Page 98 of Daybreak

She nodded. “I never thought about how much I would miss Crossroads until I was gone. Yes, I have a good job. But I never had a life outside of work. I didn’t like the party life. I guess I was too much of a country girl to see the point in watching everyone else get drunk and make fools of themselves, so I quit accepting the invitations. I liked my own company better than what was offered to me here. Time passed. I got in such a rut that the only thing I had to look forward to was eating dinner in front of the TV and then going to bed. I always missed the noise a family makes, and you were the last person on earth I ever expected to see at Whole Foods. Even after I recognized you from that distance, I still couldn’t believe it. Do you know what old song was playing in the background when I saw you?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think I was even aware there was music.”

“‘Then Came You’, an old Dionne Warwick song from before we were even born. One of my mom’s favorite oldies. There’s a line in the song… ‘I never knew love before…and then came you.’ It was like getting hit with a bolt of lightning. I couldn’t move. I forgot to breathe. And then you started walking away, and I moved from shock to panic. I couldn’t lose sight of you until I saw you as the man you had become, and you saw me.”

“And the rest is history,” Gunner said. “It took me about five minutes to get past thinking of you as the kid and realizing what a beautiful woman you’d grown up to be. Following up was the best impulse I ever had. Now, I cannot imagine life without you.”

She sat for a few moments, watching the expressions changing on his face, before she spoke. “You have quite a gift, Gunner Kingston.”

He arched an eyebrow. “If you mean running headfirst into situations without thinking of the dangers, I would agree.”

She shrugged. “Well, there’s that, too, but no. You make love with your eyes and your words before you ever touch my body. You give of yourself before you ever take from another.”

It wasn’t until her face blurred before him that he felt real tears in his eyes. Neither pain, anger, nor betrayal had ever made him cry, but love just did, and without warning.

Holly saw his tears, and then the flash of panic that followed, and calmly got up to refill their glasses. By the time she came back the tears were gone. But when she turned to walk away, he reached for her with his good arm and pulled her close.

His head was below her chin as she stood within his embrace. “It’s hard to let down the walls you don’t even know are there, isn’t it, love?”

“I never asked you to marry me. I just asked you to love me. That was selfish as hell. Trusting a woman was always like a foreign language to me. I knew there was a need to be able to communicate, but I didn’t know how to conjugate the verbs or which adjectives to use. Until the last time I went to Whole Foods. There I was, minding my own business in the cereal aisle when I heard this voice behind me and turned to see who was calling my name, and it was like watching my whole future roll out in front of me. A spurt of panic followed, wondering if you were unattached. Then another spurt of panic that you’d still see me as just a friend when I wanted you to see me as more. We’ll pick out rings before we leave Dallas, but will you marry me, Holly Dillon?”

She was nodding through tears. “Yes, please, and thank you,” she said. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her senseless.

* * *

That night she slept tucked up beside him with his hand against her back and dreamed of home, and the glorious sunrises and sunsets, and the sounds of coyotes yipping on the hunt, and the horses on her daddy’s ranch, and her mother standing on the porch waving goodbye as she drove away, and she woke up crying.

Gunner woke at the sound and rolled over. “Holly, darlin’, are you okay?”

“A good dream went bad,” she said. “I’m good. I’m good.”

Frustrated by the restriction of bandages on his right arm, he got up and circled the bed to sit beside her. “I’m sorry, baby…so sorry. You go wash away your tears and I’ll go start the coffee. I can do that much without making a mess.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there as soon as I get dressed.”

“You don’t have to do that on my account,” he said and then grinned.

She rolled her eyes. “You are incorrigible.”

“So that means I can’t go commando to make breakfast?”

“Like I said…incorrigible,” she said, but she was laughing, and only later realized he’d said and done all that to erase the bad dream.

Chapter 19

By the time the appraiser was due, Gunner was semidressed in a pair of loose sweats and an athletic tank top and wearing flip-flops instead of shoes, and Holly was wearing sandals, light-blue slacks, and a white summer top.

“You look beautiful,” Gunner said when he walked into the kitchen.

Holly looked up from the sandwiches she was making and smiled. “Thank you, honey. Gotta look professional for the appraiser, and look at you. Pants, a shirt, and shoes!”

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Making some food so you can eat when you’re hungry. George takes forever when he’s doing an appraisal, but he’s good and honest. He’ll be in the attic, eyeing all of the HVAC, the security system, the system for exiting the property through the back gate, the windows, and the rooms. I’ll be surprised if he finishes in two hours, and then we have Austin the inspector later. I’ve already made the bed and put out fresh towels in the bathroom and checked your extra rooms. They’re photo-ready, but he’ll be opening doors and drawers, too. Oh… Do you have your own weapon here in the house?”

Gunner nodded. “Yes, but it’s a handgun in a lockbox, and he will have no need for me to open that box, because I’m taking it with me.”

She smiled. “I was mostly asking for his well-being. George once opened a closet door during an appraisal, and a loaded shotgun that was leaning too near the door fell out and went off. Shot a huge hole in the wall beside him.”