“Most of our cabins will sleep eight people comfortably. Several have two, even three bedrooms,” Hope offered. “And, of course, the rooms in the main house are quite nice. May be easier for those who want to be closer to the activities to stay in the house.”
“I like that idea,” Curtis told her. “These old bones can’t make this trek every day for a week.”
Hope laughed. Curtis Walker looked to be in as good of condition as Travis and Jared. She doubted he’d have any problem making that trek, and the twinkle in his eye said he knew that she knew it.
“Yes, sir,” Hope said, doing her best not to look at Jared.
“I can take you by one of the cabins if you’d like,” she offered.
When the men nodded, Hope started back to the golf cart. They were halfway there when a little hand took hold of hers, swinging her arm as they headed into the sunshine.
“Do you wive here?” Derrick asked.
“I do,” she assured him. “I’ve got a cabin here.”
“I wish I wived here.”
“Why’s that?” She was too curious not to ask.
“’Cause I couwd be a reaw cowboy awe the time.”
“Yeah?”
Derrick nodded as he grinned up at her. He had to lean back in order to see her from under the brim of the hat. Hope felt a tug on her heart, one she’d been trying to avoid all this time.
“Come on, boy,” Curtis told Derrick. “You can ride in my lap this time.”
“Yay!”
And just like that, their moment was over.
HALF AN HOUR later, after taking them to the cabin, then showing them the outdoor arena where they held dances and other nightly activities, Hope delivered them back to the house to hand them off to her dad so he could handle the financial details.
Knowing it would be disrespectful to dump them by the stairs, Hope shored up her nerves and walked them to the door, still not looking at Jared. It was bad enough that she’d looked at him when she noticed him at the main house. For the past seven days, she’d thought about him at least a million times. Not once had he tried to get in touch with her, though. Then again, she hadn’t made the effort, either.
She had almost had herself convinced that the time they’d spent together had been a dream. Unfortunately, the second she’d laid eyes on him again, her body remembered all too vividly everything that had happened between them. No way could she have dreamed that.
“Thank you for the tour, young lady,” Curtis told her. “We look forward to spendin’ a week here. Just cross your fingers we don’t do too much damage.”
Hope chuckled. She liked Curtis. Hell, she figured by the time the week was over, she would end up liking the entire Walker family more than she already did. And that wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing.
She made a mental note to keep her distance. That might be the only way she’d survive the week.
TRAVIS GOT THE feeling Hope was trying to avoid his cousin. He also got the feeling Jared was trying to pretend he didn’t know her all that well, either.
It might’ve worked on someone else, but Travis was a highly perceptive man. He saw right through their pretend nonsense. Not to mention, Derrick had announced that Hope had been out to Jared’s place. In order for him to know that, Derrick would’ve had to have been there. Travis was curious about that considering his cousin hadn’t introduced his son to any of the women he’d dated—although dated wasn’t really the right word for it—since he’d moved to Coyote Ridge.
And that meant Hope was special.
Whatever these two were trying to hide … it wasn’t working. He’d bet his life savings that the two of them had gotten naked together at some point. Although he did have his doubts. He knew that Jared had asked for an invitation to AI, and Travis had offered it. He also knew that Jared had taken Hope there, but based on the update he’d received, nothing had happened between the couple the night of their visit. Nothing more than a little voyeurism anyway.
That didn’t mean they hadn’t gotten busy afterward.
And yes, Travis had expected that something was going on after seeing them at Moonshiners, but based on the way they were acting now, it was more than clear.
Not that it was any of his business. However, it wasn’t a bad thing that Jared had taken a liking to the cute little cowgirl. Travis’s cousin had spent far too much time being reclusive when it came to the opposite sex. Oh, sure, Travis completely understood Jared’s desire to put Derrick first. The kid deserved that. Didn’t mean Jared had to turn into a monk in the process.
Not that any of it really mattered. Travis got the feeling Jared’s little cowgirl was just as stubborn, just as hardheaded as Jared. Or any Walker, for that matter.
Unless the stars aligned just the right way, it was quite possible that these two knuckleheads could very well let something good pass them by. And Jared wouldn’t be the first Walker that’d happened to. Nor would he be the last.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Six days later
“YOU READY, BIG man?” Jared asked Derrick.
It was a silly question considering Derrick was standing by the door, his small rolling suitcase right beside him, cowboy hat on his head, boots on his feet. He’d been ready to go to the ranch for a good hour now.
“Yep! Can we go? Can we go?”
“I think we can,” he told his son, grabbing the handle of his own suitcase and wheeling it toward the door.
“Yay!”
“Come on, big man. Let’s do this.”
“Wet’s do this!” Derrick echoed, jumping up and down when Jared opened the front door.
Ten minutes later, after getting their luggage loaded into the truck and getting Derrick strapped into his car seat, they were pulling down the drive to the main road. He passed Ethan’s house, offering a honk and a wave to Beau, who was loading their stuff into their truck.
“Is Beau goin’ with us?”
“He’s goin’ to the ranch,” Jared told him. “But he’s ridin’ with Ethan.”
“Is Uncle Kaden and Uncle Keegan gonna be there?”
“Yep.”
“What about Gramma and Grampa?”
“They’ll be there, too.”
“And Aunt Eve?”
“Of course.”
“Is Mason going to the ranch with us?”
“He’ll be there, but he’s ridin’ with his momma and daddy.”
“Why don’t I have a momma?”
Screeeeeech.
That was the sound of the conversation coming to a grinding halt. Not in a million years had Jared expected that one.
Okay, maybe he had been expecting it, but definitely not today. More importantly, he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to answer it. He hadn’t figured out yet if he should tell Derrick about his mother. He definitely didn’t want the boy to know his mother had abandoned him. Or that she was threatening to take him back to court in order to squeeze Jared for more money. Based on the last email he’d received—which he’d gotten on Wednesday—Sable was pushing to get a temporary order allowing her to see her son. Or so she said.
Jared had passed the information off to his lawyer, who had told him not to worry about it. He’d also sent the email to Travis, who hadn’t been quite as nonchalant as his lawyer had been. If Sable came up missing, Jared would know who to look at first.
Not that he thought Travis would do that. No, Travis would dig deeper to find the dirt necessary to keep Sable from ruining all of their lives. When Jared had offered to help, Travis had told him to stay out of it, but only because he wanted Jared to be able to say he knew nothing about it if things went south.
Whatever that meant.
So, as for answering Derrick’s question, Jared knew he could make up a story, only he wasn’t big on telling lies, regardless of whether they wer
e better than the truth.
“You’ve got me,” he told Derrick.
“Yep. And you got me!”
“That’s for sure.” Jared reached back and offered Derrick a knuckle bump, making his boy laugh.
And just like that, Jared was off the hook.
“Are we gonna see Hope?” Derrick asked.
“Maybe.”
“Wiw she go on a date with us?”
Ever since Jared had explained dates, Derrick had been stuck on it. Based on Jared’s reasoning—going to McDonald’s—the little boy had obviously associated it with something a little more casual than the regular meaning. Jared didn’t feel the need to correct him just yet.
“I need to stop and put gas in the truck,” he told his boy. “Then we’ll be off to the ranch for a whole week.”
“’Kay.”
Once they made it to the gas station, Jared pulled up to the pump and rolled down Derrick’s window so he could stand there and talk to him while he filled up the tank. He was probably five dollars from being filled up when he heard a voice from behind him.
“Jared?”
His entire body went rigid, his heart slammed into his chest, and he instantly turned around and blocked Derrick from view.
“What are you doing here, Sable?” he asked his ex-wife, hoping the death glare he gave her was enough of a warning.
Her chin quivered, something she’d perfected over the years. “I wanted to see you. We really need to talk this out. Figure out how we can … be a family again.”
A family? Yep, she’d gone too far this time. He knew she was full of shit considering they’d never been a family. From the day Derrick was born, Jared had been taking care of him. Even for the first eighteen months of Derrick’s life, back when he and Sable had still been married.
Jared brushed off her comment. “Well, I don’t have time to talk. We’re headin’ out for a while.”
“Where’re you going?” She tried to peer around him into the truck.
“Come on, Dad! Wet’s get to the ranch!”
“The ranch?” Sable questioned.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he warned her. “You can’t just show up out of the blue and…”
The gas nozzle clicked, signaling it was finished. He quickly turned to unhook it, putting it back in place but still trying to keep Derrick hidden from Sable. It didn’t work, but thankfully, she didn’t lunge for his son. He wouldn’t put it past her to try and announce who she was and why she was there to a four-year-old.
“Oh, my goodness. He’s gotten so big.”
“Go home, Sable,” he told her firmly.
“I’ve tried to call you, but your asshole cousin said he won’t give you my messages,” she informed him, her eyes glassy.
“I heard.”
“I wanted…” She wiped an imaginary tear. “I wanted to talk to you. I need to apologize. I need to… God, Jared. I want to come home.”
He frowned, lowering his voice as he said, “This ain’t your home.”
“But—”
Knowing she would keep pushing the subject, Jared opened the driver’s door, rolled up the back window, and then climbed in.
And that was when the real Sable came alive.
“Jared Walker, don’t you dare turn your back on me. I’ll have you served so fast your head’ll spin.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
“You’ve got two choices,” she declared. “Pay me what I’m askin’, or I’m taking Derrick back.”
Jared started rolling up his window because he knew what was coming. He turned on the radio, desperate to drown out Sable’s next words.
“He’s not your son, Jared! You can’t keep him! I’ll make sure of that!”
And just like that, Jared snapped. “I’ll be right back, son,” he told Derrick, then hopped out of the truck and closed the door behind him.
He took two steps, getting right up in Sable’s face, but he didn’t dare touch her. He knew better.
“This is the last time I’m gonna fuckin’ tell you, Sable, go back to where you came from.” Jared was seething, but he managed to keep his voice low, steady. “That boy is my son. No matter what you fucking say. He’s mine. You will not take him away from me. I’m not giving you another goddamn dime, but let me tell you this, you think this is all fun and games.” He pointed his finger at her. “Bring it on, Sable. Push me on this. I promise you, you’ll regret it.”
She stepped back, inhaling sharply. Jared didn’t wait for her to respond. He climbed in his truck and pulled out of the parking lot.
“Daddy? Are you okay?”
Jared glanced into the rearview mirror. Derrick was staring at him, concerned.
“Perfect,” he lied, forcing a smile. “You ready to go to the ranch? Maybe ride a horse?”
“Yeah!” Derrick squealed, reaching for his iPad. “Wiw we see Hope?”
Jared swallowed hard. God, he hoped so. “She’ll be there,” he told Derrick.
“’Kay.”
While his son settled in for the drive, Jared took deep breaths, trying to slow his still-pounding heart. For so long, he’d sat back and let Sable walk all over him. From the day he met her, she’d pushed his buttons and he’d never fought back.
Well, he had news for her. This time, he wasn’t going to put up with her shit. If she wanted to do this, she wasn’t just going to go up against him. She was going to go up against them all. Despite his need to handle so much of this by himself, Jared knew there was a time to bring family in, to lean on them for support.
And one thing he knew about the Walker family … they protected their own.
Sable didn’t stand a fucking chance.
“WELCOME TO DEAD Heat Ranch,” Hope said for what felt like the millionth time today.
“We’re here for the Walker family reunion,” one of the two identical young men said, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. She remembered them from the night at Moonshiners. They had the same sparkle in their eye now as they had that night when they’d been sweet-talking that woman into their arms. Probably into their beds, too. Well, single bed was likely more their style, but what did she know?
“And you are?” She didn’t know them well enough to tell them apart.
“Kaden Walker, ma’am. I’m the handsome one.” He used his thumb in his brother’s direction. “The ugly one’s Keegan.”
Hope laughed, shaking her head.
She quickly put together the information they would need—a brochure with a list of the amenities, another paper that showed meal times, and one more that had the schedule of trail rides and times they could help out on the ranch if they opted to.
“You’ll be stayin’ in the bunkhouse,” she explained, pointing to the location on the map.
“Bunkhouse, huh? You gonna put us to work?” Keegan teased.
“If you’d like to work”—she offered a wide smile—“I’m sure we can accommodate.”
Kaden elbowed his brother. “Thanks. If you’ll point us in the right direction…”
Hope pointed out the front window. “You’ll follow that dirt road all the way to the back. The bunkhouse closest to the cabins is the one you’ll be staying in. The other is for the ranch hands. If you end up at the wrong one, they really will put you to work.”
“Thank you,” Kaden said politely, chuckling.
And just like that, two more names were being checked off her list.
Because of the sheer volume of people coming in for the week, Trinity had insisted that they should all rotate at the main entrance counter to welcome the guests and show them to their cabins. Since their visitors were trickling in rather steadily and had been for most of the day, they’d spent most of their time running back and forth, taking the next set when they arrived. Based on the list of people the Walkers were expecting, they st
ill had almost half to go.
Most of the people who’d arrived were the older set—Curtis and his wife, Lorrie; Gerald and his wife, Sue Ellen; Frank and his wife, Iris; Maryanne and her husband, Thomas. Hope knew they were still waiting for Joseph, David, Daphne, and Lisa, as well as the rest of the children and grandchildren.
Speaking of… Another truck pulled up front, but this time a younger couple got out. It took a few minutes for them to make it to the door, and once they did, they were carrying two little boys, one clearly a toddler, probably close to three if she had to guess. The other one was chubby and probably not walking yet.
“Welcome to Dead Heat Ranch,” Hope greeted with a grin.
“Kaleb and Zoey Walker,” the man said with a smile.
“I got this one,” Mercy said, nudging Hope out of the way.
With nothing else to do for the moment, Hope slipped into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. By the time she returned to the front, it was empty. Mercy had apparently taken the couple to their cabin, so the only thing left to do was wait.
She was settling in to do just that when she saw another truck pull up. While she waited for their guests to come inside, Hope busied herself by putting together the packet. It wasn’t until the door opened and she looked up that she saw exactly who it was.
It was then that her heart decided to mimic the thump of a bass drum.
Hope swallowed hard, doing her best to remember to breathe.
“Hey,” Jared greeted with a smile. It was forced, but she could tell he was trying.
“Hi,” she said, the word coming out choked.
Her eyes instantly traveled to the little boy in Jared’s arms. Her stomach dropped to her toes, and she held her breath.
“It’s Hope, Daddy! We get to go on a date with Hope.”
And sure enough, her stomach dropped again, making her a little light-headed. The grin on Derrick’s face was one of pure delight. However, there wasn’t a matching one on Jared’s face. He looked … grim? She had to refrain from asking if he was all right.
Jared (Coyote Ridge) (Volume 2) Page 22
