Page 87 of Roping Her In

To Conrad: Are you planning on painting the house? If so, can I give my input on the color if I take the job?

She smiled and quickly navigated over to her string with Jake.

Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I had an interview with Conrad today about being the farm manager on his property. I want to talk to you about it. Can I take you to dinner tomorrow night?

Neither of them answered immediately. Hailey put her car in reverse, backed out of the parking area in front of the house, and drove away.

Suddenly, not wanting to navigate through town to her condo, when she reached the highway, she put her blinker on to go left. A twenty-minute drive down this highway would land her at Shiloh Ridge, and she could talk to her parents about everything and try to figure out what to do from here.

“It would be nice, Lord,” she prayed as she drove. “If You could give me a nudge in the right direction—and help me to know what to do with Jake as well.” She didn’t want to hurt him, and she couldn’t explain why she didn’t want a job at Three Rivers Ranch. It just didn’t feel right.

Though she’d been over the moon to intern there and felt like she’d learned an astronomical amount in the past three months, she also knew that was due to Jake himself.

As an immense amount of gratitude flowed through her, her boyfriend finally called. She tapped to connect the call through her stereo system and waited for it to click before she said, “Hey, there you are.”

“We can absolutely go to dinner tomorrow,” he said. “But we can also just talk right now.”

“I’m headed to my parents’,” she said.

“Ah, I see. Well, where do you want to go tomorrow?”

“I don’t know,” she said, feeling lighter and more flirtatious at the mere sound of his voice. “How about I surprise you?”

He chuckled. “Are you going to drive out to the ranch and pick me up too?”

“No,” she said. “You can pick me up from my condo, and I’ll have something planned for us.”

“All right, Hay,” he said. “That sounds great. I miss you.”

“I miss you too,” Hailey said, though she’d teased him in the past for him saying that to her when they’d only been apart for twenty-four hours. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“All right,” he said. “Have fun at your momma’s.”

“Thanks.” The call ended, and an invisible timer now hung around Hailey’s neck. She had twenty-four hours to figure out a perfect place to take Jake to talk about their relationship, marriage, where they thought this relationship was going, and her entire future.

“No big deal, God,” she said. “But I’m on the clock here, and if You could give me the right thing to feel and say and know what to do, I’d really appreciate it.”

32

Jake felt like he was walking into a den of vipers as he got off the elevator on Hailey’s floor and walked down the hall to her condo. He had no idea what tonight would hold, and he’d been praying that he could be as neutral as possible, check his temper, listen to Hailey, and try to understand where she was coming from.

He rang her doorbell, and she opened the door only a few seconds later. “Wow,” he said before he could stop himself, and he hoped that would be the last thing that would fall out of his mouth without him thinking about it first. “You are so pretty.” He put one hand on his chest. “I can barely breathe.”

She wore a deep purple dress that made all of her blonde-haired, blue-eyed features stand out. She smiled at him, and maybe Jake didn’t have to be so nervous about this date.

“Oh, please.”

“I mean it.” Jake grinned at her and took an exaggerated breath. “You’re stunning in that color.”

“Thank you,” she said, apparently deciding he was being serious. “You look very nice too.”

He looked down at himself just to make sure he was still wearing clothes. Thankfully, he was, though it was just his regular jeans, which he’d paired with a blue button-up shirt and his usual brown cowboy hat, belt, and boots.

He wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her, so he did exactly that. She held onto him and kissed him back too, so tonight couldn’t go too terribly. Could it?

He stepped back and took her hand in his. “Where are we going, sweetheart?”

“I was feeling like somewhere really quiet,” she said. “And kind of fancy. Don’t worry, I’m gonna pay.”