Book 9: Ten Days in Town (Three Rivers Ranch Romance™)

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The dates Sandy Keller had been on hadn’t been so disastrous in at least six months. Maybe longer. She’d been out with so many men, she’d lost count. Of course, she hadn’t ever had to drive out to Three Rivers Ranch to pick up her date before. That was a new low.

And so was having him say the words “my girlfriend” while she paid for dinner.

She fumed as she pulled into the parking lot, the long drive of shame back from the ranch finally over. Sandy didn’t want to return to the pancake house, where she’d have to explain to the night manager how utterly ridiculous dating in Three Rivers had become.

“Only for you,” she muttered as she turned the corner and headed toward the back building. Her oasis away from everything, her condo sat around the rear of the building, giving her unprecedented views of the western range. Living on the very edge of town had its perks, she supposed.

She pressed the brake too hard, jerking her car to a stop. Someone had parked in her designated space. Again.

Muttering, she backed up and found an uncovered parking spot, eyeing the red SUV like it had done her a personal wrong. She unlocked her front door and eased into her condo like she was settling into a warm bath.

Coming home had always brought her comfort. So had cooking. She whipped out a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, slid the tray into the oven, and disappeared into her bedroom to change. She wished she could slip away from the night’s horrors as easily as she shed one set of clothes and replaced them with silky pajamas.

She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, trying to see her flaws. Oh, she had them—a lot of them—but she couldn’t understand why everyone around her seemed to be able to find someone to love and she couldn’t.

“No more dating anyone from the ranch,” she told her reflection.

Sure, she’d been on some fun dates with some nice guys. But she hadn’t made it past the third date in over a year. There had to be something wrong with her, but looking at her brown eyes and highlighted brown hair, she couldn’t see it.

So, like she’d done dozens of times before, she returned to the kitchen to drown out the memories of her terrible date in ooey gooey chocolate.

The timer beeped once as she came out of her bedroom—the signal that it had been going off for a while. Her adrenaline spiked. How long had she been staring at herself in the mirror?

Thin, white smoke issued from the vents at the rear of the oven. She hurried into the kitchen, grabbed the oven mitts from the drawer, and yanked open the door.

Smoke and heat and vapor smacked her in the face. She cringed and pulled back, her stomach rioting over the loss of the cookies.

She’d barely slammed the ruined sheet of what was going to be her saving grace for the night on the stovetop when someone opened her front door.

Panic poured through her in waves, and she lifted her still oven-mitted hands like she could ward off any attack with them.

“Sandy?” a man asked.

Through the haze, Sandy made out the tall form of her brother, Hank. Relief made her sag against the peninsula. Just as quickly, she straightened and marched into the living room. “What are you doing here?”

Hank lifted his duffle bag. “We’re here for the holidays.” He peered at her, something he had to do to actually see her through the smoke hanging in the air. “Did you forget Ma was gettin’ new floors done this week?” He gestured to someone standing behind him. “You said me and Tad could stay here.”

Sandy tried to see her brother’s best friend from college, but he lingered directly behind Hank. “I did say that.” She stepped back. “Come on in. I haven’t gotten the beds made up yet. Weren’t you coming tomorrow?”

“Willow’s coming in tomorrow.”

Of course. Willow, Hank’s bubbly, blonde girlfriend. Well, fiancé now that he’d asked her to marry him. Sandy’s only comfort all these years had been that Hank hadn’t been able to get married either. She hadn’t been the only disappointment to her mother. But come June, she would be.

Hank stepped into the living room, finally revealing Tad. He flashed a mega watt grin that made Sandy’s heart go flippity-flop and stepped forward. “Sandy, it’s so good to see you again.”

She stared at his outstretched hand, not quite sure if she trusted herself to shake it. Seconds stretched into awkwardness, which Hank broke by saying, “Don’t you own the pancake house now? How is it possible for you to burn cookies?”

Embarrassment flooded Sandy’s cheeks, along with a healthy dose of heat. She turned away from Tad’s tall frame, his intoxicating dark eyes, which still watched her, his windswept, dark chocolate-colored hair. She’d met him a few times in the past, only for a couple of minutes. But now he screamed available! even though she’d just sworn off dating.

You just swore off dating anyone living at the ranch, she amended as she went to open the windows in the dining room. And Tad doesn’t live out at the ranch.

She gave herself a mental shake, a stern reminder not to be ridiculous. Tad was going to be here for ten days, not forever. And Sandy, owner of the steady and successful pancake house, was a lifetime resident of Three Rivers. The thought had never felt like such a life sentence.

* * *

Tad Jorgensen watched Sandy Keller—his best friend’s little sister—slink into the dining room to open windows. He’d left the front door open, but not because he’d thought it would help clear out the gauzy smoke. But because Sandy’s beauty had struck him full in the chest, rendering him slow of thought. It had been a miracle he’d managed to say hello and offer his hand to her.

She hadn’t taken it, and now he focused on his fingers, thinking them covered with slime or something.

Sandy’s light laugh brought Tad out of his trance. His pulse quickened when she glanced his way, and he needed to pull himself together. Fast. He’d come up with a plausible reason he could go home for Christmas with Hank this year when he’d never been able to before. Mandatory vacation.

Helicopter pilots rarely got vacation, especially in the tourist industry where Tad worked. Used to work, he thought as he watched Sandy and Hank banter in the kitchen. His fingers itched to touch her silky pajamas, and he reined in his thoughts.

She’s your best friend’s sister, he told himself. And you’re unemployed.

Even if she had burnt the cookies, she wouldn’t be interested in a helicopter pilot who was afraid to fly.

Bitterness, now becoming more and more familiar as the weeks passed, coated his throat. He had been asked to take a mandatory vacation over the holidays—usually the busiest time of the year—but it wasn’t because he’d stored up too many days.

He forced his mind somewhere—anywhere—else, and the traitorous thing landed back on Sandy.

“Didn’t think you’d be here,” Hank said when Tad’s brain started working again. “That’s why I opened the door without knocking.”

“Why wouldn’t I be here?” Sandy sat at her bar, her back to Tad, but he heard the false note in her voice.

“You said you had a date.” Hank pinned her with an older brother look that said Well, why aren’t you out?

Sandy’s shoulders fell, and her chin dipped for half a beat. It could’ve been Tad’s imagination, but he swore she angled her face in his direction when she said, “I’m not really into dating right now. I have the pancake house to whip into shape and….” He let her sentence hang there, and Tad wasn’t sure if she didn’t know how to finish it or just didn’t want to in mixed company.

Hank frowned, his confusion evident. “I thought you liked—”

“Hank,” she warned. “So, which of you wants my office?” She stood and faced Tad fully. Again, the subtle strength in her face, the set of her shoulders hit Tad in a way it never had before. An edge of sadness also rode in her expression, barely noticeable. In fact, Tad wondered if anyone else would be able to see it. Or if he could because the same vein of despair had been lingering with him since the beginning of November, when he’d barely made it back to the rim of the Grand Canyon.

In many ways, he was still out there. Still lost in the wilderness. Still radioing for help.

His clients hadn’t filed any complaints. Their version of what had happened painted him in a complimentary light. But everything about Tad’s confidence had been shattered. He’d thought he understood his helicopter; he’d been flying over the Grand Canyon for years. But nothing had prepared him and no experience could’ve helped him during that fateful flight.

“Tad?” Sandy stood in front of him now, but he hadn’t seen her move.

“I’ll take the office,” Tad said. “Sure.” He glanced left and right, seeing only one door to the right of the kitchen. That would be her room. On the left, an arched doorway revealed a hall branching in both directions, with a closed door at the junction. He stepped that way.

“I can set up my own bed. Or sleep on the couch. The floor. Whatever.” He didn’t want to add to Sandy’s load. She looked and sounded a bit worn down.

His attention came back to her when she said, “Let me clean up in there first,” with a tremor of trepidation in her tone.

He paused upon entering the hall. Her office obviously existed to his right, but he didn’t want to enter it unless she approved. “Sure. Is this the bathroom?”

“Yeah.” Sandy squeezed behind him and entered the office. “I’ll just be a minute.” She closed the door, that panicked edge in her eye kicking Tad’s pulse into a new gear.

He turned away, frustrated with himself. He could not be attracted to Hank’s little sister, even if she was twenty-seven years old. Tad joined Hank in the kitchen, where he stood at the sink, staring out the window.

“Three Rivers,” he said, though darkness had fallen an hour ago and not much could be seen.

“So much sky,” Hank added, and Tad appreciated being able to see something in a way Las Vegas had never allowed. He could see the stars without straining. Coming into town, Tad had felt the smallness of it, and something about it sang to his soul.

He hadn’t told anyone about the flight that had almost ended his life, and had definitely stalled his career.

“So what’s here?” he asked Hank.

Hank shrugged and turned away from the window. “Small town stuff.” He spoke as if small towns had nothing to offer. But Tad craved the tranquility and peace of a place like Three Rivers. Somewhere where no one knew him, no one thought of him as a helicopter pilot, no one assumed anything about him.

Stay, he thought, and the feeling spread through him slowly, like honey dripping from the hive. Tad closed his eyes and drank in the peace emanating from the very air in Three Rivers.

He was going to stay—and not just for the ten days with Hank. But for good.

His decision made, and approved of by the Lord, Tad couldn’t wait to spend some time alone. Because now he needed to figure out what he could do in Three Rivers to make a living.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I love visiting Three Rivers Ranch because it brings joy, redemption and lots of family, through heartbreaking situations. We find lost love brought back together, meeting as grown-ups, second chances and running away from shame. Each story is unique and wants you to get more.” ~Susan S.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Lucky myself to have grown up on a ranch, it's like a taste of home listening to the author's books. It makes me feel as if there might just still be someone out there for me yet! I think I've read a few more of the Three Rivers books. And going to read the rest right now!” ~Kindle Customer