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A blond-haired girl of around nine or ten was standing next to her car, her hand outstretched as she scratched Gladys’ neck. The corgi was leaning her head out the window, her eyes closed in doggy bliss as she extended her neck out to take full advantage of the girl’s pets.
“I love your dog,” the girl said, smiling openly at her. “She’s so cute. What’s her name?”
“Gladys.”
The girl’s smile widened. “I like that name. It’s funny. My name’s Emma.” She giggled as Gladys licked her cheek. “I think she likes me.”
“I think so too.” Kaylee couldn’t help but smile back at the girl. Talking to kids had always been easier for her than conversing with adults. She peered around trying to figure out where the girl had come from. “Do you live around here, Emma?”
The girl tilted her head to the side. “No. We live on a farm outside of town. My dad’s just picking up some grain.” She nodded toward the feed store a few doors down from the grocery.
As if on cue, a tall, good-looking man carrying a large brown bag on his shoulder came out the doors. He wore cowboy boots, jeans, and a Western shirt, and his close-cropped beard matched the brown hair just visible under the rim of his Stetson.
Kaylee’s pulse quickened. Her first sighting of a real cowboy.
The man dumped the bag into the back of a beat-up truck sitting a few spaces from Kaylee’s car, then offered her an easy smile and a friendly wave. “Hope you don’t mind my daughter petting your dog. She’s never met a stranger. She seems to think everyone’s her friend.”
I could use a friend in this town.
Kaylee waved back. “Not at all. Gladys is loving the attention.”
“Come on, squirt. We need to get home,” he told the girl who gave the dog another neck cuddle.
“Bye Gladys,” she said then waved before skipping around to the other side of the truck.
“Bye Emma,” Kaylee called as she opened the back door and put her bounty on the seat. Gladys jumped into the back and sniffed the box, then lay down next to it as if she were guarding a priceless treasure. Either that, or she was hoping a piece might fall out on the drive to the ranch.
Five minutes later, the corgi might’ve gotten her wish, given the bumpiness of the last bit of dirt road leading up to the ranch. Kaylee’s teeth jarred as she bounced over the ruts. Her cell service had gone out again, but she followed Faye’s earlier directions of going over the bridge, then turning right at the big white barn with the American flag painted on its side. Kaylee was supposed to stay on that road for about a mile, then watch for the sign for the ranch. Faye had described the house as an old yellow farmhouse next to a big red barn and a pond.
Despite the rough road and vague directions, Kaylee couldn’t help but be awed by the gorgeous landscape spread out in front of her. She was still in the valley, the lush green fields spreading for miles before butting up against a range of majestic mountains. Small farms dotted the countryside, some with shiny new farm equipment and sunlight glinting off the silver aluminum of Quonset huts, and some older and in slight disrepair.
Rolling down the window, she caught the scents of freshly mown grass and overturned earth. Wild sunflowers grew in the roadside ditches, their petals reaching for the sun like toddlers raising their arms to be held. Then Kaylee spotted the small sparkling pond spread out next to a large red barn and a two-story yellow farmhouse, all against the backdrop of the mountains. She gasped at the picture-perfect scene.
It was just as Faye described. Only better.
She slowed the car and drove under the large cedar arches proclaiming,Dusty Acres Ranch. She couldn’t believe her editor, the woman who wore power suits and Louboutin heels, had grown up here.
Split-rail fencing lined the long driveway, and she passed several horses serenely munching grass. A wide front porch wrapped around the farmhouse, with a set of rocking chairs and a quilt-covered swing. Chickens roamed freely in front of a small fenced-in chicken coop and through her open window, she heard the low mournful bawl of a cow. The ranch was charming and full of character. As if she wasn’t enchanted enough, seeing the cat sprawled lazily in a patch of sunlight on the front porch swing completely did her in.
She hadn’t even opened her door, but she already loved everything about this place.
If only she didn’t have to spend her time here with some strange guy she’d never met before.
That thought had her slumping in her seat as she let out a weary sigh. “We made it,” she told Gladys as the corgi leaned forward and licked her ear.
They’d survived the twenty-hour road trip, the bad motel bed, the spotty navigation, and a somewhat nosy grocery clerk.
But now the real adventure was about to begin.
