Seeing Daylight by Tanya Hanson

business deal sure hadn’t carried over today. But... Next week, next month, next year . Rachel Martin was definitely worth waiting for.
     
     
     
     

9
     
    Monday morning would have dawned like any other except for the dream Rachel had during the night. About Brayton Metcalf and the tantalizing lips he’d placed so close to her own. Why had she pushed him away? She was attracted to him, wanted the kiss, wanted to be held once again by somebody strong and caring. It was just a kiss, after all. So why all squirmy and teenager-ish.
    With a groan, she let herself into her comfy office above the Front Range Bootery on Main Street in Mountain Cove. It wasn’t as if she was holding Nick’s kisses in her heart as some pinnacle another man could never reach. She’d already made it clear to everybody she wasn’t ready for anything serious, anything long-term or permanent.
    And a kiss was just a kiss. Why hadn’t she indulged? Just once, just for a second. Shaking her head, she hung her coat on a bentwillow rack.
    Regret swamped her, but it didn’t matter anyway. They had shared some deep understanding, some comfort together, but that was all. She needed time to figure out her heart. Besides, Brayton was back in River Ridge, busy with the cutting horses of his Red Hill Ranch enterprise. After Sunday dinner, he and Addie had done the horsemanship class, so Rachel hadn’t seen him the rest of the day. And he’d said a good-bye through Ma when he’d left for home, since she’d been busy with Matty. Disappointment had swamped her then. Now.
    She’d likely not see him up close and personal any time soon. Next Saturday, Scott would be back to handling Addie’s lesson. So Rachel might as well get over any notions of a kiss, just in case she ended up wanting one some other time.
    She flipped on the heater, just to chase away the chill lingering from the weekend. Kisses were just kisses…even though she clearly called her first one ever, all those years ago during freshman year in high school, with Jace Bennett underneath the bleachers at the homecoming game. Nothing permanent had ever transpired between her and the hometown boy despite their years together. What chance did she stand with a rich big city businessman?
    But Nick. The remembrance of the first time their lips had collided, both with sweetness and with force, sent fire through her nerve endings one more time. Then she snarled into the warm blast of air. Look how permanent that had gone. For once, she was able to swallow the pain, the fury.
    Ack. Men!
    Rachel dumped her purse in a drawer of her desk, settled in with her laptop and e-mail. Afterward, she grabbed a pile of papers and tried to rid her mind of Brayton. Nearly impossible, but she managed to study the proposed faculty contracts and parent agreements she was doing pro bono for a preschool starting up in Promise. Sunshine House had urged her to enroll Matty, but he was content three days a week in Joanne Hale’s Gospel Light Nursery School at church. Rachel herself was no shining beacon of faith these days, but she wanted better for her impressionable little boy.
    Wow. Rachel was impressed. Tiffany, who had drafted the first round of the documents, definitely had a way with legalese. Rachel was sure going to miss her during the maternity leave. After a few business calls and two tedious hours of filing paperwork, the phone rang. Her heart wanted to flutter. Brayton. But...
    “Howdy Rachel. It’s Jace. Jace Bennett.”
    Speak of the devil . “Why, hello.” She decided not to mention she’d very recently had a fleeting remembrance of kissing him. “How are you, Jace? It’s been a while.”
    “Doing OK,” he said, and she almost heard the sound of a shrug. “Thing is. I need a tad of legal advice. Got new boot heels just now and saw your car parked out back. Wondered if I could make an appointment.”
    “Of course. I’m free now. If you are, come on up.”
    “Sure thing. On my way. And