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Cherry said nothing as they walked, and Jed didn’t like the silence. “I like your name,” he said.
“My great-grandmother was named Cherry,” she said. “I don’t hate it either. I was just saying that poor Maisee probably shouldn’t be judged on her name.”
“Of course not,” Jed said quickly.
Cherry drove a black sedan, and Jed folded himself into the passenger seat. The urge to get her phone number intensified with every moment that passed, and he told himself not to ask for it again.
Cherry turned off the highway and onto his farm, and he directed her to his cabin, which was the foreman’s cabin at the end of the line of houses where his cowboys lived.
“You live here alone?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, gazing at the lit front porch. “Got a dog to keep me company, and my brother and his wife live on the other side of the homestead.”
“What’s your dog’s name?” Cherry looked at him, and Jed turned toward her too. He forgot the question—heck, he forgot his own name—as he looked into those dark eyes.
Something haunted Cherry, and he wanted to find out what and chase it away. Far away, for good. He wanted to ask her if she was okay to drive home alone, but he didn’t want to indicate she was weak. Cherry Cooper wasn’t weak, but she definitely had some beams inside her that had been cracked or compromised.
Jed could fix those, he knew, because he spent a great deal of time fixing the buildings and fences around the farm where he’d lived and worked for his whole life. He could fix anything with only a few tools, and he wanted Cherry to tell him everything that hurt so he could heal it.
He wanted to ask her why she’d asked Charlie Mortimer to be her date when it was clear she couldn’t stand the man.
Jed said nothing as he reached out and trailed his fingers down the side of her face. She pulled in a breath as a powerful tingle shot through his hand and up his arm.
“I don’t know much about you, Cherry,” he said, his voice soft and all traces of laughter and teasing gone. “But I’d like to change that.” He pulled his hand back, the words out there now.
So many more questions streamed through his mind, but he kept them all stuffed down in his throat.
“So I guess you want my number,” she said.
“I’ve already asked for it,” he said.
“Get your phone out,” she said.
Jed complied, his heart pounding in a strange rhythm that told him he was the luckiest man on the planet. He handed the device to Cherry, and she typed into it for several seconds.
She handed it back without speaking, and Jed took that as his signal to get out of her car now. “Thanks for sittin’ by me,” he said, opening the door. “I’ll call you.”
“Thanks for saving me a seat,” she said as he got out. He leaned back in to tell her good-night. “Thanks for your help with Charlie.”
“Anytime,” he said. “’Night, Cherry.” He backed up and closed the door before he couldn’t get himself to do so. He walked away from her car, noting that she didn’t immediately back out of his driveway and leave.
He went inside, where his black lab came trotting toward him. “Heya, Fish,” he said to the dog, giving him a healthy scrub. “You’ll never guess what happened tonight.” He grinned as he pulled his phone from his pocket and went to his contacts.
Cherry’s name sat in the right spot alphabetically, and he showed it to the canine. “Lookit, Fish. I got this beautiful woman’s phone number.”
The dog nosed the device, snuffed, and trotted over to his empty food bowl. He looked back at Jed expectantly, not caring about Cherry Cooper at all.
Jed chuckled, pocketed his phone, which now held a great prize, and went to take care of his clearly starving dog.
