Riding the River Page 16
He opened the big front door wide to welcome them.
“Matt… Great to see you, son.” John gave him a huge hug and then turned to Sarah. “And who have you brought with you? Is this Sarah?”
“Yes, Grandpa, this… is Sarah Hughes. Sarah, John Garth.”
John took a good look at the love of his grandson’s life. Matt had told him so little about her that John was sure she was the one. Matt hadn’t brought anyone home to meet him in a long time…. She was a pretty blonde with a cute ponytail and deep blue eyes that didn’t miss much. She had a lovely figure and an expression that said she could keep his grandson in line…
“How do you do, Mr. Garth. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Sarah reached out to shake his hand.
“It’s John, please and no handshakes.” He hugged her instead and liked her already.
“Come on back to the kitchen. You all hungry?”
“Starved,” said Matt. “We didn’t have much breakfast and have worked up an appetite.”
Sarah gave him a Knock it off look that John caught part of and he almost laughed.
John’s kitchen was full of good aromas and was decorated in bright greens and yellows. He had a hearty soup going with fresh bread and a garden salad. Sarah was thrilled…
Once they were seated and eating, John asked a few tentative questions.
“How’s your trip going, Sarah?”
“It’s going well, thanks. I love it around here, John. It’s beautiful country.”
They discussed Baltimore, her job back home, cooking, computers, horses and everything in between. An hour flew by…
“Have you taken Sarah to see the ranch next door?”
“Not yet. We came here first.”
“… Well, show her around here and then go see the other place.” He turned to Sarah. “It’s a pretty little spread – About a hundred acres with a sweet ranch house. It needs a bit of sprucing up, but it’ll make a fine home. Has Matt mentioned he’s buying it?”
She looked over to smile at Matt. “Yes. It sounds wonderful.” He smiled back at her and held her gaze.
“Listen, Sarah,” began John. “I understand you’re staying on here after your trip is over. You’ll be working at the Walker guest ranch?”
“Yes,” she laughed. “I’ll be using my new culinary expertise.”
“Where will you live?”
“That’s a question with no answer right this minute.”
“Why don’t you and Matt stay here? I’ve got plenty of room. There’s a huge bedroom on the other side of the house with a bathroom…”
“I wouldn’t want to crowd you, John,” she demurred.
He looked around. “Sorry, no crowd, but I’d love for you to stay here.” He turned to Matt. “What do you think?”
“Great… Sarah?”
She let out a deep breath. “If someone had told me a few weeks ago, that I’d be moving to Nevada and taking a job as a cook’s assistant, I would have told them that was nuts…”
“… What about falling for a cowboy?” Matt said quietly.
“That would be the nuttiest part of all to believe.” She looked deeply into Matt’s dark eyes. “… But the absolute best part…” He leaned over to kiss her, while John continued smiling at them both. They were sweet and good for each other… Anyone with eyes could see that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Sarah went to freshen up in the bathroom, while Matt helped his grandfather clean up the lunch dishes.
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Have you asked her to marry you yet?”
“… No…”
“Why not?”
“We’re still figuring each other out.”
John shook his head.
“… Don’t wait too long, son.”
“How long is too long?”
“… That’s your decision, but she’s here, now. Anything can happen, Matt, so take advantage of the situation while you can.”
“…Okay…”
John looked his grandson in the eye.
“Do you love her?”
“Yes, sir…”
“Does she love you?”
“Yes…”
“… What are you waiting for?”
“…Ah…”
“She wants to live here, correct?”
“… Yeah…”
“And you’ve saved up enough to put down on the ranch next door? Plus, I said I’d help…”
“That would be a good summary of the situation, Grandpa.”
He threw up his hands in frustration.
“…I just wouldn’t want you to lose her, son.”
“Do you think I might?”
“She has a family back in Baltimore that probably loves and misses her, Matt. Don’t underestimate their influence… She’s a sweet girl and she’s waiting for you, just like I am.”
Matt rubbed his temples like he was getting a headache.
“I was married once before, remember?”
“All right, so that happened. But Sarah is in no way like Betsy and you know it. Sarah’s crazy about you, even I can see it from the little I’ve seen of the two of you together. Don’t blow this, Matt…”
“Okay…”
Sarah came back into the kitchen and noticed the serious expressions on their faces.
“… Somebody die?”
John cracked up at that. “Not yet.” He glanced at Matt. “Take her out to see the ranch, but say goodbye before you leave.”
Sarah walked over to give him a hug. “Thanks so much for lunch.”
“Remember to get your things and come back tonight. I’ll have the bedroom cleaned up for you two.”
She reached up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”
John’s eyes got a little misty and Matt almost laughed. So Sarah had John eating out of her hand too… Figures… This girl can charm the bees out of the hive…
Matt drove Sarah around his grandfather’s ranch. After seeing the house, barn, corrals, cattle and horses, she had a few questions.
“So this is a pretty big ranch?”
“… Close to two thousand acres.”
“And he can have a good sized herd of cattle?”
“Yes, because he has a lot of grassland and water on his property. Water’s gold in Nevada…”
“The ranch you’re buying?”
“What about it?”
“… Are you buying it to mesh with your grandfather’s?”
He looked over at her. “Pretty good. How’d you figure that?”
“Well… it’s obviously not large enough to run a big herd, so the land must have other assets that will complement his ranch.”
Matt smiled at her. “So you’re not just a pretty face…”
“Ha…”
“You know I’m to inherit my grandfather’s ranch someday…” She nodded.
“He suggested I buy the ranch next door for the water rights and additional grassland. I’ll run a herd of horses on my property and help John with his cattle. We’ve planned it out for a while now.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“Nothing now. I’ve saved up the money I needed from working at the Walker ranch and some investments. I’m buying the ranch probably next week.”
A big smile spread across her face. “So you’ll be a rancher soon…”
“Yep. Want to see the ranch house?”
“Very much…”
Matt drove Sarah over to the ranch next door. By next door, it was actually ten miles to the south of John’s property line. The smaller ranch had been vacant for a while, so it needed some work. Matt pulled up in front of the ranch house and turned off his truck.
“Ready to take a look?”
Sarah looked at the pretty place. They’d parked on a curved paved driveway with a sidewalk going to the front porch. The house was built of light, brown wood, probably cedar, with a beautiful black, shingled roof. It had big windows everywhere and
a huge pine tree, maybe sixty feet tall, in the front yard. There had been some landscaping done at one time, but it needed some work. Sarah was charmed…
“It’s lovely…” That brought a big smile to Matt’s face – He was hoping she’d like it.
They got out of the truck, walked up to the porch and Matt opened the front door with a key on his keychain.
“It’s about 3,000 square feet, I think,” he said as he held the door open for her.
Sarah looked around at the spacious house. Nice wooden floors, a river rock fireplace from floor to ceiling and overhead lighting. Another room, just off the living area had another fireplace, slanted ceiling with solid windows on one wall. The views of the mountains behind and to the front of the house were incomparable. Sarah had never seen a house like this.
The kitchen had been renovated already with granite countertops, new appliances and cupboards. Dark wooden floors with full lighting overhead made Sarah gasped. Matt smiled – She liked it.
“… Comments?”
“It’s spectacular…”
“What were you expecting? … A little house on the prairie? A sod dugout perhaps?”
“I don’t know what I was expecting, but this is fabulous.”
“Come see the bedrooms.”
There were four bedrooms. One – the master – was large, with a huge picture window showing a view of the backyard trees and mountains in the far distance. She gasped again.
“You don’t like it?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. And out here in the middle of…”
“… Nowhere?” Matt laughed at her embarrassed look.
“Okay…”
“Come here,” he said beckoning her into his arms. As he held her and looked into her clear, blue eyes, he asked it…
“Do you think you’d like to live here someday?”
“… With you?”
“Yes…” He kissed her lips.
“What are you saying?”
Matt swallowed. “Can we take this slow?
She scrunched up her face. “How slow?”
“…Ah…”
“You want to live in sin for a while, is that it?”
“… Would that upset you?”
“No, but it might upset you if I get a better offer…” She broke free from his arms with a slight smile.
Matt grabbed her. “What are you talking about?”
She laughed at him. “Matt, I heard what your grandfather said. What are we waiting for?”
“Okay….” He took a deep breath. “Do you want to marry me?”
“… Are you asking?”
He swallowed again. “Maybe…”
Sarah bent over laughing this time. “Well, when you figure it out, let me know. In the meantime, I need to get back…”
He knit his eyebrows in confusion. What the hell?
She could tell he was totally confused on the drive back. They’d said goodbye to John and would see him later that evening. Sarah wanted to help Dale with dinner and spend some time with Tess before she left tomorrow. When they arrived at the Walker ranch, Sarah looked over at him. She smiled – He was still chewing on it…
“Matt?”
“Hmmm?” He looked up at her pretty face and smiled.
“Can you take me into Wells tomorrow?”
“Sure. Why?”
“I need to call my family and my friend, Abby. I haven’t spoken to them in over a week now. I may call my boss as well…”
His grandfather’s words came back to him in a rush… Her family’s influence… Would she be talked into going back to Baltimore? It hit him again like a punch in the stomach that her home and life were back East.
“Hey… Where are you? Are you all right?”
He grabbed her hands. “Sarah, are you going to leave? Are you going to leave me?”
Wow…She’d never seen competent, decisive Matt so unsure, so uncertain…
“Do you want me to?”
“… Never…”
She smiled at him. “Never’s a long time…”
“I know.”
“… I’m staying, honey, if you really want me to.”
“I want you to very much.”
“All right, but I still need to call home…”
Matt let out a breath. “Okay...”
Pause…
“… You okay?”
“Fine,” he breathed. “And Sarah?”
“… Hmmm?”
“I’ll work on that marriage proposal.”
She grinned at his serious face and leaned over to kiss his lips.
“… You do that…”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Dinner that night with Tess and Richie was bittersweet. Sarah and Tess had become good friends and would miss each other very much. They’d made plans to get together, both in Nevada and Arizona.
“I’ve never been to Arizona,” commented Sarah.
Matt, to her left, shook his head. “… City girl…”
“… Country boy…” she smiled at him.
They’d discussed the ranch house and the visit with Matt’s grandfather and other polite conversation as it came up. Tess finally excused herself to go to the restroom and Sarah went with her.
Richie frowned. “What is it with women? They have to go in pairs to the restroom?”
That got Matt laughing. “Can’t live with ‘em or without ‘em.”
“Ha…”
“You going to see Tess again?”
“I’m going to visit her next month.” He looked sharply at Matt. “What do you think?”
“I think she’s great, don’t you?”
“I really do…” He looked shy for a minute. “… Never thought something like this would happen to me.”
“Yeah, you’ve been catch and release as long as I’ve known you.”
“Speaking of being caught… Are you engaged yet?”
“No, but close. I almost asked her today, but my mouth and brain tripped me up.”
“What’d she say?”
“Basically, she laughed at me.”
Richie shrugged. “It’s a start…”
Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Tess and Sarah were giggling.
“Oh, did you check under the stalls?”
“Yes, we’re alone…”
“So how was your last day with Richie?”
She almost swooned. “He’s really a pretty romantic guy. He stumbled around and finally asked if he could visit me next month.”
“And you said yes, of course.”
“… Of course, but only after we spent most of the afternoon in his cabin…”
“Yes?” Sarah raised an eyebrow.
“… Uh-huh… Doing the deed…”
They laughed heartily at that.
“How about you?”
“Pretty close to the same.”
“… Really?” Tess raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, we had a fight in his truck in the morning…”
“On the way to his grandfather’s?”
“… Yes, and we spent the rest of the morning having makeup sex…”
“… in the truck?” She nodded.
Tess blinked. “Wow, Sarah. City girls are all right… So we both had good days.”
“I’d say so.”
Tess looked in the mirror, fluffing her hair. “Better get back before they cool off.”
They left the bathroom with Sarah laughing and enjoying her friend, Tess.
####
Matt’s grandfather was as good as his word. A huge bedroom with incredible views of the hills behind the house was at their disposal. It was located in the back part of the house, insuring them privacy, something Matt really wanted. It was understood they’d stay there until Matt had bought his ranch and it was in livable condition. In the meantime, there would be lots of work to do – painting, cleaning, carpeting... Matt wanted to make a few changes before moving in, so they’d planned to work every day possible over at the new p
lace.
That night, Matt was in bed waiting for Sarah, who was brushing her teeth in the bathroom.
“Are you using your own toothbrush this time?”
She popped her head out with the brush in her mouth.
“mmm…I…arg…brush…” Words coming out were too garbled to understand, but the color on that toothbrush was bright blue. She went back into the bathroom.
“Hey… that’s my brush, isn’t it?” She popped back out again, this time with her ponytail hanging off to one side and the brush still in her mouth. She smiled big with toothpaste dripping down and nodded enthusiastically.
Matt rolled his eyes. “What gives? Can’t you even find yours anymore?”
He could hear her rinsing and spitting in there. She came out and bounced into the bed with him.
“No…”
“No, what?”
“No, I can’t find mine anymore. It’s lost…”
He blinked in amazement.
“How do you lose a toothbrush?”
“… If I knew that, I’d know where the toothbrush is…”
Matt ran a hand through his hair and thought he’d heard it all now.
“I can’t believe this conversation we’re having…”
She raised an eyebrow. “… Maybe we should do something else.”
He pulled her down by him under the covers.
“… Tired of talking?”
Matt lifted Sarah’s chin up so he could look into her eyes. When he saw his reflection, he almost melted.
“… For a big, brave cowboy, you seem awfully sentimental…” she teased him.
“Do you always see through me?” he breathed.
“… Always… Do you love me?”
“Yes, Sarah, I do…”
“Prove it.” She reached out to caress his dear face and to bring his lips down to hers.
“…Yes, ma’am…” And they were off…
Sometime in the middle of the night, when their bodies were still tangled together and the kissing still hadn’t stopped, Matt had an epiphany… He held Sarah’s lovely face between his hands and just looked at her. He gazed at her blue eyes, her cute nose… cheeks rosy from his face rubbing against hers, and those full lips – swollen from the constant kissing, nibbling, sucking. It hit him like a sledgehammer…