“Hush now, Quinton, this is the most excitement this parade’s ever had.” She clapped her hands together.
Ash looked about ready to explode.
Renata stood. “No one’s proposing tonight. At least, not here. No one’s getting married. And, even though you all have very particular opinions on my personal life, I’d like to put this matter to rest. Ash has asked me to marry him. But I said no. Now, how about we get back to what matters and greet the next group...” She ignored Ash and Lola and Quinton and glanced at her card. “A dance troupe all the way from Austin. Clogging, I believe that’s what it’s called?”
It took the other two a minute to pick back up where they’d left off, but once they did she handed the mic to Quinton and left the stage.
* * *
Ash wasn’t mad. He was furious. He didn’t give a damn about how the town of Stonewall Crossing felt about him—not after that little display. But Renata? That they’d publicly humiliate her that way?
He fumed for the rest of the parade, did his best not to snap while getting the horses loaded for their ride back to Archer’s place and tried to smile for Curtis when Santa rode into town on the last float of the night.
“You look like a thundercloud,” his mother whispered as they drove the long road back to the Lodge.
“Feel like one,” he answered.
“Can’t say that I blame you.” She patted his arm. “I’ve never... Well, I’ve never.”
He nodded.
“What are you going to do?”
He glanced at his mother. “Check on her. See what she needs.”
She studied him. “You going to tell her you love her, Ash?”
He shook his head. “If I thought she’d believe me. Right now, she’s too wary of another obligatory proposal.”
“Maybe if she heard it, often and regularly, she would.” She sat back against the leather passenger seat.
“She said she needed space.” He cleared his throat. “Said this couldn’t end well between us.”
She sighed. “You young people make everything so hard. All these rules and expectations just get in the way. Betty and I were talking to Clara—”
“Oh, here we go.” He chuckled. “I can’t wait to hear this.”
“Shush now.” She placed a hand on his arm. “We’re old, yes, because we have more experience. And all that experience might just mean we have, occasionally, some words of wisdom to impart.”
“I’m all ears.” He and his mother had been a team long before Shanna came into his life. She was the only other constant in his world and she deserved his respect—even if he didn’t always agree with her advice.
“If those babies weren’t coming, would you be courting her?” She waited, arms crossed over her chest.
“Yes.”
“You didn’t have to think that through much.” His mother sounded delighted.
“Nope.” He glanced her way. “I’m not saying I’d be proposing already but...eventually, yeah.”
“Then tell her that.” She smiled. “Start there.”
If only it were that easy. But he nodded, parking in front of the Lodge and turning off the engine.
“Better make it quick, Ash.” His mother’s voice was tight.
He looked out the passenger window to see Renata’s yellow truck, the doors open and the toolbox wide—a suitcase on the ground beside it. She was leaving. Again.
“Dammit,” he ground out.