Amy looked at him, the earnestness in his face consoling. She nodded softly. “Well let’s see what tomorrow brings us. Thank you again. You really are a lifesaver.”
And for the first night in longer than Amy could remember, she slept... hard.
~~~
The next morning dawned bright, and hopeful. In the last twenty-four hours she’d gone from desperate desolation to hopeful optimism. The swinging pendulum of emotions could only be attributed to Ryland’s presence.
They got ready and fed Cody, and Ryland got them some breakfast. Back in the truck, they rode out towards Bess Ranch with directions from the motel manager.
Beautiful trees lined the drive, shading off the already rising sun.
Parked along the fence by the southern part of a large barn were a line of trucks and horses. Tucked into the hillside, the house was hidden in part by over-cropping rocks and other trees.
Ryland bypassed the tryouts for ranch hand positions and went straight to the main house.
Amy tagged along. Cody would be about ready to come out and go for a walk while Ryland asked his questions.
Climbing from the truck, Ryland came around and helped Amy out after she pulled Cody from his chair. The small boy snuggled into her arms and she put the pacifier into his mouth. He was awake for a little while, watching as the sun blinked overhead through the leaves.
Amy followed Ryland up to the front porch. He knocked the heavy-metal knocker over the metal ornate B on the large thick wood door.
A kindly older couple answered. “The tryouts for ranch hands are down at the stables. I don’t hire women for ranch hands.” The man was gruff but kindly as he took in Ryland and Amy’s appearance.
Ryland held out his hand. “Ryland Johnson, Sir. I’m not here for the ranch hand position. I’m looking for Nate Rourke. Rumor has it he’s been working here at the ranch for a couple days?”
The elderly man took Ryland’s hand and shook it, a new light in his eyes. “You know Nathan?” He looked back over his shoulder and motioned the older woman up to stand beside him. “Mother, they know that nice young man we just hired. His last name is Rourke. I didn’t know that. All he said was his name was Nathan.”
The woman came closer, her hands folded at her waist. She glanced from Ryland to Amy’s face and then her gaze traveled naturally down to the small bundle in Amy’s arms. The woman of the house widened her eyes and she reached out to softly touched Cody’s small back. “My, what a sweetheart. I’m Mary. This is Dean, my uncouth husband. We sure like that Nathan. He’s one sweet boy. He doesn’t talk much. But that can be fixed.” She smiled again at them. Her blonde and white hair fell down her back in a loose braid with curls around her face.
Dean motioned toward town. “I asked Nathan to run into town and grab me some more supplies. He should be at The Hardware Shop about now. I’m surprised you missed him, although he was riding that horse of his. I keep telling him horses are more of a help than he realizes. I couldn’t even get my truck out because of all the other guys parked there. Nathan, sure as heck, oh sorry, dear, just took his horse and walked right through the mess like it wasn’t even there.” He nodded his head and pulled up on the strap of his red suspender.
“Thank you for the offer. We’ll go back into town and see if we can find Nate – Nathan. I have some family business to discuss with him.” Ryland had taken off his hat and he turned it over in his hands while conversing with Dean.
“Oh, you’re family?” Dean narrowed his eyes at Ryland, his white eyebrows craggy and drawn together like a tight line.
“Yes, sir. I’m Nate’s younger cousin. We’re a pretty tight family. We can tell Nate’s missing. He’s a pretty big part of the family.” Ryland added in good-naturedly, “I’m not sure that I miss being wrestled around by that big guy, but other than that, he’s missed.”
Dean chuckled. “No, I don’t imagine you do.” He looked again from Amy to Ryland and then at Mary. “Well, my offer stands. Family of Nate is good enough reference for me. If you’re still looking for something to do after talking to Nate and you want a job, you’re welcome here.”
Pointing a gnarly knuckled finger at Cody, Dean tilted his head. “I’m sure we could find something to do for the little one, too. How about that, Mother? Maybe you could talk this nice young lady into helping you out around the house while you watch her little one.” Mary’s eyes widened once more as she considered her husband’s words.
She looked hesitantly at Amy. “Only if it’s something you’re interested in, dear. Don’t feel pressured to do anything. You guys run into town and the offer stands. If not, no hard feelings.” She smiled, and then again reached out and softly patted Amy’s shoulder.
Ryland and Amy looked at each other but said their goodbyes.
As they walked back to the truck, Amy couldn’t help glancing back at the house. She’d felt a spark there, like she might connect with those people. She hadn’t needed to say much, but in the best types of places you didn’t have to.
Would she get to go back? If she did, how long would it take for Buck to find her there?
Chapter 5
Ryland
Ryland wasn’t sure how he had gone from chasing after Nate to being responsible for a single mother and her child. Where he thought he would be upset, he strangely wasn’t. He liked having her around and the little boy was almost like a balm on his loneliness.
Laying there in the dark and listening to them breathe in the quiet hotel room had made his stark loneliness poignantly clear.
He carefully edged the truck down the drive, passed the other ranch hands that were trying out for the vacant jobs. Ryland glanced at Amy, as she held onto Cody’s fingers. She was always touching him which brought a smile to his lips. “What do you think about their offer?” He didn’t know what he thought about it for himself.
A safe place like that was rare. Especially when they seemed to be more interested in taking care of Amy and her baby than they were in making her work hard. As far as places to leave her and Cody, it was ideal, if he had to.
Bouncing on the edge of the seat, Amy tossed her hair back. “It’s amazing. She reminds me of how my mom used to be, sweet and just wanted to be around kids.” She glanced at her son and then back out the windshield. “My mom would’ve loved Cody.”
“She hasn’t met him?” Ryland’s forehead scrunched at the possibility of family not being involved in each other’s lives.
“No. She doesn’t know I had him.” She blinked hard and avoided looking at Ryland as she stared out the window.
“Where does your mom live?” Ryland didn’t understand why her own mother didn’t know about something so huge. Maybe she lived far away or she was so poor she didn’t have a phone. He didn’t know what reason justified keeping something like that a secret, but knowing Amy’s sweetness, she wouldn’t do it out of spite.
Sighing, Amy’s shoulders slouched forward as she huffed. “I didn’t like the way Buck treated her when she came to visit, so I asked her to stop coming. She really just didn’t like anything about him, but it embarrassed me... her seeing me like that. She told me once I had a baby with him, I’d never be free.” She sniffed, her chest rising rapidly. “She was right.” She glanced at him. “Sorry, that’s not what you asked.” She laughed at herself. “Missoula. My mom is in Missoula.”
Ryland let the silence sooth the shock of her answers. After taking a second to compose himself, he finally allowed his natural optimism to come out. “Well, Mary and Dean sounded sincere. You might keep their offer as an option.” Depending on Nate’s answer, Ryland might have to keep it as an option for himself as well.
Ryland pulled into a diagonal parking spot on the street in front of The Hardware Store. He stared at the sign with big block letters indicating the store The Hardware Store, The Grocery Store, and a small gas station that looked like it had seen better days and more cars than were measurable.
Amy climbed out of the truck, pulling Cody back into
her arms. “I’m going to go to the store and see if they have any formula. Can I meet you at the hardware store?” The yellow sunlight shone off her colorful curls. She smiled at him.
There was something about her that tugged at Ryland’s insides. He returned her smile like an idiot, nodding with a dopey grin. What was he doing? Get it together. Even his tiny pep talk didn’t keep him from calling out reassuringly. “I’ll be right in there. I won’t leave without you.”
He watched her walk away, her shapely curved hips swayed with each step as she carried her son in the store.
A soft nicker to his left drew Ryland’s attention. As if the pretty caramel colored mare had missed Ryland or knew that he was way too far from home, Nate’s horse shook her head at Ryland. The animal must have recognized Ryland.
As Ryland ambled by, he reached out and patted the silky smoothness of Missy’s mane. “Hey, girl, we miss you, too.”
Ryland’s boots scratched on the cement sidewalk as he made his way toward the hardware store’s door. Inside the door, Ryland took his hat off, tucking it against his side as he looked around the aisles and tools stacked inside. His cousin had to be in there. Ryland was getting sick of chasing after the man.
Scanning from the left to the right, Ryland narrowed his eyes until his gaze lit on Nate’s broad shoulders. His height would stand out anywhere, but at the counter and beside the diminutive woman ringing him up, he was even more impressive.
Ryland turned his hat over and over in his hands as he waited off to the side of the doors. He didn’t need to interrupt Nate. Nate wasn’t going anywhere without walking passed Ryland, whether he wanted to or not.
It didn’t take long for the cashier to bag up Nate’s items or for him to turn around. The light in his eyes had died and he almost didn’t focus on Ryland as he walked by, but his gaze flickered over to the left at the last second and he blinked. Coming to a stop, he narrowed his gaze at Ryland. His arms full of paper bags prevented him from reaching out and shaking Ryland’s hand or hugging him. Nate nodded tightly. “Why don’t I think this is a social call?”
The moment had come. He’d focused so hard on getting to the point where he was standing in front of his lost cousin, Ryland hadn’t planned on what he would say or what he would do. Did he tie him up and drag him home? Ignoring the illegal aspects associated with that move, the logistics didn’t work. Ryland was a big guy, but Nate was bigger.
He didn’t know what to say, so he tried to wing it. “No, Nate. It’s not social. I don’t know why I would come to Godfrey. It’s not even on the way to anywhere.” True, it was a gorgeous area, but it was small and far from family. Ryland was a hard core fan of Clearwater County. Godfrey was on the boundaries of nowhere.
“What do you want, little cousin?” Nate stared him down, the blue of his eyes a different shade than Ryland remembered. Could grief change a man so much it altered him physically?
The planes and angles of Nate’s face had taken on a harder, tighter cut, as if he’d been chiseled from marble. He wasn’t willing to be a soft version of himself. After the pain he’d been through, Ryland didn’t blame him.
“We need you home.” Ryland lifted his chin. He was one of the younger cousins, but that didn’t mean he needed to bow down to the likes of Nate or anyone.
“Well, I’m not going home. Now, if you...” Nate glanced up as Amy entered the store and approached them, a smile on her face.
Gold curls framed her face and gave her a youthful appearance that belied her trouble-filled life.
Nate narrowed his eyes more, glancing at the baby in Amy’s arms and then back at Ryland. His denial turned to derision. “You should stay away from me. I’m cursed. I can’t even keep the woman I love alive.” He glanced at Amy and then back at Ryland. His eyebrows raised and he tilted his head to the side. “Protect your heart, cousin. If something happens to her or anyone you care about, it’ll be trampled like a herd of Mustangs got a hold of it.”
His eyes softened imperceptibly as his gaze returned involuntarily to the baby. Without looking at Ryland, he murmured, “Run.”
Nate didn’t wait or even acknowledge Amy in a polite fashion. He pivoted on his heel and walked around them as if they were a cart in the way and nothing more. Outside, Nate tucked the bags of items into his saddle bags the rear flanks of his horse. He mounted Missy and pulled her harness from the post.
In seconds, he rode off toward Bess Ranch.
Ryland sighed, leaning back against the metal framework that the hardware store used for their storefront. He studied the lines of the tiled flooring as if his life depended on it. What should he do now? What was his next move? If he couldn’t get Nate to even talk to him for very long, he wasn’t going to succeed.
How was he going to get Nate to come home? They needed Nate home. Ryland wasn’t willing to give up.
Ryland softly murmured to Amy, “Don’t take his curtness the wrong way. I apologize for that. His wife just died... not too long ago. By ‘not too long ago’ I mean in the last month. She fought a long hard battle with cancer. Toward the end, she just kind of gave up. Nate’s been dealing with forgiving her and trying to find what’s worth living for. Again.”
Ryland tried not to feel the emotions of the loss too much. He really didn’t want to get wrapped up in the loss again.
Tears shined in Amy’s eyes as she glanced after Nate’s disappearing figure once more. “That’s awful. He must have loved her so much.”
Ryland looked down into Amy’s eyes. He spoke from his heart since it was a topic he thought about a lot. “I’ve never heard of a love like theirs.” He hadn’t. Something about the way they’d fought for each, through sickness and family problems spoke to something deep inside him.
He wanted that. He wanted to find something worth fighting for. No matter what he did though, he couldn’t shake the feeling he was riding an endless trail of loneliness.
Amy gazed up at him, her eyes wide and her sympathy strong. She’d joined him on the journey and Ryland couldn’t help jumping to the possibility that maybe she could be the one for him.
Stuck in the moment of longing Nate’s grief left behind, Ryland tried to pull himself out. He needed to get some air. Walking out into the sun, he readjusted his hat and braced his arms on the rear panel of the truck bed. He waited for Amy to join him by the truck.
He sensed her presence but he didn’t look her way. He stared at the grey and white sharp rocks ground into the dirty road top. Sighing, he lowered his head lower, his shoulders rounding. “Well, Amy, what do you want to do? I have a very specific goal that I have to accomplish, and it’s all wrapped up in Nate. If he stays here and works, then I’m staying here and, I guess, I’m working.”
He straightened, a need to look at her stronger than the need to think through his options. He met her gaze straight on, trying not to reach out and run his fingers over Cody’s soft hair. “Did you want to stay here? Or would you like me to give you a lift somewhere?”
Ryland didn’t know what he wanted to do with her. He certainly didn’t want to say goodbye to her. If he could help her stay safe out at Bess Ranch while she got to know some nice people and shore herself up with a better support system, that would be the best case scenario. He didn’t want to take Amy away from anything safe. If he got to go out to Bess Ranch, too, and spend some time with her while working Nate’s resolve, then it would be like roping two calves with one lasso. Not an easy feat.
Amy adjusted Cody’s face to tuck into her neck and she squinted in the morning sunlight. “Actually, I’m really interested in what the Besses offered. If they were serious about letting me stay out there, I’d like to see where that could lead. Do you think I could go with you?”
Ryland’s worry faded. He would get a chance to know Amy and work on Nate. Maybe things were going his way after all. He chucked her softly under the chin, just looking for a chance to touch her. “Let’s go. I don’t think there’s anything better than having a plan. They gave you a c
hance. Let’s take it.”
It wasn’t going to be a perfect fix. Nate still had to answer for abandoning the family. Maybe being around Nate on a more consistent basis would get Ryland the answers he was looking for. Maybe, just maybe, Ryland could convince Nate to come home. When that happened, if Amy didn’t want to come back to Taylor Falls, Ryland would have to make sure she and the baby were protected.
He hoped he could just ask her and she’d come. Trying to convince two people was going to be a lot harder than just the one.
Chapter 6
Amy
Amy chewed her lip as she rode in the truck next to Ryland. Even though Mary and Dean had offered a position to them and welcomed her and Ryland, if they wanted to come back to the ranch, would they feel the same if and when Amy and Ryland actually returned asking for the promised positions?
If she could get a part-time job to help her pay for Cody’s food, and pay for a small place, she could maybe be free of Buck, even if it was just for a little while. She had no doubt her ex would turn the whole state upside down looking for her, but at least a small reprieve would help her get some confidence back.
They pulled up in front of the main house. The log home had a faded red cedar stain that helped it fade into the shadows of the mountain.
Towering trees spread their boughs over parts of the roof and across the large river rock corner chimney. Elegant and rustic, the home had a presence over the valley as if the grasses on the plain and the creek running down the center performed for its pleasure.
Ryland leaned over and touched her shoulder, pulling her closer as if to tell her a secret just between them. “If, at any point you want to leave, just say so. I’m here for you, too. Not just Nate. If you need me...” His concern was heartwarming and it brought out a smile.
“Thanks. I really just want a soft place to fall.” She had a feeling that if she pushed, Ryland would become her safe spot.
Cody was fast asleep, and Amy pulled him carefully out of the car seat. He didn’t wake as she transferred him to her arms. Sliding from the cab of the truck, she followed alongside Ryland as he returned to the house.
Endless Trails Page 3