Above him was a large light hidden by a globe of frosted glass and sandblasted with flowers. He wondered if Shay’s mother, or perhaps her grandmother, might have once lived here, and had chosen the motif. Everything about the room was from the turn of the twentieth century. It actually made Reese feel more relaxed. He heard a rooster crowing faintly outside the window and it brought back good memories of his own youth. The room smelled fresh and it was spotlessly clean.
What he liked most of all was the huge shower and bathtub. Someone had really thought about the layout of this room and the adjoining one. He wanted to ask Shay who had originally built this house because it was solid, warm, and truly felt like a home where many generations of her family had lived. Now, he could begin to understand why she was battling to save her family ranch. It was important to Reese to help her try to do just that.
“Well?” Shay asked, standing in the doorway, her hands on the jamb. “Do you like this one best?”
Turning, he saw she was worried. “I didn’t check out the other one. This one is fine.” He gestured around the room. “More than adequate. Amazing, really.” Compared to what he had before? Cardboard over a steam grate to keep warm during the winter? He saw her face mirror relief.
“This was my Grandma Inez’s room. She loved roses”—Shay pointed to the light above them—“red roses.” She walked in, going to the thick, heavy drapes at the only window, fingering the material with fondness. “I remember coming in here when I was a kid, and she had a Singer sewing machine over there, where the desk is now. She taught me to sew starting when I was ten years old. I loved every moment of the time I spent with her.”
There was a wistfulness in Shay’s voice, her eyes going soft with good memories. Reese felt as if he were trespassing. “Are you sure about this? Me taking her room? It has a lot of good memories for you.”
She nodded. “Oh, it’s fine, Reese. No worries, okay? I love coming in here, because on bad days, I go sit on the bed and remember all our laughter, the fun we had, and how she’d hug the daylights out of me.” She gave him a shy glance. “My grandma always made me feel better.”
“What about your mother?” Reese saw pain come to her eyes.
“She died when I was ten years old. Gram Inez lived here and she sort of became my other mother until she died when I was thirteen.”
Hearing the loss in her husky voice, Reese wanted to walk over and embrace her for just a moment. It wasn’t a sexual thing, it was about one human comforting another. “I’m sorry. Sounds like you had a really rough childhood.”
Shrugging, she gave him a wry look. “I’ve come to realize most children don’t have a great time growing up. It just is what it is. Are you ready to look at your new office?”
“More than ready. Lead the way.” As Reese absorbed the sense of family history at the ranch, a new feeling of belonging was starting to grow in him. This wasn’t his family; he already had one. But the warmth of homecoming was strong here, and he knew it had to do with Shay and how she held her world together. It enclosed him gently, and a little more of the tension he’d carried for two years, started to dissolve. Max happily followed at his heels. Reese decided he had a new furry best friend.
Chapter Four
Shay was excited and a little worried when the four vets sat down to the spaghetti dinner Garret had made for all of them. There was a lot of testosterone at the long maple trestle table. She sat at the head of the table, two vets on either side of her. The kitchen smelled of garlic, marinara sauce, basil, and freshly baked bread. Covertly, she watched Reese. She could tell he was still hungry and wanted to gobble his meal, but he didn’t. He ate like the other vets, talking and eating at a much slower pace.
Her heart went out to Reese because he was the only officer in the group. Everyone else at the table had been enlisted in the military. He had to be feeling a lot of shame because of his lost career and fall from grace. If he did, Reese didn’t show it. Instead, she saw him relax, as if he were among friends, not enlisted people that he was used to shepherding around as an officer. What touched her heart was Max lying down next to Reese’s booted feet, his chin on his paws, watching him with great affection. And sometimes Reese would lean over and place his hand on his head, scratch his fur gently and then resume eating.
“Hey,” Noah spoke up, looking toward her. “I got a call from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, Shay. They’re interested in purchasing three of our horses. I guess when Sarah and her deputies have to go into the mountains, searching for lost kids and adults, they figured horses might be better than hiking.”
Shay brightened. “Wow. Really?” She smiled at Noah, who sat at her left elbow. He was five foot eleven inches tall, well built, with short black hair and gray eyes. Like everyone else at the table, he had cleaned up and changed clothes before sitting down for dinner. Noah liked plaid shirts, and tonight he wore a red, green, and white one, the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows. She saw the excitement in his intelligent eyes.
“Yeah,” he said, giving her a wide grin. “Potentially, that’s a lot of money for us. I guess I’m getting a name in the valley for turning out well-trained horses, huh?”