Kit closed her gaping mouth and sank onto the cracked cement steps. Tyler had bought the bar? Kit hadn’t even known it was for sale. Chris had never mentioned it. Which stung, since Kit had been bartending for him for the past nine years.
She shoved her head into her hands. For a moment she relished the darkness there, the shutting out of everything. She’d clung to this idea of owning the Dusty Saddle for the past year. Using it as something to focus on besides Arch. Setting it as a goal to keep her satisfied with living in this town and looking after her dad. And now, in a few heartbeats, that goal had vanished.
This sucked. Just like everything had sucked since Arch got out of prison. She shoved off the step, not willing to sit crumpled and defeated. She walked to the edge of the parking lot. When she faced this direction, there were no lights from town to diminish the night sky. The stars exploded across the darkness, layer upon layer of cosmic insanity.
Usually the sky out here took her breath away. Tonight it just made her nervous. Because it reminded her, the way Tyler had, that in the grand scheme of things, she was nothing.
When Arch told her he didn’t want her after all, he’d broken her heart. But at least she’d had her work. A place where she felt she mattered. Now she knew that wasn’t true. The boss she’d worked so hard for had sold the business without a word to her. Under this vastness of stars she was a speck of dust, adrift and floating around this piece of the planet that once felt like home.
Stuck here, belonging nowhere.
Jealousy hit hot despite the cool air. What was it like to be Tyler Ellis? Born and raised in a wealthy ranching family, talented enough to achieve the highest level of his chosen sport. Now sauntering into town with enough money to buy a business that should have been her business.
Ha. Her business in another world, maybe. She was a Hayes. Permanently poor. Born and raised to work for the Ellis family, just like her daddy had.
If she worked for Tyler, would he screw her over, too? Like his father had cheated hers? Probably. Only he’d do it with a sugar coating of cowboy grin and flattering words, because people like Tyler thought the whole world was there just for them.
And why not? Because it was right there for them, waiting at their fingertips. While people like Kit were destined to watch their dreams, slippery as trout in a Sierra stream, wriggle right out of their grasping hands.
Copyright © 2017 by Claire Haiken
ISBN-13: 9781488017018
The Fireman’s Son
Copyright © 2017 by Tara Taylor Quinn
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