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I believed Dusty knew she belonged on a stage, in front of an audience. That video was testament to that, and this was the only way we could think of to get her to try it again.
We’d decided to pull on her heartstrings and relate everything back to Dusty’s last wishes.
Hell, I was amazed when she suggested that we take the Caddy out for a spin, and when she agreed to a drive over to Sweet Whiskey, I knew we were on the right track.
This could all work out in our favor after all. Now, wouldn’t that be something to howl about… and I did just that. I let out a great-big, deep howl as we drove down the road in Connie’s monster-sized Caddy with the set of steer horns attached to the front grill.
“Woohoo!”
Connie 5
“Are you sure you don’t want to see the inside of the ranch house for yourself?” Rascal asked, as he drove up the long entrance to the property. “That’s if you brought the keys.”
I couldn’t help the wide smile that took over not only my mouth, but my entire body. As we drove up the winding driveway that must have been a quarter-mile long, grapevines lined both sides of the road. We were literally only a few miles from Napa, and the orchards surrounding us reflected that special part of California. Now that I saw this place up close, I knew I would have a tough time tossing it back to Dusty’s family. It was simply spectacular.
As I looked around, I felt as if the man had known my soul.
But how?
Had he been that in-tune with me, and I hadn’t realized it?
How could that have been? Why would he leave me such a fantastic piece of property? It didn’t make sense.
I felt as though I’d seen this place before, during that time when Shea and I spent the summer in Napa… but how could that be?
It was the best summer of my childhood… when Shea and I became life-long friends. During that summer, I honed my knitting skills, and Shea learned how to cane from Maria, the woman who took care of us while our parents went wine tasting. She was the first person who understood us and spent time with us. She wasn’t only our caretaker for those two months, but she was also our teacher and our companion. We couldn’t wait for our parents to leave every day so Marie could take charge. Not only did we learn our crafts, but we learned how to have fun together, outdoors, something that rarely ever happened.
This whole area, including the ranch itself was simply remarkable in every way imaginable, and if I weren’t so attached to my life in Cricket, I would absolutely find a way to call this home. And I hadn’t even seen the inside of the house yet.
“Yes, I brought the keys,” I quipped, trying to sound as if I didn’t care one way or the other. I mean, if we were going to drive all the way up here, we might as well go inside the house, right? I turned to Rascal. “Truth is that the keys to the house are right there with the car keys. I keep them together. Easier that way, especially when I have to give them back.”
I never in a million years thought I’d admit this, but I was happy to be seeing this ranch this way, instead of with Shea. She had enough going on in her life without me trying to get her to tell me what to do about all this. As if I couldn’t make up my own mind. Plus, she still worked at Gio’s Repair Shop and had long since moved in with her three lovers: Gio, Callum, and Max. As it turned out, she enjoyed caning, and the more she did it, the better she’d become. Like any artform, if you didn’t use the gift God gave you, it would eventually slip away.
That thought made me think of my voice and how working with Dusty had brought it back even stronger than it had been before.
Still, I knew it would take a lot of work for me to get up on a real stage and feel confident about my ability to sing an entire set. That had to be at least eight to ten songs. I didn’t know if I could ever do anything like that.
No, it could never work. Why I’d ever agreed to this drive was beyond me.
I needed a heart to heart with Shea.
Most women would kill for these kinds of problems… not me. I hated any disruption in my daily life, and these three were absolutely a total disruption. The more time I spent with them, the more I was attracted to them.
Damn, but I wished I’d been in a relationship with someone. Why did they have to catch me during a long dry spell when I hadn’t had sex in so long. I wondered if I even remembered what to do. And just looking at these three hard-bodied men threw me into a crazy tizzy of sexy thoughts I knew I shouldn’t be having.
Rascal pulled the car in front of the sprawling ranch house and turned off the engine.
“Wow!” he said, as he opened his door and got out. “Will you look at this place. It’s incredible. Better than how I remembered it.”
I had to agree. The steel gray and white single-story wooden house, sprawled out in front of us like an inviting lush oasis in the middle of a desert, with its deep wrap-around porch, and old-time windows that almost touched the floor. It was surrounded by large trees, and there were clay pots of brightly colored flowers on each step leading up to the front door.
Josh and Luke piled out and before I even attempted to open my heavy passenger door, and fortunately, Josh swung it open for me.
No sooner had we slammed the door shut when the tall, black cowboy from the funeral walked up to us. He’d been the one who gave me the keys to Dusty’s car. I’d know that smile of his anywhere. I remembered how good looking he was, with a smile that infected my apprehensive mood. I couldn’t help but grin right back at him, as if we shared a secret, and that secret was this ranch. As if he’d known that eventually I’d show up here.
“Hey,” he said from under a black cowboy hat, resting low on his forehead. Now that I could get a better look at him, I guessed he might be in his mid-forties. He wore a dark gray t-shirt, loose-fitting jeans, and heavy black boots.
“That looks like Dusty’s favorite Caddy. So nice to see you again, Connie. I was wondering when you were going to stop by. You were such a joy to watch at Dusty’s funeral; it was all anybody could talk about for days afterwards. It’s a pleasure to see you again. A true pleasure. I’m Bobby, Bobby Magee, the ranch foreman.” He tipped his hat and held on tight to his infectious grin. “Been hoping you’d stop by. Everything’s ready for you. Been ready for some time now. I promised Dusty that we’d get it all done in the first week after he passed, but we had it done within the first few days. Got a great team working on this ranch. Hope you’ll keep us all on.”
