He worked his way to the front of the house and immediately spotted Gina and Nicky on the porch. They were having a whispered conversation, and whatever Nicky was hearing, it had caused her forehead to bunch up. Garrett decided to give them some privacy and go ahead to his horse, but Nicky moved away from Gina and hurried after him.
Apparently, Nicky had something to say to him, but instead she just stood there, glancing around as if trying to figure out how to tell him something bad.
“What happened?” he came out and asked. Because that wasn’t a good-news kind of look in her eyes.
Nicky took a deep breath first. “It’s Meredith.” Another breath. “She’s here.”
* * *
NICKY STILL HAD some secrets, but at the rate things were going, Garrett would soon know every little thing she’d ever tried to hide.
Every big thing, too.
And Meredith definitely fell into the big category.
Garrett stood there, staring at Nicky. “Meredith’s here?” He glanced around. “Define here.”
Nicky didn’t know exactly where the woman was, but it soon became very clear. That was because at that exact moment, Meredith came up the side porch. Obviously, she’d walked up from her car, which she had parked on the ranch trail. Meredith smiled, and it wasn’t tentative, either, despite the unfriendly look on Garrett’s face. Of course, that look wasn’t solely for Meredith. He was aiming it at Nicky, as well.
“I’ll be inside if you need me,” Gina whispered to Nicky, and she went back in the house. She wouldn’t go far, though. Gina would stay near the door in case she felt the need to run to Nicky’s defense.
“Want to tell me what the heck is going on?” Garrett asked. Like the glare, that was meant for Nicky, too.
“Nicky was kind enough to let me come,” Meredith volunteered before Nicky could speak. She walked toward them, still smiling.
Unlike the other times Nicky had recently seen the woman, Meredith no longer looked to be in “down in the dumps” mode. She was wearing a perky yellow sundress that skimmed several inches above her knees, and she had her blond hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail.
A reminder to Nicky that her own ponytail needed an adjustment.
Everything about Meredith’s outfit was coordinated and perfect. As cool as glass, which Nicky had always thought described the woman perfectly.
“Don’t be mad at Nicky,” Meredith went on. “I sort of pressured her into doing this for me.”
There was no “sort of” to it. Meredith had pressured her, and while Nicky didn’t consider herself a pushover, she hadn’t exactly felt comfortable telling a grieving woman that she wasn’t welcome. Still, Nicky hadn’t expected Meredith to show up while Garrett was around. That’d been their deal, that Meredith would steer clear of her ex-husband. Maybe Meredith hadn’t known that Garrett would be here. Still, she should have called first to make sure.
Garrett didn’t even spare Meredith a glance. “Explain ‘pressured her into doing this,’” he snarled to Nicky.
Meredith opened her mouth, no doubt to provide that answer, but Nicky held up her hand. She’d gotten herself into this mess, and she’d rather use her own words to get out of it. Or at least try to smooth things over.
“Meredith called me a while back about the support group,” Nicky explained. “We do have some divorcées in there from time to time, and she wanted to join.”
Garrett seemed to release the breath he’d been holding. “So, that’s all there is to it. Meredith’s part of your support group.”
Not exactly. And here was the part that was going to be very hard for Garrett to hear. “Meredith wanted to come here to the Widows’ House.”
No held breath this time, and his gaze snapped to Meredith. “Here?” And he didn’t just say it once, but three times. “Why the hell would you want to be on the ranch?”
“I don’t want to be on the ranch.” Meredith didn’t seem at all taken aback by Garrett’s obvious anger. “I want to be at this house so I can heal and recover. I’ve never gotten over our baby’s death.”
That was almost verbatim what Meredith had told Nicky, and while it’d made Nicky feel sorry for her, it obviously wasn’t having the same effect on Garrett.
“You know about the baby,” Garrett said, looking at Nicky. His mouth tightened. Heck, all of him went even tighter than he already was.
Nicky nodded, but didn’t get a chance to say anything, including how sorry she was about that, because Meredith spoke first. “I need some time to heal and recover, Garrett. Losing our child isn’t something I can just get over. As you well know.”
Nicky saw the grief in his eyes. Felt it, too. Yes, Garrett did know the death of a child was something that would never be made right. But along with that grief was also the anger. Probably because he knew this wasn’t only about healing for Meredith. It was because the woman wanted a reconciliation.
“You agreed to having Meredith stay here?” Garrett snapped. Again, he meant that question for Nicky.
“I did,” Nicky had to admit. “But Meredith knows it wouldn’t be a good idea for her to be at the ranch house.” Nicky shot a stern look at the woman to make sure she did indeed know that.
Meredith dismissed that with the wave of her perfectly manicured hand. “Of course, I won’t stay there. I’ll be staying with a friend in town until Z.T.’s place is ready. Any idea when that’ll be?”
Meredith seemed to think this was a friendly conversation. It wasn’t. “Soon,” Nicky assured her.
“Good. Because I’m anxious to get started. When will the therapist be arriving?”
“Soon,” Nicky repeated, but her attention was still on Garrett.
She wanted to say how sorry she was to have this dumped on him without warning, but an apology wasn’t going to fix this. And that bothered her. Far more than she’d expected it to.
Well, heck.
All these feelings were because of that kiss. It had broken down barriers that she’d spent way too long putting up.
“I can see you’re not happy about this,” Meredith went on, talking to Garrett. “But I’m truly not here to make things worse for you. I’m here for me. I need a fresh start, and I think I can get it at this place.”
Garrett didn’t argue. In fact, he didn’t say anything, including an order for Meredith to leave. Nicky felt like a hypocrite, but she was almost hoping he’d do that because having Meredith here was only going to make things harder.
He stood there, his gaze shifting from Meredith back to her, and then he did something that Nicky could have guessed he would never do. He hooked his arm around her, pulled her to him.
And he kissed Nicky.
Not a little bitty peck, either. This was a real kiss. Well, real in the sense of it being French and hot. It involved some body-to-body contact, too, since with all that hooking and maneuvering, she landed against his chest.
It fired up Nicky’s body and brain so much that she had to fight through the heat to realize what was really going on. This was some kind of payback. Aimed at Meredith. He wasn’t kissing her because of all this heat and old attraction.
“I’ll see you later,” Garrett said when he finally let go of her.
Meredith made a strangled sound of surprise. It was similar to the one Nicky made. “I had no idea you two were seeing each other,” Meredith added.
“Things change. People move on,” Garrett grumbled. He stared at Nicky as if challenging her to rat him out. She wouldn’t. Mainly because she still hadn’t caught her breath enough to grapple with human speech. She could only stand there and look mute and stupid.
“Yes, I can see that.” Meredith moistened her lips, glanced around. “I’m just surprised, that’s all. I mean, considering...everything that went on with her brother.”
Since Garr
ett still had his hand on her waist, Nicky felt him stiffen. Nicky was doing her own stiffening, too. No. Not this. Not now. But Meredith apparently was in a ’fess up kind of mood.
Which meant another secret was about to bite the dust.
“Her brother?” Garrett challenged.
Meredith nodded. “Yes, Kyle.” She paused. “He was the man with me in the backseat of that VW. Nicky had to jump through a lot of legal hoops to keep his name out of the press and off social media. Wish she’d been able to do the same for me.” Another pause and she must have noticed his poleaxed expression. “Oh, God. You didn’t know? I would have thought Nicky had told you.”
“Nicky must have forgotten to mention that,” Garrett said without taking his stare off Nicky. Except the stare was now one of his infamous glares.
Nicky wanted to say that she would have told him. Once she figured out a way to do it, that is. But they hadn’t exactly had time for long, “heart pouring out” conversations.
“I’ll see you later,” Garrett repeated to Nicky. And this time, he said it through clenched teeth as he walked away.
CHAPTER TEN
GINA STOOD AT the window and watched the scene play out in the side yard. Lady was moving in on one of the ranch hands, Jake Walter, who was just on the other side of the fence that divided the house from the pasture. While Jake could probably take care of himself when it came to a sexually aggressive widow, Gina knew she had to intervene.
Because of what Jake was carrying.
That little white box tucked under his arm could be trouble.
People had often accused her of having ESP, but it was just a simple matter of watching and guessing what could go wrong. Being married to a private investigator for six years had helped hone those observations a little. If the box contained what she thought it did, then it fell into the “things that could go wrong” category.
Gina went downstairs, smiling at Nicky when she spotted her in the kitchen. If she kept a straight face, no one would question why she was going outside in the boiling heat. But thankfully Nicky was distracted by a game she was playing with Kaylee so Gina got out and made a beeline for the cowboy. Lady was already swooping in on him and looked ready to unzip him. The cowboy looked ready to run.
“Jake,” Gina called out. “Thanks for coming over.”
Lady frowned. Jake’s forehead bunched up. That’s because he didn’t know Gina. He’d likely seen her around, but that was about it.
“He didn’t say anything about coming here to see you,” Lady snapped.
“Well, that’s probably because you didn’t let him get a word in edgewise.” Gina went to him, touched his arm with her fingertips and rubbed softly. It was just as effective as a peeing dog marking his territory, and after Lady sputtered out a few more huffs, she headed back to the house. No doubt to find her next conquest.
“She owns that,” Gina said, tipping her head to the tow truck. “Enough said. But if you truly do want some mindless sex with her, I’ll smooth things over for you.”
He smiled, slow and easy. A dimple flashed in his cheek. The smile of a man who didn’t have to try too hard to charm panties off women. “No thanks. I’ve had my quota of mindless sex for the week. Maybe next week, though.”
Yes, definitely a charmer. And much too young to already have that particular skill set. Gina estimated he was twenty-seven, give or take a year or two. She was thirty-four, a widow and therefore immune to such smiles. Besides, she was here to mourn her husband and take care of Kaylee and Nicky. Her panties would stay right where they were.
“I’m Gina Simpson, by the way.” This time she skipped the arm rubbing and went for a handshake.
“Yeah, I know.” He tipped his head to the work crew by the pond and then did another tip in the direction of the ranch. “The women of the Widows’ House are the hot topic in town right now.”
Probably because of Lady. Or maybe the eccentric sisters.
“Everyone knows all your names,” he added. “I’m Jake Walter.”
She nodded. “You cowboys are the hot topic in the Widows’ House. Hey, we might be in mourning, but that doesn’t stop us from looking. Of course, some do more than look.” She said Lady’s name, covering it with a cough.
He smiled again. “So, did you come out here to rescue me?”
No, but when she felt that little tug in her body, she considered saying yes and flirting with him. It’d been a while since she’d felt that, a nice reminder that her lady parts hadn’t ended up in the grave after all. Still, tugging lady parts weren’t enough to let this go any further than conversation.
A specific conversation, at that.
“Is that box for Nicky Marlow?” she asked.
He did a double take as if he’d forgotten it was there. Maybe his man parts were doing some tugging, too. Or maybe he’d fibbed about reaching his quota for mindless sex.
Jake nodded, handed it to her. “It came to the ranch house, and Miss Belle asked me to bring it out.”
Gina lifted the lid, had a look. Two yellow roses, just as she’d suspected. No card, again as she’d expected. That didn’t mean Nicky wouldn’t know who they were from.
She would.
And so did Gina.
She took out the roses, glanced around and spotted the perfect place for them. A huge pile of cow shit. She tore up the flowers as best she could, dropped them into the poop, located a stick and swirled them around until they were no longer recognizable as flowers. To a passerby, it would look as if the cow just had a poor digestive system.
Now, this was when most people would have asked what the heck she was doing or maybe would have even tried to stop her. Not Jake, though. He just lifted his shoulder in a gesture that was as slow and easy as that smile.
“You want to go out with me Saturday night?” he said.
Now, this was when Gina would have normally had a snappy comeback, because she would have anticipated he was going to say that. But she’d missed the signs. Perhaps because the scent of the cow poop was a tad overpowering.
“I’m a widow,” she reminded him, though she was certain he needed no such reminder. “My husband died just eleven months ago.”
“Car accident,” he provided. “The gossip consensus is you had a good marriage and that you’re not here for mindless sex, a vacation or because you like to look at cowboys.”
The first two were true. She was beginning to bend a little on the third. But not bend enough to go on a date.
“I’m not too young for you, you know,” Jake added. She got another dimple flash. The man certainly knew how to use that facial indentation.
Jeez. Had she been drooling or something to make him see that she found him attractive? “I’m thirty-four.”
“I’m twenty-eight. See? Not too young.”
In her way of thinking he was, and as long as she kept that in mind, Gina had to decline. “I’m sorry but no.”
“How about Sunday then?” Of course, he smiled.
Gina had to fight back her own smile. “No. Widow.” She pointed to the wedding band that she still wore. “If you see me without this, then you can ask me out.”
“Deal,” he agreed as if she’d be doing that in the next hour or so. She wouldn’t be. Sadly, she might be wearing that ring to her own grave.
“By the way, don’t mention the flowers to anyone,” Gina said.
“What flowers?” He winked at her. The man really had some weapons in his panty-removal arsenal.
“Also, please burn the box first chance you get,” she added, and she started back for the house.
“Will do. Does any of this have something to do with Garrett’s ex-wife?”
That stopped her, and Gina turned back around to face him. “Why would you ask that?”
He lifted his should
er. “It’s just I was going through Spring Hill a couple of days ago. That’s a town not too far from here, and I saw his ex at the florist there. Thought it was strange since we have a florist here in Wrangler’s Creek.”
Strange, maybe. Though it could be just a coincidence, especially since Meredith shouldn’t have an idea what the roses meant. Or who’d started sending them. Or why. Still, if Meredith had learned that, she could have sent the flowers as a way of messing with Nicky’s head.
On the walk back to the house, Gina took out her phone to make some calls.
* * *
“WHO IS I?” Kaylee asked when she stepped into the office Nicky had set up at the Widows’ House. She struck a pose, outstretching her hands.
“Who am I?” Nicky automatically corrected.
Obviously Kaylee had been playing in the old trunk of clothes that she’d found in her room because she was wearing a very baggy white dress that she’d tried to cinch with ribbon. She had puffed up her hair, too. Or rather put knots in it so that it frizzed around her face.
From the looks of it, Kaylee had used a marker to attempt a drawing on her neck and arm. Hopefully, it wasn’t a permanent marker. And the finishing touch—she had a loop of what appeared to be aluminum foil hooked on her nose. If it hadn’t been for the foil and the tattoos, Nicky wouldn’t have known the answer.
Nicky pretended to give it some thought though. “You’re Miss Gina.”
Kaylee squealed and clapped as if it had been a huge accomplishment, and she ran to the window seat to pick up her coloring book that she’d left there earlier. Despite the insanity of her day, Nicky took the time to smile and tell Kaylee how pretty she looked.
But her daughter was the only thing pretty at the moment.
There was a chanting fortune-teller in the front yard. A bulldozer in the back. And Nicky was reasonably sure that the knocking sound she heard was Lady having afternoon sex against the wall with one of the repairmen.
She couldn’t do anything about the bulldozer. It was there to stay until they expanded the pond. Which could take days. Nicky had struck out with the fortune-teller, too, because Vita Banchini had assured her that this was the only way to get rid of the spirit of the dead guy in the heart boxers. Nicky wasn’t sure of that at all, wasn’t even sure there was a spirit, but since it was rare to win an argument with Vita, Nicky had saved her breath.
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