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“Jane,” he said in a much calmer, kinder voice than that fateful night years earlier. “What’s up, sweetheart?”
Jane gripped the wheel, not sure how to start this conversation. “Hey, Daddy,” she said, her voice a bit too chirpy. “How’s Coral Canyon?”
“Wonderful,” he said.
She knew he’d have moved there if not for the farm—for Hunter being in the role of CEO at HMC—and she wondered how long her parents would stay in Ivory Peaks after Hunter retired and Mike took over at HMC.
Probably not long.
Jane made small talk about the hikes around the area and about her job, and then the conversation dried up. “Listen,” she said. “I was just wondering if you’d talked to…any of the cowboys at the farm? Lately?”
“Any of the cowboys at the farm?” Daddy asked, and that answered her question. In fact, she should’ve known that Cord hadn’t talked to Daddy yet, because he would’ve called her if he had.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing,” Jane said quickly.
“Is there something going on at the farm I need to know about?”
“I’m sure there isn’t,” she said. “Matt would’ve called you.”
“Right,” he said. “Butyou’recalling me.”
Jane swallowed, her mind buzzing. She’d never held her tongue with her father, except for when he got really angry and passionate about something. He rarely played that card, and when he did, Jane calmed down and listened.
“I have to go,” Jane said. “I’m driving, and I’m about to hit that dead spot outside of the city.”
“All right,” her father said, his voice cool. Jane suspected he’d call Matt the moment this call ended, and she sighed as she hung up.
She wished she had time to send Matt a text to spare him, but he’d simply tell Gray there was nothing to worry about, and that would be that. It wasn’t like Matt knew about Jane’s insane crush on Cord Behr. She was fairly certain Cord hadn’t spoken about her to anyone—including her father.
She frowned as she drove, pressing harder on the accelerator to get her back to the farm faster.
She parked in the garage at the farmhouse and went inside. She didn’t normally change and head out onto the farm within five minutes of returning from work, but today, she did.
Energy flowed through her as she went out onto the front porch. She glanced over to Pony Power, but it was almost seven o’clock at night, and Cord had probably gone home a couple of hours ago.
She saw him very little during the week, but she managed to catch a glimpse on the weekends, especially when she attended church. He went every week and sat with either Mission, Travis and his family, or Matt and his.
Never her, and Jane couldn’t believe she was jealous of her friends and neighbors. She could only dream about sitting next to Cord, inhaling the scent of his cologne, and holding his hand. She’d never held his hand, and surely it would be better than anyone’s she had.
She’d had a fairly serious boyfriend during her senior year in college, but in the end, Kevin hadn’t been the one for her. Him being on the rebound from his previous girlfriend hadn’t helped, and they’d gotten married only six months after Jane had ended things with him.
“Calm down,” she told herself as she went down the steps. She crossed the lawn and went around the house, between the farmhouse and the generational house, the back side of the farm coming into view.
The cowboy cabins sat to her left, the back yard and fire pit to her right. Sheds and barns, gardens and fields, spread before her, and she drew in another deep breath.
“You’re going to let him ask you out,” she said. She’d always been the one to initiate her relationships, and she’d always been the one to end them too.
“Once,” she muttered to herself. “Just once, you’re going to let the man ask you out first.”
Yet her feet still took her toward Cord’s cabin. Right up the steps she went, and she knocked on the door. She could just see if he was home. Maybe talk to him about his weekend plans.
No, she told herself. She wouldn’t do that. But she wasn’t going to stay home when he was here and they could be together.
No one came to the door, and Jane turned around. She looked left and right and back left again.
The machinery shed. Of course Cord would be there, if he was still here on the farm. Perhaps he’d gone to town for dinner, or to get groceries, or some other errand.
