Page 64 of Rocky Mountain Home
“Okay.” Ten minutes she could do.
She used as much Zen concentration as possible, staring out the windows as if she were memorizing the landscape. Ranch lands and farms whizzed by, with signs of familiar rural activities everywhere, and it wasn’t that different from home, but it was different because this was where Jesse had grown up.
This was where Buckaroo’s Gramma and Grampa lived.
The thought distracted her from the fact she had to pee badly enough that her back teeth were all but floating. Finally they pulled off the road at the top of a long driveway. The signpost at the entrance had an engraved wooden carving with Colemans in bold letters and Make Yourself at Home underneath.
If they had indoor plumbing, she’d be ecstatic. Heck, she’d take a conveniently located tree at this point of the game.
Jesse finally came to life. “Here we are.”
He parked, then met her as she was already hopping out of the truck cab. She turned in a circle, trying to take it all in. The long, low ranch house, the mountains rising in the distance. It was…softer?…than the landscape at home, and she offered a comment as she followed him to the front door. “You have bigger foothills than I’m used to.”
He snorted. “I’m not touching that one.”
She offered him a groan at the cheesy joke. “Jerk.”
That addictive grin of his appeared briefly as he hit the doorbell. “Usually I’d walk in, but I figure this might be—”
The door swung open and Jesse’s face went white.
Dare snapped her attention to the house, but all she saw was a dark-haired woman, nothing to explain Jesse’s reaction. Young, probably early twenties, the woman’s gaze darted back and forth between Jesse and herself.
“Hey,” Jesse rumbled.
Then he stood there like a lump after spouting the one word. A tall, silent, lumpy sentinel.
As opening lines, that one sucked. It told Dare nothing about who this woman was, or if they were in the right place, and more critically, ignored the plumbing issue.
Dare shifted uncomfortably from side to side, wondering how rude it would be to push forward and find a bathroom on her own.
The woman glanced at Dare, glanced back at Jesse, then shook her head. “Come with me,” she ordered.
Dare followed, not caring at this point if she were about to be led to the lip of a volcano. Although the bathroom she was gestured into was a welcome alternative.
Once she could think again, she ventured back into the hallway to discover Jesse leaning on the wall waiting for her.
“Feeling better?”
“Much.”
Jesse grimaced. “Sorry about that. I should have found out if you needed to stop.”
“I could have asked,” Dare told him.
“I know, but I should have thought of it.”
A cough sounded from the room to their left. Jesse guided her forward with a hand on her lower back, and Dare found herself standing before the woman again, only this time she was offered a glass of orange juice.
She sucked it back like it was the elixir of life. The glass was empty before she knew it.
Dare offered the woman a grateful smile. “Thanks. I didn’t realize how much I needed that.”
“No problem. I’m Vicki, by the way. Engaged to Joel.”
“Jesse’s twin?” She’d heard all the names before, but putting faces with them took extra effort.
Vicki nodded. “Jaxi said to tell you she’s sorry she’s not here, but she’s kind of busy at the hospital having the baby.”
