“Kind of hard for that to happen while you’re in Lonesome Point and I’m in Austin,” she said, lifting a wry brow. “Unless you’re planning to move to the city when you’re finished touring with Wendy Dann and come home rich and famous.”
“Hush,” he said, swatting her bottom. “You’re going to jinx it.”
She grinned. “I am not. I bet we hear today. In fact, I bet you’ll have a contract to sign before five o’clock, and we’re celebrating by six.”
“Now you’ve triple jinxed it.” He swatted her again, making her giggle. “Let’s go get some breakfast. Having sex dreams about you all night makes me hungry.”
“All night?” she asked in a lilting tone as she stepped out of his arms. “I hope that means you have lots of material stored up for later.”
His eyes darkened and when he spoke his voice was husky enough to make her shiver. “Assuming we only manage to make it to the bedroom once a day, I’ve got enough ideas to keep us busy for a year or two.”
A year or two. She could tell it wasn’t an offhand remark. That was the sort of thing that would have given her a panic attack even yesterday, but now it only made her smile as she took his hand and let him lead her down the hall toward the kitchen.
She saw no reason why they wouldn’t be together in a year or two. Now that she’d stopped fighting her attraction to Robert, she couldn’t believe she’d wasted so much time and energy pushing him away. This thing between them felt soright, like she’d been waiting all her life to find this man, this person who matched her so perfectly and made her feel like she fit in a way she hadn’t before. With Robert, she wasn’t the square peg. She was a lock that had found its key, and the whole world felt like it was opening up to her, showing her bright, beautiful, miraculous things she’d overlooked before. Things like hope, mercy, acceptance, and love.
She was falling in love with Robert “Bubba” Lawson.
It hit her as she followed him across the living room where his mother’s blue couch with all the red cowboy boot pillows sat smugly in the middle of the space, but even that reminder of the woman who might choose to stand in the way of her future with Robert couldn’t scare her. Because she had a feeling he was falling for her, too, and that he wouldn’t let anyone or anything keep them apart.
So when he held tight to her hand as they stepped into the kitchen where Laura Mae was setting the table, Marisol didn’t try to pull away or hide her happiness. She and Robert were together, and the sooner his mother got used to it, the better.
Laura Mae glanced up as they moved closer to the table, but when she noticed their joined hands, surprisingly, all she did was smile. “How many pancakes do y’all want this morning? I made one for each of us, but I can always throw another batch on the griddle.”
“One’s fine as long as I get seven pieces of bacon,” Robert said as he pulled out a chair for Marisol.
“How about you, honey?” Laura Mae asked in a voice so warm it took Marisol a second to realize the other woman was speaking to her.
“Oh, one is fine. Great, really, one is great,” she stammered. “Thank you so much for cooking.”
“My pleasure,” Laura Mae said. “After all the hard work you did yesterday, it’s the least I could do. Cole said you were showing Bubba how things were supposed to be done out there.”
Robert laughed. “Showing me up is more like it. But I never was the best ranch hand. I can admit my weaknesses.”
“But you have plenty of wonderful strengths,” Marisol said.
“That he does,” Laura Mae said. “And you’re a sweetheart for speaking up for him.”
“Of course,” Marisol said before turning to Robert and shooting him a “what the heck is going on with your mother?” look when Laura Mae turned to fetch a skillet of scrambled eggs from the stove. She’d managed to avoid the other woman since the night they arrived, but surely absence hadn’t made her heart growthatmuch fonder.
Robert shrugged as he reached for a plate of bacon and sausage in the center of the table, obviously not intending to second guess his mother’s sudden shift in disposition. “Bacon or sausage for you, beautiful?”
Marisol’s eyes flicked to Laura Mae, but she was still smiling as she piled fluffy yellow eggs into a big blue bowl, so Marisol decided to follow Robert’s lead and stop looking for trouble. “Both. And pass the butter, please? I have to get that butter pat in the middle while the pancake’s still hot.”
“Me too,” he said, passing the meat plate and reaching for the butter. “Otherwise you don’t get that magic bite where all the butter and syrup have soaked into the center until the pancake is about to disintegrate.”
“I live for that bite,” Marisol moaned. “So good. And I always save it—”
“For last,” Robert finished with her, making her grin.
Laura Mae clucked her tongue as she settled into her chair on the opposite side of the table. “Well, you two have similar tastes in pancakes. That bodes well.” She smiled as she reached across the table. “Now hand over that butter, honey, I’m going to hack my pancake into three pieces, turn it into a triple decker butter sandwich, then drown it in syrup.”
Marisol passed the butter, and the rest of breakfast passed with complete pleasantness. Robert filled his mother in on everything they’d accomplished yesterday and the cattle drive they were planning for tomorrow—assuming Cole was released from jury duty. Laura Mae told them about the new women in her adult pottery class and how much fun she was having teaching the kids in the summer camp down at the community center. Marisol mostly listened, but she did pipe up to answer Laura Mae’s questions about where she’d grown up, and how long she’d been living in Austin.
But when the talk turned to her family, Robert smoothly cut in.
“Mom, do you mind if I take Darcy out today?” he asked. “Marisol and I are going to ride over to Old Town to check out the site for the benefit concert Mia’s planning. I was going to put Marisol on Old Red, but I have a feeling she’s going to be up for something a little more lively.”
“Or a little more alive,” Laura Mae said with a grunt. “You’re going to have to take Darcy. Old Red passed away last month, Bubs. I thought I told you the last time you came for supper.”