by Mary Leo
“They are, but let’s not get into this, Carson. It’s not your concern.”
“I don’t mind,” Jake added. “We should’ve waited for Kenzie, but your dad gave us the go-ahead so we acted on good faith. But now I realize we should have waited. It was Kenzie’s call, not your dad’s.”
“The way I see it, you did her a favor. She should be grateful and treat you more like a guest, rather than one of her employees. But then as I remember it, you two always did have a prickly relationship.” He glanced over at Kenzie and shook his head as if there was no hope.
“We’re working through that,” she said.
“Sure you are,” Carson answered with a sarcastic tone, then he proceeded to lock up his shed.
She stepped up closer to her brother, so she could look him straight in the eye like she always did whenever she wanted to stand up for herself.
“Jake is not a guest. Dad asked him to come down and tell me how to ranch. I resent Dad for doing that, and I resent Jake for agreeing to it. So with that in mind, maybe you should stay out of this, big brother, unless you’re somehow involved and no one has bothered to tell me.”
He didn’t respond so she backed down and was about to leave when Carson said, “Well, since you put it like that, you should know that I might have suggested to Dad that he contact Jake, but I never thought he’d actually do it or that Jake would show up.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
He shrugged, then hightailed it back inside the house before Kenzie could give him a piece of her mind.
After that, all bets were off.
* * *
THERE WERE SEVERAL times when Kenzie and Jake were inside From the Ground Up, the local hardware store, that Jake had wanted to speak up. He’d wanted to inform Kenzie about a better product than the one she tossed into her cart. He knew for a fact that a certain gage wire or a certain type of hinge was more effective than what she had chosen, but based on how she wheeled her cart around, almost as if it were a weapon, combined with the scowl on her face, Jake decided that any suggestions he might have might very well bring the roof down on both their heads.
So instead, he merely went along with everything she bought or said...not that she said very much. Whenever she spoke it was more to herself rather than to him, but he didn’t care. He understood her anger and frustration, he just didn’t like that it was mainly directed at him.
After they loaded everything in the bed of the truck, then secured it with a tarp and rope, they headed out of town. Aside from the short trip to Holy Rollers that morning, it had been a while since Jake had been to Briggs and as he drove past some of the more colorful shops, he marveled at how well kept the storefronts were. Also, how many people milled around.
Dusk had settled in the Teton Valley, and the sky was awash with color that edged the billowy clouds as they floated in perfect formation toward the majestic mountains. By now, almost seven thirty on a weeknight, his town sometimes looked so deserted a stranger might think no one lived there.
But Briggs was a vibrant town, one that had added a few features to make it stand out. Like the large plaster spud perched on the roof of Spud Bank, or the life-sized dairy cow, complete with pink udders, greeting the patrons of Moo’s Creamery, which was doing a grand business on this balmy night. Then there was Deli Llama’s with its own version of a very large llama out front. He’d noticed most of the shops that morning when he’d driven in with Joel, but they’d been so busy talking that he hadn’t gotten the chance to really check out all the endearing aspects of the place. For instance, he hadn’t noticed the tavern at the edge of town until they stopped for the red light directly in front of it.
Belly Up seemed like the kind of tavern a man could ease into for the night and not feel guilty about it in the morning. Through the plate glass windows out front, he could tell that Belly Up was one of those neighborhood taverns where Christmas parties and birthday celebrations were held. He wanted to be a part of that scene. It had been a long, hard day, and the way he had it figured, they could both use a respite and sit a spell. Only problem was he thought for sure that trying to convince Kenzie to stop in would be like trying to bathe a wild coyote.
“Want to grab a beer? I’m buying,” Jake said as they idled in front of the tavern.
They hadn’t really spoken to each other since they left her brother’s house, so he thought he’d try something simple. Something that only required a yes or no answer.
“If you’re buying, I’m drinking,” she said, surprising the heck out of him, as she immediately swung the pickup to the curb, shoved the transmission into Park, pulled out the key and then jumped out before he could wrap his mind around her quick response.
Kenzie Grant had actually agreed to something he’d suggested. Perhaps he should have tried it in the hardware store...or not.
He followed her inside, enjoying the ambience of a real honky-tonk, with its wooden floor, pounding country music and mile-long mahogany bar that skirted an entire wall. A single mirror, the likes of which he’d never seen before, ran behind the polished wooden bar displaying various liquors, wines and glistening glassware.
He watched as Kenzie nodded and greeted more than half the patrons as she made her way to an empty table in the back. A large painting of a seminude woman lying on a chaise hung on the wall. Kenzie took a seat at a square table and he did the same, sitting across from her, wondering if they would actually have a conversation or would she continue with her silent treatment?
“This place is great,” he began, hoping she’d eventually relax. “Seems like just the place to kick up your boots after a long day or week. You come here often?”
“Not enough, according to my family. First time in months.”
“I’m honored.”
She threw him the tiniest of grins and his entire world lit up. “Don’t be. It was merely time, that’s all.”
“Whatever it takes.”
“A lot, believe me. There are so many things I could be doing right now,” she said, while nodding over at one of two bartenders. Jake immediately got the impression the two women knew each other.
“Everyone takes a day off to rest,” he said.
Another tiny smile. He was batting a thousand.
“You made your point,” she said, and for the first time since he’d been on the ranch, she seemed to throw off some of the tension that consumed her 24/7.
“As I live and breathe...Miss Kenzie Grant,” the bartender, a petite twentysomething woman, crooned as she approached the table. She was dressed entirely in black, including a logo T-shirt tucked into her tight-fitting jeans. “Well, get out, girlfriend! I haven’t seen you in this bar since your sister Callie’s bachelorette party, and that had to be a couple months ago.”
“Almost four,” Kenzie said, as a bright smile lit up her face. It was nice to see a full-out smile even if it wasn’t directed at him. Jake was beginning to think she’d never truly smile again...at least not while he was in her company.
“Wow, that’s too long, babe. You really need to get out more. But you’re here now, and that’s all that matters.” She turned to Jake, giving him a big warm grin as her intense gaze quickly tumbled over his face, chest and arms. “And who’s this handsome cowboy? New to Briggs or just passing through?”
Jake stood and held out a hand as Kenzie did the introductions. “Sophie Coontz is one of Belly Up’s incredible new bartenders. Sophie, this is a friend of the family, Jake Scott. He’s here for my parents’ anniversary party next week. He’s also been helping out on the ranch.”
Stunned that Kenzie would admit that bit of information, Jake’s reaction time lagged as he and Sophie exchanged smiles and a friendly handshake. After everything Kenzie had told him about not wanting his assistance, there she was announcing it to a friend.
“So you’re the reaso
n why she’s in here tonight. Maybe you can stay awhile and give her more free time. With five kids of my own, I’d sure love some. This lady’s nonstop. Glad to meet the man who gave her a break.”
“Wait a minute. Did you say five kids?” Jake had a hard time wrapping his mind around that. Two kids was a handful, but five?
“Yes, and I’m three months pregnant with my sixth, another girl. That makes three of each,” she chuckled.
“You’re pregnant?” Kenzie jumped up and gave Sophie a hug across the bar. “Oh, sweetie, that’s fabulous news!”
The two women talked and chortled while Jake tried to imagine how this woman juggled five young children, a job and a burgeoning pregnancy. Just one child had been a point of contention between himself and his ex-wife...a big point of contention.
When the excitement died down, Sophie took their drink order for two beers and went off to fetch them.
“Wow, five kids. I can’t even imagine,” he said out loud more to himself than to Kenzie.
“I come from a family of five kids, remember?”
“Yeah, but that was more the norm back then.”
“Oh, yeah, back in the good old days when sliced bread was just invented. What are you talking about? Five kids was never the norm, two or three maybe, but five? Sophie’s amazing. She’ll probably have a few more before she and Liam are finished. What about you? Ever think about having kids?”
He liked how Kenzie could cut to the heart of the matter, even when she wasn’t aware of what she was doing.
“All the time,” he said, not really wanting to get into it. “What about you?”
“Oh, no you don’t. You’re not putting that loaded question back on me without really answering it yourself.”
He moved his napkin to a closer spot on the table, whishing there was a cold beer sitting on it. “I don’t know if this is the right place to get into it, but yeah, I’ve thought about having a family of my own lots of times. I’m sure you know I was married for a short while. Didn’t last long. Funny how before you’re married you both agree on everything, then once reality sets in, all those agreements seem to fly out the window. Been divorced a little over ten months now. The wound is still a little raw.”
“It must have been comforting to be able to talk about it with your brothers. I know my sisters and I can always talk about everything. And Carson, well, he’s my hero when it comes to advice. The guy’s better than a psychologist...at least he is usually.”
Jake shook his head. He wished he could talk to his brothers about personal stuff, but he couldn’t. “I haven’t talked to anyone about it, and truth be told, it’s eating me up inside, especially since my mom loved my ex like the daughter she never had.”
“But what about your brothers? Wasn’t Lucas engaged once? He seems like the right person to talk to.”
“Lucas was engaged for all of three days before she dumped him and moved to Denver, where she’s a CEO of some big company now. But that’s beside the point. I’ve never been that close to my brothers. Always thought that since they’re less than a year apart, they acted like twins. Mom even dressed them alike until they were almost six, and only stopped when they started first grade. Our dad put an end to Mom’s obsession with their clothes. He went out and bought Lucas a whole new wardrobe for first grade. It wasn’t even remotely anything like Curt’s clothes for kindergarten.”
“But whenever we visited, you three were always together.”
“Believe me, it wasn’t by choice. My mom forced them to watch me while she was off doing her chores around the ranch. They hated it, and resented me for holding them down. Not that they were mean or anything like that. My brothers treated me well, they just didn’t always want me around, and I could tell.”
“And here I thought you were the bully of the family.”
He softly chuckled remembering some of his more aggressive behavior as a kid. He was a handful even for his brothers.
“I believe they call that ‘acting out.’ I’m a full four years younger than Lucas and Curt. Besides, Curt’s been off finding himself for the last three years, so he certainly doesn’t have time to help define my emotions while he’s searching for his own.”
She glanced around the room, fidgeting with her own napkin, then looked right into his eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up, I mean...I just thought... Actually, I don’t know what I thought. If you don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have to. I’m often too blunt and intrusive. I don’t mean to be. It’s just that I’m not much for small talk and would rather talk about the important stuff. But I understand if I hit a nerve.”
“It’s okay. I’m getting better with it now. At first I was stunned when Heather—that’s her name—walked out, especially since she never gave me a chance to fix what was broken. I’ve always been good at fixing things...apparently not so much with matters of the heart.”
Sophie returned with the beers, and two glasses of water. Jake drank down half of the pint of beer before he put his glass down while Kenzie took a few sips, then guzzled her water.
When she put the glass back down, she asked the question Jake had been avidly avoiding for the past year. “What broke, if you don’t mind my asking?”
He sucked in a deep breath then slowly let it out. Of all the people he thought he could bare his soul to, Kenzie Grant had never been on his list...until now.
“Our love affair broke. It shattered into a million pieces when she told me she’d decided she never wanted kids. We’d talked about it before we were married, and I knew she was cool to the idea, but I always thought that would change once we were married. It changed all right. She’d gotten an accounting job with a big fracking company and after only a few months, they offered her a position where she’d have to travel the country for more than half the month. She took it without even talking it over with me. That’s when she decided that for the foreseeable future, she didn’t want any children, and when I pressed her, that foreseeable future stretched out to her retirement.”
“A lot of women put their careers first. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Of course not, and I’m all for it, but she married a rancher who wanted kids.”
“And you expected her to fall into ranching alongside you, is that it? And when she didn’t, you probably shut down.”
“Major shutdown, especially when she started traveling. I couldn’t get past it.” He leaned in closer. “So tell me. You work twenty-four-seven on your ranch. What would you have done if your new husband had taken a job that meant he was almost never home, and told you he didn’t want any children...ever?”
“I wouldn’t have married him in the first place. I loved growing up with all my siblings. Never a dull moment, plus I always had someone to play with and talk to. I can only marry a rancher who loves kids. No one else will do.”
He suddenly wished he had met up with Kenzie years ago, before he’d got tangled up with his ex. Maybe things would have been different...a lot different.
“But what if you didn’t know your guy didn’t want kids and didn’t want any part of ranching before you were married? What if he never really told you the truth?”
“That wouldn’t happen. Not to me. I’m careful about who I fall in love with...not that I’ve ever really been in love.”
“Never?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Believe me, you know when you’re in love. You don’t have to think about it, you just are. So what if it did happen? What if Mr. Right wasn’t truthful with you until after the wedding?”
She sat there and took another couple sips of beer, then said, “Even if it ripped out my heart, I’d walk away. Ranching means too much to me...my family ranch means too much to me. I could never share it with someone who didn’t feel the same, or with someone who didn’t want to raise our kids
on the ranch.”
“You said ‘kids.’ Does that mean you want more than one?”
“At least four. Always wanted four kids, and two dogs. There’s a piece of land on the ranch, right on the other side of those pastures you saw today. It’s on high ground, looks out over the entire ranch and has a clear view of the mountains. Someday I’m going to build a house right there.”
“What if the guy you fall in love with doesn’t want to live there? What if he...what if he has his own ranch somewhere else? What would you do?”
She stared at him and he wondered if she caught what he was saying. Not that he was in love with her, but that, as crazy as it seemed, he had feelings for her.
“I would try not to fall in love with him,” she said in a low, soft voice, as if she was sorry about her answer.
“Haven’t you heard that old saying: ‘You don’t choose love. Love chooses you’?”
She took a sip of beer, looked around, as a sly grin creased her lips. “Is that what happened to you? Love chose you?”
“It did, at least for a while. But you’re not answering my question. What would you do if he had a ranch somewhere else? Would you leave your ranch for his?”
“I’d—” But before Kenzie could answer, her phone rang. Within moments her lighthearted demeanor changed as she listened, then clicked off the call. “That was Coco,” she said, as she stood and fished a few dollars out of her pocket. “We have to go. Sweet Girl, my horse, had an accident out in the pasture.”
* * *
“SHE’S SKINNED UP her left fore cannon bone,” Coco said while she, Jake and Kenzie stood in the well-lit barn next to Sweet Girl’s stall. A cool night had descended on the valley, and Kenzie felt its chill. “She’s walking fine, but Chad, one of your high school volunteers, called with concern when he brought her in for the night, so I drove over to check it out. The good thing is there are no broken or chipped bones. Sweet Girl should be fine in a couple days. Just stall her and hose the wound every few hours for the next day or two.”