by Susan Fox
Besides, there was Jess. They’d struggled their way to a tenuous friendship, and he wanted to cement the bond. Maybe he’d win her trust enough that she’d let him help with her boot camp plan. Hell, it was still possible that, when he met with Gianni and Elena in a week’s time, he might be able to make a positive recommendation.
Somehow he knew that whatever happened over the next week it would turn him into a better man.
Now he let the others head off to greet their horses and he sauntered over to Jess, who looked fresh and pretty in a blue checked Western shirt. “Mornin’,” he said, unable to keep the corners of his mouth from twitching.
“What the heck are you doing here?” she demanded, a slight frown tugging at her brow. Then she gave her head a quick shake. “Seems to me I said pretty much the same thing a week ago.”
“Pretty much.” He couldn’t hold back the grin. He felt so damned good, being with her—everything out in the open between them, able to be honest with each other. Or at least to be honest about everything but the attraction they both felt, the one they had both sensibly been trying to ignore.
She smiled, too, her eyes gleaming with happiness. “Let me guess, you’ve decided riding isn’t enough to earn that ten-year plaque. Now you want to learn roping.”
He laughed. “Something like that.”
“Why didn’t you call me and let me know?”
“Wanted to surprise you.”
“You did.” Together they walked into the barn to get their tack. “Yesterday, I imagined you flying home.”
He hoped she’d felt a twinge or two of regret. “Yesterday, I slept in, then Kathy and her crew served us an amazing brunch. I did some work my assistant had e-mailed me, then went for a run to work off the brunch. A few of us hiked a couple of miles to a lake, with a picnic lunch supplied by Kathy. In the afternoon . . . I don’t really remember what I did. Dinner was a barbecue and we spent hours at it.”
Her eyes had widened as he spoke. “You relaxed,” she said disbelievingly.
“Yeah.”
She looked almost as surprised by his easy agreement as she had by his recitation of Sunday’s activities.
“We’d better get going,” he said. “Everyone’s keen to get riding, after a day without.”
“Right.” She still looked a little stunned.
“Say, Jess, can I book a private lesson?”
“Sure. But you’re doing so well, you don’t really need it.”
“Thanks, but you’re going to teach me how to rope, right?”
Her brows flew up; then she caught on to the joke and gave a ringing laugh.
His heart expanded at the sound of her laughter, and he knew that staying had been the right decision.
Cynthia certainly hadn’t been pleased, he reflected as he went to get Rusty ready. In fact, she’d been downright snippy, which was unlike her. Normally, she handled even the most serious crisis with equanimity. He’d have to call her again, later in the day.
As for Angelica, she’d been mildly annoyed at having to rearrange more appointments, but had ended up saying, “Have a good holiday, Evan, you deserve it. But you owe me, and you can pay up by bringing me a photo of you on a horse.”
He swung into the saddle, thinking how easily the motion came now. He’d have to remember to get Joan or Sandy, who always carried cameras, to snap his photo.
The morning passed quickly and enjoyably. Even the cloudy weather was a pleasant change from the past week’s heat, bringing a fresh coolness to the air. Evan found he was more attuned to his environment now that he wasn’t doing mental multitasking.
That afternoon, when he took his riding lesson and worked diligently on improving, he said, “I’m actually going to miss this when I go back home. I’ll have to check into riding in Central Park.”
Jess, sitting atop Knight, snorted. “I suppose it’s better than nothing. But that’ll be English tack, Ev. It’s quite different.” A smile twitched her lips. “You’d better read a book.”
“Or maybe I’ll just take a lesson.”
She tilted her hat and peered at him with a guileless expression. “Figure you’ll get Cynthia to go along?”
He laughed. “Nope, but I bet Gianni and Elena will.”
A shadow crossed her face, and then she forced a smile. “Say hi to them from me.”
“Jess, I’m still willing to help you.”
She shook her head. “Thanks anyhow. Well, time’s up.”
They rode back to the barnyard, where they took off their horses’ tack. Evan felt a sense of letdown. What had he expected? That Jess would leap up and down, carry him off for dinner with her family, introduce him to her daughter, eagerly accept his offer of assistance?
Oh well, he was really enjoying the company of the other guests, and tonight the plan was to watch The Man from Snowy River and eat more popcorn.
It struck him that he’d been at the Crazy Horse for more than a week and he hadn’t set foot in the town of Caribou Crossing. Nor did he plan to. Aside from Jess and her family, there was no one else he wanted to see. Not really.
Not Brooke. She’d hurt him too many times.
After he and Jess turned their horses out to pasture, he said, “You got my mother a job?”
“She got it herself.” She gave him an appraising look.
He answered the unspoken question. “No, I don’t plan to get in touch.”
“Too bad.”
“You’ve been generous to her. Putting her in touch with your aunt at the beauty salon.”
“It’s easier for me than for you. She didn’t hurt me, not directly. I knew she hurt you, but I could also see how much she’d been hurting herself. I respect her for having the guts to make such huge changes. For staying sober.”
She rested her elbows on the top rail of the fence and he did the same, wanting to bump his elbow against hers but instead making sure there were a couple of inches between them.
“You know what you said about Brooke being so keen on the city?” she said. “I wonder if it was L.A. she missed, or the life she had there? She was a pretty, popular girl. Not well off, but a bit spoiled. Then she fell for your father, who was one of those sexy bad boys. Once she got pregnant, everything changed.”
“I guess it always does.” He added, “She never talked to me much about those times. She just complained.”
“We’ve been alone in the salon a few times when she’s cut my hair, and she’s shared some things. I think she likes me because you and I used to be such good friends. Being with me kind of makes her feel close to you.”
Softhearted Jess might think so, but Evan had trouble believing it.
“Do you want to hear the story?” she asked.
Mostly he wanted to walk away from even thinking about his mother, but a part of him needed to know. He gazed at the horses, which were grazing peacefully. “I guess.”
“You know her and Mohinder’s parents forced them to get married? Everyone pressured him to get a job and he joined the army. Then he couldn’t take the discipline and deserted. He paid for forged ID papers and took you and your mom to Canada.”
This was all old news. “He never lasted long at any job. We spent my early years drifting around.”
“Think what that was like for Brooke. In L.A. she’d been a spoiled princess, and now she was alienated from her family, having to cope with a baby and a husband who couldn’t hold a job. A husband who beat up on her when he was in a bad mood. She wasn’t even eighteen when they left the States.”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess it was tough. I don’t remember much. Except being on my best behavior so no one would get mad at me.”
“I bet. You were a clever kid. I’m sure you learned that lesson early.” She moved closer and rested her hand on his forearm, below where he’d rolled up his sleeve.
Grubby fingers on a bare arm: such a simple thing. She probably intended her touch to be comforting, and it was, but it was also arousing.
He di
dn’t move away.
“Anyhow,” she went on, “your parents drifted their way to Caribou Crossing, and here they stayed.”
“I never knew why they settled here.”
“Brooke put her foot down. They’d moved so often. She said each place was as bad as the last, so they had to pick one and stay, so you’d have some stability.”
“I never knew that.” His mother had actually looked out for his interests? “But she was so unhappy here.”
“Guess she’d have been unhappy anywhere, what with her bipolar.”
He felt guilty for never having guessed his mother might be ill. Yes, she should have gotten treatment, but maybe she’d never had the courage to ask for help. It was a tough thing to do. Even when he was a kid, he’d never admitted he needed help. Thank heavens Jess and her parents had been so intuitive.
“She has so many regrets, Ev.” Her hand tightened on his arm, drawing his gaze to her face.
He saw melting brown eyes, a pleading expression. “You think I should see her.”
“She really does love you. It’s like . . . all that nasty stuff has been stripped away, and underneath is a kind, gentle woman who wishes she’d lived her life differently. Do you realize she’s hardly more than forty?”
“What?” Damn it, Jess was right. Good Lord, his mother was barely middle-aged. “She could start again. Get married, even have a kid.”
Jess shook her head. “She lives a narrow life. Work, her A.A. meetings, church on Sunday. Her home.” She paused a moment, then went on. “Her garden, her cat. She lives like she’s in her seventies. I guess she’s scared of making the same mistakes. Or maybe she’s doing penance.” She shot him a meaningful look.
“You’re suggesting I could relieve some of her guilt.”
She shook her head. “That’s your decision. I know how badly she hurt you. You don’t owe her anything, much less absolution.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
“She does, too. She’d be the first to say you can’t undo the past. But, Ev, it might be good for you to see who she’s become. To feel how much she loves you. Maybe there’s a future for the two of you.”
A future. With his mother. Experience made him cynical. “I doubt that very much.”
Jess bit her lip. “I’m not sure you want to hear this, but she’s living in the rental house on the ranch property.”
His jaw dropped. He remembered back when he and Jess were kids, how some neighbors had helped her parents build that house. The rent would be a regular source of income to help buffer the ups and downs of ranching. How bizarre that his mother now lived there. “Figures that your family would take her in.” They had soft hearts, the Blys. A hell of a lot softer than his.
She shook her head. “It’s business. She’s an excellent tenant.”
Hard to believe. But so was everything else she’d said about Brooke.
When he didn’t respond, Jess sighed and took her hand from his arm. “I have to head home.”
Such a simple thing: a bare arm with no grubby fingers on it. And for whatever reason, he felt bereft.
Jess had been busy all day, but Evan’s decision to stay another week was always on her mind, giving her daily tasks a special buzz of pleasure. He’d chosen to stay, and she believed it wasn’t just about riding; it was about solidifying their friendship.
Friendship. When she’d first seen him this morning, she’d had to remind herself that was all it would ever be. There were dreams you could maybe make come true if you worked hard enough, but she and Evan as anything more than friends wasn’t one of them.
After dinner, when Rob was in her room doing homework, Jess told her mother about Evan.
Miriam promptly said, “Oh, invite him for supper again. How about tomorrow?”
Robin would be home. “I have a ton of work,” Jess said. “And Wednesday’s the hayride. Maybe Thursday?” When Rob would be at Dave’s.
“That’s our bridge tournament.”
Friday, Rob would be back at the ranch. “Friday’s no good either,” Jess said. “It’s the guests’ last night at the Crazy Horse, and Kathy and Will always do a special dinner. Evan shouldn’t miss that.”
Miriam Bly sighed. “I suppose it won’t work then. Too bad. He’s grown into such a fine young man.”
Jess felt guilty. She was pretty sure Evan would have relished another visit, just as her parents would. But she couldn’t let him spend an evening with Robin.
When she fell into bed that night, she remembered that tomorrow was a lunch ride. Now that the guests were more comfortable on horseback, the rides were getting longer. The group would start midmorning and ride out to a lake—not Zephyr—where Kathy, Will, and Marty would meet them with a picnic lunch.
When she’d first worked out the schedule with Kathy and Will, she had avoided mentioning Zephyr Lake. Just as she’d avoided going there since her visit with Evan ten years ago. Fortunately, the countryside was dotted with scenic little lakes. Although only one—the one with the tepee and beaver dam—was actually on Crazy Horse land, others were accessible by a combination of public access routes and trails owned by generous neighbors.
Jess thought about what she and Madisun would need to do in the morning. The late start gave them a perfect opportunity to check all the horses for cuts, limps, and infections. Even the older ones like Pet, who were semiretired.
She frowned, remembering she hadn’t noticed Petula that afternoon. The sweet-tempered palomino always hurried over to greet her when the horses were turned out to pasture, but Jess had been distracted by Evan.
Jess had a bad feeling about not seeing Pet, and she trusted her instincts when it came to horses. She threw back the covers. No way could she sleep, not without knowing Petula was okay. Hurriedly she dressed, then tiptoed downstairs.
The roads were almost deserted and she made good time. Once she slipped through the gate in the pasture fence, she called softly, “Petula? Wake up, sleepyhead.”
Clouds flitted across the sky, dimming the illumination from the moon and stars. Jess made her way cautiously across the rough ground toward a grove of trees where the horses spent the night. Shapes materialized and moved toward her. “Hi, Mickey, Distant Drummer, how ya doin’? Hey, Rusty, Knight, Rambler. Where’s Pet? Anybody seen Pet?”
The horses were making sounds, little whickers of greeting, requests for food, but one voice made her heart race. The sound of a horse in pain.
The palomino was a pale shape, curled at the base of a tree. She turned her head toward Jess and scrabbled pitifully with her forelegs but didn’t rise. Jess sank down, stroking the soft skin of the horse’s cheek. “Hey, baby, what’s wrong?”
The horse twisted her head, bit at her side. Jess ran a hand over Petula’s belly, finding it swollen and hard. “Damn!” She leaped to her feet, realizing she’d left her cell phone at home.
Despite the poor light and rough footing, she took off at a run, pelting through the pasture, scrambling over the fence rather than stopping to unlatch the gate, and tearing into the barnyard. She grabbed the phone in the barn and dialed the vet.
“Yes?” The female voice that answered was calm, giving no sign its owner had been asleep.
“Sally, it’s Jess. I’m at the Crazy Horse. Petula’s down. I don’t know for how long but I’m afraid it’s been hours. I think it’s colic.” She ran through the symptoms quickly.
“Sounds like you’re right. You know what to do. I’ll throw on a pair of jeans and be there in a flash.”
Jess grabbed Petula’s halter and ran back to the pasture. The blond head turned her way and Jess quickly buckled on the halter. “Up, girl, you have to get up.”
It took some effort but she managed to get the horse to her feet. “We have to walk. I know you feel rotten but you have to keep walking.” She tugged on the rope and Pet, normally the most obedient of creatures, balked.
“Please, Pet,” Jess begged, raising a hand to swipe at tears. Slowly, the horse moved toward h
er, and Jess could imagine the pain of every movement. Damn it, damn it, damn it, she should have checked Petula earlier.
“Please be all right,” Jess whispered, resting her cheek against the horse’s shoulder as they walked together. “Don’t die on me, Pet.”
Evan had slept soundly. He was getting used to the sound of silence—or, rather, the myriad sounds of branches whispering in the wind, frogs peeping, birds welcoming the dawn.
Whistling, he made his way to the lodge and claimed the phone, grateful he was the only early riser among the guests. “Morning, Gianni.”
“Evan, how’s it going? Was I right or was I right?”
Evan laughed. “About some things.” His woodpecker was on the tree outside. He tapped gently on the window, and the bird cocked its head in his direction. “Thanks, Gianni. I needed this.”
“Uh, you’re welcome.” For once the self-assured billionaire seemed at a loss for words. Then his tone sharpened. “You’re recommending the investment then?”
“You’re still keen, I take it?”
“Of course. Let’s move ahead.”
Evan said firmly, “No, not now. TJ’s plans are too vague.”
“Damn. It sounded so exciting. Something Elena and I could actually be involved in.”
“That’s true. And it may still work out. I just said not now. There are a couple of things I want to see happen first. One is that you take more time to think about it. When the glow of holiday excitement wears off, you may not be so keen.”
“Why do you think I waited a month after coming back before I contacted you?”
“I didn’t realize that. In any case, my other objection still holds. TJ’s concept is too vague and she doesn’t have a solid business model and a business plan.”
“Hmm. That’s troubling. I admit, we talked about the general idea, not the business side. I wanted to leave that to you, but I assumed she had the facts and figures in place.”
“She needs to do some work on that.” Evan paused. “Gianni, did she tell you about her idea of, basically, having the rich guests pay for the poor ones?”
