A Chance for the Rancher
Page 3
“Yeah.” He made a face. “Math.”
“I thought you liked math.” She propped a hip against the corner of the desk.
“But this is bo-or-ring,” he said, drawing out the word for emphasis.
She glanced at the half-completed worksheet. “It might be boring but knowing how to count money is important.”
“I know how to count money.”
“Do you? Because you circled the two quarters as representing fifty cents.”
“Two quarters is fifty cents,” he said confidently.
“But that’s not the only grouping of coins that adds up to fifty cents,” she pointed out. “And the instructions say to circle all the groups of coins that add up to the total amount given.”
Brendan studied the problem for a moment, then drew a second circle around the picture of five dimes and a third around the image showing a quarter with two dimes and five pennies.
“Good job,” she told him. “Now I’m going to let you finish that up while I help Gramma get dinner ready.”
“Are we staying for dinner?” he asked hopefully.
“That’s the plan.”
“Yes!” He added a fist pump for good measure. “Gramma’s making tacos.”
“I know,” she said.
“I love tacos.”
“I know that, too,” she said and dropped a kiss on the top of his head before heading back to the kitchen.
As she passed the dining room, she spotted the vase of long-stemmed red roses set on top of a crocheted doily in the center of the antique table.
The first year her parents were married, Bruce had apparently bought a single red rose for Sandra, to symbolize their first Valentine’s Day as husband and wife. The second year he’d bought two roses, then continued to add to the number each successive year, so Brooke didn’t need to count the gorgeous red blooms to know there were thirty-seven stuffed into the vase this year.
It was a lovely tradition and reassured her that happily-ever-afters were possible, even if the prospect of her own continued to be elusive. Not that she was actually looking for one right now, because she had different priorities as a working single mom. But maybe...someday.
“So tell me about your day,” Sandra urged, after Brooke had washed up and began grating the block of cheddar she’d taken out of the fridge.
“You mean the part where I had my credentials questioned at the Silver Star?”
Her mother frowned. “Who would dare question your credentials?”
“The new owner.”
“Patrick Stafford bought Gus’s place, didn’t he?”
Brooke nodded. “Though I have to wonder why. The man obviously doesn’t know the first thing about taking care of animals.”
“He must know something,” Sandra said. “After all, his family was raising cattle on Crooked Creek long before gold and silver were discovered in the hills.”
“Well, he didn’t know to make sure the paddock gate was latched, and his horses got out and one of them was injured.”
Her mom winced in sympathy. “How bad was it?”
Because her mother had been a vet’s wife for thirty-seven years and worked as a vet tech in her husband’s clinic for a lot of that time, Brooke didn’t hesitate to share the details of her assessment and treatment of the stallion.
“At least Patrick had the good sense to call someone qualified to provide medical attention,” Sandra remarked.
“He thought he was calling Dad,” Brooke reminded her.
“Did you take care of the injury?”
She nodded.
“So now he knows he can call you instead.” Her mother’s eyes took on a speculative gleam. “Or maybe he’ll call you even if he doesn’t need help with a sick or injured animal.”
“Don’t go there,” Brooke urged.
“Why not? He’s handsome, charming and—”
“And he’s well aware of his own attributes,” she interjected.
“Ahh,” her mom said, understanding. “He already hit on you, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t too hard to shut him down,” Brooke said, as she dumped the grated cheese into a bowl. “All it took was mention of my seven-year-old son.”
And though she hadn’t been the least bit surprised by Patrick’s instinctive reaction, she had been the teensiest bit disappointed. And that reaction had surprised her.
“There’s no doubt how much you love Brendan, but you’ve got to stop using him as a shield,” Sandra admonished.
Brooke frowned at that. “How is being up-front about my status as a single mother using my child as a shield?”
“Maybe it’s more like a sword,” her mom decided. “A preemptive attack against any expression of interest.”
“If a guy’s interest can be struck down that easily, he’s not someone I want to be with.”
“That’s probably a fair point,” Sandra allowed. “But one of these days you’re going to meet someone who isn’t so easily dissuaded.”
“I hope I do,” she said.
But she already knew that Patrick Stafford wasn’t that man.
So why was she looking forward to seeing him again?
Chapter Three
Patrick had gone off to college with the security of knowing there would be a job for him at Blake Mining as soon as he graduated. He’d never anticipated that, after only six years—and five different jobs—he’d feel trapped within the walls of his executive office. Or that he’d impulsively decide to walk away from the family business and buy a failing cattle ranch.
But that was what he’d done and, for the past four months, he’d lived and breathed the Silver Star. He’d known what changes and improvements he’d wanted to make, and he’d spent a lot of hours and even more money making them. He was determined to ensure the ranch was a success, to prove—to himself as much as his parents—that he could make it on his own in the real world. During that time, he’d been too busy to venture into town looking for female companionship—and likely too exhausted to do anything if he’d found it.
But he was starting to feel pretty good about the progress he’d made, pleased with the way everything was finally starting to come together. Or he had been until Dr. Brooke Langley called him a pretend cowboy and blamed him for Ranger’s injury.
And damn it, she was right. If he’d latched the gate properly, the horses wouldn’t have been running wild and the stallion wouldn’t have been hurt. But her blunt assessment didn’t just add to the weight of guilt he was already feeling; it rekindled his own doubts, further fueled by the incessant questions and criticisms of his parents, who were none too happy about his decision to leave Blake Mining and “play at being a rancher.”
Maybe he was making a mistake. Maybe he would someday regret putting so much time and effort into the ranch. But that day wasn’t today, and he’d come too far to back down now. He wasn’t just invested but committed, and wouldn’t the sexy vet be surprised to hear him confess that?
Except that he had to stop thinking of Brooke as the sexy vet and start remembering that she was a woman with serious responsibilities. A sexy single mom.
A mom he’d like to—
Whoa!
He immediately put a tight rein on that wayward thought.
No way was he going there.
Instead, he decided to go into town to grab a bite, maybe have a couple of drinks, and clear all thoughts of the lovely Brooke Langley from his mind.
He wasn’t looking for company when he took a seat at the bar at Diggers’ Bar & Grill. And if he’d realized it was February 14, he likely wouldn’t have ventured into town. But since he was here—and hungry—he ordered a draft and a pound of hot wings.
He’d taken the first sip of his beer when a curvy blonde hopped up onto the stool beside him and nudged her shoulder against his. “H
ey there, handsome.”
“Trinity, hi.” He’d met the dental hygienist at a Fourth of July barbecue hosted by mutual friends a few years back, and they’d immediately hit it off. They’d had some good times together before going their separate ways, and when their paths had crossed again several months later, they’d enjoyed getting reacquainted.
They’d repeated the same song and dance a few more times after that, though the last time he’d seen her, she’d told him that she was dating somebody and thought he might be the one. Though Patrick wasn’t sure he believed in such things, he’d been happy for Trinity and wished her the best.
He glanced past her now, looking for the man who’d been her constant companion in recent months. “Where’s Christopher?”
Her easy smile wavered. “We broke up three weeks ago.”
“I’m sorry.” His response was both automatic and sincere.
“Me, too. It sucks to be alone on Valentine’s Day.”
Skylar Gilmore, working the bar, set Patrick’s order of wings down, then asked Trinity, “What can I get you?”
“Hendrick’s gin and tonic with two lime wedges and half a twist of lemon.”
The order didn’t surprise Patrick—Trinity had always been high-maintenance, but he suspected that behind Sky’s smile, the bartender was rolling her eyes.
“You can add that to my tab,” Patrick said, when Sky set the G&T in front of Trinity.
The bartender nodded.
“Thanks, but I’m not the type of woman to go home with a man just because he buys me a drink—you’ll have to share some of those wings, too,” Trinity said with a wink.
“I’m happy to share.” He nudged the plate toward her. “But I’m not looking to take anyone home tonight.”
Trinity seemed puzzled by his response. “Nobody goes to a bar on Valentine’s Day because they want to be alone.”
“To be honest, I didn’t even realize it was Valentine’s Day until I got here and saw the Sweetheart Specials on the menu,” he told her.
She selected a wing from his plate, bit into it. “So how are things at the Silver Star?”
“Pretty good,” he said, because he was trying to forget about Ranger’s injury and he definitely didn’t want to discuss it with Trinity. She was firmly in his parents’ camp, disapproving of his decision to walk away from a lucrative office job to live the life of a cowboy.
“You don’t think you’re going to miss working at Blake Mining with your family?” she pressed.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge of something different,” he said. Because he’d never admit to anyone, except maybe his sisters, that he’d been looking for a way out for the past couple of years—and he was so glad to have finally found it.
“Is that why you’re done with me?” she asked.
“You were done with me first,” he reminded her. “As soon as you met Christopher.”
“Because he told me he was looking to settle down and start a family,” she said. “At least you were always honest about what you wanted and didn’t want.”
“And what I want hasn’t changed.”
“But what I want has—at least for tonight.” She dropped the chicken wing bone in the bowl and lifted her hand to her mouth to lick sauce off her thumb. Then she drew it into her mouth, holding his gaze as she sucked on the digit.
It was a deliberately provocative action and one that would likely have piqued his interest at any other point in time. But tonight...nothing.
Because tonight he couldn’t stop thinking about Brooke.
* * *
When Brooke woke up Saturday morning, she found Brendan already settled in front of the television with a bowl of cold cereal in his lap. She marveled over the ability of his internal alarm clock to unerringly shift between weekdays and weekends. Monday through Friday, it was a struggle to wake him in the morning. But on Saturdays, her son was always out of bed at the crack of dawn to watch his favorite cartoons on TV.
It was a routine she was happy to share with him whenever she had a Saturday off from the clinic. And since today was one of those days, Brooke got herself a bowl of Frosted Flakes, poured milk over her cereal and carried her breakfast to the living room to sit on the sofa beside her son. But as she chewed, she had the feeling there was something else she was supposed to be doing.
Or maybe she was just anticipating, because even when she wasn’t scheduled to work at the clinic, there was always the possibility that she’d get called in to deal with an emergency—or called out to one of the local ranches, as had happened yesterday. And though the calendar was blank—save for the notation to check on Ranger sometime later in the day—and her phone remained silent, she couldn’t shake the feeling.
When she and Brendan were both finished eating, she set their empty bowls aside. He snuggled closer to her side then and tipped his head back to smile at her.
Being a mom wasn’t always easy, but it was always worthwhile. Sure, it might be nice to have a partner to share her life, but she’d rather be alone than with a man who couldn’t understand and respect that her son had to be her number one priority right now.
She rarely wasted any time thinking about Brendan’s father anymore, because the boy she’d fallen in love with in her second year of vet school had stopped being relevant to her a long time ago. But every once in a while—or when someone else brought up the subject (and, yes, that was another strike against Patrick Stafford)—she found herself wondering how any man could walk away from his child. But for the most part, she focused her attention and efforts on being the best mom she could be, so that Brendan wouldn’t think about the fact that he didn’t have a dad—and wouldn’t feel as if he was missing out even if he did think about it.
Brooke knew her son had a couple of friends at school who also lived with only one parent, so his situation wasn’t really unique. Except that each of Mason’s and Felipe’s living arrangements had changed after their respective parents divorced, and each of the boys still had both parents in their lives. So she had no doubt the day would come when Brendan asked why he didn’t spend weekends with his dad like Mason and Felipe did with theirs. She just didn’t know how she’d answer when it did.
“Did you finish your math homework last night?” she asked, when a commercial flashed across the screen.
He nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“Did you double-check your answers?”
He nodded again.
“Did you leave it on Grandpa’s desk?”
He threw his head back and slapped a hand against his forehead—a dramatic confirmation that, yes, he’d done that, too.
She chuckled. “We’ll make sure we get it back before Monday.”
“Maybe we can go get it after this show,” he suggested.
“Are you worried we might forget about it?”
“No,” he admitted. “I was hoping Grandpa would make pancakes.”
“You just had breakfast,” she reminded him.
“We could have pancakes for lunch.”
“I could have made you pancakes if you’d really wanted pancakes,” she said.
“Yeah, but Grandpa’s pancakes are better.”
She chuckled softly and hugged him close. “You’re nothing if not honest, aren’t you?”
“You told me I should always tell the truth.”
“I did and you should,” she agreed.
“So can we go to Gramma and Grandpa’s?” he asked hopefully.
“Actually, I thought you might want to come to the Silver Star with me today.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s the new name of Mr. Sterling’s ranch.”
“Why’s it got a new name?” Brendan asked.
“Because Mr. Sterling sold the ranch to Mr. Stafford and moved to Glendale, Arizona.”
“How come?”
“Why’s it warmer in Arizona?”
“Because it’s farther south and closer to the equator.” She reached for the world atlas on the bottom shelf of the coffee table.
Brendan rolled his eyes. “You know you can get maps on the iPad, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know,” she confirmed. “But I want you to learn that you can find information in books, too.”
“Why?”
“In case the internet blows up.”
His eyes grew wide, conveying horror at the very thought. “Could that really happen?”
“Probably not,” she acknowledged, opening the book and flipping through the pages until she found the double-spread illustration of the United States. “But we do sometimes lose our Wi-Fi connection.”
“And that sucks,” he said.
“That’s the great thing about books—they don’t need Wi-Fi.” She tapped the page, drawing his attention to the map. “Do you know where we live?”
He immediately pointed to Nevada.
“That’s right. But Haven is in northern Nevada,” she said and nudged his finger closer to the state’s top boundary. “And this—” she guided his finger down to Arizona “—is where Mr. Sterling lives now.”
“That doesn’t seem so far,” Brendan decided.
“Scale can be hard to understand,” she acknowledged. “Do you remember how long it took us to get to Disneyland last year?”
He nodded. “For-ev-er.”
She smiled. “I’m sure it felt like forever, but it was actually about ten hours, split over two days. And this—” she pointed to Anaheim on the map “—is where Disneyland is.”
His brow furrowed as he tried to equate the distance on the map with the hours in the car. “So Arizona is really, really far away,” he realized.
“It is,” she confirmed.