my head wasn’t hard, and I had to sniff back tears all over again. “Three and a half?” I guessed.
He nodded, making his straight blond hair bounce. “Wanna color?”
“Sure,” I answered.
He carefully ripped a page from his coloring book, biting down on his tongue for added concentration, and passed it to me along with three of his crayons.
I began filling in Mickey Mouse’s red shorts while he colored a blue Goofy on his page.
“You’re good at staying in the lines,” I said.
“I am,” he agreed. “You’re a good colorer too.”
“Thank you,” I said, oddly flattered, considering the compliment was coming from a three (and a half) year old.
Footsteps sounded in the doorway, and I watched as Ray and his mom walked into the kitchen. Mrs. Sadler went to the refrigerator and began retrieving ingredients for supper. Ray didn’t say anything, just sat across the table from me and said, “Hand me a sheet, will ya, Jonah?”
I was watching him, and he had to know it because he turned those blue eyes on me and held my gaze. I wanted to know what he thought, to make sure he wasn’t upset about what I was wearing, but his eyes were liquid shields. My gaze flicked to his lips—they always gave him away.
They lifted into a smile, and I could feel relief pouring from me. That was, until he reached across the table and my heart sped to a breakneck pace. His fingers skimmed my shoulder, sending lightning bolts straight to my gut. He peeled a sticker from my shirt and held it up. “Forgot one.”
There was humor in his eyes, and it eased my tension so much I practically slumped in my chair. “I’ll have you know I did see it. It just got re-stuck.”
He made a tsking sound and shook his head. “Excuses, excuses.”
“Uh huh,” I said, fighting a smile. We were good. I liked that about him too. He moved past hurts. But that just made this harder, because I knew it couldn’t last outside of today, outside of this storm.
“What’s wrong?” Ray whispered.
Apparently, I wasn’t as hard to read as him. Instead of saying something I knew would disappoint us both, I glanced out the window at the snow falling outside. It was heavier now. I could hardly see to the corrals by the barn. “Will the cows be okay?”
“They should be,” he said. “They can get into the barn and the lean-to if they need, and I’ll be out checking them as I can.”
His mom added, “When you have enough visibility to actually see what you’re doing and not get lost.”
Ray gritted his teeth.
“Lost?” I asked. “We’re a hundred yards away.”
His mom nodded. “I know it doesn’t snow much here, but in Idaho where I’m from, there used to be blizzards so bad you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. If you went out, you tied a rope to your waist so you could find your way back.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “That’s crazy.”
“Yep.” She pointed a wooden spoon at Ray. “And no amount of cattle or paychecks are worth my son’s life. Or his education.”
He turned his gaze toward the ceiling and sighed. “I know, I know,” he said, like they’d had this conversation at least a hundred times already.
My curiosity piqued, but I bit my lip to keep from asking the question.
“Just ask,” Ray said, reading me like a book.
“Yeah,” Jonah echoed. “Just ask.”
I smiled at him, but it quickly faltered. “Why...why didn’t you sell the ranch when...” I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
“It’s been in the family for generations,” Ray said. “And Sadlers don’t give up when things get hard.”
His mom made chicken and dumplings for dinner, and it was one of the best things I’d ever tasted. No gluten-free bread, no organic chicken, and a tall glass of milk to top it off. I was in heaven.
Or at least, I thought it was, until she pulled back the foil on a chocolate sheet cake and served it with vanilla ice cream.
I took a bite, and the ice cream dissolved the chocolate in my mouth, flooding my taste buds with the most delicious flavor. I barely kept from moaning out loud. “This is amazing.”
“Oh hush,” his mom said. “Just an old family recipe.”
“I need it,” I said. “Immediately.”
Laughing, she took a bite of her own cake, then said, “I’ll let you take a picture of the recipe card before you go.”
There was so much smiling and laughing in the Sadler house, even