A Chance for the Rancher

by Brenda Harlen

  But there was nothing to be gained from letting him know how much his words had hurt her, so she drew in a slow, steadying breath and tried to respond calmly and rationally.

  “Well, you’ve got me instead,” she finally replied. “And I’ve already said you’re not going today, so that’s the end of the discussion. And if I hear one more word about the Silver Star or those puppies, you won’t be going tomorrow, either.”

  “You’re so mean!” Brendan protested, his eyes shiny with unshed tears.

  She had no response to that, because she didn’t doubt that, from his perspective, she was being mean. Because he couldn’t possibly understand everything that she had to cram into a twenty-four-hour day. And in addition to all the usual duties and responsibilities, she was also trying to protect her little boy’s heart.

  Over the past couple of months, it had become apparent to Brooke that Brendan was growing far too attached to not just the ranch but the rancher. Patrick had been great with her son and genuinely seemed to enjoy hanging out with him, but what would happen when her relationship with Patrick ran its course? When he started dating someone else, would he still have time for Brendan? She wanted to believe that he would, but how could she expect Patrick to make her son a priority when the child’s own father hadn’t done so?

  Of course, there was no way to explain any of this to a sensitive seven-year-old boy, so all she said was “There’s your bus, honey.”

  She reached out to give him a quick hug, as she did every morning, but Brendan pulled away from her—for the first time ever—and made his way down the driveway.

  The bus driver lifted his hand in greeting and Brooke waved back, managing a smile despite the heavy weight of her heart in her chest. Then she watched as Brendan made his way down the center aisle to take his usual seat by the window, but he kept his gaze focused forward instead of turning to wave, as he was accustomed to doing.

  Brooke exhaled a weary sigh as the bus finally pulled away. With tears in her eyes, she turned toward her parents’ house.

  “Do you have coffee on?” she asked, walking into the kitchen after a perfunctory knock on the door.

  “Always,” her mom said.

  Brooke sat at the table, wanting her mother’s wise counsel more than another hit of caffeine.

  Sandra poured two cups of coffee, and Brooke recapped the highlights of the conversation with her son as she sipped the hot drink.

  “Did I overreact?” she wondered.

  “Do you think you overreacted?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I know he’s excited about the puppies, but even before they were born, he was always asking to go to the Silver Star, so maybe I’m afraid that Patrick is the real draw, and—” emotion choked her voice “—I don’t want Brendan to get hurt.”

  “Why are you so certain that he will?” Then, after a moment’s hesitation, Sandra asked, “Or are you more worried that you will, Brooke?”

  “I’m not certain,” she admitted, wiping away a tear. “But Patrick told me at the beginning that he wasn’t ready to be a father.”

  “And yet he’s been spending an awful lot of time with you and your son over the past few weeks,” her mom remarked. “He wouldn’t be doing that if he didn’t care about both of you.”

  Brooke sighed, because it was true. It was also true that she’d been holding back. Not because she didn’t trust him, but because she was afraid to trust her own heart. A heart that was already more than halfway in love with him.

  “Don’t you think it’s time to let go of the past and look to the future?” Sandra asked gently. “To take a chance and finally let yourself be happy?”

  Maybe it was, she mused. “Being at the Silver Star certainly makes Brendan happy.”

  “And that’s great, but what about you?” her mom prompted.

  “I like being there, too,” she confided. “Being with Patrick makes me happy. And gives me hope that the family I once dreamed of having might not be beyond my reach after all.”

  Sandra smiled, even as her eyes got misty. “Then give him a chance. Give yourself a chance.”

  Brooke decided that was good advice.

  After hugging her mom and thanking her for the coffee, she headed toward the clinic. And she promised herself that the next time she saw Patrick, she would be honest about her feelings and her hopes for their future together.

  * * *

  Brooke felt so much better after talking to her mom that she managed to put the argument with Brendan out of her mind for most of the day. In fact, she even considered softening her stance and taking him to the Silver Star after dinner, but only if he didn’t have any homework to do. Because how could she object to her son wanting to see Patrick when she wanted to see him, too?

  Of course, that was before her dad walked into the exam room just as her four-legged patient walked out. Her quick smile immediately faded when she saw the expression on his face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Her father had never been one to tiptoe around bad news and he didn’t do so now. “Brendan didn’t get off the school bus today.”

  “What do you mean? Did Mom have to pick him up at school?” she asked, unable or unwilling to make sense of what he was saying.

  “Your mom called the school, and the teacher on duty insisted she saw him in line for the bus. But when she called the bus company and they patched her through to the driver, he said Brendan never got on the bus.”

  “Then where is he?” Brooke demanded.

  “Right now, no one seems to know.”

  Her father’s words struck terror in her heart, and she had to grip the exam table with both hands for support.

  “But we’ll find him,” Bruce promised.

  “I know he was mad at me this morning,” she admitted. “But I never thought he was the type of kid who would run away...” And then another, even more horrific, thought occurred to her. “But what if he didn’t run away...? What if someone took him?”

  “No one took him,” Bruce said firmly, though he’d gone a little pale, obviously shaken by the thought.

  “We should call the police,” Brooke said.

  “I already did. Sheriff Davidson was going to the school to talk to his teacher. And your mom’s at home, because we thought someone should be there in case—for when—Brendan comes back.”

  Brooke nodded, needing to believe that her son would find his way home. Or that someone would find him. Until then, however, she had no idea where he was, and it terrified her to think of him wandering the streets alone.

  “I’ve asked Larissa to reschedule the rest of your appointments so we can go out and start looking for Brendan right away. Your mom wanted to start organizing the neighbors into search parties, but the sheriff suggested we check out his favorite places around town first.”

  “Okay,” she agreed, already making a mental list: the playground by the school, Ridgemount Park, Jo’s—for the video games. And then another possibility occurred to her. “The Silver Star.”

  “You think he’d head out to the ranch?” Bruce sounded dubious—and looked even more worried.

  And Brooke understood why. The ranch was a nearly impossible distance from town on foot and the rural roads saw a fair amount of traffic traveling at highway speeds.

  “I’ll call Patrick.” While she couldn’t imagine that her son might have actually made his way out to the Silver Star, it was suddenly obvious to Brooke that the ranch was his ultimate destination.

  “You can call from the car,” her father said. “I’ll drive.”

  * * *

  Patrick was feeling pretty good about his life as he sat in front of his computer, double-checking reservation requests with room assignments for the grand opening of the Silver Star Vacation Ranch. With only a few weeks to go, everything was on track and on schedule. But the icing on the cak
e was his relationship with Brooke and Brendan. And, yeah, that had been a surprise to him, too. Not only that he would enter into a relationship with a single mom, but that he’d fall head over heels for her kid.

  He wasn’t ready to get down on one knee, but he wasn’t freaked out by the idea that they might one day be a family, either. Okay, he was maybe a little freaked out—and worried about his ability to be a good husband and father, considering his own hadn’t been much of a role model—but he wasn’t completely freaked out. And that, he decided, was a definite step forward for him.

  So when his phone rang and a quick glance at the screen identified Brooke as the caller, his lips curved automatically and he swiped to connect the call. “I was just think—”

  “Brendan’s missing.”

  Those two words not only stole his breath but his ability to form a coherent thought. “What—how—where—”

  “I don’t know,” she said, interrupting him again. “But I think he might be on his way to the Silver Star.”

  He could hear the desperation and panic in her voice and the same emotions began to take root inside him. Questions continued to swirl in his mind, but he managed to keep them in his head this time, understanding that she didn’t need him to add to her concerns.

  “My dad and I are on our way there now,” Brooke continued, “but if you could keep an eye out for him...”

  “Of course,” he immediately responded, pushing his chair away from the desk.

  “Thanks.”

  Patrick heard the tremor in her voice and knew she was hanging on by a thread. He wanted to say something to reassure her, but he knew nothing would make her feel better until Brendan was found safe.

  “I’ll see you soon,” he said instead.

  Then he disconnected the call and shoved the phone into his back pocket. He felt as if there was a weight on his chest, making it difficult to draw air into his lungs.

  “Patrick?”

  He hadn’t heard Melissa come into the room and he started now at the sound of her voice.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked, sounding concerned.

  He wasn’t the type to panic. At least, he’d never been so before. But he was starting to feel panicky now as Brooke’s words replayed in his head, an endless ominous loop. “Brendan’s missing.”

  “Missing?” his cousin echoed. “Oh, no...the poor boy. And Brooke. She must be beside herself.”

  He nodded, because of course she was. Any parent would be frantic to discover that a child was missing, and he’d heard not just worry but fear for her son in Brooke’s voice.

  Patrick hadn’t anticipated that he’d feel the same way. After all, he wasn’t Brendan’s father or stepfather—he wasn’t even officially dating the boy’s mother. He had absolutely no rights or responsibilities with respect to the child, and yet those words—Brendan’s missing—had cut him off at the knees.

  Because over the past couple of months, as he’d spent time with and got to know the little boy, he’d grown to care for him. A lot. And he couldn’t bear to think of him lost or alone.

  “What can I do to help?” Melissa asked now.

  “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing,” he confided, as he shoved his feet into his boots and reached for his coat. “But Brooke thinks Brendan might be on his way here.”

  “Here?” Worry etched a frown in Melissa’s brow. “How would he find his way from town?”

  “I don’t know.” Although there was a school bus that passed by every day, to pick up and drop off at the Carson place, just down the road. “But if Brendan’s here, I’ll find him.”

  “I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee.”

  He nodded and headed out the door.

  Though he’d tried to sound confident when he’d said he’d find Brooke’s son, he didn’t expect it would be easy. Even if Brendan had known to get off the bus at the Carson residence, it was nearly a quarter mile from there to the Silver Star—assuming the kid knew east from west and didn’t start walking in the wrong direction.

  And apparently he did, because as soon as Patrick started down the driveway, he spotted a familiar pint-size figure in a blue ski jacket and red pom-pom hat wrestling with the heavy door of the barn before squeezing through the narrow gap.

  The relief was both immediate and overwhelming, so much so that his fingers were trembling as he sent a quick text message to Brooke:

  He’s here.

  Then he took a minute to allow his erratically beating heart to settle back inside his chest—and forward the brief message to Melissa—before he followed Brendan into the barn.

  He caught up with him by the stall where Princess and her puppies had taken up residence. Although the gate was open, the boy remained outside, respecting the animals’ space while mama nursed her babies.

  “Hi, Mr. Patrick.” Brendan greeted him as if there was nothing unusual about his presence at the ranch. “I came to see the puppies.”

  Patrick shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans so that he wouldn’t haul the boy into his arms and hug him tight, because he didn’t want to freak Brendan out with such an unexpected display of emotion.

  “Where’s your mom?” he asked instead, wondering how Brooke’s son would explain the current situation.

  “She had to work late at the clinic.”

  “So how’d you get here?”

  “I took the number three bus,” Brendan told him.

  Beneath the pride in his voice, there were hints of both defiance and worry. Yeah, the kid knew he was in trouble, but he had no idea how much.

  “Does your mom know you’re here?” Patrick asked.

  The boy’s gaze slid away, a telltale sign that he wasn’t being entirely truthful when he said, “I told her I wanted to see the puppies.”

  “Did you tell your grandma, too?”

  Now he shook his head.

  “Do you think she might be worried, not knowing where you are?”

  Brendan shrugged, but the way he hung his head confirmed that he was finally starting to realize the consequences of his actions.

  Of course, neither of them could know the true extent of those consequences until Brooke arrived, and as Patrick directed the boy to the tack room to wait for his mom, he didn’t envy her the worries and responsibilities of parenthood.

  But maybe there was a tiny part of him that wished he could share them with her.

  * * *

  He’s here.

  The message on Brooke’s screen blurred as the tears she’d been fighting to hold back finally broke through on a sob and spilled onto her cheeks.

  “What is it?” her father asked, lifting one hand from the wheel to reach for hers.

  She clutched it gratefully. “Brendan’s at the Silver Star.”

  Bruce exhaled a breath. “That’s a relief.”

  Her phone pinged with another message. “Mom’s on her way, too. She found out from Russell that Brendan got on a different bus to go see the puppies.” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks with the back of her free hand. “I’m so glad he’s safe. And I’m so...”

  “Furious,” her dad suggested.

  She nodded. “And hurt and disappointed and so many other emotions I can’t even begin to decipher them all.”

  “The joys of parenting,” Bruce remarked, squeezing her hand.

  “How did you survive raising three kids?” she wondered aloud.

  “I didn’t do it on my own,” her dad reminded her. “And you don’t have to, either.”

  “Believe me, I know how lucky I am to have the support of you and Mom.”

  “Always,” he said. “But I wasn’t referring to us.”

  Did he mean...Patrick?

  Did he know about her personal relationship with the rancher?

  Of course he did, because she�
�d told her mom and her mom and dad had no secrets from one another.

  But Brooke shoved those thoughts aside for now to focus on the only thing that really mattered: Brendan.

  It seemed to take forever to get to the ranch, and Brooke had her seat belt unlatched before the vehicle was at a complete stop. She threw open the door and nearly tumbled to the ground, but Patrick was there. He caught her in his arms, and she was tempted, for just a moment, to lean into him and take strength from his strength.

  Instead, she pulled away from him and squared her shoulders. “Where’s Brendan?”

  “He’s in the tack room.” Patrick stepped in front of her again, deliberately blocking her path.

  “I need to see him,” she said, hating that her voice hitched.

  “I know.” He set his hands on her shoulders, stroked them down her arms. “But I think it would be a good idea if we talked first about how you want to handle this, what you plan to say, so that I can back you up.”

  “I’ve barely had a chance to catch my breath, so I don’t know what I’m going to say,” she admitted, a hint of irritation in her tone. “But I know that I don’t need you to back me up. This is between me and my son. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Patrick dropped his hands from Brooke’s arms and stepped back so that she could pass. She made an immediate beeline for the barn, swiping at the errant tears that spilled onto her cheeks along the way. He knew her emotions were running high and that he should probably cut her some slack, but he couldn’t help feeling both hurt and frustrated by her determination to keep him on the periphery of her life.

  “I guess that put me in my place.”

  “She didn’t mean to lash out at you,” Brooke’s dad said, his tone gruff but sympathetic.

  “Are you sure about that?” Patrick asked him.

  “She was scared. We all were. When Brendan didn’t get off the school bus, Sandra was frantic. And when she told me, I was frantic.”