She stared at him for several long seconds before she drew in a deep breath. “Thank you, T.J.”
He shook his head. “There’s nothing to thank me for, Heather. I told you that I wanted to help you and make your life easier.” He kissed her again. “And that’s just what I’m going to do, sweetheart.”
* * *
After dinner, Heather turned on the dishwasher and finished cleaning up T.J.’s kitchen before she started down the hall to join him and Seth in the game room. Fortunately, she’d had the presence of mind to bring the spaghetti and meatballs with them when she and Seth followed T.J. to the Dusty Diamond. Since it was already cooked, all she’d had to do was reheat it and she owed him at least one meal for patching her roof, making sure the burnt-out furnace motor hadn’t caught the rest of the house on fire and the number of other things T.J. had done for her over the past several days.
A sudden wave of emotion threatened to overtake her, and she passed by the door to the game room and continued on to the powder room just a few feet away. Closing the door behind her, she took several deep breaths in an effort to chase away the tears she was trying desperately not to shed. It was bad enough that T.J. had witnessed her nerves getting the better of her earlier in the day, she refused to allow him to see her break down again.
What on earth was wrong with her? She hadn’t been this weepy since she was pregnant with Seth. That could be blamed on hormonal changes and all that she had lost during the pregnancy. But today?
Over the past two years, she had worked hard to keep a positive attitude and not allow the stress to get to her. And for the most part she had been successful.
She might have been able to deal with the furnace issues if she didn’t also have the worry of finding money for the real estate taxes due at the end of the next month. She had been over her meager budget time and again. Short of a miracle, it looked hopeless. She could sell the rest of her brood mares to pay for everything, but if she did that she wouldn’t have a breeding program left. She needed what money the horses brought in to help keep everything else running around the ranch.
When she told T.J. that the furnace breaking down was the last straw, she had meant it. She couldn’t afford to replace it and if she couldn’t pay the back taxes there wouldn’t be a reason to replace it anyway. The county would seize the property and she and Seth would have to find somewhere else to live.
Of course, if the furnace could be repaired, instead of replaced, she might catch a bit of a break. When T.J. called, the repairman had told him that he couldn’t come out to the Circle W until tomorrow morning to assess the damage. But she didn’t hold out a lot of hope that the solution would be that simple. The furnace was more than thirty years old and had been repaired so many times, it was probably a lost cause. But all the worry in the world wasn’t going to change the outcome of the repairman’s findings and she wasn’t doing anyone any good making herself crazy over it.
She knew if she asked T.J. for help with her dilemma, he would be more than happy to do it. But there was no way her pride would allow her to do that. When she and her late fiancé first started dating, his parents had looked down on her because she was the daughter of a horse rancher, even though her parents had been far from destitute. They had gone so far as to accuse her of being more interested in the money their son would one day inherit than she was in him. She had vowed after that she would do without before she ever accepted help from anyone for anything. And although at times it had been extremely hard for her, she’d stuck to that vow. She saw no reason to go back on it now.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she splashed cold water on her face to erase some of the evidence of her panic then patted her skin dry. She left the powder room to join T.J. and Seth. She would just have to cling to the hope that things would work out.
“Why am I not surprised to see the two of you down on the floor again?” she asked, walking into the huge game room.
“Hossy,” Seth said, happily patting T.J. on the top of the head.
T.J. laughed good-naturedly. “I think he’s going to be a cowboy for sure.”
“Why don’t we let your horsey rest for a while?” Heather suggested, lifting Seth from T.J.’s back. “I’m sure his knees are getting sore from all the rides he’s been giving you lately.”
“Would you like something to drink?” T.J. asked, getting to his feet. He reached out to lightly run his finger along her cheek, sending shivers of anticipation coursing through her. “I’ve got soft drinks, beer and if you’d like, I could try to mix up one of those fruity drinks like a piña colada or a margarita.” He grinned. “But I can’t guarantee it will be any good. I’m a lot better at just opening a can or a bottle than I am at mixing up stuff.”