Ch 5

With the phone ringing, Kelly thought of snatching his phone and making him come for it, but shaking her head she brushed that thought off, knowing how important this call from Linda would be. Picking it up and handing it to him she lightly brushed her lips to Caleb's, "Here you go cowboy" as their fingers lightly touched. Blushing with a shy, 'thanks', was all Caleb could muster at this point, as he watched her take a seat at the table.

Now answering his phone;

"Hello – Linda, its Caleb."

"Hi Caleb, is it too late?"

"Ah, no is everything ok?"

"Oh – yes I was just wondering if the offer still stood. I talked with Luke, and he would love to come up there to recover, if that's ok, of course? My ranch hands can take care of everything."

"Well – yes, it is ok. I just need to talk with Jack, but he should be ok with it. Should I call you tomorrow after I speak with him?"

"That would be nice. I can make flight arrangements as soon as I know for sure."

"That sounds good, so I will call you back tomorrow, - hey how is Luke doing?"

"He's resting right now as the pain killers have kicked in, but he'd really like to get up there and take it easy."

"Well sure, tell him I said hi and hopefully we can talk tomorrow."

"Thank you very much Caleb! I look forward to hearing from you tomorrow. Good night."

"You're welcome Linda, good night to you too – bye."

Walking over to the table now Caleb took the seat across from Kelly. For the first time – in a very long time – he didn't want this evening to end. He was so taken with Kelly, but he also did not want to rush in like a bull out of the chute. Something was different this time and for all intents and purposes, he wanted to get this one right. Leaning forward and taking her hands in his, lightly caressing her fingers and palms delighted with their softness he shyly glanced up to meet her deep dark eyes; he needed to say good night, while fighting the urge to have her stay – though not knowing if she would have even accepted the invite, he fought for the words that came next

"Kelly, I really enjoyed you being here and all, but ..." Shushing Caleb and reading his mind she tenderly replied

"I know Caleb, I loved being here with you too, but I have to go. I need to see what I can do with my horse tomorrow and it's getting late."

Answering her reply he said,

"Hey you know what; maybe you should bring him by Heartland. Me and Amy can check him out for you!"

Kelly liked that, because she was at a standstill not knowing what would work. She heard through Chase that Amy was good at fixing problem horses, so this couldn't hurt at all.

"Alright - yeah, I could do that."

They both got up at the same time, he followed her as she walked out the door to her car, reaching up with one hand Kelly touched this cowboys face and she liked how his stubble felt, while swimming in his blue eyes. She leaned forward ever so slow, and carefully kissed him for what seemed forever. She pulled away first,

"You've got my phone number Caleb, don't lose it"

Laughing in reply he said, "Nah, your number I won't lose, besides it's in my phone", smiling big and proud of this achievement he winked and kissed her cheek. Opening the car door for her, she scooted in behind the wheel she started the car and said, "Call me - Cowboy!"

God, he loved it when she called him 'cowboy'. Still smiling big he tilted his hat her way, and watching until her car was out of sight. He couldn't shake his mind free of the thought of her, and how he was so drawn to her, take charge, personality. He liked how easy it was to talk to her, because somethings didn't even have to be said. They just, somehow meshed, and oh how he liked that.

Walking back to the trailer he was thinking of calling Jack, but seeing as it was late he would put that off until tomorrow.

To Be Continued