“Give me that list of folks waiting for food. I’ll call out names and take care of getting the money to the cash register,” Callie said.

“This is your night out,” Sawyer argued.

“And y’all are family. We’ll have fun,” Callie said.

“You two are lifesavers. We were about to drown,” Jill said.

“This is a huge crowd.” Callie went to work, drawing beer and putting empty pitchers into the dishwasher.

Finn pulled a white apron over his neck, wrapped the ties around his waist, and tied them in front. “I’ll help with cookin’, if you ladies can man the bar.”

“We can do that.” Callie was already busy pulling beer handles two at a time.

“No trouble with the feud this evening, I take it,” Finn said.

“There’s not room for them to feud. The dance floor is full, people are sitting in each other’s laps, and some folks are eating standing up,” Sawyer said.

“Romantic, ain’t it?” Jill laughed.

They thought things had slowed down fifteen minutes before midnight, but Betsy Gallagher yelled that she wanted ten burger baskets to go. “We’re takin’ the party to the river. You want to join us, Sawyer?”

“No, thank you.”

Tyrell pulled two cases of beer out from the refrigerated section at the end of the bar where Polly kept milk, beer, and juice. “Put this on Betsy’s bill. Is it buy one of these, get the other one free, Callie?”

“Not in your wildest dreams,” Callie said.

“Add a bottle of Jack Daniel’s to that bill.” Betsy handed Callie two bills. “I need to drown my sorrows over that long, tall cowboy. Seems I can’t entice him with anything, so I’ll have to move on and find another one. He’ll never know what he missed.”

“Truth is,” Callie said above the noise, “I think maybe he hasn’t missed anything at all. Good luck findin’ another one.”

“Poor old Rhett. Betsy is liable to set her cap for him next.” Jill laughed softly.

“We’ll have to warn him.” Sawyer finished the burgers at two minutes until the hour and turned off the grill.

“We’re not cleaning up tonight,” Jill said. “I’ll call Aunt Polly’s cleaning lady, and she can take care of all this Monday morning. I’ll put all the money and the register log in the bank bag. We’ll shove it in the safe and count it later too.”

Sawyer nodded. “Sounds good to me. And, Finn, you really saved my ass tonight. I couldn’t have kept up without you.”

Finn laid a hand on Sawyer’s shoulder. “It was fun, but don’t call me to do this every February. This bar stuff is hard work.”

Callie removed her apron and hugged Jill. “Women who work together on Valentine’s will be related by the next Valentine’s.”

“Who said that?” Jill asked.

“I did.” She laughed. “Come on, handsome cowboy. Take me home and to bed.”

Jill raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not that tired.” Callie winked.

Jill reached up to the top shelf and handed her a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. “Happy Valentine’s Day, and thank you.”

Chapter 28

The bunkhouse looked wonderful, smelled wonderful, and felt even better when they got home that Saturday night. The peace and quiet when Jill walked inside surrounded her like Sawyer’s arms. She dragged a chair from the table to the woodstove. Both kittens scampered away to safety at the noise coming across the wood floor, and Sawyer raised an eyebrow.

“What are you doing?”

“Making it still Valentine’s Day.”

“I can reach the clock. I’ll do it. How much of Valentine’s Day do you want left?” he asked.

“Thirty minutes.”

He wound the clock back to eleven thirty. “Now what?”

She went into her bedroom and returned with a box of maple doughnuts and a long, thin box. “Happy Valentine’s Day, darlin’. Open it. I can’t wait to see what you think of it.”

He sat down on the sofa, and she joined him. She’d found the romantic coupon book at the store where she finished buying party supplies. It had a coupon for a romantic breakfast in bed, one for a picnic to the place of his choice, and several that made her blush when she read them.

He chuckled when he picked it up from the box, laughed at the first coupon, roared at the ones that made her blush. He hugged her so tight she thought her ribs would break and kissed her a dozen times. “Thank you, darlin’. It’s a present that will last all year if we use one a week. And doughnuts too. Wait.” He peeled off the one for breakfast in bed, anything he wanted, and handed it to her. “I want doughnuts, your strong black coffee, and you for breakfast in the morning.”

“I think that could be arranged,” she said.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.” He pulled a long, slim box from the coat he’d draped over the back of the sofa.

“Did you buy me the same thing? If so, we’ll have to use two a week,” she said.

“Open it and see,” he said.

“Oh, Sawyer,” she gasped when she opened the box and saw the bracelet. “It’s beautiful.” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him so passionately that her knees went weak. She recognized the infinity symbol and hoped that it wasn’t just a trinket he’d bought but that it really told the story of their lives together.

“Double infinity. No end in sight for my life with you.”

“And none in sight for mine with yours,” she said.

Tears filled her eyes as she handed the bracelet to him and held out her wrist. “Put it on me. I love that it’s yellow gold.”

He fastened the bracelet around her arm, and she shifted her position until she was sitting in his lap, arm held out so she could look at the bracelet. “Did you have it special made?”

“No, it came right out of the counter, but I knew it was you when I saw it.”

“I’m going to wear it all night so I can see it first thing when I wake up in the morning. Infinity means never having to say good-bye, doesn’t it?”

* * *

“Yes, it does. I could never bear the thought of telling you good-bye. There was a ring in the store that had a story.” He hadn’t meant to tell her about the ring until the right moment. He’d already planned the perfect proposal, right before his parents came at Easter. Then he could introduce her as his fiancée if she said yes.

She touched the bracelet with her other hand. “A better story than this?”

“You be the judge when you hear it,” he said.

When he finished, tears were rolling down her cheeks and leaving drops on the front of her hot-pink Western-cut shirt. “I love that story. The ring would carry wonderful blessings with it. Did I tell you that I don’t believe in luck? I believe in blessings, though, and coming to Burnt Boot was the best blessing I’ve ever been given.”

The moment was perfect right then, but Sawyer couldn’t make himself reach into the other coat pocket and bring out the little white box with the ring inside. It was too soon. They needed more time.

“I feel the same, even if we did get off to a rocky start there at first.” He hugged her tighter, wanting never to face a morning without her. If she passed away the next morning, he was sure that in three days he would join her, just like the people in the story about the ring.

Miss Piggy and Miss Chickadee made a running leap for the sofa, climbed up the arm, and chased each other across the back. On one trip from end to end, they got tangled up in his coat and the ring box fell out.

Jill was so intrigued with her bracelet that she didn’t see it, but Sawyer saw it as a sign. She could say no, and he’d ask again every Saturday night until she said yes, but he was about to give her the chance to refuse or say yes.

He set her to one side, dropped down on one knee, and held out the box. “Jillian Cleary, I love you with my whole heart. Will you marry me?”

He popped the box open, and a fresh batch of tears started. “It’s the ring, isn’t it?” she whispered.

“I figure we might have seventy years together with it,” he said. “We can have it sized later. Please say yes.”