I smiled looking around again. I’d had a nice childhood, despite growing up with so many zits that left damaging scars on my face.
I gagged at my vanity as the cold latte I’d been drinking went down the wrong pipe. Oh, good grief, how could I still moon over my physical imperfections? The little girl lost a leg.
Grace left to pick Owen up from school and said he had soccer practice after, but she’d be back at Nickel Song later on for the Logan showdown. Like I wanted an audience.
I tapped the paper cup of the latte and spun it around.
Iona’s Tasty Cakes. Wild Heart, Texas.
I smiled then grabbed my keys. Another latte and a donut would make me feel a little better.
Keeping my shades on, but my head held high, I walked along Main Street after parking my SUV. For the middle of the day, it was quiet. The smell of fresh-baked bread hit me and I picked up my pace, but my feet froze when I spotted all six-foot-three of Walker Rhodes.
He’d been about to sip his coffee, but stopped.
And smiled.
Oh, thank God.
I jogged up to him and he hugged me. “Hey, I didn’t know you were in town.”
“Really, didn’t see my grand entrance? My plane skidded off the runway last night.”
He blushed. “I...uh. I was busy last night,” he said all deep and gravelly.
Despite his heart-stopping handsome face, he and Parker were always like big brothers to me since our parents were close. Always did Thanksgiving dinners at Nickel Song, Christmas Eve, too, and other holidays. Walker’s mom was always Mama Rhodes to me. “Have you heard from your mom and dad?” I asked him.
“No. And I assume no news is good news. You?”
“Same.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. For some reason, Wild Heart was always about ten degrees cooler than Houston. I’d have to dig out a heavier coat for my next trek into town.
He eyed the coffee cup in my hand. “I guess you now know how good Iona’s coffee is that you drove all the way here from Nickel Song for a refill.”
“Guilty.”
“I got an hour or so until my next appointment.” He rocked on his heels and looked ready to interrogate me.
“I’m already addicted to those blueberry jelly donuts.”
“Wait right here.” Always the gentleman, Walker dashed inside and got us coffees, me a donut, and himself a cranberry scone.
We sat at a metal table under Iona’s blue and white polka-dot awning while he told me all about Emmaline, the woman who’d stolen his heart.
When I had an opening, I said, “Walker, did you ever tell me what happened to Logan Grady? His family?”
He eyed me cautiously. “I assumed Grace told you.”
I nodded because that made perfect sense. She’s my property manager. “Can I tell you something that’s probably confidential, as an old friend?”
“Sure.”
“Logan’s living in one of my houses and he hasn’t paid his rent to me in six months.”
Walker muttered something under his breath. “I know he’s having money troubles. We’ve all tried to help him, but he’s too darn proud and stubborn to accept any help.”
I felt relieved that Logan had good friends, even if he wasn’t letting them help him. “What about a Go-Fund-Me page or something like that?”
“Already had a fundraiser for him. Took the gift baskets home, but didn’t cash the checks.” Walker shrugged.
“Not even for his niece?”
“It’s been a tough year and as much as the time probably dragged for him, all the surgeries Maddie needed and therapy after, it probably also went quick for him. His back wasn’t up against the wall. Now it is. Now it will hit him. The responsibility he has to her instead of his pride. You showing up to collect your due is the reality check he needs. This will kick him in the ass and help him get out of this stubborn funk he’s in.” Walker squeezed my hand.
I nodded. I knew kids could be expensive, but to cause a complete and utter economic downturn? But this wasn’t a normal situation either. This wasn’t about Logan overindulging himself with booze and gambling. No, his hard-earned money was paying for surgeries and therapy. Things a kid shouldn’t have to go through. “Where’s Maddie’s dad?”
“Not in the picture. According to Logan, he and Janey only dated briefly.” Walker sipped his coffee then cinched his eyebrows together. “Hmmm.”
“What?”
“Speaking of fathers, has Grace ever talked to you about Owen?”
I rolled my eyes behind my shades. “No. And I’m guessing she never really thought she could. I admit, I don’t know much about kids, so that leaves me out of a lot of conversations. Why?”
“She’s never told anyone who his father is. Emmaline lived with Grace while she was a student at Tatum, the veterinary school. And even she doesn’t know.”
“I pay Grace very well, Walker. And if she needs more money, I’ll give her a raise.”
“I have no doubt you’d do that. I’m not concerned about her finances. Just...”
“What?”
“Emma and Grace are still close friends. She looks after Owen when Grace is meeting with someone for you, or just wants some me-time, I guess. There’s something about that little boy. I don’t know. Something...familiar. I swear I’ve seen those eyes somewhere.”
“Maybe the mirror.” I lowered my shades. “Any chance you’re the father?”
Walker coughed and the table shook. “I’ve had my share of one-night stands around here. Buckle bunnies are in the rearview for me. I promise you, Grace Westbrook is not a notch on my bedpost.”
The word bunny made me shudder, so I just nodded.
Walker took a sip of his coffee and then said, “It just bothers me the guy’s not around, and I don’t know why, to be honest.”
“You’re a genuinely good man, Walker.” I squeezed his hand. “Owen’s daddy not in the picture bothers you because you would never do that.”
He nodded and a beat passed between us.
A thought pricked me. “How’s Parker?”
Walker’s smile faded.
“Oh, no. What?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. He just...doesn’t come home anymore. Barely calls. Likes Wyoming better, I guess.” He choked up. “Likes the folks on his ranch better. I get it. We take care of show horses and racehorses and think that’s hard work. Cattle ranches are something else entirely. If nothing else, I’m glad he’s hooked up with a strong crew out there.”
“Have you thought about going to visit him?”
“Logan hasn’t cornered the market on pride. Parker and I are probably waiting for someone to break the stalemate. But you’re right.” He nodded. “So, how long you in town?”
I felt tempted to open up to Walker about my bunny scandal, but I believed there was a bit of truth to every lie. Nothing came out of left field and I hoped my investigators got to the bottom of that nonsense.
“A week. Just...taking a break.” I sipped my coffee and prayed he bought it.
He looked ready to pounce, but he got a call from his receptionist saying he had an appointment to get to at Sutherland Farms. He stood, his height overwhelming me when he laid one more giant yummy hug on me. I felt momentarily warm and protected. His Emmaline was a lucky gal.
“Don’t be a stranger this week, you.” Walker tipped his hat then sauntered off to his truck.
Filled with sugar, caffeine, and some semblance of an uplifted spirit, I drove back to Nickel Song, taking the long way to see Renner Ranch where Logan worked. I swung past the front iron gates and then headed further west to check out the B&B and the winery my mother had been boasting about. I could use a girls’ night out.
Past the B&B, an unmarked access road took me to the back stretches of Sutherland Farms, another majestic beauty.
Vets and horse trainers and rockstars, oh my.
It struck me for a moment, if I did resign as CEO, what in the world would I do? What was there for me in Wil
d Heart?
BACK AT NICKEL SONG, I picked up a message from Grace:
Logan sent me a text and said he’s on schedule to meet you at Nickel Song at six. Is that still okay? Do you want me to set up some other place?
As much as I loved the comfort level of having a very difficult conversation in my safe space, perhaps Nickel Song was not the place a man would feel comfortable spilling his money troubles.
What were my options if he wouldn’t take any charity from anyone? I couldn’t just let him go on and not pay his rent forever. It wasn’t fair to the other tenants, who’d had at least asked me for extensions. I’d done my share of waving late fees and agreeing to long-term payment plans. But I always got some kind of payment. Logan and I needed to hammer out an agreement. But would a man full of pride settle for something less than what he knew I was due?
In my office, I popped open Grace’s spreadsheet on a shared drive with all my properties and went to the Grady tab to see if I could maybe lower the rent. Only, the house barely turned a profit. Taxes in town had gone up. Would Logan care about that? I glanced around. No, because he knew I was rich.
But would he agree to live there for free if I let him?
My original problem came back to me. What would other tenants think? Then again, given what happened to him, I guessed other tenants might look the other way.
I texted back to Grace:
Here is fine.
If nothing else, speaking to him here would put me in a position of strength. This wasn’t personal. This was business. Something I wasn’t good at, but I had no choice and had to buck up and face my fears. Sticking my head in the sand at Delsey Cosmetics for so long allowed me to miss someone conspiring against me at my own damn company. I’d learned a valuable lesson from all this.
My phone rang and when I answered, I heard cheering in the background. “Grace, enjoy Owen’s practice.”
“It’s fine. I can do both. Having a little boy means a lot of multitasking.”
“Does he score goals?”
“Yes, but usually for the other team, so we’re working on that one. Anyway, I saw your message. Do you need me to be there? I can drop Owen off with Emma and Walker.”
“I just saw Walker in town.” My head was still spinning over his retelling of the love story between him and Emma while Walker was her professor. That had delicious scandal written all over it. Why couldn’t that be my scandal?
No. I get accused of hurting bunnies. Not sleeping with buckle bunnies.
Still, I’d missed a lot of juicy gossip in Wild Heart. Small town gossip was as common in the south as sweet tea. Just as delicious, too.
“It’s no problem for me to meet with you and Logan at Nickel Song,” Grace said. “Walker and Emma love Owen, and watch him all the time for me.”
“Okay, as long as it’s not inconvenient.” I hung up.
The picture became clearer, all the people I’d gone to school with had stayed tight. And even opened themselves up to newcomers like Grace, who’d moved to Wild Heart from Pennsylvania, and Emma, who I’d learned today was from Chicago.
I never felt more detached. Living in a high-rise in Houston and not knowing any of my neighbors or their names. Meanwhile, everyone here back in town was cozied up singing kumbaya. Looking out for one another.
An emptiness swamped me. I had everything a woman could want.
Except friends.
Except a man. Thanks, Truitt.
And my company might be snatched from me since the board of directors could fire me.
I had more money than I knew what to do with, a closet full of Prada, Chanel, and Jimmy Choo. That didn’t make up for friends, a man, and a job, though.
When my phone rang again, I expected it to be Grace. “Seriously, bring Owen.”
“Who’s Owen?” Truitt’s husky voice startled me. “Are Texas fathers already parading their sons for you to choose from?”
“He’s an eight-year-old.” If I hadn’t known any better, my ex sounded jealous. Although I couldn’t imagine why.
I thought of all those cheaters who stood there naked, dripping with sweat from just fucking someone else, begging, spewing I love you’s. Nope, that hadn’t been Truitt. He zipped up and stormed off, as if I’d been the rude one for interrupting him cheating on me.
Instead of being hurt over his betrayal, I felt more and more relieved as the days had worn on. Like when other relationships had fallen apart over the years. What had hurt? That kiss with Logan senior year and how he went back to bullying me. Fourteen years later, engaged to a handsome devil named Truitt, kissing him never felt like Logan. Feeling nothing as Truitt walked out that door without even an attempt to save our relationship told me I wasn’t really in love and breaking off the engagement had come easy.
“I’m all for the empowerment of older women and younger men,” Truitt said.
I had to laugh at that one and somewhere I missed the friendship we once had. His betrayal even had me believing that had all been a lie too. That’s how misguided I’d been. “I figure by the time he’s eighteen I’ll be able to trust a man again.”
“Ouch. How’s Mayberry?”
To big city Truitt, the way I’d talked about Wild Heart, I’m sure I hadn’t made it sound too far off from the parody of a quirky small town. “Cold.”
“I can hear it in your voice.”
“What do you want? Is there something work-related you want to discuss with me?”
“That’d be a first. I run this company for you, Mac, so you could play in your lab.” His voice got low, that anger he suppressed seeping through.
“That playtime produces products we sell. There’d be no company...” I stopped. “Seriously, what do you want?”
“Why are you so edgy?”
Admittedly, I’d turned numb and even-keeled with Truitt since we broke up. Women weren’t allowed to show emotion. Men could explode in anger and were seen as strong and in control. If a woman yelled, she risked being labeled hysterical.
“I’m meeting with a tenant in a few hours.” I cleared my throat, thinking of Logan being at Nickel Song. Something I’d dreamed about all through high school. Him waltzing in with that Texas swagger, hopefully impressed. “Logan hasn’t paid his rent. I have to discuss his eviction and I’m not happy about it.”
“Wait... Logan?”
My breath hitched. Damn...
“The prick who tortured you in high school? The guy you crushed on and loved. The guy who humiliated you? I thought you would love to toss him out on his ass. “
“So I thought.” God, what had I told Truitt about Logan Grady?
“He has a child living with him. His niece. He lost his whole family in an accident. In one night.”
Except Maddie, a little girl with bright blonde hair from what I’d seen. I ran my hands through my hair, loving that it was soft and not filled with hairspray like the way I usually styled it with all those tight beach waves for parties and galas most nights. Now it was just soft and bouncy. The natural shine of this new platinum color I’d been getting done agreed with Wild Heart water.
“Boo-hoo,” Truitt crowed.
“Come on. I know you. You’re not that cold.” I had no intention of watching Logan wander around looking for a park bench to sleep on. He was the foreman at Renner Ranch, and operations like that had bunkhouses, foreman quarters, he had someplace to go.
But...there was Maddie.
“I’ve listened to you carry on about this man.”
I shifted in my seat. “I may have exaggerated some stuff. It was high school. And isn’t living well the best revenge?”
“You lived well back then.”
I snuck a look at my bedroom through the archway and stared at the lace-covered canopy bed under a crystal chandelier. That I did.
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but what should I do? If I just let him slide, doesn’t that send a message to my other tenants? Like I’m rewarding bad behavior.”
Truitt was a sleaze in the stay-faithful-to-your-fiancé department, but he was an excellent COO who ran my business very well.
“You can do whatever you want. It’s your property and you don’t owe anyone a living, Mac.” Bastard was being snarky.
“I know.”
“Okay, thanks,” Truitt said away from the phone, his voice muffled. “Tess is monitoring mainstream social media to see if our animal testing scandal is moving off the dark channels.”
“And?”
His silence gave me the answer. What the frick happened to innocent until proven guilty?
“Truitt, we document everything. We’re a public company. I have annual summaries one hundred pages thick. We’ve been transparent, that includes purchasing. And we’ve never ever bought lab animals.”
He stayed silent for a moment and then said, “I’ve already talked with Tess. She agrees that pointing out technicalities right now in a defensive manner means we’re deflecting.”
I shook my head. “As a scientist, it goes against everything I was taught. Facts are facts. I prove results and disprove them every day.”
“Perception is reality.”
I specialized in that perception with cosmetics designed to make flaws disappear.
“I have to go. I have to figure out what the hell to do about Logan.”
“Are you still coming home next Sunday?” Truitt’s voice softened to a sweet cadence, but I wouldn’t be taken with his charm any longer.
“I am home.” I hung up.
I pushed Grace’s folder away not wanting to deal with this unwinnable problem. Logan hadn’t accepted charity from his closest friends. His house, my house was a place a little girl was growing up. A place she’d hopefully found love and safety after a horrible tragedy. At this point, I’d be content to gift him the damn house and walk away.
Only...Logan would never take it.
Arg! Men.
I glanced at my diamond watch. Three p.m. Enough time for a ninety-minute workout followed by a wonderful shower. Then two shots of whiskey to prepare myself for Mr. Logan Grady.
The Cowboy's Rebel Heart: An Enemies to Lovers Second Chance Romance (Wild Texas Hearts Book 4) Page 4
