“Where’d you get that idea?” he asked, trying to keep it low-key. “I was only going to say I could give my promo people a call and see if they could recommend some ideas for your mama.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh,” he echoed, losing the effort to hold himself in check. “What do you know about charity, anyway?” he demanded. “I was at the receiving end of more handouts than you’ll ever see in your life.”
The light changed. The car jerked forward. Now he took a turn staring through the windshield. But he couldn’t seem to shut up. “Your family never needed anything from me, did they? Never wanted it, either.”
“You didn’t meet my family.”
“Not true.”
“My mother never told me.” It sounded like an accusation.
“She wouldn’t know. It wasn’t your mama I came across, anyhow, but your granddaddy.”
She gasped. “You spoke with my grandfather? About what?”
He heard the edginess in her tone. Even after all these years, the idea that he’d talked to the man upset her that much? “I asked to do some work around your property. Yank weeds, cut grass. He just stood there in the doorway of that big old house and informed me he had ‘no need to hire someone from the street.’”
She pulled the Toyota over to the curb in front of her office and threw the gearshift into Park. “You came to my house? Even after I’d asked you not to?”
Her voice shook, with rage or fear, he didn’t know. But he could tell she hadn’t gotten his meaning, maybe hadn’t even taken in the words he’d said. She’d focused on what worried her most.
“No,” he replied, as softly as he could. “That was before we were together.”
“Oh,” she said again. She ran her hands along the steering wheel. “Putting my foot in my mouth twice in one conversation, that’s a record for me.”
“It happens when people make assumptions.”
“I’m sorry, Caleb.” She looked away. “I…I’ll be right back.”
She’d opened the door and was out of the car before he’d taken his seat belt off.
All this, because he’d offered to help her mama. Would she have reacted as strongly if Harley had made the suggestion? Did she have a long history with the man, too? The questions left a bitter taste in his mouth.
He shouldn’t care about her relationships with other men. About her anger. Or her apology. Or what she thought about him.
He shouldn’t care about her at all.
Yet he did.
She hurried away from the Toyota, leaving him cooling his heels—but that’s about as far as it went. His thoughts about her continued to keep the rest of him heated. The questions he’d obsessed over since the night before wouldn’t leave him alone.
She crossed the sidewalk to her office, her dark curls gleaming in the sun. That pink shirt and her snug jeans sent his thoughts into a gallop. His memory, too. Once upon a time, he’d committed every inch of her to that memory. Did she ever think about that time, too? Maybe getting caught in her pajamas last night wasn’t the only reason she’d covered up almost to her chin today.
He shoved open the door and climbed from the car. As he straightened his left knee, pain arced through it, making him grit his teeth. That knock into the dashboard had set any progress he’d made back a notch.
He leaned against the Toyota and recalled, once again, the scene outside his bedroom door last night. The thought sparked yet more memories. Was the rest of her still as soft as he recalled? Still the same shade of peach all over?
He wiped his brow, suddenly as sweaty as if he’d spent the morning sunbathing on a beach.
Yeah, she’d gotten him heated—in mind and body both.
That knowledge, and the fact he couldn’t turn the feelings off, disgusted him. Just as he’d once disgusted her granddaddy.
The man had said a lot more to him that day, made comments he would never tell Tess. Or anyone. Comments about “streetwalkers” and “white trash” and “people who ought to stay where they belong.”
That memory made him hot all over, this time with shame. A shame he’d sworn he’d never let himself feel again.
Years ago, those times he and Tess spent together, she had left her house to meet him. She had slept with him. But she’d never taken him to meet her family. Never wanted to bring him around her friends. He didn’t have to ask why.
He wasn’t good enough for them.
He wasn’t good enough for anyone in Flagman’s Folly.
Yeah, well, that had changed. As she had said, he’d gotten rich. He’d make sure she knew just how much he was worth now. And he’d make damn sure everyone in town knew it, too.
Chapter Seven
A short while later, when the door of Wright Place Realty opened, Caleb forced his expression into neutral.
But it wasn’t Tess leaving the office. Instead, a tall, dark-haired man stepped out and closed the door behind him. Too tall for Joe Harley.
What business did this guy have with Tess?
He shook his head at his own resentful thought. Real estate business, of course. What else? And what was it to him? Nothing. Same as Nate’s claim that Harley wanted to marry her mama. He’d better remember that.
Hell, he’d do even better getting a handle on this sudden streak of jealousy he didn’t know he had.
To his surprise, the man walked toward him, grinning, with his hand outstretched.
“Hey, Caleb. Long time, no see.”
At the last second, Caleb recognized him. “Ben.” Ben Sawyer, one of his former classmates. It gave him satisfaction to see he could look the other man eye to eye now. All through school, he’d been a head shorter than Ben.
Though they were the same age, he’d wound up graduating high school a year behind the lot of them. Ben. Paul Wright, Dana’s husband. Sam Robertson and a slew of others. He’d rather not think about the reasons for that.
“Yeah,” he said, “it’s been a long time. I’m a stranger to Flagman’s Folly now.”
“Are you kidding?” Ben laughed. “Around here, you’re considered the most well-known person in the Southwest.”
He smiled grimly. “Guess the media covered my downfall thoroughly enough.” Not exactly the image he wanted to portray.
“I wasn’t talking about your downfall, more like your local-boy-does-good career.”
“The rodeo-crazy kids in this town.” He knew it.
“Not just them. Everyone in the county followed your time on the circuit. But yeah, those kids really took an interest. You’re their hero.” The other man hesitated, then added, “You’ll get back to riding again soon?”
He shook his head. “Not soon. Not ever.”
Ben exhaled heavily. “That’s tough.”
Next, he would mumble something and make an uncomfortable exit, the way everyone else who’d known Caleb before the accident did. Not wanting to see that, he asked, “What are you doing in town, instead of working your ranch?” He looked over at Tess’s office. “You thinking of buying some property?”
“No.” Now Ben seemed uncomfortable. He turned, gesturing to the storefront. “I own the building. I hear you’re looking for some land in the area, though.”
“Tess told you?” What else had she said about him? Then again, considering the fear she still seemed to have that folks would find out about their past, she probably hadn’t said anything much other than that.
“Not Tess. I had to make a stop at Town Hall yesterday afternoon and heard the news there.”
Caleb raised an eyebrow. He knew what that meant. “Let me guess. Ellamae filled you in.”
“Ellamae did,” Ben confirmed.
Odd. His return to town would’ve made the rounds in
stantly, of course. No getting away from that. But how had she known so early on about his plan to invest in property? Had Tess talked about him to her aunt, at least?
“Anyhow,” Ben was saying, “you won’t go wrong buying land here. And we all figured it was only a matter of time before you’d come back to your roots.” He nodded as if to emphasize his words. “I’ll see you around town.”
Caleb watched the other man walk away, his stride steady and certain, strong evidence that Ben Sawyer felt he owned more than just the building in front of him. He owned a place in his hometown.
Not something Caleb could claim.
As for those roots Ben had mentioned…
He took a seat on a bench near the real estate office and stretched his good leg full length. The twinge in his bad leg told him not to risk it.
Back when he’d lived here, he wouldn’t have called what he’d had “roots.” More like a rolling mass of tumbleweed, with no ties and no reason for them. No attention from anyone. Positive attention, anyway. Except for Dori and Manny from the Double S. Ellamae, at times. And Tess. Or so he’d thought…
He shied away from going down that road. Better to focus on Ben.
Ben, who had just spoken as if he felt Caleb was a part of Flagman’s Folly. And as if the townsfolk might think the same. Did the man mean they believed that now, based on Caleb’s success in rodeo? Or could he really have meant folks felt Caleb belonged even when he’d lived here? Folks not like Tess’s granddaddy?
He shook his head at the confusion the questions had brought on.
The door of the office opened again, and this time Tess did emerge from the building. She went over to the Toyota and dropped a package onto the backseat. Then she squared her shoulders and turned toward him, her mouth set in a smile.
Maybe Dana had given her a talking-to in the office. And maybe Tess had accepted that she had to follow through on her duties—whether she liked the idea or not.
“Let’s go,” she said.
He didn’t much like her clipped tones. She’d sounded almost like her granddaddy. Instead of rising, he patted the wooden seat beside him. “Take a break.”
Her gaze shot to his left knee and away again. She probably thought he needed a rest. She opened her mouth to say something pitying. He could see it in her eyes. But then she closed her mouth without uttering a word.
Two people in a row who hadn’t voiced their sympathy. He ought to be grateful for that. He didn’t need pity from them. From anyone.
He didn’t need to bow down to them anymore, either. “Don’t worry, that crack against the dashboard didn’t do much damage. I’ll be able to walk again.” An ironic thing for him to say, considering the doctors had once held it in doubt. But she didn’t need to know that.
Her cheeks red, Tess moved over to the bench and sat, cautiously, as if expecting the wooden slats to give way beneath her. She looked tense as a first-time bull rider.
Though the sarcasm had felt justified, he’d have to stop. Now. He needed to get her loosened up a little, more receptive to him again. A losing battle, maybe, considering their history. But he wouldn’t know unless he tried. Besides, he needed to get more in touch with what had gone on in Flagman’s Folly since he’d left.
“Saw Ben Sawyer when he came out of your office,” he said easily.
Her shoulders lowered a notch. “Did you?”
“Yeah. It took me a second to recognize him.”
“Really? He hasn’t changed a lot since high school.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t see much of him back then. I wasn’t in any of the clubs or on any of the committees.”
“Neither was I, except when they desperately needed extra help and Dana dragged me along.” She looked straight ahead. With one hand, she brushed at her jeans. Trying to sweep away memories?
Would she have any better luck at that than he had?
“Yeah, Dana and Paul and Ben, they had a hand in everything. You and I weren’t joiners,” he said, feeling his way.
He wouldn’t have made it onto the debate team, as Ben had. He’d never had a gift for quick answers. If he had, he might not have gotten knocked around so much by some of his mama’s friends.
“Maybe,” he ventured, “if we’d gotten tied up with more clubs at school or kept busier with friends, we might never have gotten together at all.”
“Maybe not.” Her voice sounded brittle, and she rushed on, “But Ben sure kept up with everything. They voted him onto the school council every year and made him president of both the junior and senior classes.”
“I remember that. Always Mr. Personality, wasn’t he?”
She nodded. “He still is. He’s on the town council now.”
“He told me he’s your landlord.”
She exhaled heavily, as if she’d been holding her breath, and curled her fingers into a loose fist on her knee. “Not mine. Dana’s.” Her tone had lost the brittleness, had become soft and low.
A car drove past on Signal Street, and he leaned closer, straining to hear her.
“Ben bought the building from the original owner. She rents the office from him.”
“She? What about Paul? Doesn’t he own half the business?”
Her shoulders stiffened again. “Paul—” Her voice broke. She cleared her throat and started again. “Paul isn’t with us anymore.”
Her reactions told him the man had done more than just leave town. He covered her hand with his. “What happened?”
“He was in the army and…he was killed overseas, a little over a year ago.”
He shook his head in disbelief. When he could catch his breath, he asked quietly, “Dana’s on her own now?”
Her eyes glittered suddenly. She looked away. “She has three children. Nate’s friend Lissa is the oldest of them.” She rose from the bench, her hand sliding free from his. “We ought to be going.”
She said it as if she hadn’t just dropped that news on him. Or as if she wanted an excuse to move away.
By the time he reached the car, she had slipped into the driver’s seat and shut the door. He entered with less speed, trying to avoid hitting his knee. Attempting to recover from the shock of her words.
He felt no anger bubbling inside him now, just a churning mass of confusion. It left him uncertain of what to think. About anything.
In just a couple of conversations, his memories had been thrown offtrack, as unexpectedly as he’d been thrown off the last bull he’d ridden. And with just as many life-changing effects.
Paul…gone.
Ben…assuming Caleb would come home again.
The townsfolk…believing that he belonged.
It was a lot for him to take in at once.
Could he have gotten things wrong, at least as far as some folks were concerned? Did it matter? He still had more than enough reason to show the rest of them just what he’d become.
His cell phone vibrated. He pulled it from his pocket. Seeing the name and number on the screen gave him pause.
“I’ll leave you alone,” Tess murmured, getting out of the car and closing the door softly behind her.
He eyed the phone again and then greeted his foreman, who had a list of questions for him. Fortunately, he had answers. Yet by the time he’d ended the call, he wondered just how much longer he could leave the man on his own to manage the ranch.
He glanced at Tess. She was leaning against the front fender of the car.
She had as good as given him an ultimatum for today.
Ben Sawyer had given him things to think about that might affect his strategy.
He raised the phone in the air, indicating he’d finished his call. When she entered the car again, he turned to her. “I may have to leave town sooner than I inten
ded.” Her chest rose with her indrawn breath. Some might have mistaken it for disappointment. He knew better. “Looks like we’re in for another change to our schedules. Now, how about showing me some real estate.”
THREE DAYS LATER, he’d not gotten an inch closer to his goal. Caleb’s jaw felt so tight he wondered how he could swallow his morning coffee.
“May I be excused?” Nate asked.
That was a first.
Even Tess looked astounded by the girl’s politeness. She nodded as if afraid saying something to her might break the spell.
Nate got up and pushed her chair in to the table. “Can I go with you and Caleb today?”
Ah. That explained the sudden show of manners. Wouldn’t last long. He knew without a doubt what Tess’s answer would be.
“No, I’m afraid not,” she said. “You’ll be too busy, anyway. Gram tells me you’ve slacked off on your chores around here.”
“I don’t want to do chores.” Her intentions thwarted now, she’d turned ornery as an irritated bull.
“Neither do the rest of us. But we do them, anyway.”
“Well, I’m not going to. I’m tired of chores. And it’s summertime.” Her chin came up and her dark eyes flashed.
Caleb bit down on the words he wanted to say. He didn’t have any right to say them. But he wished for once he could take on some of Tess’s burden. Take away some of the tension between her and Nate.
“That’s enough,” Tess snapped. “You have no other big plans for today. You’re doing your chores. Besides,” she added brightly, “there’s no better time than a Friday morning to check everything off your list so you’ll have a fresh start for the weekend.”
Tess really took that “checking off” business to heart. She had driven him from one distant ranch to another this week, none of which came close to what he’d told her he wanted. It seemed any property at all would do for her, so long as she could check him off her list—and get a fresh start on her life.
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