Page 32 of Blue Moon Cowboy
Instead, she smiled at Jason, knowing he and Shaun needed to leave. “Time for you to get on the road?”
He nodded. “Much as I’d rather stay here with you, we need to get going. Please, Lainey, think about staying here this week. Pops and Galen would be happy to have you, and it would give you a chance to get to know Brylee, Lisa, Tyler, and the kids better. No pressure, but if you would like to stay, Galen and Pops both said to be sure you knew you’re welcome. If you’d rather not stay with two old bachelors, you’d be welcome at Brylee’s place, or Lisa would happily have you stay there. You could even stay in Mom and Pops’ old house if you prefer.”
Yes! That one!Lainey wanted to shout. She would have happily moved into the house on the hill that she’d loved at first sight, but it seemed wrong to be there and encroach on the family memories that nearly flowed out the door.
She hadn’t arrived at the ranch with any intention of staying longer than the time it took to say hello and meet the people Jason thought of with such respect and admiration. Then, they’d talked her into spending the night. Now, they’d done a grand job of convincing her to stay until Shaun and Jason passed through on their way back to Twin Falls Saturday night.
However, Lainey didn’t want to be an imposition on anyone.
“I don’t want to be a burden to Galen and your dad, Jason. They have enough going on without me in the way.”
Jason looked at her like she’d just spoken in tongues. “You wouldn’t be a burden, or imposition, or anything else you’ve convinced yourself of. Truth is, if you hung around the house with Pops, it would be a help to Galen. Although he tries to act like he’s still capable of doing everything he did ten years ago, Pops is slowing down. Lately, Galen has been coming in every few hours to check on him to make sure he’s drinking enough water and stuff like that. Not to say that you’d have to sit in the house and twiddle your thumbs listening to Pops tell the samestories over and over, but knowing you were around would give a gift of time and reassurance to my brother.”
“Well, that makes it really hard for me to refuse, Jason Price, and you know it.”
He smirked. “I hoped it might tilt your decision in my favor. Honestly, everyone just wants to get to know you better, me included. If you’re here when I get back Saturday night, we’d have Sunday and Monday together before I have to hit the road again on Tuesday.”
“Okay. I’ll stay, but I fully intend to pull my weight and not just be an unwanted guest.”
“You just get it through that pretty head of yours, you’ll always be wanted at the Circle P Ranch, and by me.”
Lainey felt tears burning up her throat and stinging her eyes again, rendering her incapable of speech.
Rather than attempting to find her voice, she leaned her head against Jason’s shoulder, wondering if this was what it would be like to belong with a man who was so different from any she’d ever known.
“Home,” was the only answer she heard echoing in her head.
Chapter Six
One of the necessities of Jason’s job was staying in top physical shape. Shaun and Cooper sometimes went for a miles-long run in the mornings, but Jason’s knees protested. Instead, he had a routine he did every morning that only required a couple of handheld weights and a resistance band that were easy to store in the trailer and didn’t take up much space.
He put in his earbuds, tapped what he thought was his normal playlist on his phone, and got busy stretching.
It only took a few bars of the first song for him to realize someone had loaded a playlist on his phone without his knowledge. Likely, his son was the culprit.
He listened to Huey Lewis singing about the power of love. If he hadn’t liked the tune, he would have turned it off completely. It appeared Shaun had pulled together some of Jason’s favorite songs from his younger years and thrown in a few modernballads he liked, but the theme of them all was love, with a clear and distinct focus on falling in love.
When an old Exile song about waking up in love started to play, it hit Jason like someone had nailed him with a baseball bat right between the eyes.
He was in love with Lainey.
Not just smitten, though he was definitely that. He was completely and deeply in love with the woman.
Like it said in the song, he woke up in love with her, a little more so each day.
The problem was that he’d never intended to fall in love again. Judy had been his soulmate, best friend, and everything he’d wanted in a wife and partner for life.
Despite the fact that she’d been gone for more than twenty years, hardly a day went by that she wasn’t in his thoughts.
He knew it was ridiculous, but part of him still felt like he’d be betraying her if he let himself love someone else. Yet, Judy wouldn’t have wanted him to be alone all these years. She wouldn’t have wanted him to mourn her so long and so deeply that he never really moved on. She would have told him to find love and let his heart fill back up again.
From the first time he met Lainey, he knew there was something special about her. She was like sunshine that burst through the shroud of gray he’d kept pulled around him like a shield. Without trying, she’d penetrated the ice-covered wall he’d built around his heart and sent it crumbling before he could even gather his wits to protest.
Jason sighed as he faced the undeniable truth. He loved Lainey.
Really loved her.
The question was what to do about it.
