Forever And A Day (Montana Brides, Book #7) (25 page)

Sarah nodded. “I can’t wait. I’ll just buy some muffins.”

“You go and see Tess. I’ll put your laptop in its case.”

“Thanks.” Sarah headed across the café. “Could I buy half a dozen blueberry muffins, Tess?”

“Sure can. Are you using my baking to sweet talk Jacob?”

“I’ve given up sweet talking anyone. This is business. The muffins are a thank you gift.”

Jacob stood beside Sarah. “Hi, Tess.”

Tess smiled as she slid the muffins across the counter to Sarah. “I thought you’d gone to Florida for a few weeks after the wedding?”

“I did. I’m back now, then off to Denver later in the week.”

“Don’t you get tired of traveling around so much?” Tess asked.

“Business meetings take me everywhere. One day I’ll stay put, but it won’t be for a while.”

Sarah paid Tess and picked up the muffins. “Sounds like we’d better go and see some land before you leave again.”

Jacob laughed. “You could be right. Let’s go.”

As they drove out of town, Sarah thought about what she was about to do. Muffins might work for some men, but no amount of sweet talking would change Jordan’s mind about her. So she was going to do what she set out to do. Start over. But this time it would be on her terms and no one else’s.

***

Sarah looked around Trent and Gracie’s living room. About twenty adults and even more children were halfway through a potluck dinner. They’d come to find out more about Jordan’s website and enjoy each other’s company.

Jordan had shown everyone the design he’d settled on. Most people seemed impressed with the pages dedicated to showcasing the activities guests could enjoy during their ranch vacation.

They liked the idea of keeping all of the information in one place with an easy reservation system. They also liked the idea of developing their own virtual presence. So far three families had approached Sarah to see if she could work on their websites or create new ones from scratch.

“Everyone seems happy with what we want to do.”

Sarah jumped. She’d spent most of the night trying to avoid Jordan. His blue eyes were alive with laughter. The grin on his face was almost a smirk. He knew what she’d been doing.

She sipped her coffee. “It was good of them to come here. A few of the families have asked if Sally’s class can visit their ranches as well.” Jordan nodded. But he didn’t move from beside her. “Are you ready for the class visit next week?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. I thought I’d take Pete with me. The students seemed to enjoy his company.”

“All of the stories about the fire made an impression on them.” Sarah had seen the thank you cards Sally’s class had made after their visit. Pete and his firefighting abilities had been the star attraction.

“What are you two doing here on your own?” Gracie handed Jessica over to Jordan. “Look after your niece for a few minutes while I go and check on dessert.”

“Where’s mom?” Jordan asked.

“Karen’s busy. You can’t wiggle out of babysitting duties that easily.”

Jordan looked down at Jessica and grinned. “Guess I’m a lucky man with two babes beside me?”

Even before the words were out of his mouth, Sarah could see he regretted them. A dull blush streaked along his face.

“Babes?” Sarah held onto Jessica’s outstretched hand. “Did you hear your uncle, Jessica? He called us,
babes
.”

Trent made his way across the room with Sarah’s cell phone in his hand. “You left this at the front of the room with your jacket. It’s rung a few times in the last fifteen minutes. Someone’s trying to get through to you.”

“Thanks, Trent.” Sarah scrolled through the missed calls, then looked at Jordan. “If anyone asks questions that you can’t answer, tell them I’ll be back soon.”

“Is everything okay?”

“I hope so.” She walked outside and hit redial. “Jacob? What’s happened?”

“You’ve got it. They want a longer settlement date, but apart from that, they agreed to everything else.”

Sarah burst out laughing. “I can’t believe it. I’m so excited I feel like I’m going to burst. Thank you, I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“Anytime. Come and see me tomorrow. You can countersign the sale and purchase agreement, then we’ll give it to the realtor.”

“I’ll call you in the morning.”

“Sounds good. Talk soon.”

Sarah stayed outside, too excited to do anything more than grin stupidly at the sky.

She heard someone’s feet walking across the gravel yard. Jordan stopped beside her. She took a moment to settle her racing heart before she spoke. “You’ve lost your little babe.”

“Mom’s got Jessica. I’m sorry about calling you a babe. It wasn’t appropriate. Things pop out of my mouth sometimes and it can get me into trouble.”

“That’s okay. I know you didn’t mean it.”

He stuck his hands in his pockets and stared across at the barn. “It’s been a good night. Thanks for all of the work you’ve done.”

Sarah shrugged her shoulders. “The students in Sally’s class did most of it. I just put it all together.” She rubbed her hands along her arms. “I need to go inside. I forgot my sweater.”

“Here.” He passed her his jacket.

Sarah held it in her hands. She could feel the warmth of his body inside the sheepskin. She stared at it, not sure if this was another one of those inappropriate things. Not that sharing a jacket was inappropriate, but the thoughts running through her mind when she put it on might be.

“It’s not going to keep you warm unless you wear it.” Jordan took it off her and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Is that better?”

Sarah nodded. Jordan hadn’t dropped his arms from her shoulders. She could smell his aftershave. It was doing funny things to her body. “Umm…You can let me go now.”

Jordan’s arms dropped from around her like a hot potato. “Sorry, I…well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine. Really fine. I was just…you know…” She waved toward the house. Even from where they were standing the potluck dinner was loud. She wondered if the ranch guests would be annoyed at the noise.

As if he’d read her mind, Jordan glanced across at the barn. “No one’s home. They went into Bozeman for a night on the town. Frank’s driving them to all of the hot spots.”

They both smiled. A Wednesday night in downtown Bozeman wasn’t exactly the center of entertainment paradise. Jordan’s guests would be treated to jukebox magic and line dancing Montana style.

Jordan scuffed his boots on the stones. “I was wondering…you know…if you weren’t doing anything on Friday night, if you wanted to go out. With me.”

“Like a date?” Sarah’s heart beat rocketed into overdrive. If the smell and warmth of the man in front of her wasn’t enough to make her brain splutter to a standstill, the offer of a date was.

“Yeah. But if you’ve got other plans, that’s okay. We could do something another time.”

Sarah didn’t have to consult her calendar. She knew what she was doing on Friday night. Sally and Tess wouldn’t be disappointed if she missed dinner with them. “That sounds like fun. Do you want to meet somewhere?”

“I’ll pick you up. How does six-thirty sound? We could go out to dinner somewhere?”

Sarah tried to keep the smile off her face, tried so hard to look like a sensible, mature adult. But all she wanted to do was throw her arms around Jordan and kiss him senseless. Except he wouldn’t want her to kiss him. Not senseless anyway. And probably not at all.

A horrible thought crossed her mind. “This isn’t a goodbye date is it?” Jordan looked at her blankly. “You know, the one where someone says it was nice knowing you and all, but it’s over.”

Jordan frowned. “We already did that. Without the date.”

“Oh.” Now Sarah was confused. “So what’s the date on Friday for?” Jordan crossed his arms in front of his chest. She felt bad about having his jacket. It couldn’t have been more than forty degrees. “Here, take your jacket. I should go back inside.”

“No, keep it. I’ll come in too.”

Jordan walked beside her up the front steps. When she went to open the door, he put his hand on her arm.

“It could be a new beginning date. On Friday, I mean.”

“But you don’t like me.” Sarah could have kicked herself. She hadn’t meant to say it, but she’d thought about it so often that it had burst out. “I mean…after I said those rotten things. That I didn’t mean.” She cringed. This was so not the conversation she wanted to be having with Jordan.

“You’re not so bad,” he muttered.

Sarah couldn’t help herself. She reached up on tippy-toes and kissed his cheek. “Okay, I’ll do it. A new beginnings date. See you at six-thirty at my place.” She handed him his jacket and opened the door, disappearing into the crowd before he could change his mind.

***

“What are you going to wear?” Sally asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve got no idea where we’re going. I don’t even know if we’re staying in Bozeman.” Sarah flopped down on Tess’ sofa. “It could be a jeans and sweater kind of date or a dress and pearls date.”

“I don’t want to sound like the fashion police, but no one wears pearls on a date.” Tess waved her ice cream sundae spoon in Sarah’s direction. “Let’s think this through logically. Fire up Mr. Google, Sally.”

Sally opened her laptop and tapped the keys. “Okay, what am I looking for?”

Tess sat on the arm of the sofa. “Let’s assume Jordan will be planning dinner for around seven-thirty.”

“Isn’t that a bit late?” Sally asked. “I’m starving by six-thirty.”

“It’s a date,” Tess said. “You don’t want to eat too early or there’s too much time left at the end of the night.”

“Depends on what you want to do next.” Sally grinned.

Tess rolled her eyes. “Let’s focus on the food. Okay, so let’s assume Jordan isn’t planning a night of seduction.”

Sarah laughed at the disappointment on Sally’s face. Although she didn’t know why she laughed. This after all, was her date they were dissecting. The thought of any after dinner activities was enough to send a major blush racing through her body. Especially when she knew just how good those after dinner activities could be.

Tess didn’t seem to notice the hormonal meltdown happening around her. “We’re heading somewhere for a seven-thirty dinner date. Jordan’s picking you up at six-thirty. He’ll want to be at the restaurant for around seven-fifteen. Go to Google Maps and find any restaurants within a forty-five minutes radius of Sarah’s place.”

“Jeez, you’re good,” Sally said as she started searching.

Sarah leaned over her shoulder. “What did you find?”

“That it will be easier to call Jordan and ask where you’re going. I’ve come up with 191 restaurants. If I limit the search to dinner options, I get 19 restaurants. Any idea of how to keep limiting it?”

Sarah pointed at the laptop. “Go for a mid-range price. There’s no way he’d choose fine dining.”

Sally tapped a key. “Down to eight options.”

“Read them out loud.” Tess scooped a spoon of ice cream into her mouth. She frowned when Sally finished telling them about the last restaurant. “None of them sound like the type of place you’d get too dressed up for.”

“So dressy jeans?” Sarah asked hopefully.

“Only if you don’t want to make a good impression. What about a knit jersey dress? Something that hugs your body, but doesn’t scream take-me-now?”

Sally looked up from the computer screen. “Sarah might want the take-me-now option.”

“What did you put in your sundae?” Sarah asked. “You’ve got sex on your brain tonight.”

“I’ve got three brothers.” Sally sighed. “This is the most excitement I’ve had in over a year and it’s not even my date. How depressing is that?”

“About as depressing as my life.” Tess leaped off the sofa. “Wait here. I think I’ve got the perfect outfit.”

“What do you think it is,” Sally whispered. “She’s got some pretty amazing clothes in her closet.”

Sarah had seen Tess’ closet, too. She could totally understand the awe in Sally’s voice. “I’ve got no idea, but it’s bound to be something I’d never be able to afford.” Or maybe not. Sarah kept forgetting that her bank balance was looking totally, ridiculously, awesome at the moment. But she wasn’t going to let all of the little zeroes go to her head.

“What do you think?”

Tess had a pretty wrap dress in her hands. “It’s merino wool, so even though it’s thin, it will keep you warm.”

Sally held one sleeve. “It feels so soft. I love the color.” The merino was a deep, vibrant, blue. “It will look gorgeous against your blonde hair and blue eyes, Sarah.”

“Try it on.” Tess held the hangar toward her. “Help yourself to any of the shoes in the spare bedroom.”

Sally shook her head as Sarah disappeared down the hallway. “I don’t know anyone who has a whole room for their shoes. Where did you get them from?”

“My old job had a lot of perks. Free shoes were one of them.” Tess picked up her ice cream sundae cup and kept eating.

“What were you? A shoe assistant?”