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“Nice tat.” Alice pointed at my arm. “My brother served too. Marines.”
“The way you run a tight ship, I’m surprised the marines didn’t snatch you up too.” I gave her a smile as I positioned the spare. “And I did my twenty in the navy. Had some marines get us out of a scrape or two.”
“This sure would be a pretty place to retire to.” Elana flitted back over, watching as I tightened the lugnuts. “I have a great idea! How about we buy you lunch in town? A thank you burger and beer?”
“I don’t think…” I spared a glance for Alice, expecting her to shut Elana’s idea right down, but instead, she nodded.
“Come on. Our thank you.”
“I…uh…” I wasn’t remotely tempted, but I was having trouble landing on an excuse they’d accept. A vision of my abandoned brunch made my stomach cramp. Hell. Why not try a part of the truth? “My…my boyfriend has pancakes waiting.”
“Oh.” Alice’s eyes went wide, while Elana just beamed and added, “That’s so sweet.”
My admission felt different from when the store clerk had assumed we’d been a couple. Danny wasn’t here, wouldn’t know if I flirted or deflected, and might not even like being claimed as my boyfriend. I supposed this would count as my first time coming out to strangers. And it was almost anticlimactic, how easy it was, like prepping for a mission and getting hit with a cupcake assignment instead. If anything, the women became friendlier after I mentioned a boyfriend, peppering me with lots of questions that I dodged, but the prying was friendly, and my shoulders eased. In a weird way, I felt more me, freer and lighter.
However, I was still eager to see their taillights and get back to Danny, make sure he was safe because that truly was all that mattered to me.
“Danny? I’m back,” I called out as I unlocked the cabin. “All clear. Two tourist women with a flat tire. I got them set and on their way.”
“Good.” His face was stony as he climbed down from the loft. “Food’s probably ice cold now.”
“I’m sorry.” I’d been so busy having a personal a-ha moment that I’d forgotten he was here all alone, probably going nuts with worry. I reached for him, but he dodged the embrace. Well, okay. I tried again with a gentler voice. “Let me reheat the pancakes?”
“I’ll do it.” He took our abandoned plates over to the stove. “That was nice of you to help.”
“Well, it got them gone faster.” I waited until he had the pancakes reheating in a warm skillet to try to touch him again. This time he didn’t pull away from my hand on his neck. “And they offered to buy me lunch as a thank you, but I told them my boyfriend had pancakes waiting for me.”
His unrestrained delight was worth any momentary embarrassment I’d had. Hell, I’d come out to a fucking stadium if it got me one of his high-wattage smiles and the full-body hug he wrapped me up in. “You said that?”
“Yeah. That okay?”
“I’ll allow it.” He pretended to be aloof but failed so miserably that I had to laugh and tip his head up for a proper kiss.
“Good,” I said right before I claimed his mouth. And it was. So good. So sweet. I wasn’t sure my soul had felt such pure joy in decades. But even as we kissed, my encounter with the outside world lingered. I couldn’t keep Danny tucked away here forever, much as I wanted.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Danny
“I feel like I’m on the set of some wholesome pioneer drama.” I shifted the laundry basket to my other side as I trailed after Cash, who also had a basket loaded with damp sheets. An ancient clothesline stretched between two of the small outbuildings, and after Cash had located clothespins near the washer, he’d declared that air drying would tax the generator less and be more efficient than multiple loads in the small dryer located above the washer. I wasn’t as convinced, but the novelty of hanging laundry out to dry was a nice distraction from how my thoughts had been churning all day. “Later, there should be a barn-raising and a dance with lemonade and cake.”
Clothespin between his teeth, Cash shook his head at my ridiculousness. “Well, as long as there isn’t a gang of outlaw cowboys on the horizon.”
“No outlaws.” The other morning had been enough danger for me, thank you very much. And sure, it had turned out to be nothing more than stranded tourists, yet my pulse still hadn’t recovered from all those long minutes in the loft, waiting for Cash to return. But I didn’t want to dwell on those awful moments. Amusing Cash was far more gratifying than replaying my terror. “I’d say you’d make the perfect old-west sheriff, but that would mean you at more risk. So no six-shooter for you. Maybe you could lead a wagon train.”
