“I’m fine. This new trial drug seems to be helping a lot,” Sonny said.
Grady hadn’t changed all that much. His light brown hair was a little thinner, and he’d either traded his thick glasses for contact lenses or else he’d had Lasik surgery. He still had a round, baby face and he’d put on a few pounds that had collected mostly around his middle.
“Hello, Grady.” Jesse took a step forward and stuck out his hand. “Been a long time.”
“Well, hello to you, too. You weren’t supposed to arrive for a few more days. So you’re out of the service now?” Grady’s handshake was firmer than Jesse thought it would be. “It’s good to have you back home, and yes, it has been a long time. I don’t think I’ve seen you since the night we all graduated from high school.”
“That sounds about right, but it’s great to be back home.” Jesse pasted a smile on his face. “So you’re a doctor, and you make house calls?”
“Just for Sonny,” Grady answered. “I’m the head of the ER over in Paris, but I come out here once a week to check on this new trial drug that Sonny is taking, and to get a free breakfast.” He winked across the table at Jesse.
“Married? Kids?” Jesse asked.
“Was married. No kids. My wife died a while back, but I’m moving on a baby step at a time. I’m dating a really nice woman who works in pediatrics at the hospital. She can’t make biscuits and gravy like Pearl does, though.” Another wink.
Jesse almost sighed with relief. At least Grady wasn’t dating Addy.
“I’m so sorry to hear about your wife,” Jesse said.
“Thank you,” Grady replied. “You and Addy were best friends if I remember right. Bet y’all have got a lot of catching up to do.”
“Yep, we sure do.” Jesse shifted his focus over to Addy. Their eyes caught for a moment, and then she blinked and turned toward Mia.
“Before you start on the books, you should take care of your sheep and the alpacas. They’re your responsibility when you are home,” Addy said.
“I’ll start that tomorrow,” Mia said.
Her expression and tone reminded Jesse of a few recruits he’d gone through basic with—full of defiance and attitude.
“No, darlin’.” Addy smiled. “You’ll start right after breakfast.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mia said with a head wiggle. Jesse was glad that he had never married and had kids if that was the way they acted.
Chapter Two
Addy thought she’d have another week to prepare herself before Jesse came home to Honey Grove. Seeing him there in the kitchen, with a chest that seemed to be an acre wide and his green eyes with those gold flecks, had left her speechless. She’d thought that twenty years would erase all those old feelings. But she still felt a thrill at seeing him.
Like “Delilah,” the song that Blake Shelton sang a few years ago, she thought. The lyrics said that she couldn’t blame anyone but herself because she never bothered to look at the best friend sitting right beside her. She’d been afraid to tell Jesse how she truly felt, and she’d paid the price.
Like always, Sonny said grace before they ate. As soon as he said “Amen,” Addy began to pass the food around the table.
“Jesse, I understand you were a medic in the Air Force,” Grady said as he helped himself to the scrambled eggs. “See much action?”
“Little bit,” Jesse answered.
Addy almost smiled. Jesse had never been a guy who talked a lot. He had probably exchanged more words with her than anyone else in the world. She wondered if he’d overcome the “man of few words syndrome” as she had tagged it when they were in high school.
“Any overseas? Did you ever run into Cody?” Grady asked.
“My brother and I were in different places. Haven’t seen him in almost two years now. We all made it home for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. He couldn’t get away last fall,” Jesse answered.
Addy was surprised that he had answered with more than a simple yes or no. She could feel Jesse’s eyes on her, but she couldn’t look right at him again.
Stop it! she scolded herself. You’ve got to live on the same ranch with him, so you can’t avoid him forever.
Her hands trembled as she took a biscuit from the platter and sent them on to Sonny. “Mia and I will be glad to move out into the bunk house, and let you have your old room back.”
“Oh, no!” Pearl shook her head. “The whole reason we hired you full time was so you’d be right here close by if I need you to help with Sonny.”
“I’m glad to unload my stuff in the bunk house,” Jesse said. “As kids, us boys couldn’t wait to grow up and get to live out there. Last time all three of us were home, we stayed out there. I got to admit, it wasn’t as glamourous as we thought it would be, but it will suit me just fine.”
The only time he said more than a couple of words was when he was nervous. Despite her resolve not to look at him, she stole a quick glance across the table and caught his eye again. Just like old times when they didn’t even need words, she could actually feel his angst. Was it because seeing her affected him as much as seeing him did her?
“Well, you got the bunkhouse all to yourself unless Cody makes up his mind to come home,” Sonny said.
“Has he mentioned that kind of thing?” Grady asked.
“I can hear it in his voice when he calls us,” Pearl answered. “He’s weary with that way of life.”
“With Addy and Mia’s help and the locals that we hire from town during busy times, we don’t use the bunkhouse anymore,” Sonny said. “You might have to chase out some spiders and mice and talk your mother out of some linens. No one has stayed out there since you boys were all home the last time.”
Addy felt her cheeks burning at the thought of what had gone on in that bunkhouse twenty years ago. She and Jesse had been emotional about him leaving Honey Grove, and she had cried, and…
The blush deepened, and she shook the memory from her mind.
“Great!” Mia said. “I didn’t want to move out there anyway, and I doubt that Jesse would feel comfortable in a bedroom that’s painted lavender. Mama loves that shade of purple.”
“I remember,” Jesse said softly.
Addy wondered if he remembered anything else about that night. She had spent endless nights staring out the bedroom window at the bunkhouse in the distance and reliving that night she and Jesse had spent in the bunkhouse.
“Earth to Addy,” Grady chuckled.
“I’m sorry.” She turned slightly to focus on him. “Did someone say something? I was off in another world.”
“Evidently.” Grady grinned. “I asked if you would pass the muffins. I’ve got time to eat one for breakfast dessert before Sonny and I have our weekly visit.”
Addy passed the basket of blueberry muffins to Grady and then lowered her gaze to her half-full plate of food. Even after twenty years and so many life events had passed, she still got flutters in her stomach when Jesse Ryan was anywhere near her. They had discussed everything from the time neither of them could even talk plainly. He knew when Addy had gotten her first kiss. She knew that he had had a crush on Jenny Lynn Baker in the seventh grade. Then that last night before he left, things had gone from a goodbye kiss to a helluva lot more right out there in the bunkhouse. The next morning, she had awakened earlier than Jesse and she had slipped away before daylight. That was the last time she had laid eyes on him until right now.
She had thought that not being at the ranch when Jesse and his brothers came home would help, but maybe running from him had been a mistake.
“I don’t want to ruin our friendship,” she had said that night just before they started making out. “If we dated or even had a fling, things would be awkward between us. I don’t want to chance that.”
“What if we’re meant to be together?” Jesse had toyed with a strand of her hair.
“We’re eighteen, Jesse. We’ve got so much to do before we even think like that.” But he’d kissed her, and the rest was histor
y. She had used the Jesse Ryan yardstick to measure every man she had dated since then, and they’d all come up short. Now Jesse was back. Time could not be turned back, and life had gone on for both of them.
“You’re doing it again,” Mia told her mother.
“I’m sorry—again.” Addy blushed and passed the muffins to Grady.
Grady chuckled. “My best friend’s mind is off in la-la land this morning. I already finished a muffin, and even though I could eat another one, the elastic in my scrub pants is already stretched pretty far. Sonny and I are going to the office for a checkup now.”
“I’ll help Pearl do the cleanup while Mia goes to take care of her sheep.” Addy pasted on a smile.
“See you tomorrow in church?”
“Of course. I’ll save you a seat in case you get pulled into an emergency,” she said.
“And dinner right here afterwards,” Pearl said. “Maybe we’ll have a game of dominoes in the afternoon.”
“Sounds good.” Grady laid his napkin on the table and stood up.
Sonny did the same and used his cane to lead the way to the office.
“So you and Grady are best friends?” Jesse asked.
“He’s a good man.” Addy sounded defensive even to her own ears. “And we have a lot in common, him being a doctor and me a nurse, so we kind of speak the same language.”
“Hey, everyone needs a best friend.” Jesse smiled.
“I wish he was more than her friend.” Mia got up and started toward the door. “I like him, and he makes her laugh. Maybe things won’t work out with him and his new girlfriend. We can always hope.”
“Grady is a good friend, nothing more, not even in the future.” Addy didn’t leave room for argument.
“Speaking of the future, remember that I told you about this new trial drug for MS? It seems to be slowing down the symptoms, and we’re grateful for that.”
“Does he get out to check fences or—” Jesse started.
“Every day,” Addy butted in. “We help get him in the truck and drive him around the fence lines. We let him check the cattle and make decisions about moving them from one pasture to the other.”
“But Mama and I have been helping with the bookwork.” Mia turned around from the back door. “He hated doing it anyway, and it gives me work experience for my degree.”
Pearl reached over and laid a hand on Jesse’s. “You can’t know how glad we are that you are home, son. If you could drive him around after breakfast, it would be a big help.”
“Whatever you need, Mama,” Jesse replied. “I’ve also had medical training.”
“That’s great,” Mia said. “Now we’ve got a nurse and a medic on the ranch. Can you do vet work? We could save a lot of money if we didn’t need a vet a couple of times a month.”
“Sorry, but that’s not in my field,” Jesse answered. “But if you break a leg or get on the wrong end of an IED, I can fix you up enough to get you to a hospital.”
“I don’t think there’s any bombs on Sunflower Ranch,” Addy said.
Other than the one about to go off in your heart right now? Her grandmother’s voice popped into her head.
She ignored the question and stood up. “I’ll help with cleanup, and then when Mia gets back from the sheep pens, we can get out there to get a pasture full of hay baled and ready for the barn. Think Sonny will ever go for the big round bales?” Keeping her hands busy would keep her crazy emotions in check—hopefully anyway.
Pearl shook her head. “He says there’s too much waste in those things. Besides he likes to give jobs to the high school boys in the summertime. Says it teaches them hard work.”
Mia laughed out loud. “What it does is teach them to go to college and do something where they won’t have to sweat.”
Jesse turned to look at her, and Addy’s heart skipped a beat. He’d have to know before long, and it would turn everyone’s life upside down.
“Is that why you’re going to college?” he asked.
“No, sir,” she answered without hesitation. “I’m sitting through all those classes because Poppa says I have to if I’m ever going to be the foreman of this place. That’s been my goal since I moved onto this ranch, but…”
“But what?” Addy asked.
Mia shrugged and looked guilty as hell. “But I might…” Another shrug. “It’s nothing.”
“Thinking about changing your major?” Jesse asked.
“What I’m thinking about isn’t a whole lot of your business,” Mia smarted off. “I’m going to feed the sheep. I’ll meet y’all at the hay field.” She slammed the wooden screen door on her way out.
“What’s that all about?” Pearl asked.
“Who knows?” Addy answered. “She’s been different since she came home from college this semester, but she’s said that ranching is in her blood, and she would never want to do anything else.”
“Teenagers.” Jesse headed into the living room.
Addy’s pulse raced. “I’m on duty to drive a hay wagon today. When you get back from driving Sonny around, we can use you in the field.”
“Go on,” Pearl said with a wave of her hand. “If Jesse is going to take Sonny out for his morning drive, I’ll have plenty of time by myself in the house. And I’ll appreciate every minute of it.”
Mia pushed back into the house. “I forgot my hat. Where’s Jesse?”
“Right here.” He poked his head around the kitchen door.
“You should know that I’m a rancher.” She glared at him. “I was born on my great-grandmother’s place out near Cactus, Texas, in the middle of a tornado. Granny couldn’t get Mama to the hospital, so she delivered me in a storm cellar. When everything cleared out, she put me and Mama in her old pickup truck and took us to the hospital. The next day, she took us home, and I’ve lived on a ranch my whole life. So don’t look at me like I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Addy wondered who Mia was trying to convince—Jesse or herself—and why she was being so belligerent. She had been the kind, sweet daughter that Addy had raised when she had come home for the Christmas break, but the girl who arrived at the ranch for the summer had changed into a sassy, sometimes even hateful person. Could it be that knowing Jesse was coming home had made her question her own place on Sunflower Ranch?
“Well, I, for one, am glad that you’ve been here to keep the ranch going while I’ve been out running missions for the Air Force,” Jesse told her.
“Thank you,” Mia said as she took her cowboy hat off a rack by the door and settled it on her head. “When you get done with Poppa, I’ll expect you out in the hay field.”
“Mia Pearl Hall,” Addy fussed at her.
“Pearl?” Jesse raised an eyebrow.
“It’s my grandmother’s middle name as well as mine,” Addy answered.
“And my first name, so I claim her, too,” Pearl said.
“Enough about names,” Mia said. “Can I expect you in the hay field? Those young boys don’t want to listen to me, and Henry has a crew fixing fence this morning.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I get back with Dad,” Jesse promised.
“Good.” She nodded and left by the back door.
Jesse raised an eyebrow at Addy. “Looks like she’s well on her way to making a pretty fine foreman. She’s certainly bossy enough, but then she comes by that honest. I remember you being pretty sassy.”
Addy crammed her straw hat down on her head. “If you don’t have a hat anymore, you’d better rustle one up. This hot sun will fry your brains.”
“It can’t be any hotter than it was in Iraq or Kuwait,” he said, grinning.
“And you had a hat there, I’m sure,” Addy said as she pushed the back door open.
She went straight to the old ranch work truck. The thing had been new the year that Jesse left for the Air Force. Now the paint had rusted off in places, and the bench seat inside was cracked so badly that she kept a quilt thrown over it. But the engine still hummed like it was new. She
started the engine, clutched and put it in reverse, then just sat there for a few minutes. Hoping to quiet her racing thoughts and all the memories, she leaned her head on the steering wheel. When that didn’t work, she rose up and backed the truck out of the yard.
“I should have stayed in Cactus,” she said. “I should never have come back here. When Granny went to the nursing home five years ago, and Mama and Daddy moved out there, I should have stayed.”
Driving to the hay barn, she remembered coming out to Sunflower Ranch five years ago and all the old memories that flooded her that day. Mia was fourteen that spring, and Addy had just started managing a home health care facility. That’s when Sonny was first diagnosed with MS, and Pearl had made arrangements for Addy to come see him every two weeks. Pearl had whispered that he was too damn stubborn to see a doctor as often as he should. The disease progressed quickly at first, and before long, Addy was out at the ranch almost every day.
“Mia loved it here, and Pearl said that she was the grandchild they had never had,” Addy muttered as she got out of the truck and hooked up the hay hauling trailer to it. “So here we are, and Jesse is here. And what am I going to do?”
“Who are you talking to, Mama?” Mia came out of the tack room with two new pairs of gloves.
“Myself,” Addy answered. “Don’t you ever have a conversation with yourself?”
Mia nudged her with a shoulder. “Of course. I have to talk to someone who’s as intelligent as I am every now and then.”
“If you were all that smart, you’d figure out a way to keep your hired hands working,” Addy told her.
“I’m only a year older than some of those guys,” Mia reminded her.
“Dated any of them?” Addy asked.
“Hell, no!” Mia got behind the wheel.
“What does that mean?” Addy slipped into the passenger seat.
“I love you, Mama. I’m glad you kept me and didn’t give me away, but I damn sure don’t want a baby at my age. I’ve got plans, and babies aren’t a part of that until I’m at least thirty.” Mia backed the trailer out of the barn and drove toward the hay field.
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch Page 2
