Page 21 of Forgotten Dreams

I drive toward Lilah’s house with the windows open, the breeze coming into the car and whipping my hair around as I put one of my hands out the window and move it with the wind.

I pull up to the house, getting out of the car at the same time the front door opens. She steps out of her house with a huge smile on her face. “Hi,” I say, tucking the phone in my back pocket.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you being so close.” She walks down the steps and comes to me, giving me a big hug. “It’s so good. How’s the house?”

“So far so good.” I let her go. “I have a bedroom and a bathroom.”

“Better than sleeping on the floor,” she quips, making me laugh. I see her eyes go over my shoulder and I look over to see a golf cart coming from out of the field. My eyes go to the guy who is sitting in the passenger seat. He is looking over at Emmett, talking as Emmett looks straight ahead at us. It takes him a couple of minutes to look forward. I try to look away when he spots me, and I see a slight smile on his face. Then I wonder if it’s for me or maybe he’s still harboring feelings for Lilah.

“Oh, they are back already,” Lilah notes from beside me.

“Back from?” I ask her.

“Caleb is renovating the new barn. They had to go over and talk about a couple of things.” She shrugs and moves over to the fence area, and I follow her. The golf cart stops by the fence. “Hi,” she says to Caleb, smiling big at him as he gets out of the golf cart, and I ignore the way I’m drawn to look at him.

“Dad.” We look over to see Lucy running out of the barn. “I need your help.”

Emmett looks over at Lilah and holds out his hand for her. She takes a second to look at me.

“I’ll be back in a second.” I nod at her as the two leave Caleb and me alone.

“Hi,” he greets, getting out of the golf cart and coming to me with a clipboard in his hands. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Well, here I am.” I try not to let my voice be tight, and he knows it bothers me somewhat that he’s here.

“Good, saves me a phone call.” I tilt my head to the side and raise my eyebrows. “We fired the guy who was lurking in your room.” I gasp.

“That’s a little extreme.”

“Not extreme enough, he’s lucky I wasn’t there to beat his ass for making you feel weirded out.” I put my hand to my stomach to hold on to the flutter that happens without me wanting it to. “Randy, the security guy, is going to be over tomorrow to get an alarm system going.”

“Um, thank you,” I say softly. “You didn’t have to do all that. I could have called him.”

I look down and then mistakenly look up and into his eyes. “Have dinner with me.”

“No,” the answer flies out of my mouth. I almost flinch at the way his face looks, the disappointment apparent, but he doesn’t say anything else.

He just nods. “Then I’ll be heading out,” he states, and my chest feels tight. “Have a nice night, Sierra.” I watch him walk back to his truck, his back to me, as my heart beats what feels like out of my chest. I don’t think I’ve ever had this emotion with another person. The way I’m pulled to him is a force I can’t explain. However, knowing Lilah dated him and that it’s a line I won’t cross, it’s about to kill me.

I watch him drive away without giving me a second glance. I should be happy since this is what I wanted to begin with, but it nags at me. Lucy comes over and hugs me before jumping into the golf cart with Emmett and heading over to Charlie and Autumn’s, where she and Saige will have a sleepover.

The three of us enjoy a quiet dinner. After dinner, Lilah begs Emmett to go out for a bit. He glares at me, blaming me as we walk out of the house and head over to Thatcher’s. The Friday night crowd is going at it when we get there. The music plays while a couple of people make room next to their tables to dance. I smile as I take it all in. Following Lilah and Emmett to a table, I pull out an empty chair beside Lilah, who introduces me to Nicholas, a new ranch hand who just got to town.

“Nice to meet you, Nicholas.” I extend my hand to shake his. His light-brown hair pushes back to the side, and his light-brown eyes light up.

“The pleasure is all mine,” he replies. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“That would be great,” I say. “I’ll have whatever you are having.”

He smiles even bigger. “A girl after my own heart.” He puts his hands to his chest before getting up and heading to the bar. I listen to the music as Emmett and Lilah talk to each other. I see him leaning in and whispering something in her ear, and she puts her hand to her little baby bump as she smiles.

I look around, seeing a couple more people getting up to dance. Nicholas comes back over, placing a drink in front of me while he sits down in the chair beside me, holding up his glass. “To living in Montgavin,” he toasts with a smile.

I hold up my hand with my glass in it. “To living in Montgavin,” I repeat, clinking my glass to his and smiling at him before taking a sip, then looking over to the front door with two eyes staring straight at me.

Chapter 11

Caleb

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