.
Kate said, surprised that Liam didn’t take payment on the spot. “Are you sure?”
“Yep.” Liam opened one of the storage lockers built onto the back of his truck.
“Do you like chili?” Callie asked the vet.
“Sure do.” Dr. Brand loaded his mobile kit into the locker.
Kate liked that Liam didn’t disregard her daughter—he included her, he looked at her directly and spoke to her like she had value.
“Do you want to have chili with us? That’s what we’re having for dinner.”
Kate hadn’t expected her daughter to extend a dinner invitation to Liam; even more unexpected was her own follow-up to Callie’s invitation.
“We have plenty,” she told Liam. “It’s the least we could do. I’m sure you skipped dinner so you could come out here.”
Liam didn’t say yes or no as he loaded his equipment into his truck.
“Do you like orange or grape soda?” Callie asked Liam. “Which do you want?”
Kate put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “He hasn’t accepted your invitation yet.”
Liam locked the back of his truck. “I like grape.”
For the briefest of seconds, Liam caught Kate’s eye, and she saw something so strong and kind in those blue eyes that she had to remind herself to look away.
“I—I like grape, too!” Callie told the vet excitedly, as if she had just discovered that they had something very special in common.
Her daughter spun around and headed off in the direction of their modest ranch-style house with the new steel roof and fresh coat of moss green paint.
“I’m sorry,” Kate told him when her daughter was out of earshot. “I hope she didn’t put you on the spot.”
“I’m hungry, and all I’ve got in my icebox is a piece of suspicious cheese and condiments.” Liam adjusted his long legs so he could keep pace with her.
Kate cracked a smile. “Well, then, I’m glad she invited you.”
She caught Liam staring at her profile. “I don’t usually say yes. But we’re talking about chili and grape soda. An offer like that doesn’t come up every day.”
* * *
It had been a long day for Liam Brand; he was grateful and honored that a man like Dr. McGee—a man he admired—would send his clients to him when he was out sick. But the 50 percent increase in appointments, which entailed juggling his already booked days with Dr. McGee’s overflow, had put him under the gun and way behind. He was exhausted—and he usually wasn’t exhausted. If it had been anyone other than Kate King and Callie who invited him in for dinner, he would have gracefully declined and headed home.
“We weren’t expecting anyone,” Kate told him as she picked up random items on the way to the kitchen.
The King home was cozy and lived-in. The outside of the house had some updating recently, but the inside was like stepping back in time to the 1970s. Kate was known in the greater Bozeman area as one of the best horse trainers and breeders in the state of Montana. Her techniques for training horses and riders in a humane manner was the stuff of legends; on the other hand, homemaking did not seem to be much of a priority. The furniture hadn’t been updated since Kate was a kid. In fact, Liam remembered sitting on that same forest green and navy blue plaid couch back when he was in elementary school one summer when his father came out to the Triple K to buy some new horses from Kate’s father. It was obvious that every bit of her heart, her soul, her time and her money went to taking care of her daughter and her horses. That was her love, and he could appreciate that about her because that was exactly how he felt about life: family and horses mattered more than stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops.
“Something smells mighty good in here.” Liam sat at the small kitchen island with the sunshine-yellow laminate countertop.
What the King house lacked in decor, it more than made up for it in the homey feel and a tantalizing aroma permeating the kitchen.
“Grandpa taught me.” Callie lifted the lid off the large pot on the stove.
“I didn’t know you were the chef of the family,” Liam said to Kate’s daughter.
“Callie is the only chef in this house,” Kate gave her daughter a quick hug from behind. “Thank goodness she loves to cook, or we’d both starve. Isn’t that true, kiddo?”
Callie nodded seriously. “That is true. I-I have saved us from starving.”
Liam sat at Kate King’s counter, watching the horse trainer interact with her daughter, while he gulped down grape soda, which he hadn’t had since he was a kid. This visit to the Triple K Ranch was an unexpected blast into his past.
Every time he emptied a can of soda, Callie would put another cold can of it in front of him. He didn’t even have to ask. It had been a long time since Liam felt like he was part of a family; he’d been separated for several years, and the divorce had finally been settled the year before. The judge had granted full, physical custody of their two children to his ex-wife and liberal visitation to him; now he was a long-distance father to two teenagers. His son and daughter lived in Seattle, Washington, with his ex-wife and her new husband. Although he had known that his ex-wife, Cynthia, had been dating during their separation, it had still been a shock when she remarried so quickly after the divorce had been finalized. He hated being a video-chat father and a “see you on your next school break” dad. But, that fight was over and he had lost—big time.
He’d always been the kind of man who wanted to be married, to have kids, to make a home with a woman. But it hadn’t worked out that way. Liam had his work—his salvation—and a big family with lots of siblings, yet he always went home to an empty house. He liked being in Kate King’s house, chitchatting and laughing about nothing in particular while Calico stirred the chili and put an extra place setting on the table.
Once Callie announced that she was ready to serve, Liam joined them at their little square table, wobbly on its legs, and hungrily dived into the large bowl of chili. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so shocked at how good the chili was—perhaps he underestimated Callie because of her disability—but Callie’s chili was incredible.
Two bowls later, Liam was completely stuffed and wishing he hadn’t been so greedy. He felt more like curling up on Kate’s old plaid couch than driving forty-five minutes back to his family’s ranch, Sugar Creek.
“That was the best chili I’ve ever had,” he told Kate’s daughter. “Hand’s down. The best.”
Callie smiled shyly with pleasure, sometimes finding it difficult to look him in the eye.
As she picked up his bowl to take it to the sink, Callie said, “I-I’m making steak and garlic mashed potatoes tomorrow night.”
Liam smiled at her. “I’m sure that’s going to be another masterpiece of a meal, Calico.”
She stood by his chair, his bowl in hand. “Do you want to come for dinner tomorrow?”
Liam saw Kate’s expression, fleeting as it was; she had no idea Callie would invite him for a second dinner, and she wasn’t on board with the idea. Kate sanitized her expression quickly as she said, “Callie, I’m sure Dr. Brand can’t come out all this way just for dinner.”
“Actually—” he didn’t plan it; the words just popped out of his mouth “—I think that steak and garlic mashed potatoes are definitely worth the drive. What time’s dinner?”
“I still don’t know what possessed you to invite Dr. Brand for dinner