A Rancher's Redemption. Ann Roth

“Hi, Nick,” she said, not bothering to warm up her tone.

      “Uh...” A brief pause. “Am I catching you at a bad time?”

      “Not really. I’m folding laundry.”

      “That should make you nice and relaxed.”

      She had been, until now.

      When she didn’t comment, Nick went on. “We haven’t spoken in a couple days. Are we okay?”

      “Why wouldn’t we be?” she said, not at all okay.

      Fluff chose that moment to jump into the laundry basket. Soon his long hair would be all over her clean clothes. Dani lifted up the cat and set him on the carpet. After narrowing his eyes at her he flounced off with his tail high.

      “You sure about that? You seem tense. The other night—”

      “We shared a few kisses,” she interrupted, proud of her nonchalant tone. “They didn’t mean anything.”

      Only long, sleepless nights and the irritating problem of not being able to forget the feel of his lips on hers. Hot and soft...

      His relieved breath was loud and clear. “That’s good, because those kisses didn’t mean anything to me, either. I don’t want things between us to change because of them.”

      He had a funny way of showing it. “Me, either,” Dani admitted. “Why did it take you so long to call?”

      “You didn’t pick up the phone and call me, either.”

      “I guess I needed time to process what happened.”

      “Ditto.”

      During another long beat of silence, Dani racked her brain for something else to say, something to prove that she was fine.

      Before she could drum up anything, Nick spoke. “How about we forget those kisses ever happened?”

      “Consider them forgotten.”

      Liar, liar, pants on fire. Dani touched her lips, which even now tingled a little.

      “You and Big Mama had that meeting at her place today. How’d it go?”

      The great—and occasionally annoying—thing about Nick was that he remembered most everything she told him. “Don’t remind me,” she said, frustrated with her mother all over again. “I don’t know why I thought she’d listen this time. I came prepared, too, with a sketch for the new menu. I even brought recipe ideas. Big Mama gave everything a thumbs-down, so I asked for her ideas. She had nothing to say, except that she won’t make a single change. She just keeps repeating that both our food and service are excellent just as they are.”

      “They are important.”

      “Of course. But the same old, same old isn’t enough anymore—not if we want to stay in business. We both want the restaurant to thrive again. Why won’t she try something new?”

      “Maybe she’s scared.”

      “My mother?” Dani snorted. “Of what?”

      “I don’t know—spending the money?”

      “Since she refuses to give me access to our financial information, I have no idea. All I know is that we can’t afford not to change.”

      Sharing her worries with Nick helped, and as Dani talked, her anger at him melted away. Yet now, a different kind of tension simmered between them, the kind that made her self-conscious and a little ill-at-ease.

      “I’m not asking her to totally gut the place, though in my opinion, that would be the best option,” she went on. “But new tables, chairs, curtains and wall decorations, better lighting, fresh paint and an updated menu? That’ll cost a bit, but not that much. There has to be a way to convince her, but heck if I have a clue what it is.”

      “My offer still stands,” he said. “I can talk to her.”

      “No, it’s best if you stay out of this. I’ll handle it myself. How was your day?”

      “It’s your battle—got it. My day sucked. This crappy weather delayed the irrigation project. Tripp and his team won’t be back until the rain eases off.”

      “That’s too bad. When the team finally does start, how long will the whole thing take?”

      “Tripp estimates about five days.”

      “To irrigate the entire ranch? That’s not bad.”

      “Nope, and during the dry days of summer, I’ll be glad I did it. My mom called this afternoon.”

      “No kidding,” Dani said. Nick and his mother weren’t close, but she and Dani got along okay. “It’s been ages since you heard from her. What did she want?”

      “She asked me to come over after work Friday.”

      Dani was puzzled. “I wonder why.”

      “If I know my mother, she needs money.”

      He sounded disgusted. Despite having a job that paid decently, his mother always seemed short of cash. And she often borrowed from Nick to make up the gap.

      “Are you going?” Dani asked.

      “If I don’t, she’ll nag me until I do.”

      There the conversation died.

      They usually chatted easily about everything under the sun, but tonight Dani couldn’t think of anything else to say. Apparently neither could Nick.

      The ensuing silence was uncomfortable.

      Finally Nick cleared his throat. “You probably want to get back to your laundry and then to bed. I’ll let you go. Sweet dreams.”

      His signature sign-off. Tonight, Dani wasn’t sure what kinds of dreams she’d have. She hoped they didn’t feature Nick doing delicious things to her... “You, too,” she said. “Good luck with your mom.”

      They both disconnected.

      Feeling oddly discombobulated, she folded the rest of the laundry and wondered how long it would take before she and Nick were at ease with each other again.

      * * *

      AFTER TWO DAYS of torrential rain and intermittent hail, the downpour suddenly braked to a stop just as darkness hit. During the nasty weather Nick, Palmer, Clip and Jerome had spent much of their waking hours fighting to keep the swelling river at the north end of the ranch from flooding the surrounding pastures. Meanwhile Blake and Wally, two seasonal ranch hands in need of work, had offered to herd the cattle to dry ground. The two men had impressed Nick, and he’d offered them jobs to last through September.

      Now hungry, muddy and wet, he showered and put on a clean flannel shirt and jeans. After phoning in an order for a jumbo pie with the works he jumped in the truck and headed for Harper’s Pizza, his favorite.

      As usual, the small pizza hut was packed. Salivating over the mouth-watering aroma of the pizzas, Nick nodded at people he knew and shared flood stories with several ranchers before taking his place in the crowd waiting near the takeout window. Every few minutes the teenage kid manning the window called out some lucky Joe’s name to pick up their order.

      In the midst of the noise, the door opened and a redhead sauntered inside. Nick wasn’t the only guy who checked her out. Flashing a pretty smile, she joined him in line.

      “What a big crowd tonight,” she commented. “The bad weather must’ve kept people home for a few days, and I guess they’re making up for lost time.”

      Nick nodded. “It’s been a heck of a few days.”

      “My hair and I are both relieved that it finally stopped raining.” With an apologetic smile, she touched her hair. “It gets crazy wild.”

      “Curly looks good on you,”