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She shook her head. “I’ll eat with you guys when I can. I’m not planning on doing a lot of cooking or entertaining, but having a place to sit and a decent bed will be wonderful. And a small TV, but I can order that online.”
“Don’t.” He rounded the stable and backed the truck up to the door closest to her apartment staircase. “Sean had one in his room. I’ll bring it over. We can mount it on the wall easy enough.”
“That would be nice, Heath. Real nice.” She faced him over the hood of the truck. She wasn’t sure what inspired this kindness, but she welcomed it. “Thank you. Again.”
Jace came around the corner just then. He and Heath hauled the furniture up the stairs, and only nicked the painted walls twice. When they got the three pieces settled, Heath looked around. “That’s better. Isn’t it?”
She nodded. And when they showed up twenty minutes later with the television and mounted it on the wall, she realized he was really trying, because the last thing he had right now was time.
“Done.” He grinned at Jace. “And with no extra holes in the wall.”
“That’s because I’m here helping,” Jace answered. “Lizzie, you should be all set. I wrote down the password and account for the ranch’s channel service. If you have to update anything, you’ve got full access.”
“Sweet.” She taped the code to the kitchenette wall. “That way I don’t lose it.”
“Dad! Can I stay with Miss Lizzie for a little while? Just a tiny while? Like this much?” Zeke held his thumb and forefinger up to show a thin space. “I’ll be so good.”
“Lizzie’s got horses to tend.”
“But I’m letting them all out to graze, and then cleaning stalls, so he’s welcome to hang out with me. He might be able to spread fresh straw when I’m done.”
“You don’t mind? You sure? Because he can tag along with us. That’s what he usually does on Saturdays.”
“I’d love the company,” she replied as she exchanged grins with the boy. “I think we should get our work done, then see if Corrie’s got cookies in the kitchen. Because I know she brought along some of her signature macadamia nuts in case she couldn’t find them up here. And grits.”
“I haven’t had grits in a long, long time.” Heath looked up at her, and they both knew why he hadn’t had grits in a long, long time. Her heart went tight. She wondered if his did, too, but then she put a hand on Zeke’s shoulder.
“You come with me, kiddo. You can hang in the main hall while I open the stalls. Okay?”
“Okay!” He looked so excited to be there. To be with her. Hang out with her. He chattered as he worked, a distinct difference from his quieter father. By the time they were done, it was well past lunchtime.
“Kid, we’ve skipped lunch.”
“And I am so hungry,” he assured her. “Like maybe starving, my Lizzie.”
My Lizzie?
It made her smile and she couldn’t bring herself to correct him. “Let’s go rustle up some grub, cowboy.”
“You talk funny!”
It probably did sound odd to the little boy, her drawl at war with an imitation Western twang. She shut the door to the center barn and crouched, just a little. “Race you to the house?”
“Yes!” He sprinted off with eggbeater legs, kicking up dust across the dirt while Lizzie pretended to be catching him.
“I’m getting closer,” she called with a burst of speed. “I’m—”
“I won!” He pivoted on the top step of the porch and laughed, then jumped into her arms. “I must be superfast, my Lizzie!”
He was super in a lot of ways. Supercute, supersweet and quickly finding his way into her heart. Was that because she was transferring old emotions for new ones?
One look into Zeke’s big brown eyes said no.
He was cementing his own place in her heart. She’d faced Heath with the realization that she had to harden her heart to him, but when he pulled out his secret weapon, a motherless boy…
She hugged Zeke and set him down.
She needed to keep her distance. It was hard enough to be living here with her first love. It was nearly impossible with his beautiful son.
She didn’t go through the barn door when she headed back to the stables after lunch. She rounded it instead and came to a quick stop.
Last night’s creature was creeping toward a stand of trees and an old shed.
Not a wolf. Nor a coyote. The surreptitious creature was a tattered dog with a matted coat. The medium-sized canine slipped along the edge of the trees with its head hanging low as if tired.
