Nova (15 page)

Austin arrived on Friday afternoon. I was in the stables treating Syncopation with her eye ointment when I heard his car rumble by. Even though I was giddy beyond belief, I continued on with my work, checking on Ridley—who’d been given stitches after tearing his flank open the day before—and then giving Sadie Liz some anti-inflammatory meds for her legs.

I heard a “Hey,
psst
” a minute later, and smiled at Austin waiting by the tack room. When I approached, he pul
led me inside and shut the door.
I wrapped my arms around his neck as he kissed me. We paused a minute later when we heard boot
steps go by, and
then continued making out
. He gradually reduced the amount of contact and then smiled at me.

“I want you to come over tonight,” he said quietly.

“To your house? Austin, I don’t think—”

“Sam’s inviting a few friends over and I know she’ll invite you. Just say yes, okay?” I thought about it for a few seconds, and when I didn’t respond right away he said, “
Pleeeeeease
?”

I smiled and had to give in. “Okay. But if you think you’re going to drag me off to your room and nobody’s going to notice…”

He smiled and said, “When the time comes, I’ll send you a text with instructions.”

I laughed quietly and
then
said, “
Well,
I have a few more things to do right now, but maybe you should come eat dinner in the guesthouse tonight. I hear there will be good dessert.” He raised his eyebrows as I patted him on the chest and said, “I’ll catch ya later, handsome.”

“Wait, you have to kiss me again,” he said, grabbing my
wrist
before I could leave. He pulled me close and looked into my eyes. “I’ve waited all week for this
reunion
so you better make it good.”

I had to stifle a laugh,
but before I could respond, his lips met mine with a passion that made me want to take his clothes off right there in the tack room
. But it didn’t last long because another set of boots walked by (or maybe the same pair) and we stopped.

“Bye,” he said, giving me one last kiss before he went out the back door.

I took a deep breath to recover and left through the front door.

Sam did invite me over for that night. She caught me just as I was heading to the guesthouse to shower and get ready for dinner. I agreed to coming, but I felt guilty about it. Even though I really liked Sam and would have said yes without Austin’s forewarning, I felt like I wanted to go over there only for him.

I was just coming down the stairs when he entered through the front door. He mouthed a “wow” when he saw me and I rolled my eyes because of my damp hair and bland appearance.

“Clara, I hear you made enchiladas,” he said loudly, heading straight for the kitchen.

“Why yes I did,” I heard her reply as I sat on the couch in the front room.

“My family is doing the whole pizza-thing because Sami’s having friends over. I’d rather have a home-cooked meal…”

I heard her laugh
at the hint and it also made me smile
in the other room
.

“Well it’s just Heath and I and Nova tonight,” she
told him
.

“Perfect, then there’s more for me, right?”

She laughed again and said, “Unless your brother decides to roll in tonight; he can smell my food from the driveway.”

“He has a girlfriend that cooks for him all the time. He doesn’t appreciate it like I do.”

“Well if—” She seemed to stop short for some reason and then I heard the oven open. “Go see what’s holding up my husband,” she said. “And tell him he doesn’t get dessert since he’s late!” she hollered after him.

Austin came down the hall with a big smile and quietly said, “There
is
dessert.”

I laughed to myself as he left through the front door, and since he was only gone for a few seconds, I figured Heath must have already been on his way
in
.

Dinner that night was interesting. Austin, with all his wit and charm to control a conversation, had Clara and Heath telling me all kinds of stories about how they first met and the crazy things that happened at their wedding twenty-
eight
years ago.

I tried to be attentive to what was being said, but Austin kept staring at me with that cute little smile of his, and I could tell it made me blush. He took advantage of the fact that Clara and Heath
barely glanced at him. They
kept looking at each other and at me as they told their stories, most likely because Austin had heard them all before.

After dinner Heath headed back outside to help with a horse that
was being difficult
, and Austin and I helped Clara clean up the kitchen. She was just putting leftovers into the fridge when Cal and Gene came in, begging for scraps.

“You two are lucky I’m in a good mood tonight,” she scolded
her husband’s stable hands
. She set the food on the counter and motioned for them to help themselves.

I headed up to my room after that to get ready to join Sam and her friends. Austin watched me from the bottom of the stairs, and after glancing around and realizing that no one was around to see him, he took the stairs three at a time and rushed me into my room.

“You are very bad,” I told him, shaking my head at him. “How are you going to get out of here now?”

He shrugged as he shut the door and smiled at me. “I guess I’ll figure that out later.”

Chapter Eight

Twelve days later was a Wednesday, my day off, so I headed down to Santa Clarita to see my
family.
I spent the morning with my grandpa first, and after taking him to the diner for lunch, Meryl and I took him back to Brookside Gardens and then went shopping for a bit. Both of my cousins were home for the summer, Michael and Lauren, so they met up with us for a matinee.

Around
six
I
gave Austin a call
and left him
a message. He called me back ten minutes later as he was on his way home, just as I was also entering the city of Arcadia.

“I’d like to see you,” I
told him
.

“Oh, I’d love to see you, too.
I really wish I was up north instead.
”

“Hmm, well I’m prob
ably five minutes away. Do you still wish you were up north?
”

“What? Are you serious?”

“I’m just passing the golf course.”

“The Santa Anita Golf Course? Then you’re, like, two minutes away,” he chuckled. “You know where you’re headed?”

“Uh, I believe so. I’ll see you in a couple of minutes.”

I hung up, feeling happy that I could surprise him.
I was glad that he seemed just as pleased, and my heart felt full and giddy at the same time.

I saw his Camaro right away;
he hadn’t even gone inside his condo yet. He stood up from the porch when I got out of my car, and just the smile on his face was enough to make my day.

“Wow, you’re a sight after a rough day,” he said.

I slid my hands around his neck and kissed him as he led me inside and shut the door behind us.

Two days later it was a similar greeting on a Friday afternoon after he arrived at the ranch. Again I heard his car while I was in the stables, but I had five little puppies that were following me outside with Goldie. Austin saw me from the house, and I could even see him smile from where I was. I walked over to the grass and met him halfway, and I was a little caught off-guard when he kissed me right there in the front yard.

I pulled back quickly, showing my surprise.

“What?” he smiled.

I gave him a look, and then glanced around at our surroundings.

“No one saw,” he shrugged. “Well, minus your little puppy clan here.”

“Austin, please don’t do that,” I said. I even looked at the house,
hoping
that no one had actually been looking out a window.

He was going to say something, and then he changed his mind. Instead he said, “Come on, Goldie,” and the dog (and her five little replicas) followed him toward the garage. “Come on, Nova,” he smiled, calling me like the others.

I resisted the urge to make a retort, so I just followed behind him along with the last four-legged straggler.

Once in the garage, Austin pointed outside and said, “Goldie, go play.” The dog didn’t follow him in and she remained in the grass with her babies. He shut the door behind me and smiled as he pulled me close. “Is this better?”

“A little.”

“A little? Sheesh, I’m gonna saddle up a horse and take you into the woods, woman.”

“Really?” I smiled.

“If that’s what allows me time with you.”

I shrugged and said, “I’m game. I wanna see you ride a horse.”

He slightly shook his head and
kissed me anyway, just as we heard several yips from the yard. I guess the puppies were trying to warn us because the door opened and just about nailed the both of us. Austin swung it open the rest of the way, like we were just coming out or something, and Katie stood there just as surprised to see us as we were to see her.

“Hey, Kate
,” Austin said cheerfully.

He stepped outside and so did I, and Katie just kind
of
glanced us over before she entered the garage and shut the door behind her.

I looked at Austin and let out a sigh of frustration.

“What? She could
n’t
care less.”

I didn’t reply and called Goldie to follow me.

“Nova,” he groaned at me.

I turned around and faced him. “Austin, I can’t do this. I’m trying to keep my professional life separate from my personal life and I can’t do it. It’s fine when we’re away from here. I mean Wednesday was…Wednesday was really nice, Austin. We could be together, and we could go out to dinner, and I didn’
t have to worry about it affecting
my job—”

“We could be together here and it woul
dn’t
affect
your job
.”

“Maybe not to you. Maybe
you
don’t see how it
changes
my
work
environment.”

“No, I don’t think
you
understand that it
doesn’t
affect your professional obligations. If you would just trust me on this…”

I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know, Austin. Things are really good for me right now. I love it
here. I love working with Jack
and I’m finding my place here. I can’t jeopardize that.”

I called Goldie
again
and began walking toward the stables. I knew Austin was still behind me because he was encouraging the sam
e little slowpoke to move along with us. I decided to put the dogs in the dog run instead of back in the barn since it was so nice out, so after Goldie entered through the gate with two of the puppies, I picked up the next two and set them inside. The last little pooch seemed to be on his own field trip, so Austin
scooped
him up and set him inside with the others.

“Nova, I’m sorry,” he said as I closed the gate.

“I am, too,” I replied, turning to face him. “I just don’t know what to do right now.”

“Well I do, but you don’t seem to trust me on making a decision
when it comes to
my own family.”

Of course when he put it that way I felt really awful about it. He had a point, b
ut why couldn’t he see mine
?

“I’m really worried about it,” I said.

“I know you are, but you need to trust me on this.”

He stepped closer to me and put his hands
on my shoulders
. Then he leaned forward and kissed me. Obviously I enjoyed
his mouth melting into mine
because I let him do it for so long, but my worry got the better of me.

“I don’t think I can do this.”

“Yes you can, Nova. This is my home. Thi
s is where I can actually kick
back and relax. Yeah I work while I’m here, but it’s nothing like the real world. Working here is like I’m on vacation; it doesn’t even seem like work sometimes
. Here you can have both
. Nobody’s
gonna
fire you for being in a relationship with me. That’s not what it’s like here.”

“I don’t want people to think less of me, Austin. Can’t you understand that? I’ve been torn between this from day one, and I’ve never wanted to compromise the opportunity I’ve been given here—”