The Rancher's Second Chance (Martin's Crossing Book 3)

by Brenda Minton

  On second thought, he bypassed the steps and took the ramp that Grace had suggested. Why not save himself the trouble of overworking his knees?

  Cool air greeted him inside Duke’s. And a crowd. For a Friday afternoon the place was packed. He waved to a few friends and they motioned him over. He headed in their direction.

  “You all going to the rodeo this evening?” he asked as he took a seat at the end of their table.

  Boone Wilder leaned back in his chair, a toothpick in his mouth. “Yep. You going to be there, old man?”

  “Probably.”

  “We could team rope. Like the old days,” Boone offered.

  The old days, before Boone had joined the army and gone to Afghanistan. “Think I’ll skip it this time.”

  “Oh, come on.” Boone kept it up. “For old times’ sake.”

  “You aren’t any better in the saddle than I am.”

  At that, Boone grinned. “I can still beat you.”

  “Probably so.”

  Yeah, everyone had a story. Boone’s included a family that nearly had lost their ranch, time spent overseas and a life that needed rebuilding.

  Ned headed for their table, a coffeepot in one hand, menus in the other.

  “What are you having, Brody?” She pulled up a chair from a nearby table. “And take your time. My feet are killing me. Let me give you some advice. Don’t eat the soup. Your brother went crazy with the spices.”

  “I’m not having the soup,” Brody responded as he picked up the menu.

  “Ned, are you griping about my soup again?” Duke headed their way, a big grin on his face. “A man tries to experiment and he gets nothing but grief.”

  Ned laughed at that. “Boss, there are times when a little experimenting in the kitchen is a good thing, and times when it backfires. That soup ought to be poured down the garbage disposal.”

  “Joe liked it.”

  She shook her head. “Joe lived in the town manger last year. His sanity is in question.”

  Duke sat down next to Ned. “Brody, are you going to help me out tonight?”

  “Help you with what?”

  “We’re taking a few steers in for the steer wrestling.”

  Brody pointed to the chef’s salad. “I’ll take salad and no soup. Maybe some bread?”

  “Got it, baby boy.” Ned hauled herself to her feet and rubbed his face. “I thought you’d never have to shave those pretty cheeks, but look at that, stubble.”

  “I shave.” Brody blushed as he brushed her hand away.

  “Because you hope it’ll make more whiskers grow on that baby face of yours.” With that she walked away, still laughing at her own humor. The guys at the table snickered because it had been Ned and she could get away with it.

  Brody shook his head and looked at his brother. “I’m starting to agree. You need new help.”

  “I heard that, Brody,” Ned yelled as she went through the door into the kitchen.

  “Hearing like an elephant,” Duke whispered.

  From the kitchen she yelled again, “And I heard that.”

  Boone leaned close. “I don’t think she heard, I think she guessed that you’d say something.”

  The door to the kitchen opened, and Ned stood there with a piece of pie on a plate. “Boone Wilder, I’m holding your pie hostage.”

  “I apologize, Ned.” Boone grinned big and even winked to soothe things over.

  Brody relaxed. Yeah, it was good to have friends. It was good to forget the woman staying at Oregon’s, because she kept him tied up in knots.

  One of the guys at the table, Eddie Jackson, leaned forward, pushing his drink out of the way. “Brody, is it true you’re looking for some good, gentle broke horses?”

  “Yeah, maybe a half dozen to start.”

  “Why don’t you use the horses you’ve got on the Circle M? Surely you have broke horses on that place,” Boone said.

  “Yeah, we have horses, but I’m looking for something with a little less fire than the horses we raise. Something a kid can ride.”

  “I have a nice gelding,” Eddie said. “It was my kid sister’s but she’s moved on to boys.”

  “Let me know if she wants to get rid of it.”

  “Will do, and we have a few saddles around. They could use some work, but I’d let you have them cheap,” Eddie offered.

  “What are you going to do with kid-broke horses, Brody?” Foster Douglas asked from the end of the table. “You already planning a pony for that baby of yours?”

  Brody’s world went dark. He took a breath and heard Duke clear his throat. With more calm than he would have imagined, he reached for the water glass Ned had left for him. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Foster.”

  “Isn’t that your woman living at Oregon’s?”

  “No, actually, she’s just a friend.”

  Eddie glared at Foster with a look. “She was dating Lincoln.”

  Foster had the good sense to look embarrassed. “Sorry, I just thought...”

  “No problem.”

  Brody got up and headed for the cash register. “Hey, Ned, could I get that salad to go?”

  “Sure thing, baby boy.” She walked through the double doors from the kitchen. “As a matter of fact, I kinda thought that might be the case.”

  She set a plastic container on the counter. “Don’t let it get under your skin.”

  “I know.” He pulled out a ten and handed it to her. “Keep the change. And promise me someday I’ll find a woman just like you.”

  She winked. “If I was thirty years younger, I’d marry you tomorrow, Brody.”

  He put a hand to his heart. “I do love you, Ned.”

  He leaned across the counter and planted a kiss on her cheek. She laughed and shooed him away.

  “Go spread that charm elsewhere, Brody. I’m immune to you Martin boys.”

  He took his dinner and walked out of Duke’s. He glanced across the street to Oregon’s shop. Grace was with her, helping. The town’s fall festival was just around the corner and Oregon had a lot to do in order to have enough inventory.

  He just hoped Grace wasn’t overdoing it. He should check on her. Then again, he shouldn’t. The other day he had told Grace to get plenty of rest. He’d almost asked if she was drinking enough water. Then he’d reminded himself it wasn’t really any of his business.

  She wasn’t his business. She could stay in Martin’s Crossing or she could go back to Fort Worth. Either way, she wasn’t his. That baby wasn’t his.

  The past few days he’d done his best to give her space, knowing she was fine. Oregon could take care of her. He needed to get his bearings back.

  His dog missed her, though.

  He headed for his truck, and Lilly came running out of the shop and headed his way. “Uncle Brody, wait up.”

  “What’s up, Lil?”

  “Mom said to ask if you could give me a ride home. I want to brush Chief and get him ready for tonight.”

  “You know I can. Is your dad going to make it home in time to get him loaded in the trailer, or do you want me to haul the two of you to town?”

  “He should be home in time, but if he doesn’t, that would be great.”

  “Okay. Tell your mom you’re going with me.”

  She hugged him and ran off. “Thanks, Brody.”

  Lilly had the energy of a Texas tornado. Last year when he’d first come home, she’d made life easier, kept him smiling. He’d do anything for Lilly.

  When he pulled the truck up to Oregon’s, Lilly didn’t come out of the shop alone. She tugged Grace along behind her. Grace, whose belly had rounded a little in the past couple weeks. He wasn’t sure if a guy was supposed to notice, but he did. And he felt a strange sense of longing he
hadn’t expected and didn’t want to define.

  The truck door opened and Lilly leaned in. “Can Grace have a ride home?”

  “Of course.” Why not? He enjoyed torturing himself. He moved the file on the seat next to him and shoved it in the pocket of his door.

  Grace slid in next to him. She smelled of cinnamon and pumpkin.

  “You going to the rodeo tonight?” Small talk, he told himself, would make the ride a lot easier.

  “I think so. That’s why I’m headed home. I’m going to rest up and get ready. I’ve got glue and paint all over my hands and arms.” She held out her arms and he nodded when he saw the streaks of paint. “Oregon is teaching me her crafts. I think I won’t give up nursing because I’m definitely not crafty.”

  “Oregon does have a gift,” he agreed.

  Lilly groaned. “This is painful.”

  Brody shot her a look and she clamped her lips shut. Next to him, Grace giggled a little. It was a sweet sound. He laughed, because it was contagious.

  “She’s right,” Grace said.

  “Yeah, well, don’t let her know that.”

  “At least I lightened the mood in here,” Lilly informed them. “You should thank me.”

  “Thank you, Lilly,” Grace responded, and her hand reached for his.

  He wasn’t sure he felt thankful. Not when her hand on his felt more like her taking hold of his heart.

  * * *

  A few hours later Grace walked toward the back of the rodeo grounds where trucks that pulled horse and livestock trailers were parked. Horses were being saddled, kids were playing in the grass and George Strait played from someone’s stereo. Near one familiar trailer, Duke pulled Oregon close and they slow danced, looking very much like a couple in love.

  A twinge plucked at her heart. Envy? Because she wanted to be part of a couple. She wanted to do this right, give the baby a family with two parents. She’d been avoiding those thoughts, trying to pretend it didn’t matter.

  But deep down, it did.

  “Hey, there you are.” Lilly came out from behind the trailer leading her pretty deep red chestnut horse. The animal’s head lifted, ears twitching as he studied his surroundings.

  “He’s ready to go,” Grace observed.

  “Yeah, he knows what this is all about. It’s our first year together, but we bought him from a family in San Antonio and their daughter barrel raced.”

  “I bet you don’t often lose,” Grace noted, running a hand down the horse’s sleek neck.

  “Not often, but Dad tells me not to get arrogant. Everyone loses. Play fair and always be happy when someone else has a chance to win.” She repeated what she’d probably been told more than once.

  “That’s good advice.”

  “Yeah.” Lilly grinned. “But I still like to win.”

  “Don’t we all,” Brody said as he joined them. “Tie him up and go grab a burger.”

  “I’m not...”

  He pointed at her, and Lilly tied the horse to the side of the trailer. Grace watched as the girl ran off, joining friends as they headed for the concession stand.

  “Are you hungry?” Brody offered.

  “No. I ate before I left.” She looked around, unsure of what to say now. She could tell him she didn’t like the distance between them, going days without seeing him. But that was too dangerous. It meant something, this attachment to him.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked, because she couldn’t think of anything better to say.

  “Not really.”

  She sat down on the tailgate of the truck and he sat next to her, stretching long legs clad in faded jeans. The sun was still hovering on the western horizon and the air had cooled to a somewhat comfortable eighty degrees. She breathed in, relaxing next to his quiet presence.

  “How have you been feeling?” she asked when he shifted, bending his knee a couple of times before straightening his leg again.

  “I’m good. Better. I shouldn’t have put off going to the doctor for as long as I did.”

  “We all do it. I have an appointment at the end of next week. But Monday I’m going to Fort Worth.”

  “You’re making the drive to Fort Worth? Are you going to the doctor there, too?”

  Was that concern in his voice? She glanced at him, saw the tight lines of his mouth and the way his blue eyes focused on the distant hills and not on her.

  “I thought I should see my grandparents. They’re back this weekend. And I need to go home eventually. At this point I’m the uninvited guest who hasn’t left.”

  “I don’t think anyone is in a hurry for you to go home.”

  She reached for his hand, holding it tight and raising it to kiss his knuckles. “Sweet of you to say, but I know that my presence here hasn’t been easy, and I know that Lilly wants her room back. She took one of her posters to Oregon’s room because she missed it.”

  He smiled at her, and she reveled in it, in the way it shifted the handsome features of his face, made him more accessible, more the man she’d known a year ago. She missed that man, her friend.

  She wouldn’t hurt him again.

  “Lilly likes having you around. It gives her something to...”

  Grace waited for him to finish but she already knew the way the sentence ended. “Something to pester you about?”

  “Yeah, pretty much. I need to go check on the steers in the pen. Want to walk with me?”

  “Sure.” She hopped down off the tailgate of the truck and didn’t reach for his hand. As much as this felt like their time together last summer, it wasn’t.

  Sometimes she couldn’t remember why she’d broken up with him. Because she liked him too much? Or he liked her too much? It didn’t matter. Not now.

  They walked together, not touching, past horse trailers, past people she barely knew but Brody had grown up around. She saw Duke on his big gray gelding, leaning down to pull Oregon into the saddle with him.

  Brody stopped at a pen holding a half dozen steers. He leaned against the metal rails of the enclosure and Grace leaned in next to him, resting her arms on the cold metal.

  Finally she asked the question she’d been putting off. “Brody, will you go with me to Fort Worth?” She didn’t look at him. Instead, she watched the steers circling the enclosure, pushing at one another, pawing the dry earth. Restless. She knew how they felt.

  They wanted freedom. They wanted out of this pen where everyone watched. They wanted wide-open spaces, far away from the plans that had been made for them.

  “Do you need me to drive you?” His voice was low, curious.

  “No, but you need to go. Brody, I want you to see your mom. We could make a side trip to Dallas.”

  He backed away from her, away from the pen. Grace looked at him and he shook his head, repositioning his hat and then turning to land that steady blue gaze on her. “I don’t think so. I’ll take you, but I don’t have a reason to see Sylvia Martin.”

  “Yes, you do.” She reached for him, tugging at his shirt sleeve and pulling him close. “You have to face her with the questions you’ve wanted to ask.”

  “I should confront a woman who probably doesn’t remember me?”

  “You don’t know that.”

  He shook off her hand and started to walk away. She remained next to his side as he headed for his truck and trailer. “Brody, there’s a chance she will know you. Does it really matter? You need to see her, whether she knows you or not.”

  “I don’t think so, Grace. I’m pretty good at letting go of the people who don’t want to be in my life.”

  The words hit hard and she stopped walking, stopped following after him. He didn’t seem to care. But she did. Her heart broke for him, and with him and maybe because of him.

  She wanted him happy. She wanted him who
le. She wanted him in her life. She froze at that thought, that unbidden, unacceptable thought.

  Chapter Ten

  Brody knocked on the door to Oregon’s house at 7:00 a.m. Monday morning. Inside he heard Oregon tell him to come on in. For a second he thought maybe he would change his mind. That he’d get back in his truck and they’d never know it had been him at the door.

  Before he could make that great escape, the door opened and Oregon gave him a long, steady look. She pushed open the storm door, forcing him off the front stoop.

  “You coming in?”

  “I considered leaving. But here I am, all dressed up and nowhere to go.”

  She swept her gaze over his new jeans, plaid shirt and best boots. “You’re wearing a knee brace.”

  “That’s the first thing you notice?”

  “Yeah, sorry. You do look nice, but you’re not the Martin brother I’m interested in, so basically you just look like a cleaned-up cowboy who happens to be chasing after someone else.”

  “I’m not chasing anyone. And I’m using the knee brace until I have surgery to clean up the cartilage in my knee.”

  “I didn’t know you were having another surgery or that you’d been to the doctor again,” she said as she motioned him in. “Come on in. I have coffee. And Grace, whom I’m sure is the person you’re here to see, is getting ready to go to Fort Worth.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to drive her.”

  “Oh, she must not know that. She had me take her to get her car out of Jake’s garage. She figures it’s safe to drive it now that Lincoln is locked up.” Oregon poured him a cup of coffee and he took a seat at the table in the center of the kitchen “So about this surgery?”

  “I went to the doctor last week and they’ve decided to do surgery. No big deal. It’s outpatient. He said I can probably drive myself home.”

  “When?”

  “I’m not going to have it done until January. I have a lot going on between now and then. We’re doing a charity drive for Christmas, and I have some meetings with state workers about the horse camp.”

  “Brody, that camp is going to be a great thing. Have you ever thought that it could turn into more than just a day camp? With cabins and workers, you could let kids stay on the ranch for a few days.”