The Rancher and the Vet

by Julie Benson

  “Then she’s here?”

  He nodded. “She’s in her room. I was about to tell her dinner’s ready.”

  “Thank God. I was so worried when I came home and she wasn’t there. Have you two talked? She was so upset when I saw her.”

  “What? Why’s Jess upset? She was fine when I picked her up from school.” Worry and confusion filled Reed’s gaze.

  Jess was here, but they hadn’t talked? The hairs on the back of Avery’s neck stood up. Something wasn’t right. She tore through the hallway shouting Jess’s name. “Which room is hers?”

  “First door on the left,” Reed said from behind her. “What’s wrong?”

  Not bothering to knock, she burst into the room, finding it empty. She faced Reed. “You didn’t even know she was gone? When was the last time you saw her?”

  “After we got home I went into the office to work, and she went to her room.”

  “School ended at three-twenty. She showed up at my house at four in tears.” Avery glanced at her watch. “That was almost two hours ago. How could you do this to Jess? How could you hurt her like this when she loves you so much?”

  “What do you think I did?”

  “Her grandparents called. They said to thank you for getting the homeowners’ association to make an exception for Jess to live with them. Tell me it’s not true. Tell me you didn’t want to dump her on her grandparents.”

  Tell me you weren’t leaving me, too.

  “Wait a minute. I put that in motion weeks ago. I’d forgotten about it.”

  “How could you even think about doing that when you knew how she felt about living in a retirement community?” Avery’s voice rose with her anger. “You knew she’d threatened to run away, and you didn’t care. How could you be so callous?”

  “I’m not. Colt and I talked about this. He knew how nervous I was about making mistakes with Jess. He said if Jess agreed, he was okay with her staying with her grandparents. I didn’t even know the approval came through, and if I had, I’d have talked to her. I never would’ve made her go to Florida if she didn’t want to.”

  What he said sounded so reasonable, so logical, but could she believe him? Would Jess? “We’ve got to find her. I really think she’s run away.”

  * * *

  REED MASSAGED THE KNOT that had formed in his neck. Damn. How could everything hit the fan at once? He needed to leave for Denver soon or he wouldn’t make his flight. The longer it took him to reach California, the more time elapsed before legal measures went into place. His business, his livelihood, all he had was on the line right now. His employees’ livelihoods hung in the balance, as well.

  “Slow down. You could be jumping to conclusions.” His heart raced as he worked to logically assess the situation. He scanned Jess’s room searching for any noticeable changes. Clothes lay scattered across the floor and on various pieces of furniture. The place looked like the same disaster zone. “Jess can’t have run away. Look. All of her stuff’s still here.”

  The rattle of dog tags sounded behind them in the hallway, and his heart rate slowed. He turned and, for the first time since he’d arrived, was genuinely glad to see Thor. Thank God the mutt was still here. “Jess wouldn’t leave Thor if she ran away. She’s probably at a friend’s house.”

  “We’ve got to call the police,” Avery insisted.

  “They’ll ask if we’ve contacted all her friends and where we’ve searched.” He pulled out his cell phone and called his niece. After four rings, her voice mail kicked in. “Jess, I heard your grandparents called. Let me explain what happened. Call me as soon as you get this message. It’s not what you think.”

  He turned to Avery. “Colt has a couple of PTA directories in his desk. We can use those to call people to find out if anyone’s seen her.”

  Once back in the office, he dug around in the top drawer and pulled out two small purple booklets. “I’ll take last year’s. She’s talked to you more about her friends than she has me.” He handed the other booklet to Avery. “It’ll take me an hour and a half to get to the airport. When I get there I’ll call to see what you’ve discovered, and I’ll make more calls. That is, if we haven’t heard from Jess by then.”

  “You’re still going?” Avery shook her head as disappointment hardened her gaze.

  “I have to. The D.A. said I have to file charges in person. I’ve got an appointment first thing in the morning. Having criminal charges in the works will strengthen my case for the injunction. My company’s invested a lot of money and time in the SiEtch project. Losing it could bankrupt me, and put all my employees out of work. I’ve got some money saved, so I’d be fine, but not everyone does.”

  “I’ll find Jess. I’ve come to love that girl, you know. I defended you to her. I told her that she was wrong, that you loved her—”

  “I do.”

  “If you did, you’d have been out the door to search before I finished telling you what had happened. I thought you’d changed. I was a fool to fall in love with you again.”

  “You love me?” Joy burst through him, white-hot and blinding.

  “The man I love would never do this to Jess. She feels you abandoned her just like her mother did. You’re not the man I thought you were.” Avery stormed to the front door.

  “Avery, that’s not fair.” He reached out to her, but she stepped away.

  “Go to California. I hope everything works out with your business. I hope it fills the hole deep inside you.”

  “I don’t have a choice. If I don’t go, I could lose everything.”

  “You don’t get it, do you? You’ve already lost everything that matters.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Thirty minutes outside town, the words Avery had hurled at him pounded in his head, leaving Reed with a massive headache. He kept telling himself that Jess hadn’t run away. She couldn’t have gone far without her clothes and Thor. He had time to make things right with her once he ensured his business wouldn’t go belly-up. Then he could fix things with Avery.

  He had to save his business. People counted on him to protect their jobs. It was all he had.

  It was all he had?

  If he died tomorrow, who’d show up at his funeral? Colt and Jess, if her father tied her up and hauled her to the service. Some of his employees would come, but how well did he know any of them? What a damned sorry commentary on his life.

  Was that what he wanted at the end of his life? To look back and have nothing to show for himself but a company?

  He thought about his mom, how much he’d loved her and how she’d always encouraged him. When she’d died, he’d been angry at her for leaving him and Colt alone to cope with their father. He’d raged against her, wondering if she’d left his father things would’ve been different. She’d been the only one who had thought he could take on the world. The only one other than Colt who believed in him.

  Until Avery.

  What the hell had he done? He’d been running for years. He realized now, trying to prove something to a man who, even when he’d been alive, hadn’t possessed the ability to love or approve of anyone.

  His father was long cold in the grave, but he still controlled Reed’s life and his choices.

  How could he throw away what he had with Avery and Jess?

  If his business failed, he could start over. He could get a job. Hell, he could move in with Colt and put his energy into making the Rocking M the best damned horse ranch in the country. He had options, and he’d pull any and every string he could to see that his employees found jobs, too. His business wasn’t everything.

  Avery and Jess were his life. Family. That’s what mattered. What lasted. Avery had helped him, even when he’d been a complete ass. She’d been there for him...smoothing things over with Jess.

  All those years ago when he’d
desperately wanted and needed a family, he’d never seen that he had one. With Avery. Her family took him in. Her parents treated him the way they did their own children. They’d encouraged him, supported him and helped him through the worst time in his life. He’d had everything he’d ever wanted with Avery, and he’d thrown it all away because he’d been afraid he’d turn into his father.

  His mother had let fear rule her life. Fear of his father. Fear of living on her own and having to provide for her sons had kept her with an abusive man. Reed refused to live that way any longer.

  He turned into a gas-station parking lot. He had to get back home. The word rattled around in his head. Estes Park, home? The thought ricocheted through him. It was home, and he was in love with Avery. Hell, he’d probably never stopped loving her.

  He knew that he wanted her in his life—forever.

  As he pulled back onto the highway to head home, he prayed it wasn’t too late to undo the damage he’d done with both her and Jess.

  * * *

  AVERY AND HER MOTHER CALLED everyone they could think of, and no one had seen Jess since school ended. They’d enlisted the rest of the McAlisters to search. Even Maggie with little Michaela in her stroller went around town asking businesses if they’d seen Jess. The longer they went without finding a trace of the teenager, the more certain Avery became that she’d run away.

  Her panic and her anger multiplied. How could Reed have left for California? Couldn’t he see that the trouble with his company was nothing compared to the situation with Jess?

  He insisted they weren’t sure Jess had run away. They might not have been then, but Avery was positive now. When she talked with him later, if he wouldn’t call the police, then she would, and she’d contact Colt. She’d do whatever she had to in order to find Jess before something happened to her.

  Oh, Lord. A devastated fourteen-year-old girl on the run. A predator or pimp’s prime dream.

  Her cell phone rang.

  “Any news?” Reed asked.

  “Nothing. My family’s been searching since you left. No one’s seen Jess since school got out.”

  “What about Lindsey?” Reed’s voice broke. “Have you talked to her?”

  Tears pooled in her eyes and she bit her lip to keep from crying. “They haven’t spoken much since Jess started volunteering at the shelter, but I tried her, too.”

  “I’m on my way back. I’ll be there in half an hour, tops. It’s going to be tough reaching Colt. Contact the National Guard for help with that. After I talk to my brother, I’ll call the police and ask them to issue an Amber Alert.”

  Reed was coming back. Maybe he wasn’t a lost cause.

  When she met him at the door twenty minutes later, she found his face drawn, features tight.

  “You came back for Jess.”

  “Not just for her. I couldn’t leave things like they were between us, either. Nothing matters if I don’t have you in my life.” He stepped inside and wrapped his arms around her, and her anger disappeared as the need to comfort him washed over her. Whatever was or wasn’t between them, they’d deal with it later when Jess was safe.

  “Reed, I’m so worried.”

  He stepped away. “Me, too. She’s such a wonderful kid, and I hurt her so badly.”

  She recognized the pain in his eyes. He had changed. Looking into his anguish-filled eyes, she knew he finally saw things from Jess’s viewpoint.

  “A chaplain’s waiting for your call. He’ll put you in touch with Colt via Skype.”

  Reed nodded as she led him into the ranch office. Looking at him seated behind the massive oak desk that had once belonged to her father, she remembered what he’d said about the last time he’d been in this room. Now here he was, his life in turmoil again. She scooted an armchair closer to the desk as he waited to connect with his brother.

  “Colt, I’ve screwed things up with Jess.” Reed told his brother about his conversation with the reporter. “I don’t know what happened, but the association changed their minds, and I never got word. Your in-laws called Jess before I had a chance to explain things to her. It looks like she ran away.”

  Weariness and guilt lined Reed’s face. His shoulders hunched. Avery placed her hand over his and squeezed, wishing she could do more.

  “Don’t beat yourself up,” Colt said. “It’s as much my fault as yours. I told you I was okay with what you were doing. Just find her.”

  “Do you know anywhere she might have gone?”

  “You’ve checked with all her friends?” Colt asked, fear similar to his brother’s evident on his face.

  “Avery’s called everyone she can think of, and her family’s searched the town. No one’s seen Jess since school. Is there anyone she’d confide in?”

  Avery leaned closer to the screen. “Colt, there has to be something we’re missing. Something we haven’t thought of. Does Jess have any friends we might not know about? A friend she met at camp or somewhere like that?”

  “That’s it.” Reed beamed at her. His hand covered hers, and squeezed. “Colt, when we talked on the phone that first time, you said Jess’s best friend moved soon after Lynn died. Where does she live?”

  “Hannah’s in Chicago.”

  Adrenaline coursed through Reed, shoving aside his panic. He knew where Jess was. Knew it in his gut. “And Jess has the credit card you gave her in case of emergency.”

  While he asked his brother where he kept the account information, Avery opened the drawer in front of her and retrieved paper and pen. Then she jotted down the information Colt gave them.

  “I’m at Avery’s right now. When I get the company’s phone number, I’ll call to see if Jess booked a flight. That’ll be quicker than trying to find her computer and tracing it that way.”

  “And the airport wouldn’t think twice about a teenager flying alone, especially because only ticketed passengers can go to the gate,” Avery added.

  “I pray you’re right,” Colt said, his voice shaking with emotion.

  “I’ll let you know what we find out.”

  Five minutes later, they were in Colt’s office and Reed was on the phone with the credit-card company. He learned Jess had purchased a one-way ticket to Chicago.

  “Jess booked a nine-forty flight to Chicago.” Reed called information and asked for the Denver police department’s number. His heart drummed painfully in his chest as he prayed Jess had arrived at the airport in one piece. A lot of things could happen to a young girl alone between Estes Park and Denver. While she acted all tough and self-sufficient, working with Jess at the shelter and watching her with Avery had shown him her kind heart. She could be so trusting. What if someone preyed on that?

  His hand shook as he laced his fingers with Avery’s. She peered up at him, when she asked, “What if something’s happened to her? What if some nutcase found her?”

  “Jess is a smart girl. The situation with her friends and the court taught her a lot about blindly trusting people. She’d be cautious.”

  He prayed he was right. When the police answered, he explained the situation and gave the officer Jess’s flight information. He turned to Avery. “I’m on hold. They’re calling airport security to see if she’s there.”

  He squeezed Avery’s hand as elevator music filled his ears. What if they didn’t find her? He placed his phone on the smooth mahogany desk and put it on Speaker. Whatever they learned, he wanted Avery to hear it firsthand.

  “The airline shows she boarded the plane,” said the voice over the phone. “Security is on the way to remove her from the flight. They’ll hold her until you get there. We’re sending an officer, as well.”

  Reed started shaking and tears filled his eyes as the stranglehold on his heart loosened. After he ended the call, he grabbed Avery. He held her for a minute as relief flowed through his veins. Jess had
n’t paid the price for his stupidity. “Right after I hug the daylights out of her, I’m going to blister her ears. How could she put herself in such danger by going to Denver alone?”

  Avery’s tears soaked his shirt. He kissed her temple and released her. “Call your family and the chaplain so he can contact Colt. Tell them we’ve found Jess. I’m heading to the Denver airport to get her.”

  “I’m coming, too.”

  He swiped a hand across his eyes. Things could have turned out so differently. Apparently God did, indeed, as his mother used to say, protect fools and children. At least, He had this time.

  * * *

  ONCE ON THE ROAD TO DENVER, Avery called her mother and the chaplain with the news that they’d located Jess. When she finished those tasks, Reed said, “I meant what I said. Nothing matters—success, money, my company, none of it—if I don’t have you in my life. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, marry you, but—”

  “Yes.” Joy burst within her as tears spilled down her cheeks. She thought she’d gotten over him, that she’d stopped loving him, but she hadn’t. She’d merely buried her emotions and quit feeling much of anything. She’d given up on men and on love.

  “Are you sure? I’m a mirror image of my father. What if we’re alike in more ways than just our looks?” His hands tightened on the steering wheel and a vein throbbed wildly in his neck. “I nearly beat him to death. What if I lose control like that again? You’re so wonderful. Your family’s great. The kind that accepts everyone who walks in the door. I don’t deserve you.”

  “That’s what this is all about? You’re worried you’re not good enough for me?”

  Reed nodded.

  “May I get down from the pedestal please?” Avery asked.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’ve put me on a pedestal, and that’s not where I want to be. I’d rather walk along beside you.”

  “I spent so much of my life being angry. At my mother for not leaving my father, for dying. At my father for being such a bastard. Since being back here, what I’ve been feeling scares me.”