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“I understand.” Her voice, her eyes, held that dear sweetness he was coming to depend on.
“You really are the most understanding thing,” he said, cupping her cheek.
“I know.”
He grinned and swooped in to kiss her again. “So … can I ask what you’re doing here? All Ellie finally admitted was that she thought you might come here.”
“I’m not leaving the country. Not yet, anyway. I was filling in my applications for transferring my nursing registration. It’s not nearly as straightforward as I’d hoped, and every time I tried back at the ranch something—or someone—distracted me.” She stroked his chest. “So I came here for some quiet, so I could finally get it done.”
“Then we’re okay?” he asked. “I mean, I know I don’t deserve—”
“Would you stop saying that?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And you can stop saying that, too.”
“Yes, ma—Lexi.”
Her grin poked out. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re all good. But I won’t think that you think that if you say that again. Okay?”
“Understood.”
She exhaled. “Now, why don’t you tell me how things went at the bank today?”
He explained about his brother, about his own lack of income, his lack of expertise. “I feel like such a fool, but I didn’t know what I was doing. I just went in, boots and all, and tried to keep things running the way Mom and Granddad did.”
She squeezed his hand. “I suspect ranching has changed a lot in the past fifty years.”
“I think it’s changed a lot in the past fifteen.”
“So the immediate debts are paid. What about the mortgage?”
“Coop says he and Mitchell have a plan.” Something Coop had referred to in the car on the way back to the ranch. He’d been too stunned to take in the details.
“Really? How do you feel about that?”
“Am I allowed to admit I feel a little relieved? I thought I had to carry it all, and carry it without complaining. Otherwise, it would seem I had failed, and just add greater pressure again.”
“And your brothers didn’t want to step on your toes?”
“That, plus I think they might’ve taken me for granted.”
“What, family taking someone for granted?” Her friendly sarcasm faded. “It happens, but it’s never a nice feeling.”
No. But her laying her head on his shoulder was. “So apparently it’s going to be a Reilly Brothers ranch, not just my thing.”
“Hmm. I wonder what Ellie will say to Reilly Brothers.”
He chuckled. “I’ll let her take that up with the brothers.”
“Good idea.”
They sat there, watching the sunshine sparkles on the lake, arms around each other, as they took a moment to breathe, to relax, to inhale the summer scent of flowers, and the subtle scent of roses. He pressed a kiss to her hair. “So will you come home soon?”
“Home?”
He swallowed. “Back to the ranch.”Back to me.
