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“You make it sound easy.”
“It’s not,” the other woman said. “But you already know that. You started that fashion show—which, by the way, I never miss—and you’re building a future with Toby.”
“True.” But if you were planning that future on a lie, did it count? Could it work? Not questions she could ask out loud. “Thanks. For the pep talk and, well, everything.”
“No problem.” Amanda scooted out of the booth, stood up and patted Naomi’s shoulder again. “Toby’s a good guy. You should celebrate.”
Nodding, Naomi watched Toby laughing with his friends. Texas cowboys, all three of them. And handsome enough to have women lining up just to take a look at them. Her heart twisted as her gaze landed on Toby just as he lifted his head, caught her eye and winked. That flicker of something bright and hot sparkled inside her again, and though she fought to ignore it, the heat lingered.
In reflex, Naomi returned that smile and quietly hoped that this marriage didn’t cost her her best friend.
* * *
Toby knew he’d catch his mom and sister off guard with his announcement. After lunch, where he’d finally convinced Naomi to take a small bite of his burger, Toby dropped her off at her condo to start packing. Then he’d driven straight to Oak Ridge Farms, his family ranch.
It was smaller than his own spread, but the ties binding him to the land ran strong and deep. His mother rented out most of the acreage to other ranchers and farmers, and his sister had her veterinary clinic in the remodeled barn. But no matter what changes took place, it would always be the McKittrick Ranch, and steering his truck up the drive would always make him feel the tug of memories.
He knew that he would beat the news of his engagement home, because it didn’t matter how fast word was spreading throughout Royal. His mother, Joyce McKittrick, didn’t approve of gossip, so she’d been cut out of the rumor loop years ago. As for his sister, Scarlett was too busy caring for the local animals to waste time or interest on gossip.
Toby had told Naomi that he wouldn’t lie to his family. So after he explained the whole situation to his mom and sister, he waited for the reaction. He’d expected they’d be surprised. He hadn’t expected them to be so happy about it. Especially since he’d made it clear that love didn’t have a thing to do with his reasons for this marriage.
“You’re marrying Naomi?” Scarlett McKittrick squealed a little, then leaped up from her chair at the kitchen table and ran around to hug her brother. “It’s about time.”
“What?” Toby looked at his younger sister when she pulled back to grin at him.
“Well, come on,” Scarlett said. “You two have been tight for years, and even a blind person would have seen the sparks between you.”
Sparks? There were sparks? Toby frowned a little as he realized that maybe all the lustful thoughts he’d been entertaining for so long had been obvious. Well, that was lowering, if his sister noticed something that he’d never seen himself—or allowed himself to see.
“Scarlett,” he said, automatically returning his sister’s hug, “there are no sparks. I told you it’s a marriage of convenience.”
“Yeah, I heard you,” she countered and gave his cheek a pat as she straightened up. “Doesn’t mean I believe you. I’ve seen the way you look at Naomi, Toby. And it’s not like you’re thinking hey, good buddy.”
“That’s exactly what it is. She’s my friend. That’s all.”
Shaking her head, Scarlett glanced at the wall clock and said, “If that’s how you want to play it, fine. Look, I’ve got to run. There’s a cow giving birth, and if she manages to pull it off before I get there, people will think they don’t need to call me for this stuff.” She grabbed her huge black leather bag and headed for the back door.
Once there, she stopped, ran her fingers through her short honey-brown hair and narrowed wide hazel eyes on him. “But I’ll want more details later, you hear? ’Bye, Mom. Don’t know when I’ll be back.”
And she was gone. Scarlett McKittrick was a force of nature, Toby thought, not for the first time. She’d always moved through life like a whirlwind, and now that she was a vet, it was even worse. Answering calls for help at all hours, she was dedicated to the animals she loved and as caring as their mother.
Scarlett did everything at a dead run, moving from patient to patient and keeping a grin on her face while she was doing it. Most people looked at her and thought she was too slight to do the kind of work she did. But Toby had seen his sister in action. When one of his mares got into trouble during labor, Scarlett had been there to save the foal and the mother. He knew she had the strength, determination and pure stubbornness to do a job most often thought to be a man’s purview.
When the door slammed behind her, silence settled on the homey kitchen. He glanced around quickly while he grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from the plate in the middle of the table. The walls were sky blue and the cabinets were painted bright white. Toby himself had painted the kitchen for his mother the summer before, and he figured she’d be ready for another change by next year. The floor was wide oak planks, and the fridge and the stove had been replaced with top-of-the-line new ones. But there were old pictures attached with magnets to the new fridge, and when he looked at the images of him and Scarlett as kids, he had to smile. His mom’s old mutt, Lola, was napping on a cushion under the bay window, and her snores rattled in the room.
Toby had grown up in this house and spent too many hours to count sitting at this very table. He’d done his homework here, had family dinners, come in late from a date to find his mother awake and waiting up for him. So it made sense to him that it was here that he and his mother had the conversation he could see building in her eyes.
Joyce McKittrick was short, with golden-blond hair that fell in waves to her shoulders. Her blue eyes were as sharp as ever, and she never missed a thing. She was, he thought, beautiful, strong and smart. Hadn’t she stepped up when Toby’s father died, to raise Scarlett and him on her own? Thanks to her husband’s life insurance, they hadn’t had to worry about money, but Joyce had never been one to sit back and do nothing. She’d boarded horses and given riding lessons to local kids. And she’d encouraged both Scarlett’s love of animals and Toby’s inventive nature. In fact, she was the one who’d made sure he got a patent on his very first invention—a robotic ketchup dispenser he’d come up with at the age of ten.
Joyce was his touchstone, the heart of their family, and she had given his sister and him the kind of home life that Naomi had missed out on.
“When you first said you were marrying Naomi, I was pleased. She’s a good person, and I’m glad she’s finally letting that side of her out to shine instead of hiding behind a mean streak that wasn’t natural to her.”
He smiled to himself. Trust Joyce to see past the surface to the truth beneath. Not many had, really. Naomi, Cecelia and Simone had been like a trio of mean for a long time. They had always seemed to enjoy setting people back a step. To strike quick with a sharp word or a hard look.
But times, like everything else, changed, and now the three of them seemed to be coming into their own. Naomi, especially, he though
t, had done well by letting go of her past enough to carve out the future she wanted for herself.
