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“Swallow please.”
Immediately, she opened her mouth to show me her chewed up roll. Jillian walked in at that moment and cleared her throat. “Am I interrupting some sibling bonding time?”
“No. I was just leaving.” Loading up her plate, Kim glared at me as she marched out and left Jillian and me alone.
“I can see that your sister and I are going to get along famously. Why does she hate me anyway?” Jillian sat down at the table, and I pulled a beer out for her. She eyed it when I sat in front of her, and I watched her carefully. We used to drink the cheapest stuff that we could find. Maybe now that she was older, beer wasn’t her thing anymore.
“Kim is just difficult in general.” I sat down and reached for the potatoes as she sipped at the beer and cringed a little. I made a mental note to add some wine to the list. She always did like wine, and now I could afford to give her the good stuff.
“This looks good, but then, I remember that you were always a good cook.”
“Actually, we have a woman who makes dinner for us a few nights a week. Kim and I struggle on her days off.” I smiled a little, remembering the romantic candlelight dinner we’d made when the electricity had gone out.
Such a long time ago.
“The ranch keeps you busy,” she commented. “I can sort of see why you ran away. I had no idea that you’d pull off a cowboy hat so well.”
I immediately bristled. The ranch might not have been part of my future then, but it was who I was now, and I didn’t like her making light of things. “Actually, now that you’re here, I won’t be so busy.”
She blinked. “I’m sorry? Now that I’m here? How am I supposed to help your workload? I’m going to be working on my dissertation.”
“You can work on your dissertation.” I grinned at her as I cut into my porkchop. “But you’re also going to pull your weight around here. Harry isn’t going to believe that we’re really working on our marriage unless he believes that you’re okay being at the ranch. And you can show that by helping me out.”
She opened her mouth to argue, and I put my finger up to stop her. “Before you say anything, I promise it won’t be anything that you can’t handle. Now, Harry did say that he would be dropping by to check in on our progress, so we just need to spend every moment like things are working. And the sooner that he believes it, the sooner you can head back to the city.”
“Brendan, I don’t know the first thing about horses or ranch work. Exactly what do you expect me to do? And don’t you even think about asking me to muck out the stalls, because I will shove this roll so far down your throat that you’ll discover what it’s really like to get a yeast infection.”
“That’s the Jillian that I know and love,” I murmured with a smile. “As tempting as that sounds, I have something else in mind. We’ll chat about it in the morning. How’s your room?”
“My room is fine. Actually, it’s gorgeous. The whole house is gorgeous.” That mask slipped back over her face. “It could use a little work. Maybe I could do some work around here instead.”
“You? Do housework? I remember all too well what our apartment looked like. You don’t clean.”
Slowly, she put her fork down and jutted her chin out. “That was a long time ago. Now, I clean.”
“You’re angry.”
“You promised that you wouldn’t do the walk down memory lane.”
I wanted to point out that it was impossible for us to be together and keep the memories from bubbling to the surface. I had a feeling she was having the same problem.
“You were a big part of my life,” I reminded her softly. “It’s hard to just pretend that didn’t happen.”
“I love you, Jillian. I know we haven’t been together long, but I can’t imagine my life without you.” The sheets were tangled around us, and even though I was exhausted from the hours we’d just spent together, I couldn’t stop the way my heart sped up. I was so sure that this woman was meant for me, and I was just as nervous that if I made the wrong move, I’d lose her forever.
“I love you too,” she whispered and leaned over and kissed me gently.
I put my hand on her stomach, splaying my fingers over the life growing beneath my palm.
“What if I told you that I wanted to marry you. Not in the future but right now. I want you in my life, permanently. I want you to carry my name. I want the world to know just how much I love you.”
