Head Over Heels (The Bridesmaids Club Book 3) (8 page)

Sally clamped her lips shut and glared at him. For the first time since she’d arrived, Todd felt like they were back to normal. He could handle Sally in a suspicious, angry, or slightly pissed off mood. It was the other hundred or so emotions that left him baffled.

She threw herself onto the back of his bike and held onto his waist. “I’d suggest you ride fast, then. I’d hate for you to waste precious time sightseeing when you could be sitting on your own.”

He revved the engine and spun away from the house. Sally grabbed hold of his shirt, hauling herself close to him. Sitting on his own suddenly became more appealing. At least if he’d been sitting on his own, he wouldn’t have been thinking about doing other things with Sally. Things that had no place inside his head. Not now, not when he was in more trouble than anyone knew.

“Have you got a death wish or something?” Sally laughed as they bumped over the uneven ground.

“You should be scared,” he yelled over his shoulder.

Sally held him tighter. “I know you don’t mean that. If I was scared, you would have slowed down by now.”

Todd grunted when she pinched his ribs. The little minx knew him better than most people.

“I don’t scare easily,” she said.

“Yeah, I know. You’ve got four older brothers.”

Sally didn’t reply. She did something worse. She slid her whole body against him and he nearly tipped the bike over. He grabbed hold of the handlebars and held on tight. He could have sworn he heard Sally laugh.

When they arrived at the barn, he slowed down and Sally’s arms left his chest. He breathed deeply, hoping she hadn’t noticed how distracted he’d been.

“Wow…” Sally’s hands landed on his waist and a zap of electricity tore through his body.

“I warned you.”

“But you didn’t tell me how beautiful it is. When was the barn built?”

Todd couldn’t see any redeeming features in the building in front of them. It was a big tawny colored box with a warped frame and so many rotten boards that he’d have to replace more than he left. If the outside was a mess, the inside was worse. Years of neglect and an intergenerational rat breeding program had created a separate ecosystem in the middle of his ranch.

Sally started walking toward the barn and he had to jog to keep up. “The barn was built in 1910. According to the realtor, the previous owners didn’t use it for anything other than extra storage.”

“And playing make-believe.”

Todd snorted. “I wouldn’t recommend playing make-believe in here. It’s a death trap and the worst possible place for a wedding.”

Sally pulled open one of the big barn doors and frowned at the interior. “Apart from looking like a death trap, is it safe?”

Todd stared at the mess in front of them. It would take a forklift and about thirty people to get this place looking good. “The structural engineer said it’s almost as sound as the day it was built. You need to watch where you’re walking, though. There’s old machinery hidden in the hay.”

Sally walked toward the back of the barn. Todd blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the low light. “Don’t go too far inside.”

All he heard was the swish of Sally’s sneakers on the floor.

“What did you say?” Her voice came from somewhere to his right.

“Don’t go too far without me,” he yelled.

A pair of hands grabbed his waist. He barely managed to stop himself from dropping her to the ground. Adrenaline poured through his body and his heart pounded in his chest.

Sally stepped back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay.” His hands were trembling so hard that he had to stuff them in his pockets. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m jumpy at the moment.”

“Are you okay?”

Todd wasn’t ready to answer that question, so he looked around the barn, tried to find something good about the mess in front of them. “I understand why the barn means a lot to Carolyn. But do you really think this would make a good wedding venue?”

Sally sent a knowing glance his way. “I couldn’t think of a better place.” She peered at what she could see of the barn. “Do you have electricity out here?”

Todd raised his eyebrows. “This isn’t the edge of civilization.” He walked across the room and flicked a switch. “Original 1950’s wiring. Another reason why it wouldn’t be a good idea to have a lot of people in here.”

Sally smiled and wandered around the barn. “Has it always been used for storage?”

“I’ve got no idea. I haven’t used it since I’ve been here.”

“Why don’t you store extra hay bales in here?”

Todd lifted the edge of a tarpaulin and looked at the old piece of machinery leaning against the wall. “I don’t have any cattle of my own. The Harvey family next door have leased most of my land.”

“And you want to keep doing that?”

“For now. I work four days a week in town. It doesn’t leave enough time to do half of what I need to do around here.”

Sally put her foot on the bottom step of a ladder.

“I wouldn’t go up there if I was you.”

She looked over her shoulder and smiled. “I’ll be fine. I’ve been crawling all over barns since I was a baby.”

Todd moved closer to the ladder. “They wouldn’t have been as old as this one. You can’t go into the loft.”

Sally hoisted herself up two more rungs. “What if I go halfway up the ladder to get a good look around?”

Todd put his arms either side of the wobbly ladder. The whole thing could fall down around her stubborn little nose. “Off the ladder, Sally. I can guarantee those four brothers of yours won’t appreciate you going home with your arm in a sling.”

She looked down at him and a spark of something dangerous lit her eyes.

“Did I hit a raw nerve?” he asked carefully.

Sally stepped one rung higher and smiled. Except it wasn’t the kind of smile that tied him in knots. It was the kind that a mama shark might make before she ate a tasty fish. “My brothers can be the most obnoxious, annoying, and intellectually deficient males in the world.”

Todd grinned. “Sounds like they’ve done something to annoy you.”

“Something would be right,” she muttered.

“Come down, Sally. The ladder won’t hold my weight if I have to follow you.”

She muttered something under her breath, then started climbing down. He held the ladder tight. It would have been too easy to stay there, wait for her to get to the bottom, then turn her into his arms and kiss her. But that wouldn’t be happening.

Sally glanced at him as he stepped away from the ladder. “So what’s the verdict? Can Carolyn use this barn for her wedding and one hundred guests?”

Todd looked at the barn. It was filthy, filled to the brim with old machinery, hay bales, prehistoric fence posts, rat bait and whatever else could be thrown inside. Even if it was clean, the chance of someone hurting themselves was too great. “No.”

“You can’t say no. Carolyn is getting married in two and a half weeks’ time. The barn would be perfect.”

“I don’t care how perfect it is. It would take more people than you think to get the barn looking anywhere near ready for a wedding. And then there’s the small but risky weather factor. If it rains, everyone will get drenched. The whole building leaks like a sieve.”

“It’s a risk we’re prepared to take. Come on, Todd. It’s not like you’re using the barn for anything important. Think of it as a compulsory spring clean. You wouldn’t even need to help us. I could organize a team of volunteers to come out here and spruce the place up.”

If Todd had been on the verge of letting Carolyn get married on his ranch, he definitely wasn’t now. “I don’t want strangers wandering around here.”

Sally stuck her hands on her hips and glared at him. “How many people do you know in Bozeman?”

“What has that got to do with anything?”

“Plenty,” she huffed. “Knowing what a bubbly personality you’ve got, I assume you’ve spoken to about ten people in the last year. Ten people won’t be enough to clean a hundred years worth of trash out of here. People you don’t know will need to help us.”

Todd walked away from her and stared at the rafters. He focused on the rough timber beams that had probably been milled from trees on the ranch, the nails someone had shaped out of steel. He tried to work out what was annoying him the most. The fact that Sally wasn’t listening to him wasn’t new. But the way she managed to zero in on the one thing that meant something to him was a big worry.

He’d been trying hard over the last couple of months to be part of the community. He’d pushed himself to become more involved, help out where help was needed. But it had been harder than he’d thought. After four years of hiding from the world, it was impossible not to feel uncomfortable. And even harder not to worry about what might happen to the people who became his friends.

He almost felt sorry for delivering the news she didn’t want to hear. “I’m sorry that I can’t help you, but my decision’s final. No wedding.”

“What are you worried about?”

“More than you know,” he muttered. “You can’t seriously think that you’d have the barn ready for Carolyn’s wedding in a little over two weeks? A commercial contractor would take a month to get this place ready.”

“A commercial contractor would work within our timeframe.”

“And you’d pay them a fortune,” Todd insisted. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to the house. I’ve got company arriving for dinner tonight.”

Sally’s arms fell to her side. “A date?”

“One of the ten people I spoke to this year, spoke back to me. You can stay and watch if you want proof of my bubbly personality?”

Sally’s cheeks reddened. “I’m happy for you, but I won’t stay. I’ve got to find a wedding venue for a bride.”

Todd flicked the barn lights off and walked into the late afternoon sunshine. He pushed the doors closed after Sally, then got on his bike. She sat behind him and he revved the engine and left.

There wouldn’t be a wedding on his ranch in two weeks’ time, or any time in the near future. He didn’t want complete strangers walking around his property, or frilly wedding paraphernalia arriving in trucks.

And after today, if it wasn’t for Max, he doubted Sally would bother coming out to the ranch again, either.

***

Sally turned the faucet off above the sink in her parents’ kitchen. “I can’t believe how stubborn he is. He took me out to the barn and then completely ignored what I had to say.”

Sean, one of Sally’s older brothers, grinned at her. “You’re annoyed because he didn’t give you what you wanted. Sounds like the type of guy I could like.”

Sally threw the dishcloth at her brother. He caught it easily, but not before a blob of soapsuds landed on his face. It was Saturday and she’d come out to her parents’ ranch for lunch. Somehow, without knowing how it had happened, Sean was giving her advice about her visit to Todd’s ranch.

He wiped the soap off the end of his nose. “Good shot.”

“It would have been better if you hadn’t caught the cloth,” Sally said with a smile. She turned back to the kitchen sink and started scrubbing an empty casserole dish. “I don’t understand what his problem is. It’s not like he’s using the barn for anything important.”

“It’s his ranch. He can do what he wants with it.”

“That’s not the point.”

“It’s entirely the point. You can’t force him to let you use his barn. You’re going to have to find somewhere else for your wedding.”

Matthew, Sean’s twin, walked into the kitchen. “Who’s getting married?”

“Not Sally. She’s too bossy.” Sean ducked as another handful of soapsuds flew toward him.

Matthew opened the fridge door. “Who drank the last of the juice?”

“It wasn’t me,” Sally said. “I only come home once a week.”

“Hallelujah for that,” Sean said. “If you ever decide to come home more often, I’m moving in with Nathan and Amy.’

“They’d really like that.” Matthew laughed. “You’d end up looking after Catherine and their four cats.”

“And whose fault would that be?” Sean asked.

Matthew pointed at his sister. “Sally the cat lady.”

“Oh, please,” Sally scoffed. “Four cats are nothing. They were happy to adopt them.”

Matthew glanced at Sally and frowned. “Since we’re talking about pets, where’s Max? I’m surprised you didn’t bring him with you.”

“Todd’s taken him away for the weekend.”

Sean put a couple of glasses in the pantry. “Don’t bring Todd into the conversation, Matthew. You’ll regret it.”

“You got man troubles, little sis?”

The casserole dish Sally had been cleaning slipped out of her hands.

Matthew caught it before it landed on the floor. “Someone hasn’t been telling her brothers what she’s been doing.”

Sally grabbed the dish out of Matthew’s hands and left it on the counter. “Would you stop trying to be funny? I’ve got to find somewhere for Carolyn’s wedding.”

Sean watched Sally pull the plug out of the sink and wipe down the counter. “It can’t be that difficult finding another venue. There’s got to be at least a dozen barns around Bozeman she could use.”