by Jennie Marts
“No way. You were great. My girlfriend and I heard you together, and we’ve both followed your career since then. In fact, we were just talking about you the other night when we heard you on the radio. My Heart is Your Home is kind of our song.” Mack whacked his palm against his forehead. He sounded like a complete dork. “Wow. Pretend I did not just tell you that weird fact.” Shut up now.
Chase chuckled. “It’s cool, man. I’m glad to hear it. That tells me you get my music, so you know where I’m coming from. Our roots are important. And people need those places that remind them of home and family. Harmony Ranch is one of those places for me. That’s why I want to help out.”
“That’s awesome. We’d love to have you.”
“Great. You’ve got my number now, and I’ll have my manager email you with some press release stuff, if you want to use it. I should be to Harmony Creek by about nine tomorrow, so I’ll come over and hammer out the details with you sometime before lunch. But feel free to blast out on social media that I’ll be there and doing a popup concert.”
Social media? Shoot. Where was Joss when he needed her? “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, of course. The whole point is to get as many folks there as possible, so we can raise the money you need to rescue the ranch.”
“All right. Thanks. Really. This is so great of you.” Stop rambling.
Chase laughed again. “No problem. Happy to do it. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” He tapped the screen to end the call and let out a whoop loud enough to make Savage raise his head from his napping spot by the door. The dog sniffed the air, yawned, and laid his head back down.
Mack couldn’t believe it. He scrolled through his contacts and had almost tapped Jocelyn’s number when he remembered. His elation collapsed like a folding chair. She was the one he most wanted to share this news with, and she was the one person he couldn’t call.
Shaking his head, he refused to let his blowup with Jocelyn ruin this awesome moment. He knew someone else who would be more than thrilled to hear the news. He shut down the fire as he whistled for Savage and hightailed it to Molly’s.
Spying her through the screen door, he raced up the porch steps and gave a quick knock, then let himself in. The little scruffy dog jumped off Molly’s lap and raced to greet him. “Hey, I’m glad you’re still up. You are not going to believe who just called me.”
“Pastor Jim?”
“No. Think bigger. Way bigger.” He scratched the little dog’s chin.
“Chris Hemsworth? I’d love it if he called me.”
“Okay. Maybe not that big.”
Molly tossed a throw pillow at him. “For gosh sakes, just tell me.”
“Chase Dalton.”
“The country singer?”
“Yep.”
“The guy on the radio?”
“That’s the one.”
“No offense, but why would he call you? Does he need some blacksmithing work done?”
Mack shook his head. “No. Although that would have been really cool. But he was calling about you.”
“Me?” She fluffed her silvery curls. “I hope you told him I’m not into younger men.”
Mack laughed. “Well, not you, exactly, but the ranch. He heard about the benefit concert, and he offered to come play a few songs for it.”
Molly’s eyes went round. “He just called you, out of the blue, to offer to play at our concert?” She tilted her head. “Are you sure it wasn’t Floyd Fischer calling you from down at the Elks Lodge? Those old guys can get up to some pretty good pranks.”
He groaned at the thought of getting Punk’d by the geezers at the Elks Lodge. “That’s what I thought at first too. But no, it was really him. I recognized his voice. I know it sounds crazy, but he said he used to come here as a kid, and he wanted to help.”
She shook her head. “That’s amazing.”
As they’d been sitting there, the dog had run off and come back several times. Each time she’d brought something back, holding her treasure in her mouth as she sat in front of Molly with her offering. A small pile of items had collected at Molly’s feet: a dog brush, a tennis ball, a slipper, a small stuffed toy, a pair of reading glasses, and a romance novel. This time she came back with a lone sock in her mouth.
“What is going on with this dog?” Mack asked.
“Isn’t it adorable? She keeps racing around the house and finding the oddest assortment of things. Then she prances back and offers them to me like some kind of prize. I don’t know where she’s finding half this stuff. I haven’t seen those readers in years.” She reached down and pulled the sock from the dog’s mouth, then gave her a pat on the head. “Good girl.” She held the sock out to Mack. “I don’t even know whose sock this is.”
He winced. “Ugh.”
She brought it to her nose and took a quick whiff. “It’s a little dusty, but it’s clean.”
“Weird.”
“Yes, but it’s also ridiculously cute. She’s been such a blessing to me. This treasure hunt has kept me entertained all day. And helped me to not think about all the other stuff going on. I haven’t told Jocelyn yet, but I’m planning to keep her.”
Mack shrugged and peered out the screen door to where Savage had finally caught up to him and was crashed out on the front porch, his head hanging over the top step. “I get it. They have a way of growing on you, drool and all.”
Molly made a face. “And boy, can that dog of yours drool. We love him anyway though.” She gazed adoringly down at the little dog. “I’ve decided to call her Peaches.”
“Peaches?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that cute? I was in the kitchen earlier cutting up a peach, and a small piece fell on the floor. You would’ve thought I dropped a chunk of filet mignon the way this one came racing into the kitchen and gobbled that little morsel up. Then she popped down into a perfect sit and held her paws up to beg for another bite. It was so stinking adorable. It made me laugh so hard I almost fell off my scooter. That’s when I decided I was keeping her. I need more laughter like that in my life.”
Mack scratched the dog’s ears. “Hey, Peaches. Welcome home. Darn good thing Miss Molly didn’t drop a chunk of asparagus on the floor. Who’d want to be named after that?” The dog licked his hand as if in agreement, then tore off back down the hallway.
Molly grabbed a small notebook and pen from the side table. “Now let’s get back to the concert. What can we do to get the word out?”
Mack slumped back in his chair. “Chase said we could blast it on social media. Whatever that means.”
“Oh dear. You know who’s great at that stuff?”
“Yeah, I do. But I’m not calling her. She made it clear where her priorities lie, and they aren’t with the concert. Chase said his manager was going to email me some press release stuff.”
The scruffy dog came racing back into the room, a rolled up sheet of paper clamped in her teeth. She wagged her tail as she sat in front of Molly and raised her chin.
“Oh goodness. What have you brought for me this time?” Molly said, easing the paper from her mouth. She unfurled it, and her eyebrows drew together as she scanned the page. “It looks like a fax. For Jocelyn. It’s got today’s date on it, and it’s from her company.” A dawning realization crossed her face as she continued to read. “Oh dear,” she said, covering her mouth with her hand. She passed the page to Mack. “I’m sorry, Mack. I think Jocelyn leaving had more to do with me than you.”
He took the page, and his brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of how what he was reading had anything to do with him. Or Molly. “I don’t get it. This just looks like a contract for the promotion that Jocelyn’s been trying to get. We already know about this. What’s the big deal?”
“Read the last paragraph.”
Then he spotted it. “Fifteen thousand dollar bonu
s? Just for signing this thing?”
“Just about the amount we need to save Harmony Ranch.”
“We don’t need that much. And we’ve still got the concert. We haven’t given up.”
Molly tilted her head. “Oh, come on. You and I both know that concert isn’t going to make enough money to dig me out of the hole I’ve created. It’s a fine idea, and it will get us closer. But I think Jocelyn also knew we weren’t gonna make enough. No wonder she felt like she had to take this job.”
“But why didn’t she just tell us? I mean, I guess I know why she didn’t tell you. Because you’d tell her to stuff the bonus, and you wouldn’t take it anyway.”
“Darn tootin’ I would have.”
“But why didn’t she tell me? That would have explained so much.” Their conversation that morning replayed in his head. He cringed as he remembered his stubborn refusal to listen to what she had to say. “Aw crud. Now that I think about it, she might have actually tried to tell me. She said something about a bonus and us needing the money, but I was too focused on the fact that she was leaving and the stupid money didn’t matter. This must have been what she meant when she said she had more to tell me. She said she could explain. But I cut her off.”
“How did the dog find this?” Molly’s expression turned pensive. “It must have rolled off the fax machine and fallen on the floor. That happens all the time.”
“All the time? Do you still get a lot of faxes?”
“Well, no. Now that you mention it, I haven’t got one in a while now.”
“You mean since the Nineties?” The joke reminded him of Jocelyn’s ribbing about his phone. Was he really stuck in the past? He’d gotten an iPhone. Didn’t that count for something?
Molly ignored his remark. “This has to be it. She has to have taken the job for the signing bonus.”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair, still angry at himself for not taking the time to listen to Jocelyn. “I screwed up, Molly. I let my emotions get the best of me. But dang it, it just felt like she was making excuses.” He shook his head as his shoulders slumped forward. “Or maybe that’s what I wanted to hear. She tried to tell me there was a good reason for why she was leaving. I just wouldn’t listen. Even when she said she wanted to explain, I was too angry to hear her out.”
“Angry? Or hurt?”
He shrugged. “Both, I guess.”
“Come on now, Mack. You don’t have to be so brave with me. I’ve known you since you were ten years old.”
“I know. If I wasn’t with my grandparents, I was with you. You practically helped raise me.”
“I did help raise you, so don’t try to dupe me. I know you have feelings for my granddaughter.”
“Ya think?” He granted her a sheepish grin.
“So what are you gonna do about it?”
“What can I do about it? She already made her choice. And she didn’t pick me.”
“No, she picked me. And saving the ranch.”
He sighed. “Which only makes me love her more.”
“So, if you love her, go after her.”
“Go after her? Like drive to Denver? Tonight?” The idea held some appeal. Except he didn’t know where she was staying or how to find her. Or if she wanted to be surprised by his pounding on her hotel room door in the middle of the night.
“Well, no. That won’t work. The concert is tomorrow. And we’re already down Jocelyn. We need you here.” She slapped the boot strapped around her foot. “I could do it if it weren’t for this dang leg. But maybe instead of going to her, you could get her to come home.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“First you have to decide if you want her to come back.”
“You know I do. I’ve been in love with her for most of my life. Even after she broke my heart, I still couldn’t get her completely out of my system.”
“I know. So what’s different about this time?”
“For starters, me, I guess. I’m different. Last time I was so sure Jocelyn had left because I wasn’t worth staying for that I didn’t even try to fight for her—I just let her go. But she’s shown me that some things are worth fighting for. And that I’m worth it too. Her being here has brought back that side of me that I’d closed off after she left—the side that admits it’s okay to be a little vulnerable and that I’m afraid of not being enough to make her stay. But I’m ready to face that fear, to take a chance and fight for what I want.”
“Which is?”
“A life with Jocelyn. Except last time, I was a kid and I had to wait for her to come to me. Now I’m an adult, so I can actually go to her. Even if I have to go to New York to make it happen.”
“You’d be willing to go to the East Coast?”
“I didn’t think so. Not until this moment. But you’ve seen her with that marketing stuff. She really loves it. And she’s good at it. I can’t ask her to give that up for me.”
“Isn’t that her decision to make?”
“Yeah, maybe. But it doesn’t seem fair to ask her to give up her dreams for me if I’m not willing to give up mine for her.”
“Doesn’t seem like there are a lot of jobs for blacksmiths in New York City.”
“No, it doesn’t.” He shook his head. “Who am I kidding? I can’t leave the ranch. When I took over as caretaker, I made a commitment—to you, to this town.”
Molly waved his concerns away. “We’ll figure something out. Now what are you going to do to win her back, to show her you’ve changed, and that she’s worth fighting for?”
“I think I already blew it.”
“Don’t be a dope. Of course you didn’t. She loves you too. If you want her, figure out how to prove to her that you do. What would show Jocelyn that you’ve changed—not just changed your mind, but changed your mindset? You’re not the same guy you were ten years ago. So don’t just tell her that, show her she’s important enough to you that you’re not going to let her go again.”
Chapter Twenty
Mack strode back to the cottage, his mind racing with thoughts of how to show Jocelyn how much she meant to him. Nothing was jumping out at him as he let himself in, then held the door as he waited for Savage to catch up. The dog followed as he walked into the living room and dropped onto the sofa. After a lengthy and semi-intrusive sniff-down of his pants, the basset let out a sigh and draped himself over Mack’s feet.
“Yeah, I was with another dog. You would have known that if you would’ve come inside instead of stopping to take a nap on the porch. But don’t worry, you’ll get another chance. It sounds like she’s gonna be stickin’ around,” he told the basset hound as he scratched his big floppy ears. “Molly already gave her a name.” He knew from years of experience with the woman that once she named an animal, it was hers.
He leaned back against the cushion, wishing it were that simple with Jocelyn. Pulling out his phone, he pulled up the ranch’s Facebook page just to check if she’d posted anything tonight. Although how would he know if a post had just been created or if it was one of the ones she’d scheduled to go up over the course of the weekend?
She was really good at this social media stuff. He wondered once again if it was fair of him to ask her to give that up for him. There weren’t a lot of marketing jobs in Harmony Creek.
It’s her decision to make, he reminded himself. And she sure wasn’t going to come back to him after the way he’d acted that morning. If only he’d given her a chance to explain.
The Facebook page looked good and the announcement of the concert had gotten over a hundred likes and several comments. Jocelyn had also set up a fundraising link to the account so people could still donate to the cause even if they couldn’t make it to the concert.
He clicked the button taking him to the account. His shoulders sagged as he saw the contributions so far totaled just over forty dollars. Yeah, this
concert was in trouble. No wonder Jocelyn felt like she had to take the job to get the bonus.
But now that he knew the whole story, and with the addition of the surprise appearance of Chase Dalton, he had a chance to rescue the ranch and get the girl back. He brought up his photos and scrolled through the selfies Jocelyn had taken of them together.
He rubbed a hand over his chest, scrubbing against the ache that seeing her laughing face caused. He tapped the video and watched their dance for the hundredth time that week.
Hmmm. He had an idea. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or a ridiculously lame and somewhat humiliating one—but it was an idea just the same. And it might just be enough to save the ranch and win back the girl.
He tapped the tiny letters on the screen, composing and deleting words as he tried to devise the perfect message and remember what Jocelyn had taught him about creating a post. Fifteen painstakingly long minutes later, he finished the post and read it out loud to the dog. Savage rolled over and stretched out for a belly rub, which Mack took to mean the hound approved. At least he hadn’t yawned.
Mack took a deep breath then touched the word “post.” Satisfied he’d done the best he could, he tossed his phone on the sofa cushion, and gave in to the dog’s request.
Now all he could do was wait. He wanted to reach out, to call her, to hear her voice. But he somehow knew this was the better way to go.
This would show Jocelyn he’d changed.
And if publicly declaring his love for her on social media didn’t prove he was willing to do whatever it took to get her back, then he didn’t know what would.
It was close to midnight when Jocelyn finally made it back to her hotel room. She sank onto the bed, then pulled off her boots and rubbed her sore feet. She swore they must have walked from one end of downtown Denver to the other, then back again.
Mike and Julia might’ve been older than her, but they more energy than she did. And they were on New York time, so they should have been exhausted. But they seemed so excited about their plans and about being in Colorado, they were practically giddy. And Jocelyn couldn’t help but join in on their happy mood.