Chapter Seventeen

EVA

Noise from outside at the barn woke me. I rolled over and grabbed my phone to check the time. It was after six, but Jeremy didn’t normally get here this early during the fall. I threw the covers back and grabbed a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt from my closet and pulled them on. If he was here this early, that meant either the cows had gotten out or one was sick. But I hadn’t heard one crying last night.

After I’d brushed my hair and teeth, I slipped on my work boots and turned on the house floodlights before heading outside. I turned the corner of the house and froze. That wasn’t Jeremy’s work truck. It was mine, Daddy’s. . . the one Cage had used. I backed up and looked back toward the driveway. Cage’s Mustang was right beside my Jeep.

Okay. Good news was I wasn’t being robbed. But what was Cage doing? Where was Jeremy when you needed him? I took a deep breath and steadied myself before heading down to the barn to confront Cage.

He was loading bails of hay. He was going to go spread it. How did he know that was on Jeremy’s list of things that needed to be done today? The morning air was cold now that the heat of summer was gone. He was wearing a long-sleeved thermal shirt ,and that hat Daddy had let him use was on his head. He turned around with a hay bail in his hands and stopped when his eyes met mine.

“Morning,” he said with a smile that made different parts of my body tingle before he walked over to the truck and tossed the hay back there. He dusted his gloved hands on his jeans and tilted his hat back. “Don’t worry. I work for free.” He winked then went right back to get another bail of hay. What the hell was he doing?

I just stood there, unable to form words, while he grabbed another bail and tossed it into the truck. A million reasons as to why he was doing this ran through my mind, but none of them made any sense.

Finally I found my voice. “Cage,” I said calmly, although my emotions were all over the place. “What are you doing?”

He stopped and glanced back at me with that sexy grin of his. “Well, sweetheart, I’d have thought that was obvious. I’m loading hay so I can haul it out there and spread it. I’ll get to the feed next, and did you know that the east corner is weak on the fence? I drove around it this morning to check things out, and it needs to be replaced. Also, you got two calves that need to be tagged. They’re getting bigger.”

Again. I was without words.

“I’ll get to it though. Jeremy said he’d get here after seven but that I could get started without him.”

Jeremy? What? I just shook my head. This didn’t make sense. Was I still asleep? And if I was, then why was I dreaming about Cage with his shirt on? Normally his clothing choices were limited or nonexistence when he showed up in my dreams. We were also on a bed or against a piece of furniture. Not talking about my cows. Or fences.

“Cage?”

“Hmm?” he said, walking toward me with more hay in his hands.

“Why are you doing this?” There. I’d managed to ask a question that made sense. Other than some odd grunts here and there.

After he’d tossed the hay into the truck, he walked over to stop only a couple of feet from me. His gaze wasn’t playful this time. He was serious. “Because I want to, Eva. That’s why.” He replied then turned and started to walk off and stopped again. I watched as he turned back to me with a smile on his lips. “You let me know if my girl starts moving. I want to feel her.”

I simply nodded, and he pulled his hat back down to shade his eyes from the early morning sun before going back to work. As if I wasn’t standing there. Was this his way of us talking about it? Today I expected him to show up again and demand answers and we’d figure this all out. That wasn’t happening apparently. Instead he was working on my farm.

I could stand there and stare at him, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about anything else. Before I could decide if I was supposed to go inside or stand there or pinch myself and wake up, Cage walked over and opened the truck door. “Back up, sweetheart, I gotta take this on out to the field.”

I did as I was told. Then I watch him crank up the old truck and drive it out to the gate. He jumped out and opened the gate and then drove on inside. A door slammed behind me, and I jumped before spinning around. Jeremy had driven up, but I hadn’t heard him. He was looking out at Cage with an expression on his face I couldn’t read. “I’ll be damned. He showed up.”

So Jeremy was expecting this? “You knew he was coming here. . . to work?”

“Called me last night. Told me he’d be here whether I wanted him to be or not. He wasn’t coming to help me. He was coming to help you. Didn’t offer any other excuse—just said he’d be here at six and wanted to know what needed to be done. I told him about the hay, thinking he’d had too much to drink when he called. Guess I was wrong.”

I watched as Cage began to spread the hay and slapped one of the cows on the side to move it. I couldn’t help but remember the first time he’d gotten up close to a cow and how freaked out he’d been. The memory made me smile. “Why’s he here?” I asked out loud, even though I didn’t think Jeremy had the answer to it either.

“I ain’t figured that out just yet,” he replied. Jeremy gently squeezed my arm then walked to the barn to get to work. He was as confused as I was. I turned around and walked back to the house. If they were gonna work, then I guess I should make them breakfast. There was a good chance Jeremy had already eaten, but I doubted that anyone had fed Cage. He couldn’t work on an empty stomach.

Bliss kicked as I walked back up to the house. I placed a hand on my stomach. “Could you save that excitement until your. . . daddy. . . is close by?” I glanced back over my shoulder to see her daddy, and I wondered how this would work. How would he be her daddy and not live here? He’d be back in Tennessee next week. When Bliss was born, he’d be in the thick of baseball season. I doubted he’d even be there. There was so much that didn’t work with us. That was one thing of many. I’d never be in Tennessee with him. I’d be here. I wasn’t sure I wanted Bliss to grow up with an absent father. One who just dropped by when he had a chance. I wanted her to feel loved. Could Cage give her that?

CAGE

Not looking back at Eva and Jeremy had been hard. I’d been ready to take off running and jump the damn fence and jerk him away from her if his lips went anywhere near her body. I was here to show her I was ready to be the man she needed. But I had my limits.

I was pleased to see they didn’t even hug. They weren’t in fucking love. They’d barely spoken. That wasn’t the way to tell Eva good morning. She deserved a helluva lot more than what I’d just seen.

“You showed up. Not sure what the hell you’re up to though. Still trying to figure that out,” Jeremy said, leaning out the window of his truck.

“That the way you always tell Eva good morning?” I asked, ignoring his comment.

I watched the frown crease his brow. He didn’t even realize what was wrong with what I’d just witnessed. Yeah. . . they weren’t in love. They’d always be friends. Nothing more.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“The fact you had to ask me is all the answer I need,” I replied. I walked around to get into my truck. “East corner is bad. If we don’t get it fixed, a cow is getting out. I’m heading over there next to work on it.”

I opened the door and climbed in.

“I’m not giving up easy,” Jeremy informed me.

“I’m not ever giving up,” I replied then drove off. I had a fence to fix.

* * *

I hadn’t even got started on the fence when Jeremy’s truck came to a stop beside me. I stopped rolling up the wire that had been used to patch the weak spot and looked up at him.

“She’s made breakfast. You need to go eat,” he said.

I wanted to go eat. I was starving. But did she want me there? “Doubt she made it for me,” I replied.

Jeremy spit out the window, and I wondered how she dealt with the fact that he dipped during the day when he was working. That shit was gross. “She hasn’t made breakfast since her daddy got too sick to eat it. She didn’t fix it for me.”

Hope rose up in my chest and I couldn’t keep from grinning. She’d made me breakfast. Hot damn. “Then I guess I better go eat it,” I replied.

“Yeah, I guess you better.”

I threw my shovel back in the truck and stuck my work gloves in my back pocket. Jeremy drove off and headed back to the house. Guess he was going to go eat too. I was hoping he’d sit this meal out and give me time alone with Eva. As long as they didn’t kiss, I could do this. She also hadn’t been wearing her ring this morning, just like she hadn’t been wearing it yesterday. That was a good sign. It also helped me stay calm. Seeing another man’s claim on her did things to me. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all.

* * *

Just like I figured, Jeremy’s truck was at the barn. I could smell the biscuits and bacon from the front porch. I’d missed my woman’s cooking. She could pretend this wasn’t for me, but I knew better. Jeremy had already cleared that up. Smiling, I opened the door and walked in.

Maybe it was the way the sun was shinning in the room from the window or maybe it was just because I’d walked in here thinking things were different. That this meal meant something. But the diamond sparkling on Eva’s left hand mocked me silently. The good mood I’d been in was gone with one simple flash of a diamond. So was my appetite.

Jeremy was already sitting at the table, eating. He glanced up at me then went back to drinking his coffee. “Pecan crop was good this year. It’ll be better next year. I’ve never had to do the harvest without Wilson. I’m learning. If you want to pay for an extra crop dusting this year, we can afford it. I think it’ll pay off with the crop.”

Eva glanced at me nervously and twisted her hands in front of her as she covered her left hand with her right one. She had put it on. Now she was trying to hide it. “Uh, yeah. . . I guess. We’ll talk about it later,” she said, shifting her gaze from Jeremy to me and back again. “Help yourself. Plate’s on the table,” she said without looking at me.

I pulled out the chair across from Jeremy and watched as she hurried over to the coffeepot, poured a cup, and then set it beside my plate. “I, uh, y’all go ahead and eat. I think I’ll just go—”

“Have you eaten?” I asked, cutting off her attempt at escaping.

She shook her head.

“Do you get sick in the morning?” I asked, suddenly realizing I didn’t know about that part of her life now. Did our baby make her feel bad in the mornings?

She shook her head again. “No. Not anymore. That goes away. . . ,” she trailed off.

I stood back up and pulled out the chair to my left. “Sit down, Eva.” She stood there and stared at the seat like she wasn’t sure if she needed to bolt or if I could catch her.

“If you don’t sit down and eat, I’ll go back out there and work. I’m starving and your biscuits smell incredible, but if my being in here is keeping you from sitting down and eating, I’ll be damned if I’m gonna sit here. You need to eat.”

She lifted her eyes to meet mine, and it took every ounce of control I had to keep from grabbing her and kissing that surprised and confused looked off her face. Did she not get that I still loved her to distraction?

“Okay,” she said, sitting down while still holding my gaze. I pushed her chair in for her then went and sat back down.

“Good. Because this smells amazing,” I told her before reaching over and taking a biscuit and putting it on her plate before I got my own. I did the same with the bacon. “You want me to butter it?” I asked when I picked up the butter.

She sat there watching me like she wasn’t sure what to do with me. “No, I can do it. Thank you,” she replied, and took the butter from me.

“So, what’s this about the pecan crop?” I asked, looking at Jeremy.

He was slowly chewing a piece of bacon and watching me just as intently as Eva was. He swallowed. “Crop was good this year considering I’d never done the harvesting without Wilson and it’s been a few years since I was around to do the harvesting. We need to look at paying for an extra crop dusting. Will cost a pretty good penny, but it’s worth it.”

“We use the same crop duster every year? Is there one Wilson prefers or should we shop around and see if we can get a better price?”

Neither of them spoke, so I took a bite of my biscuit. Eva put the knife down from buttering her biscuit and I reached for her plate. “Gravy?”

She simply nodded. I gave her the portion she normally preferred and set her plate back in front of her. “Way I see it is, we should do what Wilson would have done. He did all the trial and error. His method would be the safest bet. How many crop dustings did he do a year?”

Again, crickets. I stood up and got Eva a glass of orange juice and sat it down beside her plate.

Jeremy finally cleared his throat when I sat back down and I leveled my gaze on him. “Yeah, I agree. When the crop was good, he did extra dustings. They paid for themselves that way.”

I turned my attention to Eva. “You feel good about that? Doing it the way your daddy did?”

She was cutting her biscuit up into little pieces, but she hadn’t taken a bite yet. “I, uh, yes, of course.”

I reached over and slid my finger under her chin to tilt her head up so she could see my face when I said the next thing. “If you don’t eat, I’m going go back to work. Please eat.”

She swallowed loud enough for me to hear her. “Okay,” she replied.

I dropped my hand and went back to eating. My talking apparently left them both in such shock that Jeremy didn’t know what to say and Eva couldn’t eat, so I stayed silent until I was satisfied with how much she’d eaten. Then I stood up and took my plate to the sink to rinse it and put it in the dishwasher.

“Thanks for breakfast. It was the best thing I’ve put in my mouth in a long time,” I told her before grabbing my hat and heading outside. That hadn’t been easy, but hopefully she was getting the hint that I wasn’t leaving.