Lone Heart Pass (12 page)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Charley
March 16

W
HEN
C
HARLEY
STEPPED
into the kitchen, the smell of cinnamon greeted him. Jubilee was trying to cook again, and he figured he'd be trying to eat whatever she mixed up by the time it was full daylight. She was gifted when it came to decorating, though. The old place had never looked so good, but cooking just didn't seem to be her thing.

He managed to get a cup of coffee and sit down before she rushed into the room with her long blond hair flying like a cape behind her. Since she'd given up the stress of the big city, it seemed as if she was getting younger. If she kept it up, he'd be raising two girls out here.

“I forgot how many minutes it said to cook the bread,” she cried as she opened the oven door.

The smell of something burning drifted through the room. “I'm guessing it's done.” Charley fought to hide his grin. He reached for one of the cereal boxes that were now a permanent centerpiece on Jubilee's table along with a dozen books on gardening.

“I think it's okay.” She leaned down to look in the oven, showing her backside to him. “I'll just cut the black parts off. The bread will be fine on the inside.”

He watched her, guessing she was talking more to herself than to him. He liked that she did that and doubted she was even aware her words were coming out in the open. When she talked to herself, he had the advantage of knowing what she was thinking without feeling any need to participate in the conversation.

By the time she cut off the black crust, her bread loaf was the size of a stick of butter and he'd finished his first bowl of cereal. As she headed toward the table, he stood and held out her chair as if they were at a restaurant. When she sat down, he touched her shoulder. “Not bad,” he managed as he looked over her head at what had once been a loaf of bread. “You'll be a great cook in no time.”

As he'd seen her do a dozen times, she straightened, forced a smile and said in what sounded like an office voice, “Let's go to work. What do we talk about first? I've got some ideas on the garden. Also, we could grow tomatoes upside down from the porch. I figured out how I can be of some help with that field you want to plant and, if you make me a list, I'll pick up...”

“Slow down, Jubilee.” He poured her a cup, fearing what caffeine would do to her. This was the way she was every morning lately. Wanting to run out of the gate at a full gallop. “We've got all day. It'll save time to plan a few minutes first. I thought I'd get started on a few chores in the barn if you'll drop by the vet and pick up our new boarder. A mustang mare who is in a bad way. Doc will load her for you and I'll unload—all you have to do is drive. Slow and easy. And remember to go through the cattle guards straight on or you'll hang the trailer.”

“I can do that.” She cut the tiny loaf and passed him half.

She'd learned to handle the stick shift in his truck, even if she did skip second every now and then. She'd offered a trade: they'd use his truck for all the ranch work and she'd pay for his gas. She claimed it would be cheaper than cleaning her car every other day.

Charley poured her cereal as if she were Lillie's age. “Eat,” he insisted, noticing she'd lost weight since she'd arrived. “We've got a few lists to make before we leave this table.”

She grinned. “Anyone ever tell you that you're bossy?”

“Nope,” he answered, fighting down a laugh. “I bossed my little brother around for years and he didn't hear a word I preached.”

“My big sister never bossed me. She was too busy ignoring me. Once my mother mentioned me and she said ‘Who?' like she'd forgotten she had a sister.”

Charley didn't laugh. He got the feeling Jubilee was telling the truth. He was glad they'd settled into an easy kind of peace. They had nothing in common but the work, yet it was somehow enough. He was surprised at how much he liked having someone to talk things over with. Sometimes he felt as though he'd been alone, thoughts to himself, for as long as he could remember.

The memory of how they'd talked the night it rained drifted across his mind. That had been nice. He wouldn't mind doing it again.

Just as they finished planning, the kitchen phone rang. “Who...” Jubilee said, heading toward the phone that hadn't rung since she'd arrived.

Charley picked up his cell from the table and turned toward the door. Whoever was on the other end probably wasn't his business. Jubilee had mentioned a few times that she'd had a boyfriend in DC. Maybe the guy was missing her and wanting her back. Once she'd finally cleaned up, she wasn't at all bad looking. She was probably something all decked out in a suit and heels. Any guy in his right mind would want her back.

Charley didn't want to think about how that bothered him. She was just his boss, he reminded himself. Maybe they were friends, but that was all either of them wanted. Getting involved with her on any other level was not an option.

The memory of the rainy night flashed once more across his mind like dry lightning. She'd felt so good pressed against his side as they jogged through the mud. And for a second or two they'd stood on her porch, rain dripping off of his slicker. They both held on to the other with their free arm. For one heartbeat neither wanted to step away. Then the moment was gone.

Her voice shook him out of a memory that had haunted him all week.

“Hello.” Jubilee sounded hesitant as she spoke into the phone.

“Jub!” A high-pitched voice screamed out of the phone so loud Charley heard it from the back door.

He dropped his cell back on the table and moved closer, fearing something terrible had happened. Maybe a neighbor was hurt? Maybe the school bus crashed?

“Destiny?” Jubilee whispered, panic holding to the edges of her one word.

Charley was at her side. He relaxed. Destiny was her sister. Nothing to do with the ranch or him.

He took a deep breath and looked down at Jubilee. Fear still danced in her pretty brown eyes. His hand rested on her waist in an offer of support.

“Of course it's me!” the voice yelled back from the phone. “I've been looking for you for hours. I thought I'd get to Grandda's farm early this morning, but apparently Google can't even find the place. It is so like him to have a farm literally in the middle of nowhere. Dad always said he was a crazy old goat.”

Jubilee stared at Charley and he swore he saw a cry for help in those eyes he'd grown used to watching.

He made no pretense of not having heard Destiny's side of the conversation. Leaning in an inch from Jubilee's free ear, he whispered in mock confusion, “Who is Google? And who the hell is Grandda?” Levy would roll over in the ground if he thought someone called him that. Jubilee said that when she'd lived with him he'd insisted on her calling him Levy.

Jubilee pushed him a few inches away and giggled. Her hand remained in the center of his chest as if she needed a bit of his strength when she turned her attention back to the phone.

“Where are you, Destiny?”

“I'm in some dump of a diner in some nothing of a little town.” Her voice lowered slightly. “Can you believe that this town doesn't even have a Starbucks? I pulled into a place across the street for directions first. When I went in what I thought was the lobby of a business, a half dozen old men tried to tell me how to get to your place and then they all voted that my Cooper would never make the road. Too muddy. Can you believe that? You've moved somewhere too muddy to even drive to.”

Jubilee held the phone with one hand as she rubbed her temple with the other. Then, as if it was her usual routine, she placed her hand back on Charley's chest and began to play with one of the snaps on his Western shirt.

He listened to the most damning description of his town that he'd ever heard, then raised his hand. His finger gently covered Jubilee's. “I'll take care of this,” he whispered. “Do you want her here, or gone?”

Jubilee covered the bottom half of the phone. “She won't leave until she says whatever she's come to say. Would you go get her?”

“The horse trailer's already hitched,” he answered back, making his boss laugh. “I'll bring the Cooper back, too.”

Now she covered her mouth, fighting to be silent, but giggles escaped as she stepped away.

“Jubilee!” Her sister screamed. “Are you having some kind of fit?”

Charley took over. “Destiny, this is Charley Collins, Miss Hamilton's foreman. I'll be on my way to pick you up as soon as I can. Stay where you are. And have the pancakes.”

As he put the phone back in its cradle he heard her yelling, “How do you know where I am? Who are you anyway? How will I know you when you pull up? Jub has a foreman?”

Charley leaned against the wall beside his boss and looked at Jubilee still giggling. “Does your sister ever stop talking?”

Jubilee shook her head.

“Fine,” he said. “She's riding in the trailer with the horse.”

There was nothing professional or reserved about Jubilee's laugh. It was full-out, tummy-holding delight. She rolled slightly closer as if they were sharing a private joke and didn't want anyone to hear.

He couldn't stop staring at how cute she looked when she laughed and decided she should do it more often. He couldn't decide if he wanted to tickle her or kiss her. Either would be most improper but right now there was very little space between them.

When she finally got under control, she tried to say calmly. “All her life Destiny has always blamed every problem in her world on someone else. She even claimed her husband was too potent and that was why she has to deal with two children in diapers. The fact that she has a live-in nanny, housekeeper and cook doesn't seem to matter.”

Charley was barely following the conversation. He wanted to help, but there were a few other things he'd like to do also. He swore if Jubilee pressed her hand against the middle of his chest one more time he planned to see that there was no space between them.

She kept talking as if totally unaware of how near he was. “If I don't listen to whatever problem brings Destiny here, it will only upset my sister more.”

“Then I'd better go get her.” He pushed away from the wall and shoved on his hat. He needed to put some distance between Jubilee and his wild thoughts. The next time she played with one of the snaps on his shirt, he might show her just how fast the shirt would come off.

“Thanks. Whatever it is must be bad if she can't take it home for Mom and Dad to fix.” She patted the wall of his chest just over his heart. “You're my hero, Charley Collins. This is above and beyond your job description.”

He thought of saying that taking care of this place and her was exactly his job, but he worried it might sound too heavy. They'd come a long way in trusting each other, and he wanted to keep it comfortable between them.

He needed air. He needed distance suddenly. Hell, he needed her.

He took a few steps toward the door, then turned back. “We'll get through the visit one way or the other. If you need someone to help you bury the body, just let me know.”

“Once you meet my sister you'll give up on the idea that I'm a plague. Leave her car in town. We'll blindfold her. That way she'll never know the way out here.”

“I've already thought of that. See you later, boss.”

Half an hour later, Charley was convinced Destiny was worse than most of the plagues Moses brought. The good news was everyone in Dorothy's Café looked happy to see her go. The bad news: she was in his truck yelling out complaints faster than a greased Gatling gun fires bullets.

“Do you ever wash the inside of this thing? I think I smell something dead. Don't roll down the window. No telling what will blow in. Doesn't the air conditioner work? Does this truck even have a seat belt? I'm not putting my purse on that floor.”

He glanced at her, remembering how beautiful he'd thought she was five minutes ago when he'd walked into Dorothy's and saw her looking so alone. Chocolate brown hair curling down to ample breasts that peeked out of a low-cut dress that hugged her body. She was a polished and pampered kind of beauty.

Since she started talking, she was uglying up fast.

“Nope,” he answered to pretty much everything she said.

“I didn't think so. How far to the farm?”

“Ranch,” he corrected.

“What's that noise following us? I swear it's giving me a headache on top of the one I already have.”

“That's the horse I stopped by and picked up on my way to town. She's hurt real bad and not happy to be loaded in a trailer. She's trying to kick her way out, but don't worry, she can't.”

Destiny's head snapped to face him. The anger in her gaze was hot enough to start a grassfire. “You mean you stopped to pick up a horse on the way to get me?”

“Yep,” he answered. “I didn't want the horse to have to wait.”

He only glanced in her direction but he swore her eyes rolled back in her head and steam came out of her ears. For half a country song she was silent, and he made the mistake of relaxing.

“What do foremen do?” Her words came fast, whipping through the warm morning air.

Before he could answer, she snapped again as if one look from him might be deadly. “Oh, never mind. I don't care. Whatever my sister is paying you is too much, I'm sure.” She huffed. “Add one more thing to the list of problems I'll have to straighten out. My little sister is a nitwit. She didn't need a career. I told her from the first to get married to David. But no, she wanted to work. Now she's lost any chance at a career or hooking David and I've got to save her from this mess.”

He rolled down his window. Nothing flying in could be as deadly as Destiny.

With the wind blowing her hair, she went back to picking on him.