Page 39 of Bailey

He hesitated before he sent the message, because she’d just sent one more, and as his eyes blitzed left and right as he read, his heart pounded.

I know this was hard for you to tell me about. But for the record, I’m not weirded out. I’m not upset. I’m just sitting here watching you calmly eat a steak off the tip of a knife while a blizzard rages around you, and trying not to become insufferably smug that I know you in real life.

I want to watch more, but well, I have a pizza-making date with a really handsome mountain man, even if he did cut his hair when I liked it long, so I’ll have to pause for now.

See you soon.

“Not soon enough,” Reeves said to the pizza toppings spread across his countertop, Pansy, and Sir. His hand drifted up to his shorter hair as he looked at his canines, both of whom sat at attention on the invisible line Reeves had drawn in his kitchen.

“Bailey’s coming,” he told them, and his voice cracked on the last syllable. He cleared his throat and got to his feet, suddenly needing to do something with his hands. He started pulling out the already-shredded mozzarella cheese, and spoons for spreading the sauces, and the cornmeal so they could pat their dough out into circles without it sticking to the countertop.

Through it all, he couldn’t quite believe Bailey had taken this stressful confession that surely had felt like betrayal in the beginning and turned it into something playful and funny. She was so good, and Reeves certainly didn’t deserve her immediate acceptance—or the compliments she’d hidden in her texts.

Yes, you do.

The thought entered his mind and sat there, along with all the others about Bailey. He was competent with building shelters in storms, and surviving through the most difficult of conditions, so maybe, just maybe, he should take the confidence of his online persona and employ it in his personal life.

After all, he wasn’t still the child or teenager who’d suffered at the hand of his father, and Reeves deserved someone good in his life to care about him, love him, show up for him, and accept him just how he was. Why couldn’t that person be Bailey?

“Bless me, Lord,” he whispered, and then his phone chimed out a different sound, one that told him his front camera had just detected motion. Bailey was here, and Reeves didn’t have time to add to his prayer.

No, he did not, because he strode through the kitchen and down the front foyer to pull open the door. Bailey stood there, surprise coloring her expression. “I haven’t even touched the doorbell.”

Reeves stepped down to join her on the porch, sweeping her into his arms with barely enough time to say, “I saw you on the camera,” before he kissed her.

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

Bailey meandered past the big shed on her property, and then the classic red barn where she could house goats, chickens, horses, or cows, should she choose. It had four stables in it, but Bailey hadn’t pulled the trigger on getting any animals yet. She honestly wasn’t sure she wanted to take care of them in the winter, as she’d had to heat her livestock shed at the veterinary clinic for the past few months, and that had been astronomically expensive.

Reeves kept chickens, turkeys, and goats next door, and he’d said he’d had horses in the past, but currently didn’t have any in his stables.

A smile came to her face when she thought of him, as the man possessed many talents, skills, and plenty of good looks to boot. He could cook, he kept his house clean, and when she’d taken Frosting—the kid she and OJ had been caring for—next door for one of his does to foster, she’d found his livestock pens immaculate as well.

He took care of his belongings, and he was funny and personable in his videos online. He radiated a quiet charisma in person, and he loved dogs and animals, and enjoyed being outside as much as she did.

Yes, Reeves checked a lot of boxes for Bailey, and he was kind and good, and he seemed to know when she needed a treat or a cup of coffee, and when to leave her alone so she could get her work done.

She’d adopted out both Rabbit and Milky Way now, after they’d made full recoveries. She missed them, but she caught sight of the black-and-white mutt she’d brought home with her today. He’d been brought in yesterday after being found nesting in the grass at an abandoned house. A landscaper had shown up to cut everything down and trim back the trees as the city prepared for an auction on the property, and he’d found the dog.

Bailey was glad he’d thought to bring him to her, as that was what she’d endeavored to do differently with her clinic than others in Coral Canyon. She also ran a doggy and kitty daycare, which no other clinics provided, and she attributed her early success to both of those programs.

She’d sent a picture of the dog to OJ, who’d immediately wanted to come to the clinic and help bathe him and assess his wounds. Bailey had told him she already had it handled and she simply needed a name for the dog. He’d given the dog the name of Boots.

Bailey whistled through her teeth and said, “Come on, buddy. Come back this way, Boots,” when he started to wander through the thicker trees where she hadn’t cleaned up yet.

When her daddy, uncle, cousin and Bryce’s family had come to help after the flood, they’d cleaned up her backyard and her pathways to the shed and barn. She had a road that ran through her property too, which she currently walked down and which she needed to grade and remove the debris from.

She’d been to Reeves’s enough times in the past few weeks to see his immediate farm, and she’d seen a tractor with a grader in one of his sheds. She knew if she asked him to come help her with her road and property clean-up back to the river, he’d do it.

Her mind moved from the overwhelming chores she needed to do on her property to her new boyfriend. They’d be attending Boston and Cora’s wedding together in only a couple of days, and she couldn’t control the way her stomach started to buzz as if she’d swallowed a family of hummingbirds.

The Youngs were a huge family all by themselves, and they knew seemingly everyone in town. Her whole family had been invited, and while Bailey hadn’t asked for a copy of the RSVP list, she knew all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins would be at the wedding.

The Hammond family had become prominent in town as well, and Bailey knew all five Hammond brothers from her teenage years growing up at Whiskey Mountain Lodge. Each of them had come there seeking refuge, whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, and they’d each married a woman who’d once worked for Bailey’s daddy. Three of them still lived here in town, while the other two had settled in their small Colorado hometown, trading one mountainous place for another.

Boots trotted over to her and then came to a complete stop. His head turned back toward the house, and his body stilled, as if his herding instincts had kicked in. His shoulders and hips lowered, and Bailey faced the house as well. “What is it, boy?”