The Delivery of Decor (Shiloh Ridge Ranch in Three Rivers #7) - Liz Isaacson Page 0,88

from outside.

“Coming,” he said, hurrying to get to the door now. He found her and Don standing next to Judge’s truck, a fond smile on her face.

“You’ve been working on that song.” She beamed at him. “It sounds completely different than last week.”

“I should hope so,” Judge said. “I’d just started it last week.” He hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You guys ready to get back to your own place?”

“Yes,” Don said with a smile. Judge shook his step-father’s hand and gestured to the other side of the truck.

“Want me to help you, Mother? Should I get Cactus’s sedan?”

“This is fine,” Don said. “I’ll help her.”

They’d driven her SUV up to the ranch, but it currently sat in Bishop’s driveway with a tree-sized dent in the roof. “Dent” wasn’t the right word as the whole top had caved in. There was no reusing or repairing that. Oakley had said she’d sell them a very reasonable replacement, and Don had called the scrap yard to come get the SUV. He’d gotten a couple of thousand dollars for it, but now they needed a ride to town.

Judge was going that way, as were several others, now that the roads were fixed. June had been the first person Judge had called once the big boulder had been removed from the west ranch road. She’d readily agreed to dinner tonight, and Judge’s nerves once again chittered at him not to mess up this second chance.

In reality, it was probably his third chance, and he was sure if he made one false move, he’d strike out. Game over.

He got behind the wheel of the car, and Mother must’ve been able to sense his anxiety, because she kept the conversation moving over trivial things all the way to Don’s house on the southeast side of Three Rivers.

Once Judge had dropped them off, he hurried to Wilde & Organic, very near where they lived. The whole foods store had amazing organic produce, much of which they grew right here in Three Rivers and the surrounding areas on a family farm, but what Judge wanted waited in their floral department.

Several bouquets of red roses remained, but Judge didn’t want something so formal. He wanted easy. Fun. Light. He didn’t need to come across to June as too eager, though his whole body seemed made of eagerness.

He selected a pretty vase of purple, yellow, and white wildflowers that had a big violet bow tied around the glass. He paid for his purchase and headed back to the truck. He looked at himself in the rearview mirror, noting that his beard was neat and trimmed. He’d oiled it and taken time to get every errant hair off his neck.

Likewise, the hair on his head all stood in exactly the right place, and he told himself that he wasn’t going gray; he simply had lighter brown hair than the rest of his brothers, even Bishop. Judge was probably the fairest of all the Glovers on both sides of the family. Just another way he stuck out—at least to him.

He’d been working for four decades to get someone in the family to look his way, but he’d really calmed down in the past year. He had Preacher and Cactus, Ward and now Mister again too. Bear and Sammy made a point to come to the Ranch House for dinner, and Judge really appreciated them and loved their kids. No one had abandoned him just because they’d found women to love, though that was something he had to tell himself on a near-daily basis.

And now here he was, out on a date where he hoped he could convince Juniper Nichols to give the two of them a real chance to be a couple.

He licked his lips and reached for a mint. He sucked on that as he made the drive from the grocery store to June’s house. She lived in one of the newer homes on the north side of town, having relocated just before he’d met her for the first time.

He could still feel how the world had narrowed to just her standing on his front porch. He’d stared for a good ten seconds before Mister had elbowed him out of the way and let the network technician into the Ranch House. Judge had sort of followed June around like a puppy after that, but somehow he’d managed to ask her out.

Sammy had helped with that, and he wouldn’t be surprised if the woman was waiting up