curiosity written in the lines of his face. "What are these?" He studied the top one. "Rentals?" He looked at her, his curiosity morphing into concern and compassion. "You're already looking to rent?"

She pulled her food toward her and said, "Yes. Wade is getting married in less than four months. I don't have to live there now. He's a grown man." Her worry carved a way through her belly, but she thought she did a pretty good job containing it.

Tex said nothing but went back to the papers. He tucked the first one behind the others and got his food out of the bag too. Abby liked that he didn't jump right into the conversation, offering his opinion and bossing her around. She'd endeavored to be more like that in the past couple of weeks—more silent, more thoughtful, less vocal about things, even if she didn't agree.

She'd never be as good at it as him, and she'd come to terms with that. She didn't need to be Tex. She could still be herself, and his words to her in his living room— I love you just the way you are —had assured her and reassured her over the passing days.

She ate a few bites of ravioli while he assessed the pile of rentals. He finally sighed, straightened them all together, and put them on the edge of her messy desk. He unwrapped his plastic silverware and took off the lid on his steak and spinach pesto.

"Here's what I think," he said, finally looking at her. His eyebrows went up again, nearly touching the underside of that cowboy hat, as he asked her silently if she wanted to hear his opinion.

She nodded for him to go on, because she so desperately did.

"You don't need one of those," he said, waving at them dismissively. "Wade and Cheryl are getting married just before Christmas, right?"

"Yes," she said, surprise not allowing her brain to function very well. "December twenty-second."

Tex mixed his pasta together, his eyes down, that cowboy hat obscuring her view of his face. "I'll talk to Wade."

"What?" Abby asked. "Tex, you're not making any sense."

He forked up a piece of steak and a piece of penne. "Actually, it's probably Cheryl I need to talk to. Wade won't care."

"Care about what?" Abby leaned toward him, wishing she could read minds. His eyes met hers, and oh, that mischief shone through. Excitement bubbled in her stomach. "Tex," she said with plenty of warning in her voice.

"It's kind of a crazy idea," he said.

She couldn't eat another bite until she heard it all. She told herself to hold her sharp tongue too. So she folded her arms and blinked at him, clearly telling him to go on and spit it all out.

"That's it?" he asked, grinning at her. "You're not going to throw some witty comment about how building a recording studio in a barn was crazy too?" He chuckled and put his food in his mouth. He shook his head, charm and charisma flowing from him as he ate. After he swallowed, he said, "Abby, you don't have to change for me."

"I'm not changing for you," she said, plenty of bite in her tone. "I'm changing for me. So I'm not so unhappy all the time. So I don't lose you and have to go through that again."

His dark eyes burned in her direction. "It feels like you're doing it to please me," he said. "I don't like it. I never asked you to be anyone different than you are. Or act any differently."

"I know," she said. "I'm waiting to hear the crazy idea, because yes, it might be just as amazing—insane, sure. But amazing—as building a recording studio in a barn so that you can stay right here with your son. And me."

"And you," he said, pointing his fork at her. "You got that part right."

"I know Bryce is your focus," she said. "As he should be. That boy…he's something, Tex. You're not going to be able to contain him in a box, that's for sure."

"I'll have to ask my mama and daddy how they let me do what I did," Tex said, chuckling, and they were so far off-topic now that Abby wanted to scream. He seemed to understand her slow internal combustion, because he sobered.

"All right," he said. "Hear me out."

"I'm all ears." She swallowed, the few bites of ravioli she'd taken not enough.

"I don't think you need to find somewhere to rent," he said. "Because if I talk to Cheryl and she says it's okay, we could get married on the twenty-second with her and Wade." He nodded as if he hadn't just dropped a bomb.

Two bombs. Two nuclear bombs, one right after the other.

Abby kept breathing, but only because her body did that by itself. Everything in her tightened, clenching to the point of pain. She exhaled and released all the tension in her muscles. "Tex Monroe Young," she said calmly, reaching to pick up her fork. "That better not have been your proposal."

He burst out laughing and shook his head. "No, ma'am."

She stabbed a ravioli and looked at him again. "It's insane."

"I know," he said, grinning.

"It's less than four months."

"Yep."

"You barely know Cheryl." That wasn't a good argument at all, not that Abby was trying to argue with Tex. He usually got his way, because he was so darn likeable and he didn't even know it.

"Oh, I know her fine," Tex said, waving that one away as Abby expected him to. "The real question, sweetheart, is if you think you can be ready to marry me in less than four months." He took another bite, his eyes never leaving hers.

She couldn't hold his gaze, and she dropped her eyes to her food. She took a bite too, not ready to tell him she'd have married him when they were eighteen-year-old kids. In that moment, she realized he wasn't asking her if she could marry him. He was asking if she could be ready to marry him.

"Because if not," he said. "There's no point in me embarrassing myself with Cheryl. Seein' as how we'll soon be family and all."

"Again," she said sarcastically. "That better not have been a proposal."

He chuckled and shook his head. "That's gonna blow your mind," he said. "Don't worry. You'll know it when it comes." He'd been saying that for a few days now, ever since they'd talked about getting married.

"Here's what I think," she said slowly, separating out a chunk of tomato from her ravioli. She didn't like the big chunks in the sauce. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. "I'm ready to marry you, Tex. Right now. Today. Now, as for being able to get ready with flowers, and cake, and a dress…." She gave him a wide grin, unable to keep it hidden for another moment. "I can do it, Tex. By December twenty-second."

His smile grew too. "I know you can."

"You can help," she said. "You're not even working right now."

"I'm not even working?" he demanded, his eyes flashing with dark fire. "Are you serious? I can't believe—" He cut off when she burst into giggles, and he tossed his fork on the desk as he got to his feet.

"You think you're so funny," he said, coming around the desk.

She squealed as she realized he wasn't slowing or stopping. He bent and started to tickle her, despite her efforts to spin her chair away from him. They laughed together, and Tex ended up on his knees in front of her as the moment sobered.

Abby reached out and swept his graying hair off his forehead. "You're looking old, Mister Young." She really liked the mature silver in his hair and beard, and this wasn't the first time she'd told him.

"Yeah," he said softly.

She met his gaze, the love there stealing her breath. "I know you work hard," she said.

"You'd marry me right now? Today?"

"Yes," she said.

He took her face in his hands, so gentle and so tender. "I'd marry you right now too. Today." He kissed her, and Abby loved his touch, his taste, him. She loved him.

"I know I'm crazy," he said, leaning his forehead against hers. "But I cannot stand the thought of you living anywhere but right next door to me. I don't want you to move, and when you do, I want it to be in with me and Bryce." He put some space between them, and Abby heard and saw how genuine he was.

She smiled at him and traced her fingers down the sides of his beard. "I like your brand of crazy."

"So I'll talk to Cheryl?"

She nodded, biting her lip. "I can if you want."

"No, I will," he said. He pulled back and went back to his spot in front of her desk. When he faced her again, he wore a soft smile. "You can eat now." He nodded to her food, but Abby shook her head.

"No?" he asked.

"One more thing." She pulled the paper out from under her plastic container, wondering how she'd gotten even a few ravioli down. She handed him the single sheet, something so lightweight yet carrying something so heavy.

Tex didn't ask what it was this time, and his eyes read quickly. "Abigail."

"If I'm going to be living on that ranch anyway, what's the point of having two different owners?" She got to her feet and went toward him. She sat on his lap, the paper flapping out to the side as he made room for her within the circle of his arms. "I want you to buy it from me. It's yours, and it's stupid that I bought half of it anyway."

She smiled down at him, but he simply gazed up at her. "Say something."

"I'm trying to figure out what," he said softly. "Does I love you so much work for you?"

Abby's grin felt like it would never fully straighten. "I think I could handle hearing you say that, yes."

He finally cracked a small smile. "So I sign this and give you the money, and the ranch is all mine?"

"Mm hm," she said. "I had Cyrus look it over, and he says it would be binding."

"I'll stop by the bank after lunch," he said. "Figure it out."

She looked up to his cowboy hat and delicately removed it, twisting slightly to set it on her desk. Facing him again, she ran her hands through his hair, liking the way he tilted his head back and let his eyes drift closed.

With her hands cupped around the back of his head, said, "Soon enough, it'll be ours ," and then she kissed him.