The Rancher's Baby Proposal. Barbara White Daille

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СКАЧАТЬ parents had lived their entire married lives in the house on that ranch. Reagan had lived there, too, until he had gone away to school. There must be so many memories wrapped up in the property...and so many personal items in the house. He would need a while to get it ready to sell. Meanwhile, would he spend that time here in Cowboy Creek? She crossed her fingers.

      He gestured down the aisle. “Taking care of some shopping?”

      “Oh. No. I’m not much of a do-it-yourselfer. I work here, have worked here since I graduated five years ago.” By that point, he had already left town. After getting his degree, rumor had it, he had accepted a fancy job in the big city of Houston, Texas. Smiling, she shrugged. “I’m still only a small-town girl who replaced school with a dead-end job paying barely above minimum wage. But who’s complaining?”

      He looked at her thoughtfully. “Do you get any time off?”

      Her stomach fluttered as if a dozen butterflies had taken wing inside her. Sad. She had just acknowledged she was no longer a schoolgirl. She should also no longer be prey to her feelings for the boy she had once loved. And yet, she couldn’t tamp down her excitement. “Yes, I get evenings off. I only work seven to three. And once in a while I have a free day during the week, when I have to work Saturday. But that’s not too often.”

      His mouth curved into a small, one-sided smile. “It’s almost three now. If you don’t have any plans for right after work, would you be able to meet me at SugarPie’s for a cold drink?”

      “Yes.” Her voice cracked. She hid her nerves behind a cough. “My throat’s very dry. I could definitely use a cold drink.” But none of Sugar’s delicious desserts.

      It didn’t matter. With Reagan sitting across from her, she would get all she needed of something sweet.

      * * *

      ONCE HE ARRIVED at SugarPie’s, Reagan found a reception committee waiting for him. At midafternoon, the sandwich shop wasn’t that busy, but the customers, the waitress and even Sugar herself had greeted him the moment he’d walked in.

      As the crowd surrounded him, a wave of memories seemed to engulf him, too. These were all friends of his, friends of his folks’ and, for a moment, it felt like the old days before he’d left Cowboy Creek. For another, longer moment, he wished he could turn back the clock, change history, erase some of the things he had said and done...

      Except for becoming a daddy. He would never regret having his son.

      The crowd all welcomed him home, asking friendly questions he felt grateful he could answer with simple responses. He spoke to everyone in turn, shook hands with the men and gave hugs to two older ladies who had been good friends with his mom.

      Then he made his way to a booth in the back of the room. The waitress, Layne, followed. As he slid onto a seat, she rested one hip against the tabletop. He had gone to school with her and her brother, Cole, though he had been ahead of them both.

      “You’d have thought you all knew I was coming,” he said.

      “We did.” She grinned. “Sugar had a call from Jed. He said he had run into you at the hardware store.”

      And no doubt had hung around to listen in on his conversation with Ally.

      He laughed, shaking his head. “I should have known. Things haven’t changed much since I left for school.” The older man probably had business to take care of in the store. It might even have required him to spend some time in the next aisle over from where they had met. Either way, it wouldn’t have mattered. He knew Jed had been friends with his parents since long before he’d been born. And there was no denying the man always kept an ear to the ground about anything that went on in town.

      “No, things don’t change much here,” Layne agreed. “Except for getting married and having kids, most of us are living the same lives as when we graduated from Cowboy Creek High. Not like yours.”

      If she only knew. And she would know soon enough.

      The whole town would hear about it when he brought his brand-new son to the ranch. They all would learn he had been made a fool of by a woman who, as it turned out, was looking for a good time, not a husband. Not a baby—not even her own.

      He would have Sean with him now, except when he had headed to Cowboy Creek yesterday morning, he didn’t know what condition he would find the house in. He also didn’t know whether he’d be able to find someone to watch the baby while he took care of putting things to rights.

      On his arrival, he had discovered the house dusty but livable and, better luck, had solved part of that last concern. His quick trip to the hardware store for some basic supplies might have given him an answer to the other part.

      “Speaking of babies—” Layne said.

      He started, wondering if she’d read his thoughts.

      “—my brother married Jed’s granddaughter Tina—I don’t know if you knew—and they just had their second baby. His other two granddaughter’s are married now, too. And did you hear about Shay O’Neill?”

      All three of the names she’d mentioned were familiar to him from school—inevitable in Cowboy Creek, as there was only one grade school, one junior high, one high school. “No, nobody mentioned Shay. What’s up with her?”

      “She’s trying to outdo us all.” Layne laughed. “She had triplets.”

      “Triplets?” He shook his head in wonder and thought about Sean. He couldn’t begin to imagine taking care of more than one baby at a time.

      Layne slipped her order pad from her uniform pocket. “What can I get you?”

      “I’ll wait. Ally Martinez is meeting me here. But you probably know that already, too.”

      She laughed in acknowledgment before walking away. Just as she disappeared through the doorway into the kitchen, the front door of the shop opened, and Ally entered.

      Her long dark curls tumbled down almost to her waist and bounced as she walked toward him. She had never been tiny, and she had filled out more in the years since he had last seen her. With her gleaming dark eyes, rosy cheeks and snug orange T-shirt, she gave the bright pink seats and decorations in the sandwich shop some competition. He recalled her hanging around the schoolyard in grade school. He had been a couple of years ahead of her. Even that long ago, she had always acted larger than life—and been the life of the party.

      Thinking of Sean, he frowned. Maybe Ally as a babysitter wouldn’t be such a good influence on a preteen or a teenager...but a one-month-old? What could it hurt? Besides, even if she accepted the offer he planned to present to her, he and the baby wouldn’t be here long enough for her to make much of an impact.

      “Hi.” Sounding a little breathless, she took the booth across from him. “I got here as soon as I could.”

      “Hope you didn’t have to rush.”

      “No rush. No more than usual, anyhow. My papa says I never run at half speed when I can take it up to full.” She laughed. “But I’m running behind now because, just as I was leaving, one of the customers came to the register with a big order.”

      Since they had met up at the store, she СКАЧАТЬ