Russell's Return (11 page)

She smiled up at him and they continued
to walk, his hand still on her arm. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” he agreed. She sounded so
serious. What on earth could she want to know?

“Why did you hate it here so much?”

Russell remained silent for a moment as
he gathered his thoughts.

Emily grabbed his hand and held it as if
to encourage him.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure if there
is a definitive reason.” He shrugged and kicked a rock. “Suffocation is the
only word that comes to mind. I wanted the good life, the kind of stuff you see
on TV and in the movies, and I couldn’t have that here.”

“Did you just wake up one day and decide
you couldn’t breathe here?” she asked, pulling him to a stop and turning him to
look at her.

Russell grinned. “Actually yeah. I woke
up one day and the feeling of heaviness I had carried for years had settled in
my chest and I literally couldn’t breathe.”

Even in the moonlight Emily could see
the pain in his eyes. When he paused, she urged him to continue.

“The next day I decided to transfer to
Denver and when I graduated, my Uncle Ethan invited me to visit him in Nevada
and I never left.”

Emily started walking again, she could
see her bunkhouse cottage just ahead. “Have you had trouble breathing since
you’ve returned to Harper’s Rock?”

“That first day, oh yes! But since then,
not so much,” he answered as he opened her gate and ushered her through. “I
can’t say I wouldn’t like to be back in Vegas, but for now, I’m okay here.
Especially when I’m around a certain person. She almost makes me like it here.”

Emily laughed as they stepped up to the
door. “Maybe this person needs to work harder to make you
love
it here.”

Russell grabbed her arms and pulled her
close. “Maybe she does,” he whispered right before capturing her lips in a
kiss.

Emily pulled her arms free and wrapped
them around his neck, pressing into him. Her fingers made their way to his hair
and a moan escaped her lips.

They pulled apart, both breathless and
shaking. “We’d better say goodnight before we take things too far,” he said
once he could breathe normally again.

“Yeah,” she agreed reluctantly. “If I
don’t see you tomorrow, I’ll see you Saturday for our date.”

“Goodnight Em. Sleep Well.”

Emily chuckled and unlocked the door.
“No chance of that now. Goodnight.”

Russell turned and jogged back down the
path to the main house. He had to do something to work off the frustration that
had built with one simple kiss.

CHAPTER
9

Saturday could not get here soon enough
for Russell. Thursday and Friday had dragged on with no word from Emily. When
the alarm rang on Saturday morning he jumped out of bed and rushed to get
ready. He had some shopping to do, and he and Miranda were going to have lunch
together at
Shakes & Malts
, one
of the few fast food restaurants in town.

When he was showered and dressed, he
hurried downstairs. The smell of his mother’s French toast was irresistible.
“Good morning, Mama.”

“You’re sure chipper this morning,”
Evelyn chuckled.

“He’s got a date with Miss Emily
tonight,” Miranda sang out as she entered the kitchen and climbed up on a
stool. “They’re going to dinner and the concert in the park.”

“A real date?” Evelyn questioned.

“Yes, Mother. I’m going on a real date,”
Russell returned. “With a real live woman.”

“Smart ass,” Evelyn mumbled, waving her
spatula at him. “Emily is a nice girl. Be good to her.”

“I know, Mother. I’ll behave myself.” He
knew she was basically telling him that for the first time in years he had
picked a decent woman and not to ruin it. Unfortunately he didn’t know if that
was possible. He had a way of ruining the good things. “How is Dylan, Ma? Have
you heard anything yet?”

“He’s pretty much the same,” she sighed.
“I’ll go visit him once a week when Evangeline and Nicoletta go, unless
something major happens.”

Russell threw a look at Miranda and then
to his mother to let her know that he would have more questions for her when
his daughter wasn’t around. “Are you ready to go, squirt? I want to get to the
store before it gets too busy.”

“Yeah, Daddy! Can Grandma come?”

“If she wants to. I’ll be right back.
I’m going to grab my keys.” When he walked back into the kitchen, Miranda was
hugging her grandmother. “You’re not coming, Ma?”

“No, I’m waiting for your Uncle Cowboy
to call with details of his yearly hunting trip.”

“Okay Ma,” he said, kissing her cheek.
“We’ll see you after lunch.”

“I’ll be here. I have some planning to
do. I think Miranda and I will have a little date of our own.”

**********

Russell pulled into a parking spot at
Harper’s Rock Grocery and shut the engine off. “Carnations or roses for Miss
Emily, Kiddo?”

“A single red rose, Daddy! She’ll like
that.”

Russell sighed. It was so cliché, but
his daughter seemed excited about the idea so he would go with it. “Come on,
let’s go see if we can talk Uncle Logan into joining us for lunch later.”

“Do you think he will?” she asked
excitedly.

“I don’t know,” Russell said, helping
her out of the SUV. “We’ll just have to ask and see.”

They walked quickly through the store
and into the back. Logan was at the loading dock, signing an invoice. “Hey big
brother,” he called out to Russell. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

They stood near the management office
and waited. A beautiful blond woman, carrying a tiny baby, slipped quickly past
them and opened the door leading to Logan’s private quarters. With her head
down, she disappeared inside.

“So what can I do for my pain in the ass
brother and my beautiful niece?” Logan Harper asked as he approached them.

Russell cleared his throat. “Well first,
you can tell me who that beauty was who went up to your apartment with a baby?”

Logan looked to the closed apartment
door then back to his brother before his eyes settled on his boots. “Just a
friend.”

“Little brother’s got a girlfriend…and a
baby?” Russell asked puzzled.

“No!” Logan nearly shouted. “You know
how I feel about marriage and family. She’s just a friend.”

“Okay,” Russell said, holding his hands
up in surrender. He somehow thought his brother was protesting a bit too much.
“We just stopped by to grab a few things and thought we would invite you to
Shakes & Malts
for lunch at 11:30.
We haven’t been able to see you much since we’ve been back.”

Logan looked quickly at the door leading
to his home and then back to his brother and niece. “I…I’m sorry guys. I just
can’t right now. I’ve got some stuff going on.”

“Yeah, apparently,” Russell murmured,
shooting a glance at the door leading upstairs. “We’ll get together soon,
right?”

“Yeah, of course,” he said with a smile.
“Let me walk you back out to the front. It’s time for me to take over the
bakery counter for Sarah’s break.”

The three walked out through the
swinging door and Russell nearly ran head on into Emily’s cart.

“Oh, hello there,” she beamed at him. “I
didn’t think I’d see you until tonight.”

“I had to pick up a few things,” he
answered. “It looks like we had the same idea.”

“I’m going on a date too, Miss Emily,”
Miranda cut in.

“You are? With who?”

Miranda gave a big smile. “With my
Grandma!”

“Oh that sounds so fun.”

Logan offered to take his niece to the
bakery for a free cookie and they left Russell and Emily alone to talk.

“So, how have you been?” he asked.

“Really good,” she smiled. “Work has
kept me pretty busy and my brother was in town for a couple of days. I kind of
wanted to call you but…”

“Yeah, I know. I wanted to call you
too.”

“I wasn’t sure if that was allowed,” she
said quietly.

Russell shrugged. “I think it would be
okay.”

“I’ll remember that next time,” she
murmured. “I’d better go. Mama is waiting for me at the checkout.”

“Yeah, I better get back to Miranda.
I’ll see you at six tonight.”

“See you then.”

Russell watched her walk away. He was in
big trouble. He wanted to spend every moment getting to know her again.

“Daddy, Daddy!”

“Hey squirt, you ready to go to the
floral section before we go to the deli?”

“Yeah, let’s go get Miss Emily’s rose.”
She skipped ahead and Russell watched her closely. She didn’t seem to mind that
he was dating again, but he probably should talk to her about everything soon.
She was his first priority and he wanted her to know that.

By the time he reached the floral
counter, Miranda had already ordered the flower. That was unheard of. She just
didn’t speak to people in public that she didn’t know.

“Here you go young lady,” the elderly
clerk said as he handed her the order sheet. “It will be delivered to your
grandmother’s house at 4:30.”

Russell looked curiously at the clerk.
“You’re delivering one rose?”

The older man chuckled. “No Mr. Harper.
The young miss ordered a dozen plus one in the white vase.”

“I wanted some roses for my date with
Grandma too,” she said quietly, looking at the floor.

“Great idea squirt!” Russell enthused.
“I’m glad you thought of it. Grandma will love it.”

Miranda smiled and he gave her a quick
hug. “Let’s go to the deli and get the dessert for the concert.” Russell
ordered the cheesecake sampler platter with wine and glasses. They would be
delivered in a picnic basket, at the same time as the flowers.

Father and daughter stopped at the
checkouts to pay their bill then left the store and stood outside in the warm
sunshine. “I’m not quite hungry yet,” Miranda said.

“Me either,” Russell agreed. “I wonder
what we should do.”

“I don’t know. I didn’t bring my library
books or we could go there.”

Russell put his arm around his
disappointed little girl. “What would you say if I told you that I brought your
books?”

“Really!” Her face lit up. “Can we go to
the library before lunch then?”

Russell chuckled at his excited little
girl. “Yeah, let’s get the books out of the car and walk over there.”

An hour later, Miranda reluctantly left
the library and they walked down the street to the tiny, hometown fast food
joint.

When they walked in, Emily was sitting
alone at a booth near the door. “Hello again,” Russell said, his voice
catching.

“Hi guys,” Emily greeted. “Would you
care to join me? My mother had to take care of an emergency at the hospital.”

“Oh can we, Daddy?” Miranda squealed.

He felt like squealing ‘hell yeah’
himself, but instead he just ushered his daughter into the booth and sat down
next to her. “We’d love to.”

The waitress soon came over and took their
orders before Miranda ran off to the bathroom. Russell figured that while they
waited for the food, it was a good time for them to talk to Miranda about the
date. But he wanted Emily in on it too. “I want to talk to Randi about us
dating. I need to make sure she understands and agrees to it.”

Emily smiled at him and grabbed his
hand. “I think it’s a great idea.”

Miranda arrived back at the table and
asked to sit by her counselor this time. When she was seated, Russell broached
the subject of dating.

“So, kiddo. We want to ask you a
question. Is that okay?”

“Yeah sure,” she said as she drew
circles on her coloring sheet.

“Does it bother you that Miss Emily and
I are dating?”

Miranda put her crayon down and looked
at her father like he’d lost his mind. “I
want
you to go on dates,” she
replied as if she couldn’t believe he didn’t know the most obvious thing in the
world.

“You do?” Russell asked, surprised.
“Why?”

The little girl shrugged as she went
back to drawing circles. “You’re lonely. Miss Emily is lonely. And I love you
both so that means you have to date and become boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Emily reached out and touched Miranda’s
arm. “Sweetie, just because we date doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll become a
couple.”

The little girl sat there thinking for a
long time. “That’s okay,” she decided. “You should at least try though. You
need to have some fun, Dad. There’s more to life than me and work.”

Russell and Emily looked at each other
with wide eyes. It went unspoken between them that Miranda was smarter than she
sometimes seemed. Russell looked away first to keep from laughing. His little
nine-year-old was acting like she owned the world, and he and Emily were
peasants under her rule.

The waitress broke the tension when she
delivered their burger specials. They spent the rest of the meal chatting about
old times, stopping occasionally to answer Miranda’s questions. She seemed
fascinated by the fact that they were once young.

After lunch was over, Miranda hugged
Emily and insisted her father do the same. When he took her into his arms, it
felt like an electric current was running between them. Thrilling and painful
all at the same time. They said quick and awkward goodbyes before going their
separate ways.