“Lindsay will tell you,” she said.
“Lindsay isn’t going to tell me one damn thing.”
Madison looked startled and stared at him intently.
“We don’t speak, we don’t see each other. It’ll have to change later, but that’s the way she wants it now.”
“Sorry to hear that. I’ll tell you about Mike and Savannah.” She gave him a hug, then leaned away to look intently at him again. “Be patient with Lindsay. This is a giant change for both of you.”
“Sure,” he answered, knowing his sister meant well. He stood on the porch and watched her drive away, his thoughts on Lindsay. Lindsay was unhappy? She did what she wanted to do.
And how unhappy was she? It had to be a lot to worry Jake enough to get Madison to drive out and talk to him. He wished Lindsay’s unhappiness was because she missed him, but he knew better. She was probably unhappy with him and unhappy she had to change her lifestyle.
He carried his dishes into his empty house. As he passed his landline, he stared at the phone, tempted to pick it up and call Lindsay to just talk. He missed her and every time he realized that he missed her, it surprised him.
How important had she become to him?
He couldn’t answer his own question.
The next week he threw himself into work, going to the corral to ride some of the unbroken horses at night with a few of the men who worked for him, just keeping busy. But none of it stopped the moments of longing for Lindsay.
Nights were long and unpleasant. He had always fallen into bed and been asleep instantly, sleeping soundly until early morning. Not anymore. His nights were filled with memories of Lindsay, dreams about her, moments of missing her.
The weekends were worse because he had no one he wanted to go out with. He missed her and the longing to see her intensified instead of diminished, until he finally sat up in bed one night, tossed back the covers and walked out on his porch.
The gray dog was still recovering, but better. The bandages were gone and his hair, where they’d had to shave it away to work on his cuts, was growing out again. He had gained weight and his coat was shiny now. Tony kept it brushed so it wasn’t a tangle.
Tony let him stay at the house with him. The dog seemed a faint tie to Lindsay, and Tony enjoyed having him around. When he went to the porch, the dog followed him, sitting with his head on Tony’s knee while Tony scratched his ears. “Maybe I should invite her over to see you,” he said to the dog, who wagged his bushy tail.
Tony sat quietly while he thought about Lindsay. He thought about her constantly each day. Was he in love with her and hadn’t realized it when it happened?
If he was, he didn’t know where it could lead. She was as stubborn as ever, refusing to give an inch, while she had accused him of being too take-charge and bossy. Plus, he was a rancher—the kind of man she said she would never marry.
He sat in the dark and mulled over his feelings for Lindsay and the problems between them.
Madison had said Lindsay was unhappy. Was their parting a cause of her unhappiness? Could he ever get past her stubborn nature? He had some of the time. His heartbeat quickened at the thought of getting past their problems. Could he think before he told her what she should do?
Could he live without her?
Was he in love with her?
Staring into the dark, he realized he was. He wanted her in his life. Lindsay would be a challenge, but if he loved her, he would cope with her. But could he get her to consider working with another rancher? That wasn’t impossible. He worked with them all the time and for that matter, she did, too.
Suddenly feeling better, he wanted to call her and he wanted to be with her. One thing he knew for certain: he didn’t want to lose her. Someone would come along and marry her and, at the thought, he felt as if he had been punched in his heart.
He needed to get her a ring and tell her how he felt and propose—for real this time. He had fallen in love with her and hadn’t even recognized the depth of his own feelings.
He remembered her call at three in the morning when the dog was howling. It was about four o’clock now. What would happen if he called her, told her he had to see her? Could he get her to listen to him and go out with him?
Or was she out of his life no matter what he felt for her?
Lindsay sat up and shook her hair back away from her face. She stared into the dark bedroom as she clutched the phone. “Tony?” she asked, sounding more alert. “It’s four in the morning. What’s wrong?”
“Lindsay, I need to see you. Let me pick you up for dinner tonight.”
She frowned at the phone. “You called at 4:00 a.m. to ask me to dinner?”
“You called at three to tell me a dog was howling. Will you have dinner with me? We need to talk.”