When they polished it off with stretches, she had to shake her head. “You’re still Gumby, Grandpa.”
With a grin, he looked over as they both did wide-legged forward folds. “Passed it on to you.”
“For which I’m grateful.”
“I’m going to be in top shape when I start shooting.”
She angled over to her right leg. “You took the part.”
“Signed on this morning.”
“When do you start?”
“The first table read’s in a couple of weeks. I can fly back whenever I’m not on call. Comedy jewel,” he reminded her.
She angled to the left. “What does the boss say?”
“I knew you’d ask that. Lily’s fine with it.” He straightened, showed off his excellent balance as well as flexibility with a quad stretch.
“Now how about we get a nice little snack?”
“It’s going to be fruit and yogurt. Consuela.”
Sorrow covered him. “We deserve so much more. You got any ice cream at your place?”
“I might.” They started up together.
“Maybe I’ll come visit you later. If you’re working, I’ll just, you know, make myself at home.”
“One scoop, no toppings.”
“What sort of toppings?”
She shook her head at him as they turned toward the kitchen.
The dogs ran out to greet them.
“Look who’s here!” Delight in his voice, Hugh bent down to rub. “Did you bring your boy or drive over yourself?”
The boy sat in the kitchen with a big mug of coffee and a plate—a whole plate—of cookies.
“I want some of those.”
“You get one.” Consuela eyed Hugh, held up a single finger. “With skim milk.”
“I just did an hour in the gym. Who’s the boss around here?”
“Miss Lily is the boss. You sit. One cookie, skim milk. Two cookies for you,” she told Cate. “And milk.”
“Can I have it in a latte? You know I don’t really—”
“A latte,” Consuela said quickly, remembering.
Dillon lifted his hands as Consuela poured skim milk for Hugh. “I had some errands. I dropped off some of the things Consuela ordered while I was out. Don’t blame me.”
“Didn’t even know we had cookies,” Hugh grumbled as Consuela set one on a small plate in front of him.
“I baked while you were in the gym because my young man said he would come see me.” Consuela fluttered her lashes at Dillon. “And tonight, you can have one more cookie. And you’ll have steak because my handsome boy came. Some red meat is good for your blood.”
“I hear that.”
“The hour in the gym looks good on you. Both of you.”
“This one? He doesn’t need the gym. He is a working man.” To prove it, Consuela squeezed Dillon’s biceps. “Such arms!”
“Made to hold you, Consuela.”
She giggled like a girl, had Cate staring after her as she walked to the coffee machine to make the latte.
Dillon only grinned. “Haven’t seen you around the ranch in a while,” he said to Cate.
“I had two big jobs back-to-back.” Since they were there, she took a cookie. “I was actually thinking I’d come by later today.”
“My ladies would love to see you.”
“You go. You take your cookie, your latte, and go take a shower, make yourself pretty.” Decision made, Consuela switched the latte to a go-cup. “You don’t go out enough. Young girls should go out. Why don’t you take my girl dancing?” she demanded of Dillon.
“I—” It only threw him off stride for a beat. “I’ve been saving my dances for you, amor mío .”
Nice save, Cate thought as Consuela giggled again.
“Go, go.” Consuela waved at Cate. “I have my eye on this one.”
“Okay, all right.” She grabbed up the latte. “I’ll go clean up. I’ll be over soon.”
She didn’t take long. Still, it surprised her to find Dillon just getting in his truck when she got back to the house.
“I stretched out the time. I haven’t hung out with Hugh in a while.”
She paused on her way to the garage. “I think that’s an excuse for you to flirt with Consuela.”
“Who needs an excuse?” He climbed in. “See you in a few.”
Now he had another picture, he thought as he drove. Cate in a warm-up jacket open to one of those sports bra deals—blue like her eyes—and tight pants covered with blue flowers that stopped midcalf, and left a lot of midsection exposed.
Oh, well, what was one more?
He had had errands, and had wanted to see how Hugh was doing—plus, what guy wouldn’t enjoy having a sweetheart like Consuela fussing over him?
And he’d hoped, maybe, to catch a couple minutes with Cate.
Done and doomed, Dil, he thought. You are done and doomed.
He parked at the ranch, waited for her to pull up beside him. Took the container of cookies out of the truck.
“These are mine, so don’t get any ideas. I’m just going to drop them off at my place. You can go right on in.”
“I’ve never seen your place.”
“Oh. Sure. Well, come on over. But these are still my cookies.”
“You’re not the only one who can sweet-talk Consuela out of cookies.”
“So. Busy?”
“Yeah.” It smelled so good here, she thought. Different from the flowers and spice and sea of Sullivan’s Rest, but so good. “Plus, I’m spending a lot of time with Grandpa.”
“He looks great.”
“He really does. You wouldn’t know he’d been laid up last year. He’s heading back to L.A. in a couple weeks.”
“He told me. I’m supposed to keep an eye on you.”
“Which one?”
“He didn’t specify.”
When Dillon opened the door, Cate stepped in, took stock.
“This is so nice.”
A big Navajo-style rug accented dark, wide-planked floors. Paintings of rising mountains, of sheep-dotted hills, of wild orange poppies smothering a meadow hung on walls of dark honey.
He kept it tidy, she thought, and no-fuss male. No frilly throws or fancy pillows on the navy sofa or dark gray chairs. No fancy bits on tables other than a few photos, a polished wood bowl filled with interesting rocks, a few arrowheads.
“You never know what you’re going to find,” he said.
“I guess not. Terrific view, too. The paddock and the sea out the front.”
She wandered over to the open kitchen—glossy white appliances, roomy counters that mixed the navy and gray. “Fields, hills, horses, and all the rest out here. It was smart to angle the house so you didn’t end up looking at the side of the barn.”
“Stables.”
“Right.”
He’d set up a little office space, the workstation facing the wall dominated by a calendar and holding a computer, some files, a mug full of pens and pencils.
A floor-to-ceiling set of iron shelves held books, lots of books, with a few more photos interspersed and what she supposed he saw as acceptable ornaments.
An old spur, some sort of odd tool, some X-Men action figures.
“No TV for you?”
“Are you kidding? I’m a guy.” He gestured her over.
“It’s two bedrooms. I sleep on that side. Planning for way into the future, my women wanted everything on one level, with each bedroom having its own bathroom. So if and when we ever switch houses they won’t kill each other.”
He led her in. “They figured I’d use this as a guest room—who for, I don’t know—and office space. I had other ideas.”
“Yes, you did.”
She supposed it qualified as a man cave, though there was nothing cave-like with the views of the ranch out the windows.
He had a beer/wine fridge, a big chocolate leather couch, a pair of recliners. The enormous flat screen on the wall dominated everything.
She circled, noticed he had both an Xbox and a Nintendo Switch. And another floor-to-ceiling shelving unit holding—very, very organized—video games and DVDs.
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