by Kate Pearce
“I remember you.” Mr. Evans didn’t look as if the memory gave him any joy.
“Is it okay if I walk Miss Garcia around the barn and the other structures here?”
“If you like.” He turned back toward the door. “Come into the house for a glass of lemonade when you’re done.”
“Thank you, sir,” Julia called out to him, her smile fading as he shut the door. “I feel bad disturbing him.”
“Just FYI, I don’t think he’s very happy about the decision to sell the place.” Cameron lowered his voice. “He can’t keep it going. His three daughters decided to step in to make sure he has enough money to live on for the rest of his life.”
Julia nodded, her expression thoughtful. “That’s a tough choice.” She pointed at the barn. “Shall we take a look in there?”
Kaiden touched her shoulder as she moved past him.
“Are you okay if I go into the house ahead of you?”
“Sure. I don’t think I’m going to be assassinated just yet.”
“Tell Cameron I’m checking for bugs or something,” Kaiden added before heading up the steps to the porch where he paused to pat the dog.
He knocked politely on the door and wasn’t surprised when it swung open. Ranch hospitality was usually informal and, as long as he wiped his boots on the mat, he was probably good to proceed.
He found Mr. Evans in the kitchen sitting at the table reading the local newspaper. He glanced up briefly at Kaiden and gestured at the refrigerator. “Lemonade’s in there if you’d like some.”
“Thank you.” Kaiden helped himself. “Excuse me for bothering you, sir, but are you related to a Jennifer Evans Hollister?”
“I have a granddaughter named Jennifer.” Mr. Evans looked him up and down. “She’s probably around your age.”
“I think I know her,” Kaiden said slowly. “In fact, I think we dated about ten years ago when we were both taking evening classes at Bridgeport College.”
“She did go there to get her associate degree. She’s a nurse now. Works in the hospital in Mammoth.” Mr. Evans set down his paper. “And what’s your name, son?”
“Kaiden Miller.”
A brief look of horror passed over Mr. Evans’s face. “Not one of Jeff Miller’s boys?”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Kaiden had to smile. “I think Jennifer decided to stop dating me the first time she met my dad. I didn’t blame her. He’s something else.”
“I’m glad you said that first, son.” Mr. Evans nodded. “He’s a hard man to get along with. We had a few spats in the Cattlemen’s Association over the years.”
Seeing as his dad had been politely asked to leave that organization, Kaiden wasn’t surprised to hear that.
Mr. Evans jerked his head in the direction of the door. “What are you doing hanging around with those ghouls?”
“Ghouls?” Kaiden took the chair his host indicated at the table.
“Well, to be fair, I don’t know about the lady, but Cameron Stravinsky is working for my daughters, not me.”
“You don’t want to sell the place?” Kaiden asked.
“Hell no.” Mr. Evans sat back. “I don’t care how much they think it’s worth. It’s my home, and I don’t want to see it go to strangers.”
“I know how you feel. We’ve had a couple of similar issues in Morgan Valley recently with legacy families either dying out or not having anyone interested in taking the place on. I guess your daughters aren’t interested?”
“My middle daughter would take the place on, but her husband and family aren’t willing to make the move out here.” Mr. Evans grimaced. “It’s a damned shame.”
“Maybe if you have to sell, you could ask the new owners if you could stay here and run it for them?” Kaiden asked.
“Like I’d want to stay here under those circumstances. I don’t want to be a hired hand on the land my father bequeathed to me.” Mr. Evans sighed. “It’s the first time in my life I ever envied your father anything—having all those boys.”
“That brings its own problems,” Kaiden said. “Dad decided to leave it all to Adam, which means the rest of us are out of luck.”
“Sounds just like Jeff. Is your brother going to make you all leave?”
“No, he’s already promised we can either stay and build our own places on the ranch or he’ll buy us out. He’s a good guy.”
“It’s not the same though, is it? You’re no longer part of the land.”
Kaiden took a long drink of his lemonade as he considered that painful truth and tried to make the best of it. “Yeah, I suppose I’ve never thought of the place as mine anyway—what with being the third son, and my dad looking like he would go on forever. But, he recently had a mild heart attack, and the world feels like a very different place right now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Kaiden. Give him my best, won’t you?”
“I will.” Kaiden finished his lemonade. “Can your daughters sell the place if you don’t want them to?”
“Pretty much.” Mr. Evans scowled. “A couple of years ago I had prostate cancer, and I made the decision to set up a trust with my girls having power of attorney so they could make medical choices for me. Since the damn disease has come back, they keep telling me it’s for my own good, that I’ll have less to worry about while I recover, but what’s the point of recovering if my ranch is gone?”
Kaiden grimaced. “I hear you. I’m still not sure they can sell the place from under you. Maybe you should talk to another lawyer?”
“I suppose I should. Is Henry still working in Morgantown?”
“Yeah, he is.”
“Then maybe I’ll give him a call. I trust him.” Mr. Evans gave a decisive nod. “They keep telling me this place is worth millions, but I don’t see it myself. Maybe if they try and sell it and can’t, they’ll get off my back and leave me alone.”
Kaiden raised his empty glass. “Here’s to that.” The kitchen door opened and Cameron came through with Julia. “Hey, would you guys like some lemonade? It’s really good.”
* * *
Julia glanced over at Kaiden as they pulled away from the ranch. He hadn’t said much as they’d toured the house, but she’d noticed his hand lingering on the carved finials of the staircase, and his appreciation for the wide, plank flooring saved from the original house, which had been built over a century before.
“Mr. Evans doesn’t want to sell the ranch,” Kaiden finally spoke.
“So I gathered.” Julia kept her tone neutral. “But I understand he has recurrent cancer. His family wants him closer to town so he can get his treatments done, and his eldest daughter can keep an eye on him.”
“So he has to move out to keep everyone else happy?”
“If it makes sense for the family, then yes.”
“You’d make your dad move out of the home he loves if he was sick?” Kaiden asked.
“That’s totally not a fair thing to say. The situations are totally different.” She glared at him, but he kept his profile averted. “Why are you taking this so personally?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Mr. Evans is dealing with exactly the same kind of shit as half the ranchers in this part of the world. And who’s going to buy his ranch? Some billionaire from the Bay Area who wants a second home in the countryside?” Kaiden snorted. “What’s a person like that going to contribute to the community? Nothing.”
Julia had never felt less like walking the corporate line than she did right now. With her father in a similar, precarious position, her sympathies were all with the ranchers.
“Progress and change can hurt people.”
This time he did look at her, and she wished he hadn’t. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”
She raised her chin. “Kaiden, I’m not sure why you’re yelling at me. I’m just the representative of one of several companies that are looking at this real estate opportunity. I’m not single-handedly bringing down the whole of the ranching community.”
He went sil
ent on her and kept it up as they drove back to Morgan Valley.
Great, after asking him to come with her to reestablish their friendship, she’d simply widened the gap and reminded them both of all the reasons why they would never get along. She stared out the window and tried to enjoy the scenery, aware that in a few precious days she would be in her apartment in the city and back at work.
The thought of leaving him tore at her heart.
When they reached her home, he parked and offered her a brief smile.
“Give your dad my best, okay?”
“You’re not coming in with me?” Julia asked.
He raised an eyebrow. “Why would I?”
“To see how the work is progressing, to say hi to my dad?” Julia intentionally didn’t mention herself.
“I’ll check in tomorrow if I have time.”
She reached for the door handle. “Okay, I’m sure you must be tired after having come all that way to help me.”
“As I said, that’s just what we do for our neighbors around here.”
Seconds ticked by as Kaiden drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and Julia studied her hands. For someone who was so keen to leave, he seemed damned reluctant to go. Julia gathered her courage.
“For some reason you seem to have decided that I’m the bad guy in all of this, and you’re obviously still mad at me.”
“Why would I ever be mad at you? I just had the best sex of my life!”
“We agreed—”
He cut her off. “Yeah, we did, so why don’t you just say good-bye and get out of my truck?”
“Because I’m trying to make things right, here. I don’t want—” She struggled to find the right words through an increasing sense of hurt.
“You don’t want what?”
“I don’t want to leave things between us on a bad note,” Julia said. “I . . . wanted today to be about setting things right, not making them worse, and I’m sorry.”
He stared out at the barn for a long moment, his face uncharacteristically somber. “You’re right. I’m being an ass. It isn’t your fault.” He let out a breath. “We’re good, okay? No hard feelings, we had a great time together, and we’re still friends.”
“Are you sure?” Julia asked hesitantly.
“Absolutely.” He offered her another smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “If I don’t see you before you leave, Julia, take care. I’ll keep in touch about how the work is going.”
There didn’t seem to be anything left to say. She opened the door of the truck and stepped down. Kaiden didn’t even wait for her to close the door, but reached across and did it himself. He turned the truck in a circle and headed back down the drive with a final wave, which felt very final.
Julia stood where she was way longer than necessary, with some stupid hope that he’d turn around, come back, and agree with her that what they had together was way too important to let go. But he wouldn’t do that, would he? They’d both made it abundantly clear they had no chance of a relationship, and the awful thing—the really awful thing—was that they were both still one hundred percent right.
Chapter Sixteen
By the time Kaiden had done his chores, apologized to Danny, and taken a much-needed shower he was late for dinner. He arrived at the table to find the rest of his family including his father eating chicken casserole. Jeff looked like some kind of survivor grimly clinging to a piece of driftwood, but at least he was upright and apparently mobile.
“Hey.” Kaiden nodded to him. “Glad to see you up and about.”
“Did you find the Garcia girl?”
“Yeah, the tire and the spare on her dad’s truck went flat, and she had to take shelter in one of the hunting cabins up there.” Kaiden went to get the extra iced tea out of the refrigerator. “I ended up using my spare on her truck so we could get back.”
His dad waited until he took his seat and helped himself to a plate of food. “Took you that long to change a tire?”
“Nope, it was too dark to see when I got up there and starting to rain so I did it this morning. I followed the truck back to the Garcia place to make sure she made it home.” Kaiden kept his gaze on the glass as he poured himself some iced tea.
“So where have you been all day?”
“I took Julia into Bridgeport. She had an appointment. I didn’t think her dad’s truck was going to make it.”
“There’s no need to interrogate him, Jeff. I told you where he was.” Leanne leaned over and took her ex-husband’s hand. “He’s not a child.”
“He still works for me. I have a right to know where he is, when he’s leaving his chores for his brothers to do.”
“It’s not a problem, Dad,” Danny spoke up. “Kaiden did all my stuff when I was at college the other week. It all comes out even.”
Kaiden set his fork down and slowly looked up at his father, unaccustomed anger churning in his gut. “If you really think I’m not pulling my weight around here, why don’t you just fire me?”
Danny put his hand on Kaiden’s arm. “Kaiden . . .”
“Maybe I should.” Jeff met his stare head-on. “I sure don’t like your attitude right now, Son.”
“Then let’s consider it a done deal, shall we?” Kaiden looked around at the stunned faces at the table. “We all good with that?”
Adam frowned. “Hell no, we aren’t.” He turned to their father. “What’s wrong with you? You’re out of commission, I need all the help I can get to keep this place running, and you’re firing your own son?”
Jeff shrugged. “He’s the one who suggested it. I’m just following along.”
“Then maybe you could tell him you’d like him to stay?” Adam suggested. “Make him feel like he’s a valued and appreciated member of our family?”
“If he doesn’t know that by now, there’s nothing I can say to convince him otherwise.” Jeff shrugged. “He’s had a bee in his bonnet ever since that Garcia girl turned up, and because he’s too much of a wuss to do anything about it, he takes it out on me.”
“Bullshit,” Kaiden snapped. “My problems with you go back way longer than that. And, by the way, she’s not a girl, she’s a woman, and she has a goddam name.”
“Look,” Adam said in a calm voice. “I don’t know what’s going on between you two right now, but this isn’t the place to have it out.” He glared at both of them. “This is why Lizzie won’t come and live with me. She doesn’t want Roman having to deal with all this crap every day.”
“Also bullshit.” Kaiden stood and tossed his napkin on the table. “Lizzie won’t come live up here because she’s scared of losing her independence, any fool can see that.”
Adam opened his mouth and then closed it again as Kaiden grabbed his plate and left the table. He knew that at some point he’d have to make his peace with his big brother, but right now, after the day he’d just had, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone.
He went into his bedroom and locked the door, glad for once that Ben wasn’t there to barge in on him, but also kind of wishing that he was. They were very different, but Ben had always had a way of cutting through the crap and bringing Kaiden back down to earth.
He managed to force down his food and set the empty plate beside his bed. There were no messages on his phone or texts so it looked like no one needed him. He checked his thread of texts from Julia one more time, but there was nothing new. He glanced over at his pillow. God, he wished she were there right now, smiling back at him, begging him to make love to her. . . .
The door to the bathroom banged open and Kaiden glared at his dad.
“What do you want?”
“I’ve thought things over, and with Evan stepping up, I don’t need you to work for me on the ranch, okay?”
For a weird second, Kaiden felt like someone had just pushed him off a cliff.
“Fine, then.”
“Good.”
His father turned around and made his way back out into the hallway shouting at Leanne for more coffee.
Kaiden sank down onto the side of the bed and stared at the open door. He hadn’t thought his day could get much worse, but somehow he’d managed it. He’d said good-bye to Julia, pissed off his father, and lost his job at the ranch.
For the first time in ages he felt like all the tethers that bound him to Morgan Valley had been broken. He could leave now, he could move to the Bay Area, set up as a carpenter, and see Julia whenever the hell he wanted. So, why did he feel like his whole world had crashed around him and he was suffocating?
* * *
Julia’s father smiled at her as she came into the family room. She’d been so busy answering his questions about what had happened up at the cabins and catching up on housework that she’d managed not to think that much about Kaiden for hours.
“There you are, Julia. I asked Beth Baker to come and see me this evening to talk about the job. You’ll probably have some good questions for her, and you can talk about her salary and hours. She seemed really keen on the idea.”
Julia shoved all her muddled thoughts to the back of her mind. Sometimes it was better to suggest something to her father, let him raise his objections, and then leave him to make up his own mind.
“That’s great! I think you’re going to like her a lot.”
Juan nodded. “I can’t see why I wouldn’t. The Bakers are good people.”
“What time is she coming?” Julia asked.
“Around seven. Ted’s bringing her. Veronica is minding all the kids.”
“Cool, I’ll text him and ask if he can bring a new tire for the truck so I can return Kaiden Miller’s to him.” She turned to the door. “I’d better make a start on dinner if Beth’s coming over.”
“No need. Bernie left us a casserole from his wife,” Juan said. “It’s in the oven right now.”
“That’s so kind of him.” Julia grimaced. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here all day.”
“I told you to go to Bridgeport,” Juan reminded her. “I’m more than happy to see you spending time with Kaiden. He’s a good boy.”
“He’s . . .” Julia sighed. “Definitely that.”
“You two an item now?” Juan asked hopefully.