I swiped at the tear sneaking down my cheek. Bishop gathered me into his side, his head resting against mine.
“That must have been such a terrible time for you and your partner. I am so damn sorry,” he choked out. I turned my head to burrow my nose into his thick hair.
“Thank you.” I kissed his head and then looked up into the canopy overhead. “It was…there aren’t words dark enough to describe the agony of losing a child. After the funeral, when Devon and I should have been growing closer to help each other, we just…drifted apart. It was as if losing Kailey had torn all the joy out of our lives. A year after her death I caught him in bed with one of our friends. It hurt, but by then I was so dead inside that I just accepted it and left.”
“And then you became a cowboy.” He held onto me tightly, his arms strong bands around my chest.
“Not at first. I did all kinds of things from working at a gas station to being a bouncer to cleaning a church. My goal was the west coast, all that California sun and surf, but I hit the Tetons and never went any further. The mountains have a song to them if you listen close enough.”
“The Tetons healed you. That’s really poetic. And mystical.” I shrugged as my sight moved from the tree to the mountains. The snows had finally melted off in places, leaving the steep slopes bare and rocky. “I feel that way about the ocean. Living so far inland I’m starting to feel like a part of me is missing. Which brings me to something I wanted to ask you if you’re okay with shifting gears a bit?”
I was. Quite okay with it. My heart ached like a sore tooth. I feared it always would when I spoke of Kailey but telling Bishop had been cathartic. He was the only one in my life now who knew about my past. Perhaps I should tell Landon next. He deserved to know that I’d lied to him, in a roundabout way. He wiggled round to face me. I put my hat back on.
“My mother’s birthday is July fifth. I’d like to spend a few days with her, and I was wondering if you’d like to come with me?” My eyes flared. Instead of looking like a gaping jackass, I plucked a pink prairie smoke flower from a clump to my left. I twirled the gauzy flower, which looked like clouds of magenta smoke lying low to the prairie hence the name, as I mulled it over. “If you don’t want to that’s fine, but I wanted to ask.”
“Why do you want me to go?” I glanced up from the flower between my fingers and found myself spellbound in eyes as blue as the sky.
“Because we’re involved. And my mother is awesome! And you never made it to the west coast. And because I want to see you in a Speedo on a surfboard.” I tore my gaze away and focused on the wispy pink flower. “If you’re not comfortable with it—”
“No, I’m…that’s not it. I just…it’s…shit.” I turned to face him and slid the flower behind his ear. With the bun and the flower, he looked about as beautiful as a man could look. “It’s nice to know you feel strongly about me. I feel that too.”
He leaned in to steal a chaste kiss. “Say yes. Four days. That’s all. Just four days.” It was impossible to say no to eyes as bright and beseeching as his.
“Yes, I’ll ask Landon if I can have time off to—” His lips crashed over mine. We fell to the ground, mouths smashed together, the tickle of pink flowers and warm winds on our skin. I hoped that Kailey wouldn’t mind that I had brought Bishop to her shrine. Knowing her as I did, I had to think she would have giggled and clapped to see us kissing, just as she had when Devon and I had smooched in front of her. She had been pure love after all.
* * *
The next dayI stood on my boss’s front porch, hat in hand, trying to figure out how to ask him for time off. Knowing ahead of time that he’d be all for it helped, but I still felt as if I were shirking my responsibilities. And I did not like that feeling. The big front door opened, and Landon motioned me in. I slipped around the man in the bathrobe, pausing just inside the foyer as piano music filtered through the massive log cabin.
“What the hell time do you get up?” Landon enquired, raking his hand over his mussy head.
“In time to see the sunrise,” I replied, still fidgeting with my Stetson. “I wanted to ask you about taking off a few days.” He stopped rubbing his belly, eyes widening, smile growing wide. For Christ’s sake. An eye roll right now would feel so damn good. “I wanted to clear it with you first before I asked Kyle to—”
“You don’t have to clear it with me,” he was quick to say.
“Well, yes, sir, I do. You’re the owner, and I—”
“Run the damn place. And please drop that sir stuff. Are you taking time off to be with Professor Bishop?”
Ugh. “Yes.” Might as well cop to it. There was no way to get around it unless I lied to the man, and I’d already done that about my reasons for being here. Landon clapped me on the shoulder, grabbed me by the neck, and led me through the big house to the music room. Montrell glanced up from his baby grand and flashed me a smile. Their calico cat, Lady Marmalade, who was lying around Montrell’s neck like a sable stole, mewed a greeting.
“Guess who’s going to…” Landon led me to the piano, his grip tight. Probably he was holding on in case I tried to bolt. “Where are you and the professor going? Did you say? I just rolled out. This late night bohemian musician’s lifestyle is exhausting. I used to be up and at the barn by nine every morning.”
“You weren’t complaining last night when I was—”
“Nate doesn’t need to hear what we were up to,” he said, releasing me to pad over to a wall of solid glass and throw open the sliding door. A soft whisper of wind blew into the room carrying the sweet scent of wildflowers. “The point is married life is wearing me out.” Landon flopped down into a dark blue sofa after pushing papers around. “So, where are you going?”
“California. It’s his mother’s birthday and—”
Montrell slung his long legs around, spinning himself around on the piano bench to face me. He seemed well at ease in my seeing him in his robe, which was much frillier than Landon’s plain green cotton one.
“He’s taking you home to mother?! That’s something big. Did you get her a gift? You should. Landon gave everyone in my family a little something the first time he met them,” he announced, the cat kneading his shoulder as he spoke.
“No, I haven’t had time yet to—”
“Make it something small but expensive and in good taste. Does she like watches? I find a good watch is always appreciated,” Landon said which then led the two of them into a rapid-fire discussion of the merits of a good timepiece. “Earrings are always nice. Is she plain or more professional?”
I shrugged. They both tsked me. I was about ready to throw myself through the screen door when Mona came pattering in with her tablet and a cup of tea.