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“A thousand it is.”
Dispersing in grumbles, the girls started filling buckets with water and soap. With the sun already baking them, Olivia made sure everyone had sunscreen on, then stationed herself with a hose for rinsing. She welcomed the mist that drifted across her sizzling skin as she sprayed each car down.
Soon a line of cars snaked around the back of the parking lot. The town of Fredericksburg made supporting high school sports an art form.
Janie and Tucker rolled through, then parked after their wash and walked over. Olivia handed her job off to one of the girls and headed over to meet them near the water bottles.
“Hey, little man.” Olivia’s heart hiccuped when Tucker barreled into her legs. A hug or a tackle, she wasn’t sure. Either way, she’d take it. She scooped Tucker up and pushed aside all of the remorse that rushed in with his sweet baby smell.
“Girl, it is hot out here. Are you dying?”
“A little.” Olivia took a long swig of her water and wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. She must look a mess. “Where’s Jack?”
Janie motioned to the line. “Right behind me. He drove his own car so he could get it washed too. Oh, there’s Cash in his truck.”
Olivia shaded her eyes, waving at Cash along with Janie. She imagined her friend’s pulse didn’t race as if she’d just run lines in the gym.
And you’re planning to spend time with that man? Not your best move, Liv.
She hadn’t seen Cash since last Sunday at church, when she’d let her initial attraction grow into a moment of jealousy. Thankfully she’d had a week to collect herself since then. Olivia had come to the realization that she couldn’t avoid the man. She not only coached his sister but she also planned to tutor the girl. And Cash was friends with Jack and Janie. So Olivia had decided that she could hang out with Cash in those various settings, but she wouldn’t let her heart get involved. That barely beating organ had been trampled, so keeping it tucked away until it healed only made sense.
Olivia would think of Cash as Rachel’s older brother or Jack and Janie’s friend and nothing more. How hard could that be?
When Jack parked and joined them, Tucker squealed. Olivia deposited him on the ground, and he toddled over to his dad. Jack snapped him up, making him giggle.
“I’ve noticed almost the whole football team seems to be in line.” Olivia nudged Jack. “School spirit?”
He snorted. “More like girl spirit.”
At the sound of screams, Olivia glanced over. One of the football players had jumped out of the passenger seat of a car and stolen a bucket of water. Girls and suds went everywhere as he doused the nearest members of her team. Two more football players emerged from their cars and Olivia groaned.
“Jack.” Janie took Tucker and pushed her husband toward the chaos. “Stop them.”
Before Jack could take a step, more car doors than Olivia could count opened and shut. One football player climbed out of a sunroof while the rest looked like ants swarming a lemonade spill.
Olivia ran for the hose, securing that. Jack tried yelling for them to stop, but only got himself doused with a bucketful of suds by his players. White bubbles clung to his eyebrows and nose, his look deadly.
“That’s it.” Jack growled and sprinted for the hose located across the car from Olivia. He opened fire and the boys ran for cover, trying to find protection from the water spray.
Janie screeched and Olivia looked behind her to see her friend’s cute capris and tank top dripping with water, her formerly swaying brown bob now plastered to her head. She pointed at her husband. “Jack Edward Smith. You are a dead man.”
From next to Janie’s legs, Tucker clapped his hands and chanted, “Wa-wa, wa-wa.”
Trish swooped in, claiming Tucker and allowing Janie to run for cover.
Using the hood for protection, Olivia ducked down. Nobody messed with her friends. She closed one eye and aimed the nozzle, then waited for the right moment. Jack’s grin evaporated when the cold spray reached his stomach. He caught sight of her and she ducked, but not before a line of water shot across the top of her head.
She wasn’t going down without a fight. Bracing for cold water impact, Olivia stood, aiming for Jack. But when Cash bounded around the hood of the car, she quickly switched her aim to him, hand poised on the trigger.
He stopped a foot in front of her, his grin making her stomach do crazy things. “The way I see it, Coach Grayson, you can give up now.” Cash glanced around at the chaos, shoulders lifting. “Or I can’t do anything to help you.”
“You boys really are oversized teenagers, aren’t you?”
Eyes narrowing under the brim of his white University of Texas baseball hat, Cash lunged for the sprayer at the same time she squeezed. Water bounced off his rust-orange Longhorns T-shirt, spraying everywhere. He switched tactics, wrapping boa constrictor arms around her from behind. Her grip on the sprayer weakened. Though she prided herself on being in shape, she was no match for him.
“Ready to give up yet?” The proximity of Cash’s voice sent tingles down her neck.
Olivia risked a glance over her shoulder. Laugh lines rimmed Cash’s eyes, and unlike Sunday, all of his attention was on her. She was enjoying it way too much. Though the phrase Rachel’s brother sounded like a referee’s whistle in her mind, Olivia just shook her head in answer to Cash’s question, letting her legs go out from under her. The self-defense move allowed her to drop down and out of Cash’s hold.
Janie yelled for Olivia to get out of the way, then threw a bucket of water at Cash. Olivia popped up laughing. Janie only came up to Cash’s chest, so most of the water landed on his previously dry cargo shorts.
“Jack, get your woman,” Cash yelled to his friend as he resumed the tug-of-war over the hose with Olivia.
Feeling the sprayer slip once more, Olivia shouted for Janie to run as Cash gained control of the hose. Instead of escaping, her friend lurched onto Cash’s back, not accomplishing much in the way of help but totally getting points for effort.
Cash let loose, spraying Olivia point-blank. Water ran from her face and neck, soaking her red tank top and athletic shorts. She sputtered, coherent enough to see Jack peel Janie off Cash’s back and throw her over his shoulder.
Not above using a ploy when the need called for it, Olivia sank to the ground and cradled her foot. She didn’t whine—no need to overdo it. The water stopped and Cash dropped to one knee beside her.
“Are you okay?”
Ugh. Did he have to look so irresistible? Water dripped across his cheeks, wet eyelashes accentuating one of his best features. His neck and shoulders tensed, ready for the water that might come at them from any direction.
It sounded as though a war raged around them, but Olivia didn’t see anything but him.
His hand paused inches from her face, as if he intended to wipe the water from her cheeks. Her breath stalled in her chest, then came out in a whoosh of disappointment when his hand lowered.
“Did you hurt your foot?” Cash slid callused hands along her bare skin, her flip-flops doing little to interrupt the current that flowed between them.
His touch was too much. Olivia lunged forward, tackling Cash while screaming for her team at the same time. Though he could easily throw her over his shoulder like Jack had done to Janie, she managed to catch him off balance. Cash fell back onto the asphalt, taking her down with him.
With a war cry, her team descended, Rachel in the lead. Though they aimed for Cash, they managed to get Olivia just as bad. By the time the onslaught ceased, Olivia found herself cradled on Cash’s left side, water running into her ears, hair plastered to her head and neck, clothes soaked through again.
Cash’s hand tightened around her arm, holding her captive as his head dropped to the ground. “Shh.” He whispered against her hair. “If we’re quiet, they won’t know we’re down here. Play dead.”
Shaking with laughter, Olivia left her head in the crook between Cash’s arm and chest.
“Well, Coach Grayson.” His casual drawl made her grin. “I think that one backfired on you.”
She peeked up from his chest, and he returned her smile with one of his own. Olivia hadn’t had that much fun in...she didn’t know how long.
“I wouldn’t say it was a total loss.” Olivia laughed as Cash ran a hand through his hair and water flew out in every direction. Sometime during the scuffle, he had lost his baseball hat.
Janie and Jack approached as she and Cash moved to a sitting position. The Smiths sat beside them, and the four of them caught their breath while the students finally called a truce.
Jack shook the water from his hair like an overgrown puppy. “What are you guys up to tonight? Do you want to come over for dinner?”
Hadn’t she just talked to herself about this very scenario?
Cash stiffened beside her and found his soaked cap on the ground behind them. He snapped it on his head, then stood. “Thanks, but I can’t. I’ve got to run.”
The three of them stood, too, the confusion Olivia felt mirrored on Jack’s and Janie’s faces.
“But you didn’t get your truck washed.” Olivia squeezed a hand down her ponytail, releasing a barrage of water.
He dug out his wallet and pressed a somehow still-dry twenty into her damp hand. “For the team.” Then he jogged to his truck and pulled out of line.
Olivia stared after him, not quite sure what to do with the feelings coursing through her. The hurt from Colorado flashed back, memories of Josh walking away almost suffocating her. She could still see the positive pregnancy test and the two that followed with the same little plus signs. And then...the stress, the shame, the miscarriage.
Olivia had strayed from God’s waiting-for-marriage plan. She’d walked away from God. And her decisions had ended in heartache and regret.
Watching Cash drive away—experiencing that tinge of hurt at his quick disappearance—for the first time in her life, Olivia actually felt momentarily thankful for her jaded past and all those regrets. They kept her from letting her heart get involved with a man who didn’t even know it existed.
Just like the last time.
Chapter Four
Cash stirred the chili bubbling in the pot, then checked his watch again. The first day of after-school practice had been over for hours and still no sign of Rachel. And of course she hadn’t responded to his call or texts. He sighed, laid the wooden spoon on the holder and headed for the cordless phone. He dialed Trish Nettles’s number, hoping the girls had lost track of time and were holed up in Valerie’s room doing homework.
Yeah, right.
“Hello?” Trish sounded hurried. And why wouldn’t she? It was dinnertime. For normal families.
“Hey, Trish, any chance Rachel’s at your house?”
“I haven’t seen her since practice.” And now she sounded sympathetic. “I’ll walk down to Val’s room to see if she knows anything.”
A seed of worry planted itself in Cash’s gut. Trish’s voice mixed with Val’s as a stench filled the kitchen. Cash hurried back to the stove and clicked off the burner for the now-scorched chili, turning on the fan over the stove to help remove the awful smell.
“Val doesn’t know where she is.” Trish paused and he slid open the window behind the sink. “Last I saw Rachel, she was talking to Blake Renner after practice.”
The seed in Cash’s stomach twisted into a full-grown ash tree.
Before they hung up, Trish made him promise to call if he needed any more help finding Rachel. The Nettles family joked that Rachel was their second daughter because of all the time she and Val spent joined at the hip. Maybe they should keep her full-time. Trish would be a much better parent than Cash.
He set the chili pot into the sink, flipped on the water and gripped the edge of the counter.
Renner. What did Rachel see in the cocky boy? He only wished her whereabouts were more of a surprise.
Cash scrounged up some leftovers and tried to distract himself with the Monday-night Rangers game, but nothing held his attention. Each tick of the clock increased his anxiety, and the food sat like a rock in his stomach.
He and Rachel had one steadfast rule between them—always let me know where you are and where you’re going. The stipulation wasn’t that hard to follow. He’d had a similar rule with their parents, but he’d never pushed the way Rachel did. Mom and Dad hadn’t known how good they’d had it.
When the Rangers game finished, Cash checked the time again. Almost ten o’clock. His phone showed three reception bars, but still nothing from Rach. He texted her again. He’d give her another ten minutes before he got in the truck and started looking. Cash’s fingers slid down his contact list, landing on Coach Grayson’s number.
The out-of-town area code flashed on the screen and then disappeared as he contemplated making the call. She was Rachel’s coach. Maybe she knew something he didn’t.
Though Olivia probably wasn’t very happy with the way he’d acted at the car wash on Saturday. He’d had to run, had to get away from how simple it would be to let her in. Jack and Janie loved her. Being with her was too easy. So he’d scrambled out of there, needing some distance.
She’d been in church again yesterday—without Gil—but Cash hadn’t talked to her. Somehow, he needed to figure out a way to be friends with her and nothing more. When his parents passed away, he’d promised himself that he’d give Rachel his undivided attention until she graduated from high school and went to college. No dating. No distractions. He owed Rachel the same great upbringing he’d had, the same love and support he’d received from their parents. After all, if Cash hadn’t believed Tera the day of his parents’ deaths, Rachel’s life would have had a different outcome.
The familiar mixture of responsibility and determination weighed down his shoulders, and Cash let out a slow breath. He’d managed not to date for the past four years. Surely he could handle one more.
Cash pressed the send button for Olivia’s number. He wasn’t going to throw away all of those years of effort in one phone call.
“Hello?” A door closed in the background as she answered. Had he interrupted her evening? What was he thinking? Of course he had.
“Hey, this is Cash. I—”
“Oh, hi.” Her voice held curiosity, and surprisingly after how he’d acted on Saturday, a hint of warmth that stopped his train of thought for a few seconds. “Is there anything I can help you with?” She filled in the silence, but she didn’t have to fill in the rest of the sentence. Cash could hear the words as if she’d said them: at ten o’clock at night...on my cell phone.
“Rachel hasn’t come home yet tonight. Any chance you might know where she is?” A commercial flashed on the TV at a high volume and Cash grabbed the remote to mute it.
“Sorry.” Sympathy laced the word. “I haven’t seen her since the end of practice.”
Disappointment clogged his throat. “Sorry to bother you on your cell.”
“It’s not a problem.”
“How was the first day of school?”
At Olivia’s silence, Cash checked the cell to make sure they hadn’t gotten disconnected. He pressed the phone back to his ear. “I’m giving Rachel a few more minutes to show up. Distract me. Tell me about your day.”
“Oh.” Olivia paused and Cash envisioned her shrug. “It was the typical craziness of the first day. The kids were hyper and excited, and I got very little done besides handing out a list of assignments for the quarter. I did tell my advanced class that we’d be speaking only French in the classroom this year.”
“How’d that go?”
“They all complained.” A smile echoed in her words. “So, tell me about your day.”
He ignored the way his heart hitched. “I did a bunch of work in the office. I needed to get the website updated with what cuts we currently have available.”
“No roping and riding today?”
He laughed. “Nope. Just office work. Have you ever even been to a ranch?”
“I’ve driven past one. There’s a bunch of them in Colorado.”
Cash waited.
“But no, I can’t say I’ve ever visited one on a field trip or anything.”
Sassy thing. “I’ll give you a tour when you come on Thursday night, city girl.” Cash checked the clock. “I better go. Rachel still hasn’t shown up. I’m going to call Jack and Janie and see if they’ve seen her.”
“Wait. I was just over there for dinner and they were both home.” Her voice lowered. “So...I don’t think they’ve seen Rachel either.”
He hated the relief that flooded through him when he realized she’d been at the Smiths’. Instead of what? Out on a date with Gil? Did it matter? He certainly couldn’t ask her out himself. Obviously his attention needed to remain on his sister.
Cash grabbed his red Circle M baseball cap perched on the back of the couch and tugged it on his head. “Guess I’ll hop in the truck and start looking.” After clicking off the TV, he went in search of his keys.
“I’ll help.”
He stopped midstride, suspended in a strange time warp as Olivia’s words hugged him. “You don’t need to do that. I don’t want to keep you out late and—” Rachel’s my responsibility.
“I won’t take no for an answer. She’s my player.” Her words halted for a moment. “And your sister.”
Maybe it wasn’t all about Rachel. Maybe it had something to do with him. Cash moved again, collecting his keys from the kitchen counter and a flashlight he hoped he wouldn’t need from the drawer.
Since his parents’ deaths, he’d only focused on Rachel and the ranch. It felt like basking in warm sunlight to think Olivia might possibly be interested in him.
Cash tamped down his rampant thoughts. One offer to help and he went crazy with ideas he should not be entertaining.
Time to head back to Friend Land, Maddox.
On that note, he should say no to Olivia’s help, but he couldn’t resist the idea of someone keeping him from thinking worst-case-scenario thoughts while he looked for Rachel.
“I’ll swing by and pick you up.”
“Um, how do you know where I live?”
Cash laughed. “I’m not a stalker. You’re three houses down from Jack and Janie in Mrs. Faust’s above-garage apartment. If you wanted anonymity, this isn’t the town for it.”
At Olivia’s silence, Cash checked the connection again. He put the phone back to his ear in time to hear her quiet, forced-sounding laugh.
“Right. Wasn’t thinking about the size of this town. I’ll head down when I see your lights.”
Cash stepped onto the porch, locking the door behind him. “Make sure it’s me. I don’t need to go searching for two girls tonight.”
She laughed for real this time, the sound bringing a smile to his lips despite his rising level of stress.
“Are there even criminals in this town?”
“Yes, city girl.”
Another laugh set his heart racing, but he ignored it as her words brought comfort of a different level. She was right about there being very little crime in Fredericksburg.
Cash strode across the yard to the garage, pausing when he saw round Wrangler-style headlights about a half mile down the road.
“Cash?”
“Hold on. I see some lights coming.”
“Oh, good.”
The Wrangler downshifted as it eased into the yard, and Cash’s shoulders dropped a mile at the flash of sunshine-blond hair behind the steering wheel.
“It’s her. Thanks for keeping me sane.”
“No problem.”
Cash couldn’t resist checking. “I’ll see you Thursday?”
“I’ll see you Thursday.” Olivia hung up and Cash disconnected.
If only his gut didn’t roll with anticipation. Because despite the interest Olivia Grayson stirred in him, Cash wouldn’t let his feelings progress beyond friendship.
He might be a poor substitute parent, but he would do everything he could to make up for that...including giving up any thoughts of a relationship with Olivia.
Tonight only proved his promise to keep his attention on Rachel and not on his own love life was right on the mark.
Maybe in a year he could ask Olivia out.
Right. As if she’d still be single by then. Someone as attractive as Olivia moving into this little town was front-page news. He wasn’t the first man to notice her and, unfortunately, he wouldn’t be the last.
* * *
On Thursday, Olivia turned when she saw the sign for the Circle M, taking a long dirt drive that led to a toffee-painted house with white trim. Off to the left, a line of trees bordered the house and to the right, a barn and garage were painted to match.
After parking to the side next to Rachel’s Jeep, Olivia walked up the stairs, flip-flops echoing across the wide, wooden-planked porch that ran the length of the front of the house. Since the Texas heat and humidity didn’t have an off button, she’d pretty much adopted a different version of the same outfit every day—shorts, T-shirt or tank, flip-flops or tennis shoes.
Guardrail spindles cast shadows onto two rocking chairs that moved in the breeze as she knocked.
“Hey, come on in.” Cash greeted her at the door dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, hair wet. He smelled like some kind of men’s soap. Who knew such a simple thing could be so attractive?
Hands off, Liv. After their phone conversation the other night, Olivia felt as if she and Cash had moved into new territory—one where their focus centered on Rachel. Exactly where Olivia needed it to be. And she didn’t plan to mess up this newfound harmony with any remnants of buried attraction to Cash.
“I’m warming up one of Laura Lee’s lasagnas.” Cash motioned to the table where Rachel had her homework spread out. “Have a seat and I’ll grab you a glass of lemonade.”
An expansive living room with high ceilings connected with the kitchen and dining space that held a round oak table. Summer evening sun came in through large front windows, playing upon the dark burgundy sofas that flanked a stone fireplace stretching all the way up to the second-story ceiling.
Olivia sat at the table next to the girl she’d seen at practice a half hour before. The one who had dominated in their first match last night with five kills and helped them win in only four games.
Rachel tossed her hair. “I can’t believe Cash conned you into helping me.”
Girl, I’ve dealt with plenty of teenagers like you in the past. You won’t get rid of me that easy.
“It’s all selfish.” Olivia pretended nonchalance—though she couldn’t stop a smile. “I just want you to keep playing volleyball.”
A hint of a curve touched Rachel’s lips, but she quickly quelled the movement. After rearranging her pencils and notebooks, she huffed and rolled her eyes. “I need help with algebra the most.”
Perfect. Olivia’s worst subject. “Then let’s get started.”
While Rachel pulled out her book, Olivia glanced up and shared a small victory grin with Cash.
An hour flew by as Rachel and Olivia switched from algebra to English and then got in a bit of world history before Cash put a stack of plates on the table next to Rachel’s papers.
“Ready in a few.” He added silverware and napkins.
“I’m almost done.” Rachel quickly scribbled in two more answers to her history homework before stacking up her books and papers and dumping the pile onto the floor near her chair.
When Cash put the lasagna on the table and took a seat, laying his palm up next to Olivia’s plate, she stared at the callused hand. Rachel accepted the other hand Cash offered her without an eye roll—shocking—and Olivia made herself do the same, trying not to think about how small her hand felt wrapped up in Cash’s during the prayer.
They dug into the delicious meal, and after finishing off two full plates of food, Rachel disappeared from the table, cell phone in hand.
Cash leaned back and stretched his arms over his head, plate cleaned a few times over. “So, are you ready for that tour?”