Courtship In Granite Ridge

“Mom,” Cody said, putting the disagreement behind him and moving forward. “Can Troy and me go over to Brian’s house? We wanna show him the Battle Boy and Maniac Man we got on vacation.”

“It’s Troy and L” She reached into the bed of the truck, then shoved a bag of groceries into each boy’s arms before grabbing two herself. “And not today. It’s already starting to get dark, and you both still need to unpack.”

Cody and Troy started to argue with her, but she held firm and herded them through the front door and into the kitchen. She glanced at the answering machine on the kitchen wall phone, amazed at the number that was lit up on the display. Fifteen? Had her ad for a stud been that successful? She’d expected maybe five or six calls, but fifteen? She’d also noticed that her bag of mail had been stuffed to overflowing. Were there that many letters, also?

She’d deal with the messages and mail later. Right now she needed to get her food put away and her sons fed. They’d started arguing again, with Cody calling Troy a drool-mouth and Troy calling Cody a jerk. It would come to fists soon if she didn’t intercede, and she was too tired to deal with blood right now.

Separating them once again, the groceries were nearly put away when there was a knock at the front door. Like a call to dinner, both boys charged toward the sound.

Kasey frowned. She wasn’t expecting anyone, though it might be Sandy, Brian’s mother. She’d been caring for the horses and watching the house for Kasey while she was away. But Sandy thought they were coming home in the morning, not tonight.

She slid the last half gallon of milk into the refrigerator and shut the door, suddenly aware of the absolute quiet.

“Cody? Troy?”

When she came around the corner, she saw them standing just inside the screen door, staring at the ceiling. No, not the ceiling, she realized as she moved toward them. They were staring at a person. A very tall person she couldn’t make out through the screen door.

“Can I help you?” she asked, feeling a little nervous at the sheer size of the denim-clad stranger at her door. She tried to make out his face, but a black cowboy hat and the dim light shadowed his features. Though she was used to and didn’t mind being a single mom, at times like this she at least wished she owned a dog.

“Acacia Donovan?” a deep, strangely familiar voice asked.

Acacia? No one ever called her that. No one except...

Heart pounding, Kasey flipped on the porch light. He took off his hat and grinned down at her.

Her breath caught. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible.

Slater.

Ten years fell away. She suddenly felt that her arms and legs were too long, her braces too tight, her hair too curly and her voice too high.

“Slater?” she whispered.

He nodded. “Yeah, Kasey, it’s me.”

Her knees shook as she moved closer to the screen door and studied his face. Older, a few more lines. He was more rugged, his dark hair a little longer. Different, but so familiar.

“You gonna make me stand out here all night?” he asked.

She looked down at her sons, who were still frozen in place, their necks bent back, their mouths open as they stared at the stranger. Under a different situation, she might have laughed. Unless they were sleeping, her sons were never quiet this long. But this wasn’t just a different situation.

This was Slater.

Her fingers shook as she reached for the screen door and pushed it open. Slater glanced down at Cody and Troy. Still staring, the boys slowly parted, and he stepped inside.

Kasey’s first impulse was to yell for Jeanie, to tell her that her big brother was here to pick her up. Her second impulse was to jump into his arms. She did neither. All she could do was stand there, a lump in her throat and a tight ache in her chest.

“Ah, these are my sons,” she said finally. “Cody—” she touched her oldest son’s head “—and Troy. Boys, this is Slater, an old friend of mine.”

Troy pressed against her, curious, but cautious, while Cody craned his neck upward and stared. “How old are you?” Cody asked.

“Cody Thomas Morgan,” Kasey reprimanded, “where are your manners?

“Well, you said he was old,” Cody grumbled.

With a half grin, Slater slipped his hat back on, then knelt and leaned close to Cody. “I’m thirty-four,” he whispered. “Is that old?”

Cody shrugged. “Not so bad. My mom’s twentyseven.”

Slater raised his brows in mock surprise. “That old, huh? Do you have to help her across the street and speak real loud so she can hear yon?”

Cody and Troy both burst into giggles. Kasey rolled her eyes and shook her head. What in the world was all this talk about age? Cody had never asked anyone how old they were before.

“We just got back from vacation,” Cody offered. “My mom bought a new horse called Miss Lucy, and we got to go to the rodeo and the water park.”

“And ride a roller coaster,” Troy added. He’d unglued himself from her side and had moved a few inches closer to the visitor.

“You ever take your kids on a roller coaster?” Cody asked.

“Cody,” Kasey warned, though she was curious herself now, “that’s enough questions.”

Slater smiled. “I don’t have any kids.”

“How come?” Suspicion edged Cody’s voice. “Don’t you like them?”

“Cody! I said, that’s enough.” Kasey took hold of her son’s shoulders.

“Sure, I like kids.” Slater tipped his hat back and looked at both Cody and Troy. “But I was moving around a lot, working on oil wells, and I just never got married.”

Cody’s eyes widened. “You work on oil wells. That’s cool. Does oil really squirt ten miles up and get all—”

Kasey clamped a hand over her son’s mouth. “No more questions. I’d like to talk to Slater now if it’s all right with you two.”

Cody and Troy glanced at each other and smiled. “Sure, Mom,” Cody said, looking back up at her. “You want us to leave you guys alone?”

Leave them alone? Kasey frowned at her son. Why was everyone, including her sons, acting so odd today? Was there a full moon tonight? “That’s not necessary.”

Slater straightened. “I, uh, heard you got married.”

She wondered how a man who’d walked away from family and friends—without so much as a glance backward—could have heard anything. “I’m divorced. Two years now.”

They stared at each other, the momentary silence awkward and heavy. Then they both spoke at the same time.

“You look—”

“You’ve sure—”

They both stopped, then smiled.