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Chapter Fourteen
Ginger had looked for ways Nate could potentially mess up. After the one time he hadn’t been in the stables where she’d expected him to be, her stomach clenched whenever she went to find him. But he was always right where he said he’d be. He learned quickly, and he was one of the hardest working men she’d ever met.
She’d been toying with the idea of offering him a permanent position on the ranch once his reentry term expired. But he didn’t seem to be hurting for money, and he’d mentioned moving into Ward’s house in White Lake more than once.
So Ginger had kept her mouth closed. White Lake was only about twenty minutes down the road, and she could easily make the drive to see him. Heck, after his residential program ended, he’d be a free man, andhecould drive to seeher.
She set the curling iron down, deciding she couldn’t make every lock of hair into a wave. Nate would know she’d spent an hour in front of the mirror, and she didn’t want him to think she was trying so hard. Even if she was.
They were going to the mall today to get her favorite Chinese food. She hadn’t told him it was to celebrate her birthday, but it was. She should probably text him just to let him know. As soon as she thought so, she recalled the idea.No, she told herself.It’s fine.She didn’t need him to buy her anything.
She knew he liked her, because he poured everything into his kisses, and Ginger had felt it time and time again over the past few weeks.
“There you are,” Emma said, leaning into the doorway. “I just put the cheesecake in. Jill, Jess, Michelle, and Hannah have all confirmed for tonight. So did both of your sisters.”
“Both of them?” Ginger turned away from her reflection. She was as beautiful as she was going to get, and another layer of lip gloss wouldn’t help. “Sierra isn’t going out with Max?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “She actually asked if she could bring him, and I told her irrevocably that she couldnot.”
“I’m surprised she’s coming then.” Her sister couldn’t do anything without her fiancé, and no one had the heart to tell Sierra that she and Max had been engaged for four years. Ginger wanted a man who couldn’t wait to get her to the altar, not one that put the wedding off and off and off…
No one in the family—or anyone who’d been around for the past four years—believed Sierra and Max would actually get married. In fact, the plans for the non-existent wedding had stopped years ago.
But Sierra worked the weekend tours, and she helped with Connor, so Ginger respected her. She loved her because they were related, but sometimes Sierra could pull a diva card out of nowhere.
“We’ll see if she actually does,” Emma said, scanning Ginger. “How are things with Nate?”
“Fine,” Ginger said with an air of coolness. She didn’t make direct eye contact with Emma as she approached the door, and her best friend fell back into the hallway.
“Must be,” Emma said. “You’ve gone to The Green Dragon by yourself for five years. Wouldn’t even let me come so you didn’t have to be alone on your birthday.”
“I’m never alone on my birthday,” Ginger said, pausing in front of Emma. She had gorgeous dark hair that had a natural wave, not like the too-tight one Ginger had put in her hair with a curling iron. Emma’s big, brown eyes looked at Ginger, practically begging her for all the details.
It seemed that everyone around the ranch knew Ginger and Nate were something. They just didn’t know how serious it was. Ginger herself didn’t know that either, though she’d felt herself slipping more and more the past couple of weeks.
Everything Nate did and said made her foothold on reality a little less sure. She wanted a fantasy life with the strong, handsome cowboy, and the towheaded little boy. She could admit she loved Connor, but going all the way there with Nate…Ginger still had a tight grip on those reins.
“You always make me an amazing cake and a delicious dinner.” Ginger smiled at Emma and leaned into her for a hug. She did love this other woman, who had been by her side for the past ten years here on the ranch. Emma had started as a teacher’s aide, bringing first and second graders to the ranch to do the Monarch butterfly classes.
She loved horses, and soon enough, Ginger had pulled her from the school system and onto the ranch, where she’d been ever since. Ginger didn’t trust anyone more than she did Emma, and they worked incredibly well together to make sure Hope Eternal Ranch thrived under any circumstances.
Emma held her tight and breathed in deep. “Okay, but I know you and Nate are something serious, even if you won’t admit it.”
“I never said I wouldn’t admit it,” Ginger said.
“You’ve never even admitted that you’ve kissed him,” Emma said with a laugh, pulling away from Ginger. “And I don’t get why. We all know you have.”
“Maybe I just don’t want to talk about it over dinner,” Ginger said.
A new light entered Emma’s eyes, “Great. I’m going to get a ton of butter pecan ice cream, and you’ll come to my room tonight. Ten o’clock. Wait. Nine. And then we’ll chat.” She turned and started down the hall before Ginger could protest.
When she finally did, Emma just waved over her shoulder. “Nine o’clock,” she said, disappearing around the corner. That was that. Ginger would go, because she’d always talked to Emma about her boyfriends.
Boyfriend.
Was that what Nate was? Would he classify her as his girlfriend?
She hoped so.
