The Long Way Home

by Liz Isaacson

  “Candy.” Hannah squirmed and pointed, but the sweets had all been claimed.

  “We have candy in the bag.” River turned back to the grass to find Ty standing on the curb, concern in his delicious eyes. She bypassed him to set Hannah back on the blanket. “Look. Licorice.” She pulled the bag out of her mother’s purse and tossed it onto the ground near her kids, too tired to even open it for them. Lexi could do it, and she did, claiming three pieces of licorice before sharing with Hannah.

  River collapsed back in her chair. Ty returned much slower, his throat moving as he swallowed hard. Again and then again.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothin’.” He took her hand in his and focused his attention down the street, where the first police motorcycle had just rounded the corner.

  River sensed the fib in Ty’s single-word answer, but the deafening roar of the motorcycle engine prevented her from pushing him to tell her what was really going on. She churned through the idea of him owning Horseshoe Home Ranch. Living in the homestead all by himself—or maybe with her.

  It took thirty minutes to drive from the waterfalls—which were already on the outskirts of town—to the ranch. Could she make that drive everyday to go to work, to take the girls to school, to buy groceries?

  She shook her head and stood as the Boy Scouts who carried the flag approached. She shouldn’t be worrying about a life she didn’t have. She’d been back in town for six weeks and had been reunited with Ty for five. They weren’t anywhere close to getting married—or even engaged.

  Still, she wondered why he wanted to buy the ranch. For some reason, she didn’t peg Ty for the type of person who was…responsible enough to do such a thing. She bit down on the thought. Determination to take the thought to the grave dove through her. She would not hurt Ty with such a comment.

  They sat side by side as the floats went by, as the cheerleaders did backflips, as the fire truck blew its horn, only separated by a couple of feet. But a chasm existed between them, and River didn’t even know when it had formed.

  Ty wiped the sweat from his forehead before settling his hat back in place. Lexi and Hannah had gotten twenty tickets each, and he wondered how much longer he could possibly walk around the carnival in this heat.

  River Lee looked close to melting—and to melting down. He’d never seen her so frustrated with her kids, and he had absolutely no idea what to do to help her. If she’d even want his help. His own patience dangled at the end of a very thin rope, and he detoured toward the freshly squeezed lemonade stand as they made their way back over to the jungle cruisers for the third time.

  “Be right there,” he told River Lee and she nodded to acknowledge that she’d heard him. He watched her for a few seconds, enjoying the curve in her hips, the length in her legs. Everything else about today had been a complete bust.

  He wasn’t sure how he’d expected River Lee to react to his news about the ranch, but cold disbelief wasn’t it. He’d been in to see Vic Stansfield at the bank twice now, trying to secure the funding he needed for the ranch.

  It hadn’t gone well either time. Ty had virtually no assets. No home of his own. The truck he drove belonged to the ranch. The most expensive thing he owned was his three-hundred-dollar cowboy hat, and well, that didn’t go very far as collateral for a ranch that cost well into seven-figure territory.

  A lump pressed against his windpipe. He really wanted Horseshoe Home. He needed it. Needed to be able to provide a stable life and a steady income for River Lee and her girls. He couldn’t imagine her living with him in his one-bedroom cowboy cabin, and he certainly couldn’t move into her mother’s basement.

  “Two, please,” he told the girl when it was his turn to order. The constant wrestling sessions with himself left him exhausted and moody, both things he didn’t quite know how to deal with.

  He paid for his refreshments and turned to find River Lee. His eyes landed on Jace and Belle, each of them holding one of their son’s hands as they waited in line for the carousel. And in that moment, that single snapshot of life, Ty knew he wouldn’t get the ranch.

  As if God himself had parted the clouds and shouted into Ty’s soul, he knew that Jace would buy it. Knew that Jace had been to the bank too. Knew that Jace had more to his name than a pair of boots and a cowboy hat.

  Bitterness Ty didn’t know how to swallow coated his mouth. And he hated it. Hated that he felt this way about one of his best friends. Hated that he couldn’t be happy for the man who’d also worked his entire life in the fields of Horseshoe Home.

  He tore his gaze from the little family, his grip on the lemonade cups almost crushing them. He eased up as he spotted River Lee leaning against the trunk of a tree as she kept an eye on her girls.

  “Here you go.” He gave her the best smile he could muster up, which surely didn’t amount to much. She didn’t return it, but the grateful look in her eyes and the way she sighed after she took a long drink of the lemonade broadcasted her relief.

  “I think I’m gonna go,” he said.

  “You are?” Her eyebrows lifted and she started choking the lemonade cup. “I thought we were gonna go to the dance together tonight.”

  “That’s not for hours, sweetheart.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, his cowboy hat getting bumped back on his head. He adjusted it and added, “I’m tired and sweaty, and I think I’m gonna go on home and shower before the dance.”

  He didn’t ask if that was okay with her. Truth was, he’d probably saddle Abracadabra and ride up the hillside. He needed something to anchor himself to, and while he’d hoped River Lee would provide that solid spot, her reaction to his proclamation about buying the ranch hadn’t been what he’d hoped.

  “All right,” she said. “I’ve got to get the girls home and down for naps anyway.”

  “Of course.” Ty fell back a step, the lemonade making everything in him sour. Or maybe that was his jealous heart sending shockwaves of saltiness through him. “I’ll see you later.” He turned and wove himself into the crowd so she wouldn’t be able to see the emotion he felt sure showed on his face.

  Emotion he wished he didn’t have. He couldn’t believe he was jealous of a five-year-old. And he wasn’t really jealous. Just…uncertain. Unsure of where he belonged in River Lee’s life.

  If he belonged in River Lee’s life.

  By the time Ty returned to Gold Valley, he’d taken his horse all the way to the northeast cabin, where they’d both rested in the shade for an hour before making the trip back to the ranch. He’d avoided speaking with Caleb, or Jace, or anyone else as he brushed down the animal and hurried back to his cabin. Behind the closed door, he’d exhaled like he hadn’t been breathing properly all day.

  He approached Kevin, the supervisor for volunteers, feeling a bit out of place in the central square though he’d been there every weekend this summer. Though he’d had a partner in River Lee.

  “Where do you want me to start?”

  Kevin glanced up from the clipboard he carried. He smiled when he recognized Ty. “Dance floor. Rory called in and said he can’t come, so I’ll need your muscles on that.”

  “You got it, boss.” Ty stepped past the other man and headed for the moving van where Kevin kept the removable dance floor when it wasn’t laid over the grass in the central square. He hauled box after box of tiles from the van, the labor something he understood, something he didn’t have to think about.

  And he needed something he could do without having to expend so much mental energy. Because heaven knew he didn’t have a brain cell to spare, as many as he spent on River Lee, his future, the possibility of spending it with her, all of it.

  By the time the floor was laid, Ty was as sweaty as he’d been that afternoon and just as confused as ever.

  Especially when River didn’t arrive by nine-thirty, when he expected her to.

  Chapter 15

  Half an hour later, Ty paced behind the refreshment table, his feelings becoming more raw by the mo
ment. He needed to leave. Needed to escape back to the ranch, where no one could see he’d been stood up. Needed some time to figure out why he felt like he’d been pierced through the heart with River Lee’s absence.

  “Hey, can I take off?” he asked Kevin when he couldn’t stand around solo for another second.

  “Sure thing, Ty. Thanks for your help.”

  “You can manage the floor?”

  “We’re going to leave it since the weekend dance is only two days away.”

  Ty nodded, his throat tight, tight. “I won’t be able to come down on Saturday,” he managed to say. He didn’t want to lie, so he didn’t say why. He wouldn’t be able to come down, simple as that.

  Kevin’s eyes hooked onto Ty’s and understanding flowed between them. They weren’t particularly good friends; Kevin was at least a decade older than Ty. But the man wasn’t stupid, and surely he’d seen Ty twirling River Lee around the dance floor and then disappearing into the night.

  “All right,” Kevin said, his words drawn out. “Everything okay?”

  “A-okay,” Ty said, forcing his lips to curve upward. Smiling had never felt so hard, and Ty gave up trying after two seconds. He ducked his head and set his feet walking.

  Halfway to his truck, his phone buzzed. He almost didn’t pull it out to check it. But in the end, he couldn’t just ignore it, because he knew it would be River Lee.

  Sure enough, she’d texted to ask if he was still awake.

  Annoyance sang through him. Did she think he was home in bed? Why would she think that? He didn’t even know how to respond, so he stuffed his phone in his back pocket and climbed into the truck.

  He felt like he was suffocating, and he hurried to roll the windows down and get the truck in gear. The air flow though the cab didn’t seem to help that much, and he yanked the wheel to the left to enter the parking lot at the waterfalls.

  The roar of them floated on the air though he couldn’t see the falls through the darkness. He realized the absence of the moon at the same time he stepped from the truck. He could see enough to get down the boardwalk, and though he believed he could navigate the trails up to the meadows, he stopped at the end of the path.

  He leaned against the railing and stared toward the waterfalls, angry at himself for falling so far so fast with River Lee. Angry with her for not coming tonight. Angry with God for letting her leave Gold Valley in the first place.

  He held onto the irritation, the fury, for several long breaths. Then he exhaled them all into the atmosphere. He never was one to hang onto things that brought him down. It simply felt like several weights had been added to his shoulders in a very short period of time.

  River Lee, her girls, the ranch.

  But most of all, River Lee.

  River gripped her phone in her fist, willing Ty to answer her. When another minute passed and he stayed silent, she thumbed out Hannah wasn’t feeling well and I couldn’t get away tonight.

  She should just call him, make sure he was okay. That they were okay.

  River’s stomach writhed and the bones in her fingers ached. She released them and practically punched the call button, determined to talk to him before the night ended.

  He didn’t pick up, which only made her blood boil harder. She didn’t wait for his voice mail to finish before she ended the call and opened another one.

  “Hello?” he asked as if he didn’t know who was calling, as if she hadn’t texted several times and just called literally five seconds ago.

  “Hello?” she mimicked. “What’s going on?”

  “What’s goin’ on?” he threw back at her. “What do you think is goin’ on?” The bite in his tone wasn’t hard to hear. Neither was the wind coming through the line, which meant he was driving.

  “You’re mad I didn’t come to the dance.” River cocked her hip and looked out the kitchen window and into the beautiful backyard.

  “I’m not mad,” he said, but he certainly sounded mad.

  “Well, what are you, then?”

  “Disappointed,” he said after several seconds of silence. “Frustrated.”

  A stab of pain bolted through River’s head, right behind her eyes. “I’m sorry.” Her voice sounded like a wounded bird. “Hannah was—”

  “Sick,” he said. “I know.”

  When he didn’t add anything else, hopelessness filled River. Her mind had been playing tricks on her all afternoon, and she couldn’t figure out how to shake the nagging feeling that Ty was more than disappointed she hadn’t come to the dance.

  “You didn’t like the carnival this afternoon, did you?” she asked.

  “It was just hot.”

  “You’re not a very good liar.” She forced a laugh through her lips, but it didn’t sound right. “You never were.”

  “Just something I’m working through.”

  “Did you get through it?”

  “No.”

  “What is it? Maybe I can help.”

  “Nope,” he said. “You can’t, and I don’t want to tell you.”

  “Ty—”

  “River Lee, I’ll figure it out, but I’m not talking about it right now.”

  Tears threatened to stain her cheeks and infuse her voice. “I should’ve called earlier,” she said. “I lost track of time, that’s all. Hannah—she—she just needed me, and we sort of dozed on the couch. It got late, and I didn’t realize it.”

  “It’s fine, River Lee.”

  But it wasn’t fine, and she could hear it in every syllable of her name. “I’m not working tomorrow,” she said. “Do you want to meet for lunch?”

  “I do,” he said. “But I probably won’t be able to make that. Cowboys don’t get days off.”

  “You didn’t work today.”

  “Oh, but I did. We were all up before dawn to get chores done so we could get down to the parade.”

  River turned away from the window, at a loss. She didn’t know or understand Ty’s life. She did know he was hiding something from her.

  “I’ll call you later, okay? I’m about to lose service.”

  “Okay, but—” She swallowed and gathered her courage. “Call me if you can make lunch. I’d really like to see you.”

  “I’ll let you know.” The line went dead and River hoped Ty had driven through that dead spot and not hung up on her.

  She had a hard time sleeping that night, and she loathed every moment that passed the following morning where Ty didn’t call. She wore a path in the carpet from the front door to the linoleum in the kitchen until her mother said, “River Lee, you’re makin’ me nervous. Go talk to Ty.”

  River tossed her mother a disgruntled look. “How do I do that, Mom? Just drive up to the ranch and…and then what?” The idea tumbled through her mind, gaining momentum the longer she entertained it.

  “I don’t know, but if you keep walking back and forth like that, I’m going to lose my mind.” She tossed River a disgruntled look. “Come on, girls. Let’s get to our movie.”

  Her mother had signed up the girls for a summer movie every Thursday morning, something to get them out of the house, give them something to do. River watched her mother get shoes on the girls and hustle them out the door.

  Discomfort threaded through River, and she grabbed her purse from the table and followed her mother out the door. Her destination was quite a bit farther than the movie theater, but she kept on toward the ranch, her determination outweighing her fear for maybe the first time in her life.

  She almost missed the turnoff to the ranch, and she thought her car would bounce right off the gravel road that led to the row of cowboy cabins. Pickup trucks sat everywhere, and as River got out of her car, three cowboys came down the front steps of the second largest house on the property.

  River’s wits abandoned her and her flight instinct urged her back to the car. Thankfully, her feet seemed to have frozen to the ground. She didn’t recognize any of the men moving closer to her.

  “Ma’am.” One cowboy tipped his hat. “C
an we help you?”

  “I’m—” She cleared her throat. “I’m looking for Ty Barker.”

  “Sure.” The man glanced back the way he’d come. “He’s in the admin lodge with Caleb.”

  River’s heart dropped to her feet and rebounded into the wrong spot in her chest. She had to face Ty and Caleb at the same time? She smoothed her palms down the front of her blouse and gave the three cowboys in front of her a curt nod. “Thank you.”

  Every step toward the lodge caused River’s pulse to double. She thought sure the organ would burst from behind her ribs before she could gain the top of the stairs. The door barely moved when she leaned her full weight into it, but she finally got it open.

  Before her, a large room held desks and chairs. Laughter and chatter bubbled out of a doorway directly across from her, but she’d have to weave through the maze of desks to get there. So weave she did.

  A hallway stretched to her left, but she poked her head into the doorway to find a kitchen filled with long tables—a break room of sorts. Several cowboys sat at the tables, but only one captured River’s attention.

  Ty stood, his dark cowboy hat not quite shielding the surprise in his hazel eyes. “River Lee?” he drawled, drawing the attention of every man in the room to her.

  “Can I talk to you for a second?” she asked.

  Ty didn’t move. Didn’t twitch. Didn’t blink.

  “Go on,” Caleb said with a heavy dose of amusement in his voice. “The woman drove all the way out here. You can give her one second.”

  Ty sent a scowl in Caleb’s direction that mirrored the way River felt. He marched toward her and she backed out of the doorway as he approached, the stormy expression on his face anything but settling.

  “C’mon,” he muttered as he squeezed past her. She hoped he’d take her hand, claim her as his, but he didn’t. With little choice, she followed him around the maze of desks and back out into the sunshine. The loss of the air conditioning was almost as painful as Ty’s treatment of her.