Page 51 of A Rancher's Love
“Will do,” Luke assured him. He dropped his voice a notch and spoke quietly to Tucker. “In the meantime, let’s get caught up. What have you been doing for the last while?”
Tucker shared the everyday, ordinary events of his life since the last time they’d been together, and it was a bit of perfection.
The only thing that would have made it better was to have had Ginny beside him as well.
Ginny was halfwayacross the yard when Dustin came running up. “Hey, Gin. Wait up a sec.”
He was so annoying.
She glared at her little brother. “I’m pretty sure you have enough strength to get out the two syllables that make up my name. This is your final warning, or I will convince everyone to go back to calling you Dusty.”
His cocky grin grew bigger than it should have. “Fine. I was only teasing. Real news of the day, Tamara and Caleb gave me a heads up about you moving into the cottage. I wanted to let you know, there’s no problem.”
“Thanks.” Ginny was actually a little surprised he was that willing to give it up so easily. Maybe Tamara’s premonition about Dustin not hanging around for too much longer was true, which in that case, Ginny wanted to know now so she could make sure her little brother planned some smart moves. “You have plans?”
He snickered. “I swear you sounded just like mom right then.”
A wave of sadness rolled in and over her, gone in a flash. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“There’s a lot I don’t remember, but I do have these scenes in my head. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve half made them up, based on pictures I found in photo albums or stories people told me.” Dustin gave her a wry smile. “I think she used to get people to admit stuff without ever actually coming out and asking directly.”
“That was her.” Ginny laughed softly. “Mom would ask a direct question that was a hundred and eighty degrees from what you would actually end up confessing to. It was like magic,” she shared.
Dustin nodded, thoughtful now, and Ginny was reminded all over again how young he’d been when their Mom and Dad had died. How few memories he really had of time with them.
“Anyway, to answer the question you askedandthe one that you didn’t,” Dustin teased, “I’m not a hundred percent sure I want to try my hand at rodeo. Not with all the possibilities around here. But in the meantime, Shim is sticking around for at least a couple of months. He is dying to live in crew quarters, so Ashton found us space in the bunkhouse.”
“He’s…” Ginny wasn’t quite sure how to say this without it coming out sounding offensive. “He’s not from around here, is he?”
Her kid brother wiped at his mouth, covering a laugh. “No. Very urban upbringing, very straightlaced, intellectual and non-outdoorsy parents. But he’s a good guy, so I figured, why the hell not? I’ve lived in crew quarters before.”
“Plus, you don’t mind eating at the mess hall, do you?” Ginny said dryly.
“We’ve got one of the best cooks in the county.” Dusty checked his watch. “I need to get going or Ashton will have my ass. Everything’s cleared out of the cottage, so you can move in any time you want.”
That was unexpected. “Already?”
Dustin shrugged, walking backwards. “Didn’t have much stuff in the first place.”
He strode away, suddenly looking so grown up that Ginny could’ve mistaken him for one of her older brothers. She called after him, “Hey, Dustin. I’ll have you guys over for supper sometime, okay?”
He offered a thumbs-up but kept walking.
She knew the feeling. Being late for a meeting with Ashton was not something that a person did on a regular basis…
The sudden realization hit her. Holy cow. That’s whoTuckerwould be. The man who, when he said jump, men would stop in the middle of their conversation and hurry back to work.
Yeah, being careful starting a public relationship between her and Tucker was pretty damn important. That said, she really didn’t want to give him up. Not even temporarily.
Time to give herself something else to think about rather than brooding. Ginny made her way past the main ranch house to the long, low greenhouse that had been her domain before she’d left.
It was well below freezing outdoors, so stepping inside was like instantly changing seasons. The heaters were still on winter settings, barely enough to keep pipes and materials from freezing. Warm enough that when Ginny took a deep breath in through her nostrils, the rich scent of soil and growing things temporarily at rest filled her senses.
The roof overhead and the walls were all made of a semi-clear polycarbonate material. It let in the light but was nowhere near as see-through as a regular glass, helping stop plants from burning in direct sun. It also retained heat better than clear glass, turning the inside of the building into a secret hideout that glowed with warmth and light.
At this end of the greenhouse there were a number of raised beds covered with boards for now. The grow lights above them were turned off, but everything was prepared for the next go-round of planting seeds and getting a head start on spring.
She walked slowly between the rows, past where the raised beds stopped and into the area with well-fertilized and screened soil where she could plant directly into the ground.
