by Lexie Ray
“Why’d you do it, Bud?” I asked. “Why’d you feel like you had to do something like this? You have an empire over here. You’re enormously successful. Why would you do it?”
“I’m advising you of your right to remain silent,” the sheriff said. “Anything you say or do will be used against you in a court of law.”
“You’re not — but that’s — you can’t arrest me,” he pleaded, as the sheriff retrieved his own pair of cuffs to secure Bud’s hands. “I’m not being arrested. No. This isn’t how this works. I want to call my lawyer.”
“All in good time,” the sheriff said, unperturbed. “You can do that once you get to the station.”
“You little shits,” Bud said, glaring daggers at Tucker and me. “This is all your fault.”
“Looks like it’s your fault, Bud,” I said, amazed at how calm I felt. Nature was reasserting itself. This was all coming to an end. “Sheriff, I think you ought to maybe ask him about a spate of cattle thefts in the area, too. If the man was willing to poison our herd, I doubt he’d hesitate to steal our cattle as well.”
“I think that sounds like a plan,” the sheriff said.
“You brats didn’t deserve to inherit what you did,” Bud hissed as the officer led him away. “You didn’t work for that land, and you don’t deserve what’s on it.”
“That land’s been in our family for generations,” Tucker said. “No one else deserves it but us.”
“You all want to see what he’s got in his barn?” the sheriff asked.
“No, I’m good,” I said. “You all will know what to do with all of that.”
“You’re going to get compensated — in a big way — for what was lost,” the sheriff told me. “When everyone heard about what happened … well, it just made people reel. Those kinds of things aren’t supposed to happen here. There’s a certain way of life we’re used to, a small town charm. People like the Corbins. They like your family’s ranch. They respect the fact that you’re still doing it in the old way, the way that was important to your parents to preserve. People who appreciate the past deserve to go about their business however they want to. Bud’s operation was a blight on this town. It’s not ranching at all, not in the way we’re proud of. I’m trying to tell you that everything’s going to be all right, now.”
“I know it is,” I said, and I did. I believed every word. Who knew what would happen to Bud’s operation after this? Whatever wasn’t settled in the criminal case would get wrapped up in the civil case. We’d sue the pants right off of him.
We wouldn’t want for money. That much was clear. It didn’t have to rain for whole years. That was the kind of settlement we would get on this.
“We’ll keep you apprised of the situation here,” the sheriff said, turning to Tucker.
“We’d appreciate that.”
“I’d advise you to lawyer up,” he added, looking back at me. “Bud’s got a good lawyer, but I don’t see how he would be able to talk himself out of this one.”
“That’s good advice,” I said. “Thanks for your help in this.”
“Thank you,” the sheriff said. “If it’s true, him being involved in the cattle thefts, that’ll solve a real problem for people. That was a blight on this place. Made people feel unsafe.”
We shook hands with the sheriff and as many officers as we passed by on our way back to the truck, and I drove off without so much as a backward glance.
“I can’t believe all of that just happened,” Tucker said, passing a hand over his eyes. “We’re not dreaming, are we?”
“Kind of like waking up from a long nightmare, isn’t it?” Everything was finally making sense. Bud’s eagerness to buy our property. We wouldn’t sell to him, so he did everything he could to try and drive away our business — and our family.
“I’ll be glad to tell everyone once we get home, but I’m afraid they won’t believe me.” He blinked at me. “Chance, we’ll be able to start the dude ranch. Rebuild the herd. Expand operations, even. Everything is going to get better.”
“I know it is,” I said. “Everything is going to get better.”
Chapter 10
Tucker and I told the rest of my brothers everything as soon as we got home. For the first time in probably our entire time running this ranch, everything was going to be okay. It was still hard to fathom. I arranged for a meeting with the family lawyer in preparation of the court cases. Everyone left the house and got back to the grim task of disposing of the cattle carcasses, but with much lighter hearts. Everything was finally going to be okay.
The next thing I did was call Zoe. She could come home, now. There was no reason not to. We could work on our marriage and make each other happy, especially now that I wasn’t stressed out about the ranch anymore. We could have our happily ever after now that Forrest was out of the picture indefinitely.
“It’s over,” I said, the first words I said as soon as she answered the phone, breathless with my own success, my heart threatening to sprout wings and take flight from my chest. “Come home. Come back to me. Everything is over.”
“What is it that you think it’s over?” Zoe asked, our phone connection crackling a little bit. Where was she? Was she that far away from me that not even a phone call could bring us back together?
“Everything,” I said. “No more cattle thefts. No more poisonings. We got who was responsible.”
“Really? That’s wonderful, then.” I could hear the smile in her voice, and I ached to see it in person again. It just hadn’t been the same without her around here. Everyone felt her absence. Even the various bats and balls Toby had played with out in the yard were difficult to look at without feeling sad, abandoned in the grass.
“You’ll never guess who it was.” This was the most important part, the part that made her come back home again.
“Someone jealous of the ranch, I’ve always betted,” she said.
“You should become a detective,” I said. “I’ll ask Tuck to make some phone calls. The police force here could use someone like you.”
“Now you’re being an asshole.” But that smile was still in her voice. I wished I could reach out and touch her, hold her to me. Having all of the thefts and poisonings behind us with a clear culprit who was now in jail was such a relief. All I wanted to do was laugh and dance around like a lunatic and have someone to take in my arms and spin around and kiss. Why was that so hard? Why wasn’t Zoe here with me now to help me celebrate?
“I’m not being an asshole,” I said. “The person was employed by the operation that has been trying to buy the ranch — Bud Billings’ place.”
“I remember that son of a bitch,” she said, relishing the insult. “He’s a real piece of shit, isn’t he? Is he going to jail?”
“I hope so, but I kind of doubt it,” I admitted. Bud was an oily bastard. I was sure he’d try to wriggle out of this, try to make some kind of deal. “But there’s enough heat on him that it’ll make him back off — hopefully for good. We’re considering a lawsuit, though, since it was his employees who have been plaguing us. And he’s going to pay a lot — enough so that we’re not going to have money problems on the ranch for a long time.”
“But someone’s going to jail, right?”
“That’s right. And one of the perpetrators is someone you know.”
“I keep terrible company, apparently,” she said, her voice colored with confusion. “What’s his name?”
“Why, Forrest Holland.”
“Fuck.”
After her flat, surprised curse, I realized that I had expected her to react joyfully. I wanted her to be happy that the father of her child, the one who had driven her from the place she’d been calling home, away from me, was in jail and away from her and Toby. I thought she would laugh or shout or agree immediately to return to the ranch now that it really was safe. This wasn’t going according to plan. I wasn’t sure why I thought it would.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, my stomach feeling like a stone i
nside of me. “I thought you would be excited.”
“I … I don’t know what I am,” she confessed. “I guess I’m grateful he’s behind bars. He’s deserved to be behind bars for years.”
“He can’t hurt you or Toby anymore,” I said. “That’s what’s important.”
“I mean, I guess,” she said. “Until some fucker bails him out. Or he gets paroled. Or his sentence is up.”
“I don’t think any of that will happen anytime soon.”
“You’re right.” Zoe sighed and seemed to snap herself out of whatever funk she had fallen into. “I guess we should appreciate this peace while we have it. It’ll be good to stop living out of motel rooms. And Toby’s been eager to get back to school. I hope he hasn’t fallen too behind in his class.”
“You’re coming home, then?”
“Yes, we’ll be coming back to the ranch.”
I noticed that she had avoided using the word home, and wondered about it, but I was too thrilled for everything, to see her again, to know that the ranch was safe once and for all.
To be happy, at long last.
“I miss you,” I said quietly. “I’m glad you’re coming back.”
“I’ll see you soon,” she said. “We’ll pack up here and get on the road as soon as we can. Avoid paying another night for this hotel room.”
“Zoe, I can reimburse you for anything you might’ve spent,” I said. “Don’t worry about any of that.”
“We can talk once Toby and I are back,” she said. “Goodbye, Chance.”
“Okay, bye.” Why did that sound so ominously final? I had to just be hearing things, still jittery from all the excitement of this morning. The reality was that I was just eager to have Zoe and home and by my side again.
Time dragged by, and I did all I could think of to fill it. I had no idea where Toby and Zoe had been staying, no idea how long it would take for them to drive back to the ranch. I tidied up as best I could, getting in Amelia’s way. I tried to do some paperwork, but realized that everything would need to be updated with data on the poisoning. I took a shower. Got dressed. Paced around. Changed clothes three times, not sure what looked best on me to greet her. I was polishing my boots when I heard the front door open.
“Home, sweet home!” Toby bellowed, and Amelia squealed with glee.
I rushed out to see Zoe hauling in the same suitcase I’d seen her stuff with her belongings, and Toby hugging Amelia before scampering out the front door again, eager, probably for play and the outdoors. I couldn’t imagine corralling him in a stuffy hotel room.
“Let me get that,” I said, striding forward and taking the suitcase from her.
“Thanks, Chance,” she said, shoving her hair away from her face.
“It’s so good to see you.”
“It’s good to be back.”
I leaned down to kiss her, but she turned her face, accepting it on the cheek.
“I want to hear about everything that’s been happening,” she said.
“And I’ll tell you. But why don’t you just relax for a little bit? You’ve been on the road. You’re home, now. Let’s take this to the bedroom.”
I hauled the suitcase down the hall and Zoe followed, dragging her feet.
Once we were out of sight, I dropped the luggage and turned, tracing her delicate jaw line with my fingers.
“I’ve missed you so much,” I said. “I don’t want you to leave again.”
I tried to kiss her again, but she jerked free, irritated.
“Chance, just wait a goddamn minute, would you?”
I just couldn’t wrap my mind around what was going on. I was so happy that Zoe was back that it was ludicrous to think that she might not be as happy as I was. She held her hand in front of her mouth, her eyes squeezed closed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked finally. Because unless I was terribly mistaken, it looked like she regretted the fact that I had kissed her. Why would she regret that? We were in love, weren’t we? We were married. Her ex was in jail, and he wouldn’t bother us again. What was the problem?
“I just … thank you.” She clasped her hands in front of her body and took a couple of steps back before looking up at me.
“For what?” I was so confused, distressed that the happy reunion wasn’t quite as golden as I had wanted it to be.
“For everything, of course.” She tried a smile on, but it didn’t fit, slipping off her face again. “Taking Toby and me in. Giving me a job, the opportunity to make money to support myself. For really stepping up and going above and beyond what you should’ve had to do to protect us.”
It was just the kind of thing someone might say as they were saying goodbye.
“You don’t have to thank me for any of that,” I said. “At that point, we needed you just as badly as you needed us. It was one of those things that was meant to be.”
“And at this point, I think we can both say that it’s time to move on,” Zoe said, looking down again. “We did need each other back then. Forrest was a threat to Toby and me, and your hose was coming down around your ears. You have so much more support, now. Amelia is a better cook than I am, and she’d be pleased to help you all out since she and Tucker are married.”
“Zoe …” My stomach was in knots. This really was feeling like goodbye, even if I couldn’t wrap my mind around it yet. “We’re married, too, you know.”
“Well, about that.” She rooted around in her purse for a few moments and produced an envelope, trying in vain to straighten the wrinkles out of it before handing it to me. “We got married to keep Forrest from trying to take advantage of Toby and me. To keep him from winning custody. But now that he can’t do that from jail, there isn’t much point of staying married, right?”
My heart thudding in my chest, I opened the envelope with trembling hands. Inside of it were official-looking papers, already signed by Zoe and someone else I didn’t recognize — a lawyer.
Divorce. She wanted a divorce.
The realization hit me like a sledgehammer, and I wished there was a chair or something nearby that I could fall into. This had been the last thing I’d expected upon Zoe’s homecoming. I thought we would be happy again — or perhaps happy for the first time. That we could get on with our lives with Forrest trying to ruin everything. But I hadn’t expected that she didn’t want to be with me in the first place, that this marriage had simply been the only defensive action she thought she could take.
“You really want this?” I asked, not quite trusting my own voice. “A divorce? It’s what you really want?”
“Can you honestly say that the marriage was what you really wanted?” she asked. “I know that you didn’t want this kind of responsibility.”
“I don’t know that I would call being married to you a responsibility.”
“It is, though, that’s the thing.” She passed her hand over her eyes. “Because I happen to be a package deal, Chance. You can’t just marry me and have me all to yourself. You have to share me with Toby. I’m his mother.”
“I’m well aware of that fact.”
“Are you?” she countered. “You haven’t been very interested in having a relationship with him, even after you adopted him. He has better relationships with all of your brothers than he does with you, which doesn’t make a lick of sense to me. You’re the one who agreed to take him into your life. You’re the one who decided to be a father to him.”
“Zoe, I’m in love with you.”
She huffed in what might’ve been an attempt at a laugh. “I don’t have the luxury of just being with someone because I love them. That’s the part you just don’t fucking get, Chance. I have to think of Toby, of what’s best for him, and I don’t think you’re the best for him.”
“I think this ranch is what’s best for him,” I tried, feeling like I was grasping at straws, like I was standing on a cliff’s edge and the ground was crumbling underfoot. “He feels at home here, and he is at home here. A ranch is a great place to grow up — I can attest
to that.”
“I would like to stay here, if it isn’t going to be awkward between us,” Zoe said. “I agree. The ranch has become a home to Toby — a better home than he’s ever known. But if you wouldn’t feel right, us staying here after the divorce, then I guess we would have to move on. I’d understand. It’s tough.”
“Maybe I’m just not father material,” I said weakly, sensing an end to this disagreement that I couldn’t avoid. I couldn’t talk my way out of this one, couldn’t find the words to say to convince Zoe to drop the talk of divorce, and maybe I shouldn’t even try. I could see the importance of the argument she was making and couldn’t discount her that. I just felt like I’d had my own father in my life for such a short period of time that I was afraid I just didn’t know enough to be a father. There wasn’t anyone I could go to to ask about it. No quick phone calls about what to do in such-and-such situation. No pearls of wisdom. My parents had died when I was eighteen years old. The only advice my father had saw fit to impart me with at that point of time was ranching tips and encouragement for my bourgeoning football future.
“Not everybody is, and that’s all right,” she said. “What’s not all right is that Toby needs you to be a father to him — that I need you to do that for whatever family we could’ve had.”
“I feel like I’m letting you down,” I said. The divorce papers in my hand were as heavy as a cinderblock.
“You kind of fucking are, Chance. That’s the thing. I want this to work. I want us to be a family. I want nothing more than that. But if you’re incapable of being a father, then there’s no future in this.”
I just didn’t know how to be the man she wanted me to be, the father Toby had never had. I wished there was some kind of manual I could read to teach me that. Somebody I could ask.
Her eyes glimmering with tears, Zoe stood on her toes to kiss me on the cheek, her lips whisper soft.
“No hard feelings,” she murmured, unable to meet my eyes. “My situation is so goddamn complicated. I understand. I just … I wished this could’ve worked. I love you, too, but love isn’t enough sometimes. There are other things I need to consider — like my son.”