the screen door off the kitchen, Ruby on her heels. For this first meeting, Kallie had sent the kids to spend the afternoon and early evening with her friend Rachel in the town of Bitter Creek, a twenty-minute drive from the farm. It was best this way, Kallie reasoned. She needed to find the right time to tell Grant about them—and, truthfully, a part of her didn’t know if she should. Dad had introduced Grant to her as his employee, and they’d hit it off immediately. Fell into a whirlwind romance like nothing she’d ever experienced.
But after one passionate night where they’d gone too far, Grant had left. He’d confessed he wasn’t ready for commitment or for life on the farm.
His leaving had felt like betrayal. Like he’d never loved her like she’d loved him.
Kallie descended the porch steps, a breath of summer wind warm on her skin. Maybe she’d only loved him with the excitement of young love. If she had been realistic at the time, maybe she would’ve realized it never would have worked. He didn’t want kids, and his wanderlust would have driven him crazy if he’d lived here—the place that had captured her, heart and soul.
But honestly, what scared her most was the possibility of rejection. What if she told him about the kids and he only rejected them like he had her? Then would it have been better if they’d never met him at all?
The pickup rolled to a stop in the front yard and the driver’s-side door opened. She faltered as her foot met gravel, and she clutched the railing.
A boot and pant leg showed beneath the pickup’s door, and then a second boot and leg. Grant stepped into view and Kallie’s eyes traced the length of him. Faded denim knees. Trim waist and a button-up Western shirt. Lean muscular arms beneath sleeves rolled to the elbows. Short dark hair framing angular cheeks and green-brown eyes that appeared fierce and wild even if he smiled.
Not that he was smiling yet. He stared back at her with an unreadable expression that made her toes curl inside her slip-on shoes. Inhaling, Kallie tucked a strand of her long blond hair behind her ear. Now or never.
The breeze teased the hem of her sundress as she took the gravel walkway. A backdrop of South Dakota pastures waved green beyond the yard, long-forgotten dog kennels and outbuildings.
“Hey,” she said, feeling a little silly sounding casual when she hadn’t seen him in so long. If only her voice didn’t sound so small.
Grant had one thumb in his jeans pocket, head tilted to keep the sun from his eyes. “Hey, Kallie.”
Oh, that voice. Sounded even better in person than it did over the phone. “How was the drive?”
“Not too bad.”
“Well, hopefully this trip won’t take much of your time. I’ll try to keep things brief. Who would’ve thought we’d end up owning property together? I guess Dad forgot to update his will after we split.” She was rambling now—why couldn’t she stop? “I guess I just, I don’t know—”
“Kallie?”
Pausing, she met his gaze.
“I’m sorry about your dad.”
The past two years’ struggles came over her in waves and she barely managed to keep eye contact. Pressing her lips together, she finally glanced away. “Thanks.”
“What happened?”
“Wait—the attorney didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
“Well, Dad was getting worse every month. I mean, sharp as a whip mentally. But his body was giving out on him—”
“But what was it? Cancer? Parkinson’s?”
“ALS.”
Grant fell silent, closed his eyes, knit his brows together.
A dreaded weight pushed down on Kallie’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to spring the news on you the moment you got here.”
“I was only gone two years.” His voice sounded scratchy all of a sudden.
“He was diagnosed two Christmases ago.”
She could see his jaw muscles working. He looked around as if for an escape, then turned his attention to Ruby, who intently sniffed his tailgate. “Hey, there,” he murmured. “You smell my dogs, do ya?” Two kennels stood in his truck bed. Grant worked his fingers through Ruby’s hair, his movements showing both his fondness and familiarity with her breed and his intense effort to come to terms with Dad’s diagnosis and death.
Truthfully, she hadn’t come to terms with it, either. Though she trusted in God’s goodness, she didn’t understand why He’d allowed such an ugly disease to consume her own father. Dad had been all she’d had. Mom had traveled so much for work as a medical sales rep when Kallie was a kid, and she saw even less of Mom after her parents’ divorce. Mom hadn’t even come to the funeral.
Sure, she’d tried calling Kallie a few times lately, but Kallie couldn’t bring herself to listen to the excuses anymore.
Dwelling on all of that now, however, wasn’t going to solve the dilemma she and Grant faced together. They needed to sit down and figure out what to do about the farm.
“So, um…” Kallie swallowed the lump in her throat and jutted her thumb back toward the house. “You’re probably beat from driving all day. Why don’t you come inside and I’ll make up some coffee? We can sit down and discuss everything.”
Grant gave Ruby one final rubdown, then stood. “Thanks, but I should get settled in town. My dogs need to eat, and I still need to stop at the dog park to let them release some energy before going to the hotel.”
“You’re not staying at your parents’?”
Hesitating, he glanced down the road. “No.”
She heard the meaning in his voice, his implication that the house was just a shell now that his mom wasn’t there.
At four hundred people, Bitter Creek wasn’t exactly a metropolis. People’s business was often out in the open. She knew his dad—who’d never been able to hold down a job—had drifted off somewhere shortly after Grant left town, and then his mom had moved to Norfolk, Nebraska, to live with Grant’s sister, Jill.
“How is your mom?” she asked.
“I’m sure she’s doing well—she’s a tough cookie.” His gaze dimmed a bit. “I don’t get down there to see her as much as I’d like.”
One of his dogs barked, which seemed to wake Grant from his thoughts.
“Shouldn’t even have their house still,” he said, rounding the pickup bed to check on his animals. “It’s old and falling apart. Probably more expensive to keep than to sell. But you know Mom—can’t let go of anything. And my sister isn’t helping.” The twinkle in his eye showed he was obviously not as annoyed as he pretended to be. He and Jill had always teased each other, and both loved their mom. Anything of hers would be hard to sell, even if no one lived here anymore. “I’d better head out.”
“Wait.” Kallie couldn’t
