by Leslie North
18
The airport closest to Benton Ridge hummed with activity, which was a welcome sight. Tucker had worried from the very moment he decided to go home that a storm would sweep over the country, trapping him in New York. But no such storm had come. Now he moved quickly away from his gate and toward the door leading to the pickup area for arrivals. His backpack bounced against his hip as he went, carrying the old camera and a round tube that held the photos he’d printed.
Cade waited for him in one of the trucks, leaning against the passenger side door. He straightened up when he saw Tucker.
“This is a bad idea,” he called, but his older brother’s mouth still turned up in an incredulous smile. “If you’re coming back here, I hope your mind’s made up.”
“It is.” Tucker pulled his phone from his pocket to flip it back on after the flight. A piece of paper fluttered out with it. He bent to pick it up. Ah—the paper he’d found on the driveway weeks ago. It was a miracle it had survived this long. A spark of recognition lit inside his mind. He stopped right there outside the airport and unfolded it.
It was the logo he’d drawn for Avery all those years ago, with her warm and smiling by his side. Where had they been sitting? Some class or another—maybe English. She’d leaned over so he could smell the strawberry scent of her shampoo.
She’d kept this, all this time.
“Tucker, get moving.” Cade slapped his own knee, then clapped his hands. “You’re just standing there outside an airport. I’m not even supposed to be parked here.”
Tucker needed a beat more to process what he was seeing. Then he folded the paper up with infinite care, put it back into his pocket, and threw his suitcase and backpack into the cab of the truck. Cade was already buckled in when he got into the passenger seat and reached for his own seatbelt.
“Has Avery had her grand opening yet?”
“How about hello, Cade, it’s so kind of you to come to the airport and pick me up.” Cade side-eyed him.
“Hi, Cade. Tell me if she’s had her grand opening.”
“Not yet.” Cade pulled out into the airport traffic and got them on the road leading out. Leading home.
“Good. Then we need to make an extra stop.”
Cade shot him a look. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. I know exactly what I need to do.” The plan had leaped into his mind, fully formed, while he still stood on the sidewalk. “I’ve got it all figured out.”
“You know…” Cade made a right turn onto the highway. “I don’t know if I believe you. Where do you need to stop?”
“The hardware store.” Tucker rubbed his hands together. “We need to stop there as soon as we can, keeping in mind the speed limit.”
Cade snorted. “The speed limit? When have you ever cared about that?”
“Excuse me, but it’s Liam who considers those signs suggestions. I just need the hardware store. Fast.”
“You got it.”
Cade dropped him off. This wasn’t the quickest stop at the hardware store, because Tucker needed a very specific cut of wood. He explained his plan to the guy at the cutting station, and that guy called over a woman to tell her the story, and soon they had four people at the station, all of them giving Tucker tips on how best to create the most important project of his life. They cheered him on when he took the big, round piece of wood with him, and pressed chain and hooks into his hands.
Tucker loaded it all into the bed of Cade’s truck and got back inside.
“Could you do me a favor?”
Cade laughed. “I think I’ve done you a favor or two, but I’ve got one more in me.”
“I need you to have Avery and Shanna over. Keep them entertained for a few hours, and then text me before you bring them home.”
Cade narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure about this? Given how things went before—”
“This is different.” It had to be.
His brother dropped him at home, and Tucker ran back and forth between the cabin and the truck, unloading his things as quickly as possible. He got two sawhorses from the shed out back, and by the time Cade pulled away, he’d already gotten started on his project.
Fifteen minutes later, he got the text.
Avery and Shanna are over. Shanna’s hanging with Joey and Becca’s having wine in the kitchen with Avery and Mina. Liam says not to screw this up.
Tucker fired off a quick I won’t, thanks! and got back to work.
The design came quickly, but he took his time with the paint. This had to last. Thankfully, the people at the hardware store had pointed him in the right direction. Ninety minutes later, it was finished. Tucker sprayed it with a weather-proof sealant and loaded it into the back of his truck. It was hasty, yes. But it could dry out for a bit at Avery’s place while he got the hooks in place.
Over at the clinic, he set himself up on the porch. The sign itself would hang on the clinic portion of the building, right in front. People would be able to see it from the road. He was careful about where he put the hooks—it would have to stand up to all kinds of weather, and he didn’t want it banging against the siding. Forty minutes later, he had it exactly as he wanted it. It looked great. Tucker threw a canvas sheet over it, hooking it on the top of the sign, and clapped his hands together just as a truck pulled up in the driveway. His phone vibrated with a text message at the same time. Wow—thanks for the warning, Cade.
Avery got out of the truck first, a wary look in her eyes. He didn’t blame her for that. She had every right to be cautious, after what he’d done. Shanna was next, and Joey piled out after her. Cade and Becca got out, too.
“Well, thanks for coming over for dinner and drinks,” Becca said, an awkward half-grin on her face. “It was great to have you.” She pulled Avery in for a quick embrace. Cade reached over Becca to shake Avery’s hand. Tucker shot him a meaningful look.
“Becca, we should be going. Hop in the truck, Joey.”
Joey looked like she was about to protest, but then she took in the scene. “Hey, Uncle Tucker,” she called, giving him a wave. “Good luck.”
Heat washed over his face. Good. This was off to a good start. The three of them got back into the truck, and it rumbled away down the driveway.
Shanna stuck tight to her mother’s side, watching him with hesitation in her blue eyes. It broke his heart.
“Hey, Avery. Hey, Shanna.”
“Hi, Tucker.” Avery put an arm around Shanna’s shoulders. “You’re back.”
“I am, and I remember everything.” Better to get it all out before words failed him. Tucker reached onto the porch and got an envelope that he’d stowed there. He handed it to Avery. “First, I owe you both an apology. I never should have left the way I did, and I swear I’ll never do it again. You can open that.”
Avery slipped a finger under the flap of the envelope and tugged it open. One of the prints spilled into her hand, and she gasped. It was a photo of the two of them, taken a few months before they’d broken up. Avery had her arm slung around Tucker’s neck in the photo, their faces pressed close together, both of them beaming at the camera. They could not have been happier. Avery—the Avery of here and now—looked at him, eyes shining with tears.
“I had some twisted, eighteen-year-old logic.” Tucker stepped closer. He wanted to hold them both in his arms, but he knew it wasn’t the time. Not yet. “It took me this long to realize that I was making decisions about the both of us without talking to you first. I did it again with the X-ray machine, and I was wrong to do it. I was wrong about a lot of things, and I hope you forgive me. I figure I started being wrong about the time I decided that your dreams were for me to decide on.”
Avery shook her head. “What?”
“I wanted you to live your dream of becoming a vet. I was—I was trying to save you from a lifetime of following me around while I learned how to be a photographer. Only now I see that you didn’t need me to decide that for you. You didn’t need me to save you from anything. You just needed
room to do your thing. And you’ve done it.” Tucker gestured at the clinic building behind him. Tears slipped freely down Avery’s cheeks. “That’s all I ever wanted for you—your dreams to come true. I just hope that they might still include me.”
Avery looked down at the photo in her hands.
“Wait. What’s that?” Shanna pointed behind Tucker at the canvas sheet. “Is there something under there?”
“Yeah,” said Avery, and sniffed. “Show us what’s under there, Tucker.”
He tugged the cover off to reveal the logo. The dog, the cat, the horse. Below it, neat letters read ANIMAL CLINIC.
A smile spread across Avery’s face. “You found the drawing?”
“Out in the snow one day.”
She put a hand to her heart. “I thought it had been thrown out. I never expected to see this again.” Avery came to stand next to him, taking in the sign at close range.
Avery looked at the sign for so long that Shanna came to stand next to her, wedging herself between the two of them. She put a hand around Tucker’s waist and gripped his flannel shirt.
“But Tucker…” Avery’s voice was thick with tears. “Why is there an empty space at the top?”
“Well, back in the day, your original plan was for it to say Well. I think we talked about that, oh, a hundred times.” He couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “And I know it’s much too soon to expect anything like this from you, but if you’d give me another chance, I’d like it to say Wells instead. And I’d spend every day making sure I was worthy of both you and Shanna.” He turned Avery to face him. God, she was gorgeous. He’d never meant anything so intensely in his life. “Every day, Avery.”
She looked down at her daughter, who clung tight to Tucker’s side. He felt, rather than saw, Shanna nod.
“Yes,” Avery whispered. “Please.”
He leaned forward and hugged her as tight as he could, pressing kiss after kiss to her lips. Tucker broke away far sooner than he wanted to so that he could bring Shanna in on the embrace. The three of them held each other close, out in the cold. For the first time in his life, Tucker had everything he could ever want, right there in his arms.
Finally, Shanna pulled back.
“I’m freezing.” She rose up on tiptoe and let herself back down. “Aren’t you guys cold? I’m going inside. Race you!” She ran off, taking the porch steps two at a time. The door slammed behind her before Tucker could even think about moving.
He used the brief moment of privacy to do something he should have done the very first moment he saw Avery. He kissed her, deep and slow, and when he pulled back, he looked into her eyes.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. Then she pulled back, laughing. “Shanna’s right. We should go inside.”
He tipped her chin up so he could see the light in her eyes. “After one more kiss.”
Epilogue
Early summer had made Benton Ridge, and the mountain valley was green and lush and filled with the bright promise of warm days and long evenings. Tucker stood on the top of a slope, wearing a tuxedo and holding Avery’s hands. Wildflowers bloomed around their feet. The grass swayed in the breeze. It was, without a doubt, the most perfect wedding day to exist. The weather was the ideal combination of warm and breezy. Fluffy white clouds dotted a blue sky. A rain the night before had washed the meadow clean. Tucker couldn’t have asked for a better setup if he tried.
They’d waited a little under a year and a half to get married. It had been Avery’s idea, and though Shanna had begged for the wedding that very first summer they were together, there was too much to do first. They needed to work through those old hurts, and on top of that, Tucker and Shanna needed time, too. It was one thing to spend a couple of weeks talking about Animorphs books. It was another to get into a real rhythm together. How did he fit into her life? How did she fit into his? All these things had shaken out over the past months. There was still shaking to do, of course—there always would be. But he’d never felt contentment like this.
He’d never stood in a field, preparing to make vows to his daughter and his fiancée before. Shanna stood nearby in her own white dress, a crown of flowers in her hair. The rest of their families had gathered around them in neat rows of chairs with white ribbons tied around each one. It had been a project, getting all the decorations out here, but when Tucker glanced over it now, he saw how perfect it was.
The pastor’s voice floated over him, and though he tried to focus on the words, he couldn’t quite let them sink in. The emotions of the day overwhelmed him. The feeling was what mattered, and at any rate, he knew that Avery would remember every moment. He just wanted to focus on her.
Avery was stunning. Her dark hair fell in waves around her shoulders, and she wore the most beautiful wedding gown he’d ever seen. It looked like she’d waltzed out of a fairy tale, if that fairy tale had been set on the Wells Ranch. The gauzy fabric gave him hints of her body that drove him wild. Her own flower crown was made from tiny pink roses. Tucker had never thought much of flower crowns before, but he’d never forget this one.
Her parents had made the trip, along with his brothers and their wives and kids. It was an intimate ceremony in a mountain meadow, sponsored by Liam’s adventure business. Everything was thriving now. Tucker had taken photos for Liam’s business, and some of the photos had gone viral on social media. Liam’s business still hadn’t settled down. Tucker didn’t think it ever would—his brother had a knack for adventures. The ranch itself was doing wonderfully. Cade and Becca had set up two bee colonies and were selling organic honey. They’d expanded the herd of cattle. They’d bought more sheep. Only a short time before, Cade had been worried about the ranch—now he leaned into his own success. It was wonderful to see.
And Tucker didn’t live there anymore.
He helped out as much as he could when he wasn’t taking photos of the local wildlife or going out on very short-term gigs. Anything longer than a weekend, he brought Avery and Shanna along. The three of them, it turned out, were great traveling companions. Shanna wanted to see the world as much as Tucker did, and it was good for Avery to take a break every once in a while from the constant press of patients. Not that she wanted fewer patients at the clinic—no, she wanted them all. But she wanted a long career, and that meant pacing herself.
It was good. Life was good. And Tucker had finally moved on from feeling like he had to make up for lost time. In a way, he’d always be trying to do that—but he no longer felt the crushing guilt of the ten lost years with Avery and Shanna. They were firmly in the past. There was only now, and a future that looked brighter by the day.
“—husband and wife,” the pastor said, jolting him out of his thoughts and out of the mesmerizing blue of Avery’s eyes. Tucker looked up to see a majestic pack of elk wander into the meadow behind the pastor. He reached for his camera on instinct, though it wasn’t there—of course Avery hadn’t let him carry it for the ceremony. She had compromised by letting him hand it off to Cade in the front row. As he turned to get it from his brother, Avery grabbed him by the lapels. She swung him back around to face her, and boom—he was lost in her eyes again.
She arched one eyebrow. “Did you hear that?” Her voice tugged at something deep inside him. “You may kiss the bride.”
Tucker leaned in and kissed Avery. Her lips fit against his like they were meant to be, and as the kiss deepened, he knew it was absolutely true.
End of The Cowboy’s Second Chance Family
Wells Brothers Book Three
The Rancher’s City Girl, September 10 2020
The Cowboy’s Baby Agreement, September 17 2020
The Cowboy’s Second Chance Family, September 24 2020
PS: Want more sexy cowboys? Then keep reading for an exclusive extract from The Rancher’s Inherited Family.
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About Leslie
Leslie North is the USA Today Bestselling pen name for a critically-acclaimed author of women's contemporary romance and fiction. The anonymity gives her the perfect opportunity to paint with her full artistic palette, especially in the romance and erotic fantasy genres.
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BLURB
Trevor McCall doesn’t want to be a rancher, or settle down and become a family man. Now, however, he’s forced to not only take over his late parents’ ranch, but also unexpectedly raise his cousin’s four-year-old daughter, Jade.
Sure, he can run the place for the year-long stipulation specified in his parents’ will, but take care of a kid? No way. Nothing in his life has prepared him to be the father of a four-year-old girl. Complicating matters, Lacey Cameron, his sweet and pretty housekeeper, is leaving to open up her own B&B. Lacey has always lived at the McCall ranch—she can’t leave now when he needs her most. Desperate, Trevor makes a deal with her: Stay and help him with little Jade and in return he’ll help her fix up the B&B. Lacey agrees, and as the two of them work together, Trevor quickly realizes the girl he’s known all his life has grown into a beautiful woman, one who, to his shock, manages to find a crack in his hardened heart.