by R. C. Ryan
“And Cory?” Jake’s tone was curt.
“Whatever we decide, we’ll do it together. Cory’s vote will carry as much weight as mine.”
“And he’s okay with this?”
Meg shrugged. “I’ve promised him that if he’s not happy in the city, we can always come back here.”
“The last time you left, it took you twenty years to come back. You’re running away, Meg. Just the way you did when you were a kid. Only things are different now. I’m not your father. I won’t call and beg you to come back. And I won’t write you hundreds of letters, either. But, like Porter, I guess all I can do is hope you figure things out before it’s too late.”
“Jake—” Before Meg could say more, he spun away, ending any further conversation.
Downstairs, Meg squared her shoulders, prepared to face Jake’s obvious anger while she told his family of her plans. Instead, his chair at the table was vacant.
Over breakfast she told the Conway family what she’d already told Jake. Though they expressed sorrow that she and Cory were leaving, their reaction was much more accepting.
“You do what you have to, sweetheart,” Big Jim said. “After all you did for us, you deserve to take as much time as you need to decide your future.”
“Thank you, Big Jim.”
After she and Cory went upstairs to pack their things, Big Jim glanced around at his family before turning to Cole. “That explains why Jake skipped breakfast to work in the barn. I guess he learned from watching you all these years that hard, physical work was the best release from a mind in turmoil.”
Meg carried her overnight bag downstairs and paused in the kitchen to bid good-bye to the Conway family. After many emotional hugs and kisses, Meg looked around. “Where’s Cory?”
“He’s already packed and out in the barn with Jake,” Phoebe said.
“Then I’d better get going.”
Phoebe hugged her fiercely. “I’m so happy to see that you and Cory are already becoming a family.”
“Thank you, Phoebe. We’re working at it. And thanks so much for making us feel at home here.”
“I hope you’ll always consider this your second home.”
Meg turned to Ela, who opened her arms wide. “You’ve been so good to both of us,” Meg whispered against her parchment-like cheek. “And especially to Cory.”
“With such a sweet boy, it is easy to be good to him. And I know you will be a loving big sister to him.”
“I hope you’re right. I don’t have any experience at being a sister, but I guess I’ll learn as I go along.”
Ela handed her a heavy bag. At Meg’s questioning look she laughed. “We could not send you away without food. Roast beef. Corn bread. And chocolate chip cookies for Cory to eat on the plane.”
“Thank you.” Meg blew them a kiss.
“Meg…” Phoebe drew her close to press a kiss to her cheek. “I hope…I hope you’ll find what you need in the city. And that if you don’t, you’ll come back. You mean the world to all of us, and to one of us in particular.”
Meg sighed. “I wish I could be in two places at once. I want to be here with Ja—with all of you. But I need to do this. The decisions I make now won’t just affect me. I have to consider what’s best for Cory, too.”
“I know you’ll make the right decisions for both of you,” Phoebe whispered against her cheek.
Outside, Jake and Cory had their heads together, talking in low tones. When Meg got close, Jake took her bag from her hand and stowed it in the back of the truck.
The drive to Paintbrush, which had always seemed so long, flew by in what seemed minutes. A few minutes more and their luggage was being loaded aboard the firm’s sleek private jet.
“Wow.” Cory’s eyes went wide with disbelief. “We’re flying in that?”
“Yeah. What do you think?” Meg grinned as the boy’s gaze was riveted on the smartly uniformed pilot and copilot just stepping aboard.
Cory ducked his head and caught Jake’s hand. “Can I text you?”
“Every hour if you’d like.”
“You’ll take care of Shadow for me?”
“Like he was my own.” Jake drew the boy close for a hard hug before watching him start toward the plane.
He turned to Meg. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I do, Jake. I wish…” She was clasping and unclasping her hands. “I wish you could go with us, but I know that’s not possible.”
“I’d be a fish out of water. But you…” He managed a lopsided grin. “You’ll be back in your element. And who knows? If Cory’s reaction to the plane is any indication, he just may find himself fitting into the big city like he was born to it.”
She got up on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “I won’t promise to text you every day, but I will call, Jake.”
He made no effort to return her kiss. “Don’t make empty promises, Meg. Just…be happy.”
“That’s all I want. And I want it for you, too.”
Before the tears could spill over, she hurried toward the plane.
Minutes later the ramp was pulled up and the door closed. With a roar the small plane taxied down the runway and then lifted into the air.
Long after it was airborne, Jake remained beside his truck, staring at the empty sky.
Cole looked around the breakfast table. “Where’s Jake?”
Phoebe looked up from the stove. “He left for the Carson ranch hours ago.”
“Hours ago? It’s only seven. I heard him come in after midnight. Does he ever sleep anymore?”
Phoebe glanced at Ela, and the two women wore matching looks of concern. “He’s pushing himself, Cole. I should think you’d understand.”
“I understand that he’s going to push himself right into a sick bed. A man has to sleep.”
“Not if his sleep is troubled.” Ela set a platter of corn bread on the table. “Jake learned at an early age that a woman can leave and never return.”
Around the table, everyone went silent.
Cole turned to his father. “Can you talk to him, Big Jim?”
“I can try. But you know only too well that a man has to work out some things for himself.”
“All the same, try talking to him. If he keeps this up much longer, he’s apt to drop in his tracks.”
The family remained subdued. Though Jake still managed to charm half the female population of Paintbrush, a great deal of the flirtation that had been his trademark seemed to have faded away. And though he relayed only bits and pieces of the conversations he had with Cory, those pieces were enough to tell them that the boy was making a real effort to fit into Meg’s life in D.C.
Meg was in a strange mood as she stepped into the foyer of her condo and kicked off her shoes. She ought to have been feeling on top of the world. It had been her input earlier in the week that had given a team of lawyers at the firm their key defense for their client. Because of it, the prosecution was seeking to cut a deal in the hottest trial of the year. And Cyrus Kettering had requested a meeting with Meg in the morning. The buzz around the firm was that she was in for a big promotion. There were even some who’d dared to use the word partner. It was unimaginable that a woman her age would be invited to be a partner in a firm as prestigious as Howe-Kettering. But crazier things had happened. Like the housekeeper, Theresa, who’d been heaven-sent. She’d come highly recommended by one of the lawyers in Meg’s firm. Theresa had even agreed to the flexible hours Meg had required, so that until Meg’s life settled down a bit, someone would always be here with Cory.
But despite all the good things that had happened in the four weeks since she’d returned, Meg couldn’t seem to summon any joy in her success.
A gray-haired woman poked her head in the doorway. “I thought I heard you come in, Miss Stanford. I’m keeping your dinner warm in the oven.”
“Thank you, Theresa.” Meg set her laptop on a marble side table. “Where’s Cory?”
“Up in his room. He and his t
utor just finished their lessons.”
The door to the den opened, and the young man she’d hired to prepare Cory for private school was standing in the doorway. “I heard your voice. Perfect timing. I wonder if I could have a few words with you before I go.”
Meg returned his smile. “Of course. Let’s talk in the den.” She turned to her housekeeper. “If you’d like to leave now, I’m home for the evening, Theresa. I’ll see you at seven in the morning.”
“Good night, Miss Stanford.”
Meg waited until the front door closed behind the older woman. In the den she indicated a pair of chairs and sat facing Zach Tracy, the brilliant young teacher that so many of her friends raved about.
Zach wore his long, sun-bleached hair tied back in a ponytail. Instead of the dress pants and shirt-and-tie look expected of a prep-school tutor, he favored skinny pants tucked into high-tops, and a wrinkled shirt over a faded tee. He’d arrived at Meg’s condo carrying a skateboard under his arm, explaining that this was his summertime persona. Come autumn and the start of the school year, he would once again morph into a buttoned-down prep-school teacher.
“How are things working out with you and Cory?”
“Cool. He’s a great kid.”
She noted that he used cool or great in nearly every sentence. “So you think he’ll be ready for private school?”
“Academically? Hey, if you hadn’t told me he was homeschooled, I’d have never guessed. He’s a really smart little kid.”
Meg began to relax.
“But he’s…different, you know?”
Meg’s protective antenna went up. “Different? In what way?”
Zach shrugged. “When I asked him what he’d like to do for fun, he said he wasn’t here to have fun. He was here to make you proud of him. He said somebody named Big Jim had said that women were to be protected. And he’d promised somebody named Jake that he would do everything he could to be a good brother.” Zach shook his head. “He’s a funny little kid. Calls me ‘sir.’ He’s smart, and cool, but he’s just not like any kid I’ve tutored before. It’s like he just dropped down from another planet. Planet Old School.” Zach chuckled at his little joke. “And I’m not sure just how he’s going to fit in when school starts.”
The young teacher got to his feet. “I just thought you ought to know. Maybe you’d like me to work on his social skills along with his academics. Speaking of social skills, I tried to tell him to ditch the cheesy cowboy hat, and you’d have thought I’d insulted his mother. You’d better let him know that he won’t be able to wear it to school.” He paused. “Same time tomorrow?”
Meg forced herself to smile as she walked with him to the door. “Let me think about it, Zach. I’ll call you.”
“No problem. If you leave the kid to me, I’ll have him up to speed in no time.”
When he left, Meg walked to the kitchen and filled a glass with water before looking out the window. Several boys, not much older than Cory, were laughing and shouting as they followed Zach along the sidewalk on their skateboards.
Feeling troubled, she set aside the water and climbed the stairs. She was about to knock on Cory’s door when she found it ajar. Inside she could hear Cory talking to someone on the phone.
“…had supper with my tutor, Zach. He said I’m lucky to have a housekeeper who cooks. His mother was a college professor, but the only thing she knew how to cook was grilled cheese sandwiches.” There was a pause before he said, “She’s fine. She’s working awfully hard. She said she has to make it up to the firm because of all the days she missed. She said when she clears her desk, we’ll take a day to see the monuments and stuff. But I don’t mind. I know she’s got to work even harder now that she’s got me.” His voice lowered. Trembled. “How’s Shadow? Does he miss me?”
Meg turned away and made her way to her own room. She didn’t want Cory to see her feeling so distressed.
Inside her room she began to pace. Where had it all gone so terribly wrong? When had the joy gone out of her career? Even the tantalizing thought of being offered partnership in the firm had lost its thrill. When she was at the office, all she could think about was Cory spending his days with strangers. When she was here with him, it broke her heart to see how hard he was trying to make this all work.
She thought of Zach, trying to make Cory over into a boy who would fit in with all the other prep school boys. She tried to imagine Cory maneuvering a skateboard along the hot, crowded sidewalks, trading in Jake’s old cowboy hat for a backward baseball cap. The mere thought of it had tears stinging her eyes.
And then she recalled Zach’s words.
He said he wasn’t here to have fun. He was here to make you proud of him…And he’d promised somebody named Jake that he would do everything he could to be a good brother.
A good brother. He was the best little brother in the world. But what kind of sister was she?
Meg dropped down on the edge of her bed and covered her face with her hands, unable to stop the sobs that tore through her.
Jake had been right about her. She’d been running away. Unable to face the truth. The loss of her father had broken something inside of her. Instead of staying and fighting to get back the life she’d been denied, she’d taken the same route her mother had taken all those years earlier. She’d run away. But this time, there would be no one to blame but herself. She might have been a little girl then, but now she was an adult, and responsible for the life of another.
Cory. The memories of her early days in the city, feeling lost and bewildered, came rushing back to her. No one had been here to ease her through that painful transition. She’d felt completely abandoned.
Did she want the same thing for her little brother?
But what was the alternative? How could she return to Wyoming, after that horrid scene with Jake?
She hadn’t heard a single word from him. Not one.
By now Jake would have moved on with his life. A life that would have no place for her.
At the soft knock on her door, her head came up.
“Meg? You in there?”
“Yes.” She wiped frantically at her eyes as Cory stepped into her room.
“I heard something.” He walked closer to peer at her. “You crying?”
”Yeah. Blubbering like a big baby.” She tried to smile, but her lips quivered. “Sorry.”
“Did somebody hurt you?” His hand was on her shoulder, his eyes suddenly hot with anger.
So like another, she thought with a fresh stab of pain to her heart.
“No. It isn’t like that. I’m just feeling…sad.”
“Is it something I did? I know Zach didn’t like my hat, but I thought…”
She drew him down beside her on the edge of the bed. “It isn’t anything you did, Cory. It’s me. I’m afraid I’ve made a mess of things.”
“What things?”
“Everything. My life. Your life. This.” She looked around, trying to see it all through his eyes. “I was hoping we could be happy here. I thought I owed it to myself and you to see if this could work.”
“I’ll work harder, Meg. I’ll do whatever you want.”
His words brought a fresh round of tears to her eyes. She sighed and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Ela was right, you know. You’re such a good boy. But this isn’t about anything you did or didn’t do. This mistake is entirely mine. And I’m the only one who can fix it.”
He turned trusting eyes to hers. “I don’t understand.”
She took in a deep breath, wondering how she would get through the meeting with Cyrus Kettering in the morning. She would be letting him down. But in the end, she had no choice.
She’d thought, after seeing Jake shot, and thinking that she’d once again lost the person who mattered most in her life, that the wisest thing was to leave before she got her heart broken again.
She’d honestly believed that by coming back to the life she’d made, she would find herself. The only problem was, the person s
he’d found was no wiser than that girl who’d carried a chip on her shoulder a lifetime ago.
She gathered Cory close. “Pack your things. I need…to see about the ranch. And you need a visit with Shadow.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
As the family gathered around the breakfast table, Big Jim caught sight of Jake’s back as he started toward the mudroom. “You think you could spare us some time, boyo?”
“Sorry. Not today.” Jake reached for a slice of corn bread before moving toward the door.
“More sick cows this morning, bro?” Josh asked.
“Too many to count. And the day is just starting….” Hearing the ping of a text, Jake caught sight of the caller and read the text before looking up. “It’s Cory. He and Meg are flying in. She has to meet with Kirby about ranch business. Cory says they’ll be in Paintbrush at noon.”
Cole and Phoebe exchanged looks. “Are they coming back for good?” Cole asked.
Jake’s fingers shot over the keyboard of his phone, then read the next text. “Cory doesn’t know. Apparently Meg needs to make some decisions about the ranch. But he says she had a serious meeting with her law firm.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?” Phoebe asked.
“Maybe. Maybe not. Cory says they’re on the company jet.”
Quinn shook his head. “That doesn’t sound like a good thing. I don’t think the company would fly an ex-employee clear across the country.”
“Maybe it’s part of her severance package.” Sierra glanced hopefully at Josh, who squeezed her hand.
“You should go to Paintbrush and pick them up,” Cheyenne said. “You need to pour on the charm so Meg will decide to stay here.”
Jake started out the door. “I’m fresh out of charm. I have some things to do in the barn.”
“Look, son—”
Jake kept walking. “Not now, Pa.”