“You didn’t have to grow up with a mother who didn’t give a damn about you! And a father so busy trying to please her that he barely noticed you, either!” Wyatt’s blood ran hot in his veins. “No, you were surrounded by people who loved you — your dad, your grandparents, and later on Sarah, and this… this whole fricking ranch! Yeah, let’s compare notes and see who had the worst of it, shall we?”
Archie started to wail at the top of his lungs.
“Get off my land.” Jack’s face was like granite.
“Don’t worry. I’ve lost any desire to be here.” Adrenaline pumping through his system, he stormed past Jack and the rest of the family. Sarah called out to him, and he gave her a wave that he hoped would let her know he heard her, but he couldn’t respond. Not now.
When he reached the drive, Olivia had just pulled in. She hopped down, took one look at his face, and came running over. “Wyatt?”
“I’m leaving, Olivia.” He started up the steps. He felt as if someone had his chest in a vise and was jabbing his head with an ice pick. “You should stay, though. It’s going to be a good party, and I know how much you like these folks.”
“So do you!” She went up the steps with him. “Are you going to let Jack run you off?”
“I don’t stay where I’m not wanted, Olivia.” He drew a breath that made his lungs burn. Then he opened the front door and held it for her because she seemed determined to follow him. “Jack was here first, and all I’ll do is cause tension if I stay.” He didn’t break stride as he headed upstairs. “I still love the area, so… we’ll see.”
Olivia kept pace with him. “So you’re not going camping with Jack, I take it?”
His bark of laughter sounded loud in the quiet house. “Hardly.”
“Will you take me, then?”
“What?” He reached the second floor and walked quickly down to the room he’d been assigned.
“Camping. Let’s go.”
“That’s crazy.” He hadn’t taken time to unpack, so all he had to do was throw a few things in his duffle and zip it. He took the bag of clothes Pam had given him, as well. He wasn’t sure what to do about those, but he could decide that later. “We can’t just go off camping.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” He actually didn’t have any good reason. He had some dehydrated food supplies in the truck, plus water he always carried. He glanced at Olivia’s outfit, noticing for the first time that she’d worn sneakers with her jeans and shirt, and she was carrying a zip-up sweatshirt.
“I’m not going to stay for the party if you’re leaving,” she said. “I came to be with you.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be very good company.” But the idea of heading off into the woods appealed to him. He’d cancelled his reservation at the Bunk and Grub, and he wouldn’t want to stay there, anyway.
“Let’s do it, Wyatt. I don’t have to work tomorrow. Let’s spend the night together in a tent. You can teach me how to camp.”
“You’ve been the best part of this whole experience, Olivia.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks.”
“All righty, then. Let’s go camping. You can follow me out and once we’re off the ranch, we’ll figure out our next move.”
“Works for me.”
But when they descended the steps, they found Sarah waiting for them. Wyatt looked around for the others, but Sarah appeared to be alone in the house, at least for now. She looked extremely determined.
Wyatt’s gut tightened again as he walked down the stairs toward her. “Sarah, I’m really sorry. I hate that I spoiled your great homecoming celebration.”
“You didn’t,” she said. “My son did, and I’m sure eventually he’ll apologize to you for that.”
Wyatt stared at her. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. One of the things I’ve instilled in all my boys is good manners. Jack forgot his manners just now, but I have every confidence he’ll remember them soon.”
There was a hint of steel in her words, but she kept her voice so even that it took Wyatt a moment to realize she was furious. She did not, however, apologize for Jack. The glint in her eyes made it clear he would be expected to do that for himself.
Wyatt had no stomach for watching a battle of wills between mother and son, not when he was the bone of contention. “It’s okay, Sarah,” he said gently. “You’ve been great to me and I appreciate that.”
“I’d rather you didn’t leave.”
“We’re going camping,” Olivia said. “So I won’t be here for dinner, after all. Thank you for asking me, though.”
Sarah frowned. “Camping? Just like that? What about food?”
“I always carry emergency rations in my truck. We’ll be fine for one night.”
“That’s ridiculous. Come back to the kitchen with me.”
“No, really.” Wyatt didn’t want to linger. “We should just go. It’s better if we—”
“No one’s coming up to the house until I give the okay, so don’t get nervous. I instructed them all to stay down by the barn until I’d had an opportunity to talk with you. Pete’s in charge of making sure that’s the way it goes.”
“Wow,” Olivia said. “You really are in charge around here.”
“You bet your sweet bippy. Now come along. I’ll give you some real food so you don’t have to eat that reconstituted junk.” Sarah marched down the hall toward the dining room and kitchen area.
Wyatt glanced over at Olivia and shrugged. Crossing Sarah right now didn’t seem like a wise idea. He set down his duffle and bag of clothes, took Olivia’s hand, and followed Sarah to the kitchen.
Moments later they came back down the hall. Wyatt carried a soft-sided ice chest filled with frozen gel packs and stuffed with homemade spaghetti sauce, eggs, bacon, and cheese. Olivia had a bag that contained a box of pasta, a loaf of homemade bread, a box of crackers, and a box of red wine.
Wyatt mentally calculated whether he could get everything in his pack. He might need Olivia to carry a little of it in his spare backpack, but he’d make sure it was light since she wasn’t used to carrying a pack. He wanted to hike in a ways before they made camp. Getting away from civilization had never seemed more necessary than now.
“Thank you, Sarah.” Wyatt glanced at Olivia. “Would you be okay with returning the ice chest and anything we don’t use?”
“I expect you to return it, Wyatt,” Sarah said. “I can understand that you’d want to go off and lick your wounds, but you need to come back.”
Wyatt faced her. “I need some time. I’m not sure that I even want to—”
“Now you listen to me, Wyatt Locke. You started this thing, and I intend to see that you and Jack are on civil terms before you leave the ranch.”
“But—”
“Just leave Olivia’s Jeep here, take your truck, and drive on up the road past the sacred site. The terrain rises some, and I’m sure you’ll find good camping up there.”
“I don’t want to stay on ranch land.”
“Oh, for pity’s sake. Of course you do. It’s getting late, and you need to make camp before it gets dark. You really don’t have time to mess around looking for some other spot, Wyatt. Besides, this way you can come back tomorrow and sort this thing out with Jack.”
“I don’t think Jack wants to sort it out.”
Sarah met his gaze and her jaw firmed. “He will.”
Wyatt had never met a woman like Sarah Chance, who was one of the most loving people he’d ever known, yet also one of the toughest. He now understood why she hadn’t crumbled when her husband died unexpectedly.
He still didn’t believe that he and Jack would mend any fences, but he wasn’t going to convince Sarah of that, at least not now. Might as well go along with her plan for the time being, especially when he couldn’t refute her logic. He might have trouble finding a good camping spot before dark if he insisted on leaving Chance land to do it.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll take y
our suggestion. Thank you for everything, Sarah.”
“You’re welcome. See you tomorrow.” She stood in the doorway as they walked down the porch steps and over to Wyatt’s truck.
He was aware of her watching as they loaded everything and got into the truck. Once he put the truck in gear and started toward the road leading to the sacred site, she came out on the porch and waved to the group of people waiting down by the barn.
In his rearview mirror, Wyatt saw them trooping back up to the house except for one lone figure who stayed by the barn. Wyatt was pretty sure he recognized Jack standing there, staring after Wyatt’s truck. His gut twisted again. He’d wanted Jack’s goodwill more than he’d realized. But, despite Sarah’s determination, he doubted he’d ever get it.
Olivia wasn’t sure whether to talk to Wyatt or leave him in peace to mull over his situation. They rode with the windows down, which at least kept the drive from being silent. Small birds twittered in the meadows they passed and a hawk circled overhead, adding its piercing cry to the lilting music below.
“The hawk is probably planning to eat one of those songbirds,” Wyatt said.
“Now there’s a cheerful thought.”
“I warned you that I might not be very good company.”
Olivia sighed. “Then I say let’s talk about what happened instead of sitting here in silence.”
“Not much to tell.”
“How did everything get nasty so fast? It looked to me as if they’d just come home.”
“Bad timing, maybe even poor judgment on my part. We were all sitting on the porch, and little Archie started to fuss, so I told Josie I’d walk with him a little, give him a change of scenery.”
She could imagine what came next. Poor Wyatt. “Let me guess. Jack came home when you were strolling around with Archie.”
“I don’t know why I didn’t think that might happen. I was just enjoying taking the little guy down to see the horses, and somehow it didn’t occur to me that Jack might not react well to me doing that. The minute I heard that heavy-duty engine, I knew I was screwed.”
She reached over and rubbed his thigh. “I’m sorry.” Then she paused. “Are these new? They don’t feel like jeans that have been worn a lot.”
Wyatt smiled for the first time since she’d met him coming up from the barn. “I think you should feel that material again to make sure it’s different from the jeans Sarah loaned me.”
She was encouraged by that remark. Leaning over, she stroked his thigh again. “These are not the jeans you borrowed from Sarah.”
“So do you like this feel better than the ones I had on before? Go right ahead and fondle them again if you’re not sure. I don’t mind.”
She walked her fingers up and down his thigh. “I’m trying to solve the mystery of how you have a pair of new jeans when you were with me practically all day and the stores in Shoshone aren’t open on Sunday.”
“Two words. Pam Mulholland.”
“She bought these?”
“Plus two other pairs, and two more shirts. She gave them to me when I went to pick up my clothes. Too bad it was a wasted effort. She and Sarah thought it would be better if I had riding clothes so I could go out on horseback with Jack.”
“Don’t give up on that, Wyatt. Sarah is a powerful woman.”
“I don’t think even Sarah can bring Jack and me together. The gap is huge.”
“How huge? You didn’t tell me what was said.”
“It wasn’t pretty.” The truck hit a rut and Wyatt wrestled with the wheel until the truck settled down again. “First he accused me of walking around like I owned the place.”
“Ouch. That’s harsh.”
“Then he made it clear I wasn’t a Chance and I’d better keep my mitts off his kid.”
“I’m sorry, Wyatt. Didn’t anyone come to your defense?”
“Josie tried, but Jack was on his high horse, staking his claim to this land and letting me know I didn’t belong here. So I told him to thank his lucky stars that my mother had left him here.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I let him know that living with her had been its own kind of hell. I offered to compare situations any day of the week. Not long after that Jack ordered me off his land.”
Olivia winced. She could see why the confrontation hadn’t gone well, but she didn’t think Wyatt would like what she had to say about it. He was convinced that dealing with his mother had been as bad, or probably worse, than being left at a tender age as Jack had been.
She was on Wyatt’s side in this because he’d made the gesture toward friendship with his half-brother. But that gesture would be worthless if he insisted that his life had been more miserable than Jack’s. It wasn’t a contest to prove who had suffered more.
But she chose not to say all that right now. They were heading up into the forest, Wyatt’s favorite environment. Maybe when he was surrounded by nature, he’d be able to open his mind to a new way of looking at his situation with Jack. If he stubbornly held to his current thinking, his cherished wish to unite with his half-brother was doomed.
She hated that prospect for many reasons. It would mean Jack and Wyatt would miss out, but so would Sarah and the rest of the family. Wyatt was a warm and caring man, and he could enrich the family dynamics in so many ways.
But someone else would miss out, and that was her. Much as she wanted to believe Wyatt would consider settling in Shoshone whether his half-brother approved or not, Olivia knew the reality. Jack’s animosity, if it continued, would eventually kill Wyatt’s urge to move his business here.
As for her, she was in Shoshone for the duration. It was her father’s dream, and she wasn’t planning to leave him to his own devices. Ever.
Chapter Fifteen
Wyatt drove until he spotted a trail going off to the left and up a hillside. He and Olivia didn’t have much daylight left, so they needed to set up camp soon. Much as he hated to admit how right Sarah had been, leaving the ranch boundaries to find a camping spot wouldn’t have worked. They’d started too late to be particular.
Fortunately he had plenty of experience in getting an expedition moving down the trail. After taking the time to switch out his borrowed cowboy boots for hiking boots, he quickly loaded most of the gear on his aluminum rack. Then he parceled out the rest for Olivia to carry in a small backpack. Locking the truck, he pocketed the keys and led the way up the trail.
Jeans weren’t as comfortable for hiking as shorts, especially new jeans, but he relished the feel of the trail under his feet and the smell of pine and damp earth. He’d brought a fire starter that would help deal with wet kindling. A chill penetrated his cotton shirt, and he wanted a fire to keep them warm as well as to cook their food. He’d elected to leave the stove in the truck.
He called back periodically to check on Olivia, but she insisted she was fine, so he pressed on. They crossed a couple of shallow streams, using flat rocks as stepping stones. After about forty-five minutes of hiking he found the kind of spot he was looking for. The pine-needle-covered area was perfect for pitching the tent, and enough loose rocks lay around that he could construct a small fire pit.
“This will do,” he said.
“Oh, thank God.” Olivia sank down on a large rock and gulped for air.
“Olivia? Are you okay?” Slipping off his pack, he hurried over to her.
“Just a little… winded.”
“You should have said something.” He eased the pack from her and dropped it to the ground. “I thought you were fine back there.”
“Well, I was, at first.” She put a hand to her chest. “And then I kept thinking we’d stop any minute, so I didn’t want to call a halt and look like a wimp.”
“Aw, Olivia.” He felt like a louse. He’d known that she wasn’t used to this, but he’d been so focused on getting away from the beaten path that he’d accepted her assurances without turning around to really look at her. If he had he would have known she was struggling. “I’m so sorry.”
<
br /> “Doesn’t matter.” She gazed up at him. “We’re here in our own private little world, now, right?”
“That’s what I was going for, and yeah, I think we’re pretty much alone up here.”
“But we need to do stuff before it gets dark.” She started to stand.
“I’ll do stuff.” He placed a restraining hand on her shoulder. “You watch. In fact, I’ll bring you a glass of wine to sip on while I set things up.”
“But you were going to teach me how to camp. How can I learn if I sit and drink wine while you do all the work?”
“It’s not that complicated. Once you observe how it’s done, you’ll be able to handle it yourself, no problem.” He returned to his pack and started pulling things out. Eventually he unearthed the wine box and a couple of plastic glasses.
She laughed. “You’re just trying to make me feel better.”
“No, I’m actually trying to get you relaxed and tipsy so I can have my way with you inside the tent.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to work quite so hard to achieve that outcome.”
“Good to know.” But he tapped into the wine box anyway, filled one of the glasses from the plastic spigot, and brought it over. Then he crouched down in front of her. “Your suggestion of camping was a lifesaver. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do once Jack and I had our confrontation, but this… this really helps.”
“I’m glad.”
“You’ve been such a bright spot in this whole crazy episode, Olivia.” He looked into her eyes. “No matter what happens, I—”
“If you’re preparing me for the fact that you’re going back to San Francisco never to return, I don’t want to hear it. Besides, I don’t believe it. You really like Jackson Hole, and you’re not that committed to staying in San Francisco. I say screw Jack Chance and make your own plans.”
He smiled. “I like your spirit.”
“Fortunately that’s not all you like.” She winked at him and took a long swallow of her wine. “Ah. I think I’ll live.”
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