The Cowboy’s Return

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The Cowboy’s Return Page 7

by Aarsen, Carolyne


  “What will you do with this place?” Summer asked, as if she hadn’t heard his previous statement. Her voice was even, cool almost. Detached.

  “I think I might sell it. Zach has been renting the land from me anyway, and there're all kinds of weddings going on over there. I’m sure someone would want to live here.”

  “You don’t want to stay here? This is your old home.”

  Lucas shrugged. Every time he thought of the ranch while he was away he had never seen it as a stopping place. He didn’t know if he could stay at the place he had always imagined would be his and Summer’s.

  “I never lived here long enough to see it as home,” he said. “After my parents died Glenda dropped me off pretty quick at the Tye ranch. That’s more home to me than this place will ever be.”

  Summer ran her index finger up and down the side of the computer, her expression concerned. “You always sound bitter when you mention Glenda’s name.”

  Lucas folded his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair. He had never said much to Summer about his grandmother. When they were dating, Glenda wasn’t a part of his life at all.

  “Though she spent a lot of time with us whenever my Dad was deployed, we’ve never been close. She probably spent more time with my mom than with me.”

  “I feel bad for her. She doesn’t have anyone but you.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been a priority.”

  “Maybe not, but lately, she’s been talking about you. Talking about things she regrets.” Summer’s attention still seemed focused on the laptop screen.

  “Well, I would hope so,” Lucas said. Then he gave his head a shake, realizing how that sounded. “Sorry, that just slipped out.”

  He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Coming here, seeing Summer, seeing his grandmother, spending time with the Tye family and seeing how everyone was settled in—it was all just a flurry of reactions and emotions he struggled to put in the right place. He didn’t like going backward. Through the difficulties of his life his biggest coping mechanism had been to look ahead. Move on to the next job.

  After Summer ended their engagement, he relied heavily on that skill.

  He pushed himself to his feet to end the conversation.

  “So you’ll let me know if you hear anything about Misty?” he asked.

  “I’ll send you a text.”

  He frowned. “How would you do that?”

  “You just gave me your phone. I sent a text from that one to mine. I have your number, sorry.” She gave him an apologetic look, her expression soft, warm.

  “Don’t abuse the privilege,” he said with a smile, pocketing his cell phone.

  Summer gave him a crooked smile back. “Elliot used to say that all the time. Whenever you wanted to borrow his truck.”

  And why was it that the fact she remembered that, created another wrench?

  Old connections between old friends, he reminded himself.

  “Well, now I’ve got my own vehicle, so at least I won’t have to borrow that candy-red thing he tools around in.”

  “And I’m sure the Tyes gave you enough grief about driving a Jeep,” Summer said.

  He smiled at that, recognizing her comment as a small peace offering. “Mostly Elliot, but that’s okay. They know I’ve always gone my own way.”

  Summer nodded, looking at the computer again. “That you did.”

  He paused a moment, wondering if there was a subliminal message to her words. But then he realized she was just making conversation.

  “Come on, Misty, let’s go.” He walked to the door, but before he opened it, he looked back at Summer again. “Say good night to Glenda for me,” he said.

  “I’ll do that.” She gave him a careful smile.

  Their eyes held a moment, and an awareness rose between them, so real, Lucas almost felt like he could touch it. But he turned away, opened the door, and left.

  * * *

  “So no one here recognizes this dog?” Lucas looked around the breakfast table at the Tye family ranch, another hope dying. It was Wednesday and he was following through on his plan to spend time with his adoptive family while also avoiding being at the house until he could move to the Inn.

  “Never seen it before.” Elliot cradled his mug of coffee as he looked over at Misty. “Pretty dog, though. Looks purebred Aussie.”

  Misty looked up from her place by the kitchen door as if sensing people were talking about her.

  “Good thing the twins aren’t up yet,” Tricia said, stifling a yawn as she retied her ponytail. “They’d be all over her.”

  Lucas finished his toast and kept some eggs aside to feed Misty. “Probably a good thing. She seems quiet and she listens well—”

  “I’ll say. She hasn’t moved from her place since you got here.” Zach lowered the magazine he’d been reading. “She hasn’t even whined.”

  “She put on a performance last night,” Lucas said, glancing over at her. “I put her in the bathroom to sleep, but she kicked up such a fuss, howling and scratching at the door, I finally let her into my room. She stayed on the floor until I fell asleep. This morning I found her in my bed.”

  When he woke up to a warm body lying across his feet his first reaction had been to kick, push her off. When she dropped to the floor and scampered awkwardly to the bathroom door and he realized what he’d done, he felt terrible.

  “What are you going to do with her?” Kane asked, picking up his plate and taking it to the dishwasher.

  “Well, for now I’m taking her to the vet when it opens to make sure she’s okay. Probably get her dewormed and get some decent dog food for her.” He glanced at the clock. “I should leave soon.”

  “I need some parts from town for my truck and some plumbing supplies for the cabin. Okay if I bum a ride?” Elliot tossed back the last of his coffee. “Besides, I can introduce you to Kinsley. Show you her photography studio.”

  “That’d be great.”

  “How are things going with you and Glenda?” Zach asked, shooting him a questioning glance.

  Lucas caught the gentle concern in his father’s expression and his voice. Though the whole family knew his story, only Zach and Grace knew how Lucas had felt about his grandmother bringing him to the Tye ranch and then leaving.

  “It’s okay. She’s staying in the main house with Summer, and I’m in the suite.” He shrugged, not sure what else to say.

  “And Summer? Are you okay with her?”

  “Dad, she’s his ex, of course he’s not okay with her,” Tricia said. “The woman broke his heart.”

  Lucas smiled at Tricia’s quick defense of him. Like a mother cat.

  “Emphasis on the past tense of ‘broke,’ please,” he put in with a grin for his foster sister. “And that was six years ago.”

  “And I hear she’s expecting?” Zach put in, obviously unwilling to let this go.

  The tone of his father’s voice and the sympathetic look damaged Lucas’s already shaky emotional equilibrium. “I don’t think that’s news to anyone who’s seen her,” he said.

  “No. That’s true.”

  Silence followed Zach’s comment, and Lucas felt uncomfortable.

  “I should get going.” Lucas got up and took his plate to where Misty lay. “Do you have anything I can put her food in?” he asked.

  Tricia got up and pulled an empty ice cream pail out of a cupboard and handed it to him. “She should be able to eat out of that.”

  Lucas scraped the leftover eggs into the pail and took it outside, setting it on the sidewalk for the dog. He shoved his hands in his pockets, curving his shoulders against the chilly air as he watched her gobble it up, taking a moment to catch his breath and center himself.

  “Hey, are you okay?”

  Tricia’s quiet voice broke into the moment, and he turned, giving her a careful smile. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

  She slipped her hand through his arm, tucking herself against his side. “Are you really?”

  Lucas ble
w out a sigh, shaking his head. “You never could leave well enough alone, could you?”

  “I’m concerned about you. I’ve been reading about the effects of being overseas in battle situations. PTSD. How it can affect people.”

  He covered her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “That’s nice to know. I’ve been working with counselors, and I’m fortunate. I have bad memories and some trouble sleeping, but overall, I’m not that battle-scarred.”

  “Other than this,” Tricia said, touching the scar on his face.

  “Yeah. Other than that.” Too easily he remembered how he felt when Summer did the same. He glanced away, his cheeks flushing at the memory.

  “So how has it really been, being at the house with Summer right next door?”

  “Fine.” He chose not to tell her about his potential plans to stay at the Inn.

  Of course, if they couldn’t find Misty’s owners, that might not happen.

  “Your old girlfriend who is pregnant and is working for your grandmother who you never cared for, and you’re fine?” Tricia’s words bounced against the fragile wall he had been constructing.

  Another sigh. “No. Actually, you’re right.” He stopped there but Tricia, to her credit, didn’t fill the silence as she usually did. They stood together a moment, Misty now finished, lying at his feet. He stared across the yard he had spent so much time in. “We had some good times here, didn’t we?” he asked.

  “When we weren’t fighting,” Tricia joked, obviously willing to go along with his switch. “Of course, you would never join in. Anytime things got physical or emotions ran high, you would book it out of here.”

  “I don’t remember that.”

  “I do. You would get this weird look on your face and just take off. Mom always said that was just you retreating and regrouping.”

  Another moment of shared silence followed this.

  “She was a good mother,” Lucas said quietly.

  “I miss her a lot. Particularly as Elliot and Kinsley, Mason and I are planning our double wedding. Plus watching the kids growing is bittersweet.”

  “She would have loved those kids, just like she loved every kid that got dropped off here.”

  “You must miss your parents too,” Tricia said, giving his arm another quick squeeze. “Especially now that you’re back in your old house.”

  “We didn’t live there that long, but yeah. I have been thinking about them more than usual. And, I have to confess, being angrier with my grandmother than usual.”

  “Why?”

  Lucas was surprised at her question, but then, she wouldn’t see his situation the same way. She was still with her biological parents. And as a young girl living in her own home with her own parents, she wouldn’t understand the impact of him losing his family.

  “I lost both my parents. I was hurting and lost. Both my mother and father were only children. Glenda was the only immediate family I had. And she couldn’t take care of me for more than one day after my parents were buried. I think she brought me here the day after the funeral. Not even one day.”

  Tricia was quiet a moment, as if contemplating that. “You know, I never thought what impact that might have had on you.”

  “You were nine. Same age I was.”

  “And I was spoiled, according to you guys and, truth to tell, I was.” Tricia gave him a crooked smile. “So I was kind of selfish then. Sorry.”

  “No worries. But it was hard, and seeing her in my parents’ house brings it all back. And that frustrates me. I hate feeling so much.”

  “So hence the vague ‘fine’ I got from you.”

  “Okay, not really fine. But I’ll get through it.”

  The door flew open behind them and Elliot burst out, shrugging his coat on. Misty scrambled to her feet, releasing a quick yelp. “I’m one of the good guys,” Elliot said, bending down and reaching his hand out to her. Misty lowered her head and took a couple of tentative steps forward and then licked his fingers. “See. Good guy. As for you two, it’s freezing out here, and you’re just hanging around shootin’ the breeze without coats on? We should get going.”

  Lucas laughed at his brother then gave Tricia another hug.

  He got his coat, said good-bye to the rest of the family, and then left with Elliot, Misty trotting behind him. Thankfully, she got into the Jeep, despite her injuries then lay down on the back seat.

  Elliot got inside, making a face as he looked around. “And now I’m in a Jeep. How low can I go?”

  “You could be walking,” Lucas said as he reversed out of the driveway. “Besides, my Jeep is bringing you to town to get parts for your truck, which isn’t running again.”

  “Ouch. Major burn,” Elliot said, punching himself in the chest.

  Lucas laughed, feeling a lightening of the gloom that had clung to him since he arrived in Rockyview. He missed this, he realized.

  Missed his family and the community that came with it.

  On the drive to town they talked about the ranch, the new horses Mason and Tricia were training, an upcoming auction sale, and Christmas. Thankfully, they didn’t talk about Summer.

  They stopped at the vet clinic, but they couldn’t get an appointment for a couple of days yet and no one recognized her or knew of someone who was missing a dog that looked like her.

  The receptionist took note of her markings and apparent age, however, just in case. Lucas bought a bag of the dog food the vet technician recommended and he and Misty left.

  “No one claimed her?” Elliot asked as Lucas let her into the back of the Jeep. Misty curled up on the floor, thumping her tail as Lucas set the dog food on the seat, warning her not to eat it.

  “No one knew anything about her,” Lucas said.

  “That’s kind of nice.” Elliot looked over his shoulder at her. “She’s a decent dog. Well-trained, it seems to me.”

  “Summer put a notice on some town and country Facebook page,” Lucas said as he drove toward downtown. “So maybe someone will come forward.”

  “Admit it, you want to keep her,” Elliot said, punching his brother’s shoulder.

  “I don’t know what I’d do with a dog once I leave.”

  Elliot was quiet a moment, but Lucas felt his brother’s gaze on him. “Why would you do that? You’ve got your own place. You’re all set up. Where would you go?”

  “I made some plans with a friend to go traveling after the weddings,” Lucas said. “I’m glad you and Kinsley and Mason and Tricia waited until I could make it.”

  “Double winter wedding,” Elliot said with a grin. “It’s going to be a party.”

  Lucas grinned at his brother’s enthusiasm and, to his dismay, right on the heels of that came a very unwelcome tinge of jealousy. If things had gone the way he’d planned, he and Summer would’ve been married already.

  Might even have had a child or two.

  Well, she’s got that covered, he thought.

  “But why would you want to travel in winter?” Elliot pressed, obviously not done with his campaign.

  “Because I’m going somewhere warm.”

  “I guess you’re used to that now,” Elliot said when Lucas pulled up to the hardware store. “But I still think you should stay. Work your own ranch.”

  Lucas said nothing to that as they got out of his Jeep. He opened the back door to let Misty out.

  That was one cool thing about Rockyview. Pets were welcome in many of the stores, and for the ones that didn’t allow them, there were special rails out front for people to tie their dogs to as well as water bowls put out when the weather permitted.

  Lucas took a moment to look around the town, smiling at how familiar and unchanged it was. The street with its older brick buildings and vintage lamps and, always, the mountains watching over it all. The trees were all bare, and he could see the ski hill runs where he had spent some wonderful times. At the other end of town was the mountain that had the image of the Shadow Woman, though she wasn’t visible today. The sun had to be at the right
angle. He remembered driving into town with his siblings in the summer and seeing who could see her first.

  “Some things never change, do they,” Elliot said, as if he could hear his brother’s thoughts.

  “It feels good. Solid.”

  “I agree. I’ve been on the road enough, chasing rodeos, that I appreciate home. Appreciate how this stays the same, like it’s waiting for us to come back and resume normal life.”

  Lucas smiled at that. “You’re becoming quite the philosopher.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. I run out of the serious stuff real quick.” He shivered as a blast of cold wind shimmied down the street, carrying a few flakes of snow with it. “So hardware store first, then auto parts then we can go to the studio, and you can meet Kinsley.”

  They stepped inside the welcome warmth of the store, and as soon as they did, Misty stopped just inside and lay down on the floor.

  “That dog is like a spy,” Elliot remarked adjusting his hat. “Likes to have an escape route.”

  “I can sympathize.” Lucas bent down and petted and praised her, and when he stood she stayed where she was, her tail thumping lightly on the ground.

  “Maybe someone in town will recognize her,” Elliot said.

  “I hope so.” But Lucas spoke the words with a lack of enthusiasm. He enjoyed having Misty around. She was a warm body in an empty house. Company. Made the tension between him and the two women next door easier to take.

  However, if they didn’t find her owner, he would have to cancel his room at the Inn.

  Which meant staying at the ranch.

  “Can I help you?” A woman approached them, breaking into his thoughts. Her gray hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, her features narrow and drawn. She looked worn out, and with a jolt, Lucas recognized Summer’s mother, Cecilia Auger.

  He could tell the moment she recognized him as well.

  “Lucas? My goodness, here you are.” She smiled, and to his surprise, came closer and gave him a quick hug. Then she stepped back, her hands on his shoulders, smiling up at him. “Look at you.” Her smile faded when she saw the scar on the side of his face, but just as quickly it returned. “Summer said you were back.”

 

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