Starting Over in Texas

by Jessica Keller

  Boone understood Wade’s meaning. Wade hadn’t been around for Cassidy when she was pregnant with their first child, Piper. In fact, at the time the whole family had thought Wade was dead. Five years after he disappeared, Wade had shown up at the ranch, alive and well, only to learn he had a daughter. Boone knew supporting Cassidy during her second pregnancy meant everything to Wade.

  Boone glanced toward the barn and groaned. “I’m afraid Violet and I may not have gotten off on the right foot.”

  Wade frowned. “What did you do?”

  Boone rolled his shoulders. “I only told her I didn’t want Hailey learning how to ride a horse.”

  “Well, it’s too late for that.” The smile on his brother’s face held a note of pride. “Hailey’s gotten pretty good at it already. She’s catching up to Piper and that’s saying a lot. My little lady’s been riding since she could walk.”

  “It’s dangerous.” Boone was aware of the low grumble in his voice, but couldn’t rein it in. He had just lost his wife. He didn’t want anything happening to his daughter. Why couldn’t anyone understand that?

  Wade shrugged. “No more dangerous than driving a car.”

  “Good thing I’m not letting Hailey do that, either,” Boone deadpanned.

  Wade rolled his eyes in an annoyingly exaggerated way only a younger sibling could. “You know, if you really did get off on the wrong foot with Violet, you’re going to have to extend an olive branch to her.”

  “I know, I know,” Boone said. “She lives here right now and we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

  “Not just that,” Wade said. “I need you to run the ranch together.”

  If Wade had told him that he wanted Boone to build an elaborate float and drive it in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, he wouldn’t have been more shocked.

  Boone opened his mouth, shut it. “Come again?”

  “Silas needs a heart transplant,” Wade said each word slowly. “Rhett and Macy will be living at a hotel near the hospital for as long as he’s there. That could be weeks, months. Possibly longer. No one knows when or if a heart will become available. But we know for sure they’re going to miss the entire summer here. Beyond the health crisis our nephew is facing, you understand the significance of them not being here, don’t you?”

  Of course Boone did. Rhett and Macy were codirectors of the ranch. They ran...everything. And with it being summer, Camp Firefly, the summer camp the ranch hosted at no cost for kids in the foster care system, would already be in full swing.

  Boone blew out a long puff of air. “What are you going to do?”

  “Actually, the real question is, what are you going to do?” Wade pushed his pointer finger into Boone’s chest. He continued before Boone could react. “I know you’re already facing a lot, but we need you, Boone. This family needs you to step up and run the camp and financial side of the ranch while Rhett is gone.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Boone shook his head. He wanted to help his family, but running the ranch? That was out of his wheelhouse. He had intended to come back to heal around his family, to have time with Hailey and to be away from Maine where they had so many recent memories with June. Boone was supposed to use the summer to decide if he was going to finish seminary. Running the ranch would not help him solve anything. Besides, when their father died, the will had specified that the ranch was to be left to Rhett in full and if the eldest Jarrett didn’t want his inheritance then it could pass to Boone or be sold with the proceeds being donated. Boone hadn’t wanted to run the ranch then any more than he wanted to do so now. While he loved Red Dog Ranch as his home, his ambitions had always lain elsewhere, which was why he had been attending seminary the last few years. Boone wasn’t and never would be a rancher.

  “It doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea,” Wade said. “You’re all we’ve got, so you’re going to run the show. Case closed.”

  Boone worked his jaw back and forth. Why did Shannon have to be gone? She would have been perfect for the role. “What about you?”

  “I’m already head of maintenance. Do you know how much work it is to maintain over one hundred acres of land and all the machinery and buildings it takes to run this property?” Wade stretched his arms to encompass the expanse of land they owned. “Not just that, I’ve been running the cattle side of the ranch for the last four months and on top of those things, I’ve taken over managing all the ranch hands. I also happen to have a pregnant wife and a fairly new marriage I’m trying to keep healthy.” He put his hands up in an act of surrender. “My hands are full, buddy. I honestly can’t handle anything else.”

  Boone hadn’t comprehended how much his younger brother was already shouldering and felt foolish for having suggested he take on more. He linked his fingers behind his neck and looked out across the pastures. He wanted Red Dog Ranch to be successful because he loved his family and believed in their mission to help foster kids. What kind of minister-in-training would Boone be if he turned his back on his family when they were in need?

  Boone sucked in a long breath. “You’re right. You have way too much on your plate already.” He held up a hand. “Now, I don’t know if I know how to do everything. I’ve been away from the ranch for years. But with some help, I’m willing to try.”

  Wade smiled. “Like I said before, Violet will help you.”

  “Violet?” With the amount of information Wade had tossed his way in the last few minutes, Boone hadn’t caught that tidbit. “I thought she was working with the horses.”

  Wade’s laugh was rich and a welcome change, given the heavy topics they’d been discussing. “Violet was in a leg cast for seven weeks. She only just got it off. No, she hasn’t been working with the horses, not until just this week. But the second they brought her back from the hospital after she was first injured she crutched her way into the office and told Macy to teach her everything because she wanted to be useful and knew Macy was going to have to go on leave soon.” Wade gestured to where the ranch office sat at the front of their property, near the driveway. “We had assumed Shannon would fill in at the office while Macy was on maternity leave so after she eloped, we were left scrambling. Macy was only too happy to teach Violet, and Violet’s been running the show ever since. Thankfully she seems to have a knack for it.”

  “You’re telling me Violet’s been running our family’s ranch these last few weeks?”

  Wade moved his hand in the universal kinda-sorta motion. “Remember, she spent a good ten or so summers here as a camper so she knows how that part of things goes. And up until today, Rhett’s been here. He was tired from having a newborn at home, of course, but he was still around to do most of it with her helping.” He thumped Boone’s chest. “And now it’s all you, bud.”

  Boone scrubbed his hand over his jaw and faced the barn. “Which means it’s olive branch time.”

  Wade squeezed his shoulder and gave it a little shake. “Sounds about right.” He let go. “Send the girls up to the mess hall. Cassidy and I will be in there prepping for tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow? Right, campers arrived on Sunday afternoons. Apparently his new position started right this minute.

  Boone swallowed hard and headed toward the barn.

  * * *

  Violet peeked outside to monitor how Hailey and Piper were doing on the chore she had assigned them. Armed with scrub brushes and a hose, the little girls were tackling a pile of dirty feed buckets. When she spotted them, Violet stifled a laugh. They seemed to be successfully getting more water on each other than the actual buckets, but it was such a hot day and they were young. She could hardly blame them. Kids that age should be allowed to enjoy innocent, carefree fun.

  How many times had Violet wished her childhood had been just like that?

  She headed back inside the barn and ended up in front of Hawken’s stall. Her palomino horse nickered as she approached
and stretched so he could rest his head on her back as she trailed her fingers over his neck.

  Her horse was injured badly enough to ruin him.

  Ruin him.

  She had tried to block out Boone’s hurtful words, but they had rammed back into her mind again and again over the last thirty minutes. Had she ruined Hawken? Only time would tell. So far, he seemed to be doing well, but Shannon’s veterinarian husband, Carter, had told Violet it would be at least a year before Hawken could race again—if he was ever strong enough to race again.

  Guilt burned a hole through her stomach.

  Violet’s fingers shook as she continued to pet the gelding. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered against Hawken’s soft yellow hair. “He was right. You got hurt because I was distracted. It was my fault. You’re the best thing—the only good thing—that ever happened to me and I hurt you. I’ll never forgive myself for this.”

  Someone cleared their throat behind Violet and it definitely wasn’t one of the girls. Her back went rigid and her hand froze on Hawken. How much had Boone overheard?

  “I should have never said those things to you.” Boone’s shoes crunched on the floor, signaling he had taken a step closer. When she didn’t turn to face him, he let out a loud sigh. “I have a lot on my mind right now and Hailey is really important to me and I—”

  Violet whirled to face him. “If Hailey is so important to you, why did it take you so long to make your way back to Red Dog Ranch?” Her chest heaved a little. “She should have been your first priority.” She probably shouldn’t keep challenging Boone. He was one of the Jarretts, after all, and if she upset him, he could ask Rhett to toss her off their property and then where would she go?

  Violet had spent most of her adult life living out of hotel rooms as she traveled from one rodeo to the next. She had a PO box for legal reasons, but no real home base. She usually found a bedroom to rent near the stables she kept Hawken at in the off season. To her name she had a nice truck and a horse trailer, and the only family she had was Hawken. He was happy to travel anywhere with her. As long as they were together, they were fine. Always had been, always would be. But after his fall, Hawken wouldn’t be fit to run the barrels until next summer, and that was only if his leg healed fully.

  Violet had just gotten her cast off. Seven weeks in a cast meant muscle loss so she was out of practice, too. Since aging out of the foster system, the rodeo had been her only way of making money. With Hawken hurt, she was stripped of that unless she bought another horse. Beyond that, transporting Hawken would endanger him. She couldn’t do that any more than she could bring herself to replace him with a new horse.

  But she also couldn’t completely hold her tongue, either.

  Boone Jarrett was in the wrong. He had abandoned his daughter mere weeks after her mother had died, which was when Hailey had needed him the most. She knew he had video-chatted with her during his absence, but that wasn’t the same as being around and being there for his daughter in the midst of the biggest loss of her life.

  A muscle in Boone’s jaw ticked. “I don’t see why that’s any of your business.”

  Violet spread her fingers over her collarbone. “It’s my business when I’ve held a sobbing six-year-old every day for the past two months because her daddy wasn’t there to hug her. It becomes my business when I’ve had to explain again and again to her that I’m sure her daddy loves her and wants to be here but he can’t be.”

  Boone’s whole face fell. There was no other way to describe his expression. “No one told me she’s been crying because I wasn’t here. I didn’t know. She didn’t cry during our calls.”

  Knowing Boone was grieving as well, the rest of the Jarretts had more than likely been trying to protect him. But they should have said something. Hailey had deserved for her father to know she was struggling, and Boone had deserved the chance to make things right.

  “Your siblings didn’t want to upset you.” A twinge of pity caused Violet to soften her tone, but not her message. “You should have known, Boone. A child needs their dad when they’re hurting. Of course she was all smiles when you guys talked—she was happy to see you and didn’t want to make you sad. But she’s been hurting so much and you were the person she needed most of all.”

  Boone stumbled a little as he reached for the edge of the row of stalls. He braced his hand against it. His head drooped and he closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I had to finish the semester and close down our life in Maine.” A breath rattled out of him. “There were things I needed to take care of but I never meant to hurt her.”

  Boone was a big guy—wide shoulders and biceps that looked as if he spent hours in the gym. It made her heart do funny things to see such a strong man be so vulnerable. She fought the urge to reach out and touch his arm for comfort. Violet rounded her shoulders instead. Boone needed the truth.

  “Well, you did.” Violet leaned against Hawken’s door. Her horse’s breath came hot against her back but she stayed there. “So now you need to make that better.”

  Boone lifted his eyes to meet hers. “Wow. You don’t hold back at all, do you?”

  “Not when a little girl’s heart is on the line.” Violet hugged her stomach, but refused to look away.

  She would make no apology for how she was speaking to Boone. The ugly scar of abandonment was too much a piece of her life story for her to overlook what he had done.

  When her parents had died, she wished someone would have been brave enough to speak to her aunt and uncle this way instead of letting them shirk their duty. Allowing them to turn a blind eye to the fact that their refusal to take her meant she would spend the remainder of her childhood as a ward of the state.

  No adult had fought for her.

  At Hailey’s age, Violet had been forced to grieve and come to terms with the loss of both her parents on her own. She wasn’t okay with that happening to Hailey when she had a father who was fully capable of being there for her.

  “I appreciate that.” Boone’s blue-green gaze met hers and his eye contact was so open and sincere, Violet couldn’t help but thaw toward him a little. The man had just lost his wife. She couldn’t imagine everything he was dealing with.

  Boone continued talking. “It probably doesn’t feel like it, but I really appreciate that you care so much about Hailey that you’re willing to have a hard conversation like this for her benefit. That says a lot about you.”

  Violet let her shoulders relax. She rolled her eyes for effect—glad the tough part of the conversation was momentarily behind them. “It says I’m a big pain.”

  Boone was still shaky when he pressed away from the stall. “Actually, it says you have a big heart, which is entirely admirable.”

  Violet wasn’t sure how to respond to such praise so she turned to face Hawken. She reached into his stall and he instantly placed his muzzle against her palm, snuffling for treats. His warm puffs of air rushed over her arm.

  Boone surprised Violet by coming up beside her at the stall. He leaned his forearms on the edge of the door so he was inches from her. “I want to apologize for how I came off in the arena. Honestly? I don’t want Hailey riding—I do believe it’s too big a risk for her to take right now—but I could have handled that exchange better.”

  Violet had recently had the pleasure of getting to know Rhett, Wade and Shannon Jarrett as well as all their spouses, and they made up some of the best and kindest people Violet had ever met. But Boone Jarrett had remained a mystery. While Hailey had mourned, it had comforted Violet to paint the girl’s father as the worst of men. Who else would abandon a six-year-old?

  Even at the time she had known how ridiculous she was being. Hadn’t the man been training to be a minster? Now she saw how wrong and terrible it had been to entertain her wild imaginings. Boone was kind like the rest of the Jarretts and had made mistakes like every other human on the planet.

 
Like she had.

  Violet kept her attention on Hawken. “If we’re coming clean, I could have handled the situation better, too.” She scratched her horse’s forehead. “You know, I understand your hesitancy when it comes to Hailey and horses, I promise I do. They’re powerful animals. But for what it’s worth, horses are safer than most of the people I know.”

  Boone straightened to his full height and took a step back, giving her room. “You like them that much, huh?”

  “What’s not to like?” She angled her body a little so she could still give Hawken attention but could also meet Boone’s gaze as well. “You can trust them with your secrets, they’re excited to spend time with you no matter what you look like on any given day and they’ll never break your heart.”

  “No, just your bones.”

  She batted her hand. “Good thing God gave us plenty of those.”

  Boone bowed his head slightly. Then he shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked forward. “Wade told me that Silas has to have a heart transplant.”

  A chill whooshed through Violet. She had known whatever Silas was facing had been a big deal—they only transported people by helicopters for very serious issues—but she never would have guessed something like a heart transplant. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Rhett and Macy have both been so wonderful to me. If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”

  Boone nodded. “Actually, there is something you can do.” He held up a hand. “I’m going to warn you in advance, it’s a big ask. Rhett and Macy will be living in Houston for the foreseeable future, which leaves jobs at the ranch that need to be done.”