is. So what happened with you and Ace?” Rina asked.
The two women moved away from the party area down the path where there was a bench nestled under a willow tree. “Remember when I used to think no one could find me here?”
“I do,” Rina said. “It was your spot. Your dad told me how you and your mom used to spend time under this willow.”
“We did. I always think of her when I come here. I wonder what she’d say about all this,” Molly said.
“She’d be proud of you. You’ve done what was needed to keep the ranch in the family and you are making it a place for future generations,” Rina said.
Molly wondered if that was true or if Rina was just saying what she thought she needed to hear. The truth was someplace in between, Molly reckoned.
“So...” Rina said, taking another sip. “What did you do?”
Molly finished her margarita and sat down on the bench.
“Jason is feeling better. He thinks...he thinks that going on another mission might not be out of the question for him.”
“Was it ever?” Rina asked, coming over to sit down next to her.
“Yes. He has been part of an experiment for bone-density loss. It’s called spaceflight osteopenia. When we went to Houston right before we won the bid, the doctor saw him and the news wasn’t good. He thought he’d never go back to space. So he started considering a future with me and the ranch...”
“Well, damn.”
“Exactly. And today...well, today he tried talking to me about it, but I was all like it’s me or the moon.” She groaned, embarrassed. “I used to be afraid he would leave. No, I would think, what if Jason goes on his mission and when he comes back he doesn’t want this or me anymore?” she said. God, she hadn’t realized that was what she’d been feeling, but now that the words were out she felt freer.
Rina hugged her close and rubbed her back. “All I know is that love doesn’t come if you force it. If that boy loves you, then he won’t be able to go into space unless he knows you’ll be here for him when he returns.”
“You think so?” Molly asked.
“I do.” They sat for a few minutes in silence. “I guess we should go back to the party,” Rina said finally.
“We should.”
She followed Rina through the branches of the willow and up the path only to run into Jason coming down.
“I was looking for you,” he said. He wore a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a dress shirt, along with a Stetson she’d never seen before. He had two glasses in one hand, a bottle of Maker’s Mark in the other.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Rina said, walking past him.
“I was hiding out.”
“Under the willow?” he asked, draping the arm with the glasses over her shoulder.
Everyone knew her secret spot, she thought, and was reminded again that on the ranch there were no true secrets.
“Yes.”
“Good, let’s go there now. I want to be alone with you.”
He led her back under the willow tree. The music from the party was softer here. He put the glasses down on the bench with the whiskey bottle and drew her into his arms.
She started to speak, but he put his finger over her lips. “No more talking. I want to dance with my woman.”
He pulled her close, one arm wrapped around her waist, and took her right hand in his left. The radio was playing Sara Evans’s “I Could Not Ask For More.”
Jason swayed with her, singing under his breath along with the music. She felt her heart melt and fell even more in love with him. And she knew that she could never be the reason this man didn’t go for his dreams. That as much as she needed him here by her side, she needed him to be happy.
She rested her head against his chest and sang along with him. Jason started smiling when she looked up and she caught her breath. It was a real smile, not one of those fake ones he gave everyone most of the time. He swung her out and spun her back into his arms, wrapping his arms around her and singing into her ear.
She felt alive and happy. And suddenly she knew what she was going to have to do. Because she wanted Jason to have the life he’d always wanted. And that life was up in the stars.
MOLLY LOOKED AT herself in the mirror a week later and almost didn’t recognize herself. She had few opportunities to get dressed up. With the updo, the makeup and the cocktail dress, she looked like a different woman. Not a cowgirl but a woman who belonged in the big city. The special liaison for the Cronus training facility. Molly found she was excited about the new space exploration program and her part in it.
Next week an administrative assistant would arrive at the ranch, and Molly was going to have an office in the new building. She shook her head in disbelief.
It didn’t seem like that long ago that she’d been standing on the porch at the Bar T wondering what she was going to do without her dad by her side. She’d found a new life. A life she would never have imagined. The road had been hard, but she was in a good place here.
The facility would be welcoming its first group of trainees next week and this gala was to thank all the people who’d worked so hard to get them to this moment.
She’d made up her mind that if Jason was cleared for flight she’d encourage him to take the Cronus crew position Dennis wanted to offer. He had been with Dr. Tomlin all day doing tests. Molly tried to convince herself she was prepared for whatever happened.
She’d purchased her dress with Izzy’s help at the Neiman Marcus at the Galleria. It was sparkly and slim-fitting, hugging her curves, with a halter neck and a skirt that ended a few inches above her knees. She’d even stopped into Victoria’s Secret to pick up some nice new lingerie. She’d been practicing walking around the hotel room in her new high heels for the past hour.
Her dad used to bring her to Houston to go back-to-school shopping every year in August. They’d book a hotel near the Galleria and either Rina or Annabelle would go with her. Dad would meet them for lunch and then they’d do more shopping. It had been a little odd to visit the Galleria without him.
Jason and Molly had booked the same suite they’d stayed in last time since the gala celebration was being held in one of the ballrooms in the same hotel. Rina and Jeb had come to Houston for the celebration, as well. They were going to meet the initial group of trainees who would be using the facility.
She took another look at herself in the mirror as she fastened the large diamond-cluster earrings that had been her mother’s.
You look too pretty to be my daughter.
She glanced around expecting to see her dad standing behind her. But it was just his voice in her head.
