Daring Dreamer (Quinn Valley Ranch Book 7) Read online

  He got napkins and straws and returned to the table. “Do you need ketchup or fry sauce?”

  “Ketchup. I’m not a big fan of fry sauce.”

  He got fry sauce for himself and ketchup for her. He didn’t understand how someone born and raised in Idaho wouldn’t be a fan of fry sauce, but he decided not to hold it against her. When he returned, she took the ketchup from him and dipped a tater tot. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” He took a big bite of his burger. “So what are we doing after we go to this rock shop? And no, I’m not playing Monopoly with you. Not after what your sister said.”

  She shrugged. “Why don’t we go see a movie? I have been cooped up in my house all week, and I need a change of scenery. I’m sure something good has to be playing.”

  “Have you seen the new Grinch movie yet? It’s supposed to be good.”

  “Nope. I haven’t been to the movies in a couple of months. I usually have a date to go with at least one of my sisters every weekend, but with Christmas, we’ve neglected each other. And now that Roxane has Ciran, she’s not as up for fun stuff as she used to be.”

  “It’s going to be even worse once the baby is born,” he said. “How excited are they?”

  “She seems absolutely ecstatic. When I talked to Ciran the other night, he said they were still in shock.”

  “Did they want kids right away?”

  “I’m not sure about right away, but I know they wanted kids. And Roxie is the oldest of us. I’m sure her clock is ticking and all that jazz.”

  “Where do you come into the order?” he asked.

  “Well, Bobling’s the oldest—oh, forgive me—Jake is the oldest. And then Roxie, then me, then Raina, and Riley is the baby.”

  “But you’re all pretty close in age, right?”

  “Yeah, we’re just a couple years apart. We girls have always been really close, and I think Roxie and Bobling were close before he joined the Army. She sure talks about him more than the rest of us do.”

  “Well, that makes sense with them being so close in age.”

  “And I know you and Sam are the only siblings in your house.”

  “There was a brother between us, but he died of SIDS.”

  Renae looked at him with surprise. “Really? Sam never mentioned that.”

  “Well, it happened before she was born. I don’t have real memories of him, but I remember Mom and Dad talking about it.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “As I said, I don’t remember him. I just know that he would have been between us in age. If that makes any sense at all.”

  “Of course it does. I can’t imagine knowing that I would have had another sibling, but they died. What was his name?”

  “Aaron. I always kind of wanted to name a kid Aaron so his name would at least live on.”

  She nodded. “I think that’s a really good idea. Aaron is a good, strong name.”

  “So you’ll marry me and name our firstborn son Aaron?”

  She shook her head. “Not good enough. Maybe you and Sam should get together, and she could help you figure out the right way to propose.”

  He groaned. “You want some kind of grand gesture, don’t you? Like you want me to stand up in front of hundreds of people and do some sort of street dance and serenade you.”

  She laughed. “Not at all. I just don’t want it to be some offhand comment. You can come up with a nice, planned proposal. It won’t kill you.”

  “It might.”

  “Just think about all the romantic movies you’ve seen, and think about which had the best marriage proposal. Start watching the Hallmark Channel if you can’t figure anything else out. Almost all of their movies end in a marriage proposal.”

  “The Hallmark Channel? Please tell me you’re joking. Real men don’t watch Hallmark.”

  “Well, they should if they want to have a real woman fall in love with them. The shows can get pretty sappy, but they always end in a happily ever after, and trust me. Women want happily ever afters.”

  “I’m not sure I can do it. It might kill me!”

  “Tell you what, if you haven’t figured it out before Bobling comes home, I’ll have him watch some Hallmark with you. You two should learn all you can about women outside of war zones.” She winked at him as she dipped another tater tot in ketchup.

  “Then I’d better figure it out before Bobling comes home, because that would absolutely make me crazy.”

  “Well, maybe you’d learn something.” She glanced over at the door as it opened and noticed her cousin Andrew coming in with his fiancé, Rachel. He spotted them and approached the table.

  “Hey, cuz. What are you doing here?” Andrew noticed her sling then and grinned. “Did you fall again? Is it broken?”

  “Don’t look so amused that I fell. It’s not broken. Just a bad sprain.”

  He shook his head. “You’re such a mess.”

  Renae decided to ignore him. “Hey, Rachel. I can’t believe you’re marrying this freak.”

  “Well, I needed to be part of the Quinn family, and he seemed like the best option.” Rachel grinned at her. She’d been working for the family for years, and she and Bob had joked about how she should be one of his daughters since her name fit with the others.

  Andrew made a face. “Just remember, my name is not Quinn.”

  “I’ll still be able to call my boss ‘Uncle Bob.’ All will be well with the world.”

  Renae grinned. “Glad you are going to be able to be a cousin, if not a sister.”

  “We’ll still be the kind of sisters we’ve considered each other for a while.” Rachel looked at Andrew. “We’re going to get food.”

  “I am recommending the chicken nuggets today.”

  “Well, I’ll probably still go with the bacon cheeseburger. You enjoy!” With that, the other couple was in line and ordering.

  “It’s nice that your family has embraced her so quickly. I felt really welcome at the New Years’ party as well.” Chad took another sip of his drink, looking at her. “But I promise, I won’t marry you for your family.”

  She sighed. “Real proposal! You cannot ask me to marry you that way.”

  “Fine. Real proposal. I’ll get thinking about it.”

  As soon as they finished their meal, they headed to Ambrosia’s store for the sale. Renae fished her list out of her purse, using only one hand. It took twice as long as it should have, and she vowed to clean out her purse as soon as she had two hands again.

  Ambrosia smiled at her as she walked in. “And which of the Rs are you?”

  “I’m Renae.” She hated the question, but she was certainly used to it. “And this is Chad. We’re shopping for my youngest sister Riley today. She had to work, but she wanted to get in on your A sale.”

  “Very smart of her. If you need help finding something, you just let me know.”

  “I will.” Renae looked down at her list as she wandered over to the area where the stones lived.

  Chad looked at her list. “Are there really that many crystals that start with the letter A?”

  “You’d be amazed. There are more crystals than I could begin to name.” She reached out and picked up a piece of amazonite, holding it in her hand and feeling the vibrations. “This one is good.” She picked up a piece of paper and a pencil. “You write down what I’m buying and what the charge is.”

  Chad shrugged, doing as she instructed. He didn’t know why it was important, but he’d do it. He wrote down “amazonite” and the price beside it. “Like this?”

  “Perfect. I’m trying to find amber. I think that’s the hardest stone to find.” She looked through the entire display without finding it. “I guess she’s out as usual. Riley might have to order that from the internet.”

  As she carefully chose the stones her sister needed, Chad wrote down each thing and the price. When they were finished, he carried the basket to Ambrosia.

  “Is that all you’re getting?” Ambrosia asked, shaking her head. “I�
�m sure there are plenty more things in this shop starting with the letter A.”

  “I’m shopping for my sister, and these were the only things I found that were on her list.”

  “You don’t need anything? Aren’t you the one who buys essential oils sometimes?”

  “I am, but I don’t need any right now. It’s hard to foot zone with a sprained wrist.”

  “Do you want me to heal it for you?” Ambrosia asked, eyeing her sling.

  Renae kept the smile on her face as she shook her head. “No, thank you. My doctor says it’s healing nicely.”

  Ambrosia looked sad, and Renae felt bad, but she really didn’t trust the older woman to heal it. “You should get an extra amethyst to carry. It will help it heal properly.”

  “That I’ll do!” Renae looked at Chad. “I’m going to go choose one more amethyst. You wait here.” She hurried back to the display and found herself a nice amethyst. It was too big to carry, but she’d put it in her living room. She loved the look of amethyst anyway.

  After they were rung up, they headed to the theater for their movie. “You want popcorn?” he asked.

  She frowned at him. “How could I watch a movie without popcorn?”

  “Okay, I’ll get popcorn. I wasn’t sure since you just finished eating and you said you were stuffed.”

  “Being stuffed means nothing when popcorn is involved. And I also want a Coke and a bag of cherry sours.”

  “Do those mean movie, too?” he asked, trying to understand her thinking.

  “Well, Coke does, and I need either Raisinets, Sour Patch Kids, or cherry sours with the Coke and popcorn, but today, I need cherry sours. Aren’t you glad I know these things about myself and I don’t have to stand in line hemming and hawing for hours?”

  He leaned down and kissed her forehead, taking her to a wall. “You make life so much easier for me. Now I want you to lean against the wall until I come back. Don’t try to walk on your own.”

  She glared at him as he walked away. He was taking the jokes about her clumsiness way too far. She was used to them, but she didn’t want him to be part of them. Why it bothered her so much, she didn’t know, but he was truly making her crazy.

  Five minutes later, he came to her with a drink carrier, a big tub of popcorn, and the candy. “Can you carry the movie tickets?” he asked.

  “I could probably handle a little more than that. I do have one good arm.”

  He shrugged. “I’ve got the rest. I don’t want anything to distract you from walking.”

  She rolled her eyes but took the tickets and walked toward the usher. He told them which way to go, and Renae led the way to the theater. “I didn’t know that kid. What’s happening with the world when I don’t know every single teen in Quinn Valley?”

  “No idea.” He found the right theater and led her to a seat toward the middle. “This good?”

  She nodded, eyeing the chairs. She carefully pushed the seat down and then sat, waiting for him to get situated with all the drinks and the snacks. He put her drink into the hole between the seats for her, and she grabbed it and took a sip. “Why do Cokes at the movie theater taste better than anywhere else?”

  “I’ve never noticed that, so I don’t know.” He held the popcorn tub toward her. “Popcorn?”

  “Of course.” She dug her hand into the bucket and watched the previews. “I hope they do a good job with this. I loved Jim Carrey’s Grinch.”

  “I’ve heard good things, but I have no idea at the moment.”

  She was surprised that it was a cartoon, more resembling the ones that had been on TV since she was a little girl than the live action version. It was good, with just enough back story.

  As they watched she ate her half of the popcorn and polished off her cherry sours. She even stole one or fifteen of his Raisinets.

  When the movie was over, she grinned. “That was fun.”

  “It was. It might be my favorite Grinch movie. Felt more Dr. Seussy than the others.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Let’s wait ’til the theater is mostly empty before leaving. There’s less chance your arm will be jostled.”

  “Good idea. You know this is the most I’ve done in a day since Tuesday. I do think my arm is healed enough to take the sling off, but I’ll wait ’til I see Brooke on Tuesday.” She looked down at her arm in the stupid sling. It still annoyed her that she’d fallen in front of him. Again.

  After they were out in the sunshine, she looked up at the sky with a smile. “It’s gorgeous out this afternoon. I want to stay outside for a little longer.”

  He looked at the sidewalk they were on and noticed that most of the snow was gone. There was just a little lining the sides of the path. “All right.”

  They walked through the main part of town, looking at the big hotel where she worked and the now-enclosed water park. “As soon as I’m better, I’m going to the water park. I feel like doing the slide thing.”

  “Did you go when you were a girl?” He knew most of the teenagers in town had passes to go every day, but he’d worked every summer instead.

  “Oh yeah. All the time. Your sister and I practically lived there a few summers in a row. And then we both ended up with summer jobs, me at the hotel and her at the water park. We both loved our jobs but not as much as we loved playing together.” She smiled, reminiscing about the good old days when how long the line was at her favorite water slide was the most important thing in her world. “I never saw you there.”

  “Nah. I started working when I was still in junior high. I loved the water park as much as the next kid, but for me, it was all about learning all I could about training horses.”

  “Wow. You make me feel like I was positively slothful.”

  “Not at all. You just had different priorities.”

  She nodded. “I’m already getting tired. My body is taking up too much energy to heal. Let’s head back to the car and my place, if you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. I don’t worry about you as much when you’re at home.”

  She didn’t know how to respond to that, but she did know she’d need to talk to him about saving her from herself pretty soon. He was starting to make her want to pull all her hair out. Or better yet, his.

  Chapter Nine

  Once they were back at her place, Renae decided she needed to confront Chad about the way he’d been making fun of her for falling all the time, rather than letting herself get so angry for it that she started yelling at him without meaning to.

  “Are we watching X-Files?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, but can we talk about something first?”

  He sat down beside her on the couch, looking at her for a moment. “I promise I’m going to come up with a good proposal. It won’t be an offhand comment, but I need to think about it for a while first.”

  “Yeah, you will if you want me to actually marry you, but that’s not what I want to talk about.” Now that she had him sitting looking at her and waiting for her to say something to him, she wasn’t sure how to start.

  “What is it? Is something bothering you?”

  “Yeah. I know you’re joking when you talk about me falling all the time, but it’s really making me crazy. My whole life people have called me Grace because I’m so ungraceful, and it’s been a huge joke. I don’t want that from you.”

  He frowned at her for a moment. “I haven’t been joking. I’ve been really worried about you!” He shook his head. “I’m sorry if it felt like I was teasing you. I never meant it that way.”

  She blinked at him a couple of times. “You mean, you’ve really been trying to keep me from falling again every time you’ve made a joke about it?”

  “Yes! I’m deathly afraid you’re going to fall and crack your head open. What if I’m not with you, and you fall, and there’s no one to take you to the ER?”

  Renae sighed. This was even worse than she’d thought. “I’ve been taking care of myself for a very long time. If I’m missing from where I
’m supposed to be, someone will check on me. And my neighbors are all friends at this point. But the bottom line is, I don’t think I’m quite as clumsy as you think I am. It’s just been snowy and icy since we started seeing each other. They were unfortunate slips.”

  “So you don’t fall as much in the summer?”

  “Not as much. I mean maybe two or three times per summer.” She shrugged.

  “You don’t think that’s excessive?” he asked softly. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d fallen down.

  “I’ll admit it’s more than most people, and I avoid doing some things that I worry about, but it’s not like I need a keeper or someone to follow me around everywhere holding my arm to make sure I don’t fall again. I mean, maybe I do right now to keep from hurting myself more, but most of my falls end up with no injury at all.”

  He looked at her skeptically. He’d heard too many people make comments to her to believe that. “How often do you end up with an injury that you need to go to the doctor for?”

  “Maybe once a year?”

  He swallowed hard. That was too often in his eyes. “So . . . if you’re pregnant and you fall . . .”

  “When I’m pregnant you can follow me around like a lost puppy dog. But for now, I’m healthy, and my bones heal quickly. No need to be freaked out over it.”

  “I guess I’ll have to live with that.”

  She shook her head at him. “It really bothers you that much?” Never in her life had anyone tried to keep her safe from falling all the time. They simply made fun of her about it. “Do you know it’s one of the biggest jokes among my siblings how often I fall?”

  “I didn’t. I’m sorry you felt like I was making fun of you. I really wasn’t!”

  “I can see that now. I really do appreciate the concern, but it’s going to make me crazy if I’m dating a man who is so worried about me falling, he can’t let me walk three feet in front of him.”

  “I’m not—” He’d started to say he wasn’t that bad, but he knew he was. “I’m going to do my best not to be so paranoid about it. If I see you falling, can I catch your good arm? To keep you from going down?”