“Sarah, please—rest, sleep, whatever. We can talk and spend time together when we get home.”
Her heart clenched. There was no way Sarah had seen her own apartment in Dallas the entire time she’d been on tour. She’d spent more time with Eli than she did anywhere else, and yet for some reason, the word home where it concerned Sarah seemed almost perfect.
Sarah leaned in and kissed Eli’s cheek before she curled into the door and closed her eyes. Eli turned the music down on the radio, and waited patiently for Sarah to fall asleep, which didn’t take long. As she drove toward the house, she couldn’t help but wonder what their relationship would look like after Sarah’s tour was over. Surely she’d have something else to do, like recording a new album or setting up another tour.
They had talked every day, usually multiple times a day while Sarah was gone. Every conversation had ended with the topic of when they would see each other next. The soft sound of Sarah’s breathing was a comfort, but she was still concerned with how truly exhausted Sarah looked. She wasn’t even sure if Sarah recognized it.
Her truck hit a bump as she moved through the backroads, going from one highway to the next in a quicker, more efficient route. She’d taught Sarah that route about the third time she’d come back to visit. It cut off about ten minutes of driving time, which wasn’t much in the scheme of things.
As her own business had ramped up at the B&B over the summer months like it always did, Eli had known it would be harder finding time for Sarah when she did come to visit. She was still curious what would happen at the end of Sarah’s tour, which they still hadn’t talked about.
Eli focused on the drive. As soon as she pulled up outside the house, she leaned over and shook Sarah awake. She was met with sleepy eyes, flushed cheeks, and a confused stare until Sarah’s brain caught up with her body.
“We there?”
“Yeah.” Eli brushed her fingers over Sarah’s cheek before she pushed herself to sit up more. “Feel better?”
“A little.”
That meant “not much.” She could see it—the weariness, the exhaustion, the struggle to keep up with all the traveling and the plane rides. Sarah hadn’t good and truly taken a break since those first two weeks when they’d met.
Eli grabbed Sarah’s carry-on bag and walked hand-in-hand with her into the house. Opening the door, she dragged Sarah down to the basement and rolled into bed with her after dropping her bag onto the floor by the door. Sarah had brought a guitar with her the second time she came around, and just left it in the den for whenever she wanted to use it, but even the last few times she’d come she hadn’t dared pick it up.
Leaning into the headboard, Eli let Sarah snuggle into her side and fall back asleep. She smoothed her hands over her hair and back, letting her fingers slide as gently as she could. She had to do something different. They both did. There was no way Sarah could keep up that amount of travel without a break. They needed to find a better way to make it work, and Eli was pretty sure she knew the solution, as much as she didn’t want to admit it.
After an hour, Eli slipped from the bed and went upstairs to make her current guests dinner, having decided to add that option since Sarah had sent her foolproof recipes. She slipped the casserole dish into the oven before she headed out to the barn to check on everything there. She was going to have to do a roundup of her cattle soon and take them to auction. She filled out paperwork, got everything organized, and figured out what week she was going to be gone. Rubbing her lips together, she sighed.
Inside the house at her desk, Eli went through her guest registrations, finding the one week without anyone booked. Immediately, she blocked it so no one could reserve a room from her. It was time for her to take the next step. Picking up the landline, Eli called the one person she knew could help.
He answered on the second ring. “Hey, baby.”
“Hey Daddy.” Her heart melted. His deep, sweet tones always soothed her nerves. “How’s everything going in Arizona?”
“Wonderfully. Your mom’s just out walking the dog.”
“Ah.” Eli’s nerves strained. She wasn’t even sure what to say to him or how to ask him for help. She hadn’t really talked with him much about Sarah, which was odd for her. Normally every girlfriend she’d had that had meant anything, she’d been all about sharing with him, but for some reason, she’d wanted to keep Sarah to herself, to revel in the relationship they were building before bringing anyone else in and spoiling their little world.
“How’s the ranch?”
“Good. Getting ready to go to auction in a couple weeks. Bill said he’d help me do the roundup.”
“He loves a good cattle drive.”
A smile lit on Eli’s lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah, he does. Do you and mom have plans for the coming month?”
“No. We weren’t going to visit anyone until the start of fall. You know summers. We try to lay low while everyone else travels.”
“Yeah. Do you think…would you mind coming up here for a week or two?”
“In the summer? Isn’t the house pretty full during the summer?”
Eli’s heart raced, beating rapidly. “I blocked off a week.”
“When?”
“Second week of September.”
There was a pregnant pause on the other end of the line. “Why?”