in San Antonio to act like a couple of honeymooners. Not that they were doing anything they shouldn’t in front of the kids, but they’d grown up and grown closer in the past couple of days.
Like Jolene and Mitch and a lot of other people around Turning Point, he suspected, Wes and Cindy had risen to the challenge Damon had hurled at them and come through the tragedy with plenty to be proud of. And from the number of times they’d found a way to hold hands or sneak a kiss, all squabbles had been forgiven and the two were clearly very much in love.
Nate waved goodbye as they excused themselves for some more intense congratulating. He leaned back in the seat behind the steering wheel and thought of Jolene. The weather had rinsed her scent out of the truck, but he could close his eyes and breathe it in through his imagination. Smells of home and life and laughter.
He could feel her in his body, too. The enthusiastic way she reached for him and held on. The gentle stroke of her fingers across his face.
He could taste her in his mouth. Hot, sweet, willing. Equal parts sass and sugar.
He could see her in his mind. An unruly strand of sun-kissed hair blowing across her cheek. Soft, pale skin. Everywhere. He could see her crying. Arguing. Smiling. Giving herself to him. Healing him.
He could hear her voice and know her soft, gentle words were the truest balm his soul had ever known. He could hear her laughing, or crying out his name at the height of uninhibited passion, and know he’d never experienced any bigger adrenaline rush than the time he’d spent with his angel.
Something hard and stubborn squeezed the breath from his lungs and shattered his restless doubts into a billion pieces.
Nate slipped his hand into his front pocket and fingered the smooth gold ring Grandpa Nate had left him. He knew the warmth he felt in the metal band had to do with body heat and August temps.
But if he thought a little less, believed a little more…maybe the soul he shared with that wise old man was trying to tell him something.
Nate slowly opened his eyes and scanned the devastated Texas landscape. Not so many days ago he’d left California, a man without a home, a man with a heavy conscience. Not quite a whole man. The life he’d put on hold for his family and work had passed him by in Courage Bay.
But he’d found it in Texas.
In the dazzling smile of one blue-eyed angel.
A hopeful energy seeped into his thoughts and spread its renewing strength into his veins.
He needed to think about this.
But not too hard.
The ring practically burned in his hand. “Yeah, I get it. I get it.”
Nate smiled, silently thanking his wonderful grandfather, who’d taken him in as a baby and given him the home he’d needed then. But the time had come to find a home of his own.
Hell. He’d thrown every other caution to the wind. Maybe there was something he could learn from Jolene’s impulsive nature.
Nate picked up the radio and pressed the call button. The excited dispatcher, Ruth, shouted out her office door. “Mitch! It’s them. Mitch!” Then she dutifully took down the information from Nate’s report. Half a minute later a door slammed. Ruth’s voice grew faint. “Sweetie, they’re all right. Nate says they’re all right.”
He heard Mitch’s hoarse voice in the background. “Let me on that line.”
There was a flurry of movement.
“Here.”
“Thanks, hon.”
Then, “Kellison?”
“I hear you loud and clear, Mitch.”
“Thank God. How’s Jolene? The flooding’s bad out your way. Are you safe at the house?”
Nate grinned. Mitch didn’t know whether to be boss or father right now. He had a feeling Mitch had done enough worrying for both roles. “I’m at the Rock-a-Bye. I forded a stream along the property line that had gone down enough to be passable. Took us about an hour to get the radio in Jolene’s truck working. Jolene’s back at the Double J. Fit and feisty as ever. I don’t think even a hurricane could bring her down.”
“That’s my girl. Headstrong, but tough.”
And funny and sexy and full of heart. And worth every bruise and bandage on his body. But he couldn’t say that to Mitch. Instead he asked, “How’s the damage there in town?”
“Bad. The ranch?”
“It needs work. New roofs and windows. A shed. Some steel fencing. When the water goes down, we’ll see if there’s anything left of the road,