by Liz Isaacson
He automatically started calculating how sharp his truck could turn and how well it would handle on the baked earth that sometimes had green grass between his place and Lance’s. But with it being August now, everything was dry and hard, and Cache suspected he could get out of the driveway by going off-road for a moment.
And he would. He’d do whatever it took to get away from this pain. This betrayal.
“I called Leo to plan a surprise birthday party,” Karla called after him as he swung his suitcase into the back of his truck. He hadn’t lied. Leo had called to tell him about an emergency on the ranch. He’d even asked Cache’s opinion, and that hadn’t happened very often in their lives.
“I don’t like surprises,” he said over his shoulder. He turned back to face her, deciding he had to say what was on his mind. He should get to, even if it upset her. Even if it drove them apart. She’d done what she wanted throughout the relationship, and while her beauty made him ache, he deserved to have an active role in their relationship too.
But there wasn’t going to be a relationship for much longer.
“Karla, I said this at the Fourth, and I’m going to say it again. It’s okay if we can’t be together. I’m fine. You’re fine. And it’s obviously not working.”
“I’m not fine,” she said.
“Well, I’m real sorry about that.” He rounded the front of the truck, pausing next to the rear-view mirror and looking at her across the hood. “But I’m done. I don’t like the secrets, the surprises, the cabin full of giggling women. You keep too many secrets for me.”
He moved to open the door, surprised when she opened the passenger side as if she’d get into the truck with him. She didn’t, but she kept one hand on the door while she leaned into the cab. “I told you everything.”
“You didn’t tell me you’d snuck my phone to get my brother’s number.” He didn’t care what they were talking about. He should’ve known she was conversing with his brother.
“Ask Leo. He’ll tell you I was just asking about you, about what you’d like for your birthday.” She sounded furious and frustrated, but Cache just wanted to tell her to join the club.
“Karla, those are things you should’ve known already about me.” He looked at her. Didn’t she understand? “I’ve had enough secrets. Your past, then us, then all the texts and phone calls. I don’t think you even realize how much you’ve been talking to him behind my back.”
He couldn’t help the insecurities and jealousy that washed over him. They pounded against him like unrelentless ocean waves, and he started the truck. He had to leave. Now.
“I’ve had enough. Who knows what you’ll keep secret next?”
“Nothing,” she said, her chin quivering.
“Oh, just the birthday party,” he said. “And then it’ll be something else. And then someone else.”
He shouldn’t have said it. He knew the moment he did it had been a mistake. But he couldn’t take it back, and so much pain radiated through him that he couldn’t apologize for it.
“I have to go,” he said. “My flight leaves soon.”
“Cache, don’t go,” she said. “I love you.”
The words gave him a moment’s pause, and then he shoved them away. “Well, I don’t love you. It’s over, Karla.”
He put the truck in drive, and she fell back, her face pale and broken. As Cache maneuvered onto the dry lawn and down Lance’s driveway, he knew he had just lied.
Because he didn’t have a flight to catch yet—and he was in love with Karla Jenkins.
“I’ll be back for the wedding,” he said to Dave an hour later. The Long Beach Airport was light and airy, and he liked the coziness of the terminal. It smelled like cinnamon and sugar, and he’d eaten a cinnamon roll as soon as he’d secured a ticket to Denver.
“It’s next week,” Dave said.
“I know when it is.” The forthcoming nuptials were all Dave could talk about, and Cache had agreed that their band would play for the reception—minus Dave. They were doing slower ballads, all instrumental, as their lead singer would be the one tying the knot.
“What’s really going on?” Dave asked.
“My brother needs help for a couple of days.” And he’d been planning to go meet his dad’s girlfriend this fall anyway. Sure, it was a little sooner than he’d planned, but did that really matter? Did he have to explain everything he did?
Probably, when his absence at Last Chance Ranch affected others. “Look, I just need help covering my chores for a few days,” he said. “I’ll ask Carson to take over in the Canine Club, but can you make sure the cows are watered every day? It doesn’t even have to be in the morning. I’ll talk to Gina or Hudson about the horses.”
“Why can’t Karla water the cows?” Dave asked. “Isn’t she out there with you anyway? And what about cow cuddling?”
Cache sighed, feeling like someone had put the world on his shoulders and was now pressing down. “I’ll ask Karla about the cows,” he said, just to prove that he was still talking to her. “Can you do the stuff in Horse Heaven?”
“Yeah,” Dave said. “But Cache, if something—”
“Dave, I don’t want to talk about anything else. I have to go.” He hung up without waiting for his friend to agree and gripped the phone like he could strangle it somehow. Make it stop bothering him with buzzes and bleeps.
He texted Scarlett and said he had a family emergency. That was barely bordering on true, but he felt frantic inside over Karla and Leo’s messages and phone calls, so he thought he could get away with the classification.
His flight finally boarded, and he waited until the plane started moving before he sent a quick message to Karla. Please water the cows while I’m gone. I’ll be back Sunday. Cancel the classes between now and then if you want to.
That gave him four days in Shiloh Ridge, and he had no idea if that would be long enough to figure out how to live and work at Last Chance Ranch when he couldn’t have Karla.
He turned his phone to airplane mode and leaned his head back, the pressure still heavy against his shoulders at the thought of seeing Karla and not being able to kiss her.
He spotted his father through the crowds, because the man was so tall and wore a huge, white cowboy hat. Nerves danced through him, as he hadn’t seen Leo or his dad in about a year, and the thought of having to meet someone who could potentially become his step-mother had kept him awake on the plane when all he’d wanted to do was sleep.
“Dad,” he said, hurrying the last few steps to him. They embraced, and Cache felt all his troubles disappear. His dad had been everything to him for such a long time.
“Cache.” His dad held him tight and clapped him on the back a few times. “The flight was okay?”
“Great,” Cache said, readjusting his backpack after he stepped back. Leo hadn’t come, and Cache was half-happy and half-upset that his brother had respected his wishes.
“This is Brenda Merchant,” his dad said, stepping to the side of a brunette that barely went to his dad’s chest. She wore a brilliant smile, and his father tucked her against his side as if he’d done so many times in the past.
She had a good spirit about her, and all of Cache’s nerves settled. “Brenda,” he said. “It’s so nice to meet you.” He accepted her hug, taking an extra moment to see how he felt.
And it sure did feel good to have the embrace of a mother once more. He hadn’t realized how much he craved such a thing until that moment, and he held her a little tighter for a little longer.
Feeling a touch awkward, he finally stepped back. “Is this the car?”
“Yep,” his dad said, still watching him. “Is that all you’ve got?”
“Yep,” Cache said, lifting his single suitcase into the trunk. “Let’s go.” He didn’t really want to see Leo yet, but he would like to see all the cows they’d brought to the ranch here.
Shiloh Ridge sat in the Rocky Mountains north and west of Denver, and that was a long drive from the airport. They fi
lled the time with easy conversation, and Cache could see why his dad liked Brenda so much. Leo too.
She was soft and kind. She laughed easily. She told great stories about her daughters and her life in Shiloh Ridge—the Christmas capital of the Rocky Mountains.
Cache wasn’t sure what that meant, but by the time his dad navigated them through the quaint little town and up into the foothills again, darkness was starting to gather. Brenda tried pointing out all the shops as she told little snippets of Christmas traditions in the town, but Cache couldn’t really see them.
Cache had never been so exhausted, but he said he didn’t mind when his dad asked if they could drop Brenda off at her place in town first. Once she’d vacated the front seat, Cache took it, and he said, “I think I’ll head straight to bed when we get to the ranch, if that’s okay.”
“Should be fine,” his dad said. “Long day for you.”
“Yeah.” Cache had never liked traveling all that much, and he sure hoped he could find a way to turn off his thoughts long enough to get some rest.
“So we’ll talk about Karla in the morning,” his dad said, causing Cache to twist toward him.
“I don’t think so, Dad.”
“Hmm,” his dad said, and that meant, yes, they’d be talking about Karla in the morning.
Chapter 20
Karla couldn’t believe Cache had left Last Chance Ranch. But she’d seen him make a U-turn over the grass. Rumble on down the road. Drive right past the robot mailbox and disappear from sight.
She couldn’t go back to her cabin and face everyone. Not with tears streaming down her face and the worst words in the world refusing to leave her mind.
Well, I don’t love you.
She’d never had to doubt how Cache felt about her. He said things in words, while she was the one who showed him how she felt by cooking, baking, watering the cows, and spending time with him.
Couldn’t he see that her texts and calls to Leo weren’t bad? Yes, she’d taken his phone one day a while ago while he was in the bathroom. She’d put his brother’s number in her phone so she could get the inside scoop on Cache.
Those are things you should’ve known already about me.
Maybe he was right.
“Of course he was right,” Karla murmured to herself. She left her car in Cache’s driveway and wandered down the road to the pasture where she’d found so much relief this summer. Not physical relief from the sun. Not the spiritual and emotional relief she’d found at church. But the mental relief she needed from worrying about her past, what people thought of her, what they might be saying about her.
She rinsed out the trough though it looked like it had already been done for the day. Then she filled it with fresh, crisp water and turned toward the cows.
Bluebell had wandered closer to her today, and Karla gave the cow a shaky smile. “Down, girl,” she said, and she barely gave Bluebell time to get situated before she curled into her side.
Karla cried then, behind the wall of cow flesh separating her from the rest of the ranch. Bluebell didn’t flinch, and she didn’t try to tell her everything would be okay. Strangely, Karla was able to feel that way on her own, and she looked up in the sky to see if heaven had opened.
It hadn’t, of course, but she still felt calmer than she had in a long, long time. She had a foundation from which she could work, and she hadn’t had something that strong since coming to California.
She pulled out her phone and called Wendy, hoping her sister would be able to talk for a few minutes.
“Can I call you back in ten minutes?” Wendy answered, and Karla said, “Sure,” and hung up. Wendy worked in retail management, and with it being August now, the back-to-school shopping would be in full swing.
“What should I do, Bluebell?” she asked the cow. “Cache can be so stubborn sometimes.” So she’d kept some secrets. It wasn’t like he didn’t have any. Everyone had secrets. And she’d only talked to Leo to plan a surprise. Why was this such a big deal to him?
As if someone had cracked open her skull and poured knowledge into her brain, she realized what she’d done.
She’d been sneaking around behind his back—at least in his eyes. And with the worst person possible. His brother.
He’d told her about the girl he’d had a crush on earlier in his life, and how she’d chosen Leo over him.
“So maybe he’s sensitive about that.”
But he’d also told her he trusted her. That he didn’t believe she’d cheat on him—and she hadn’t. Didn’t. Wouldn’t.
“But how can I make him understand that?” Even as she asked the cow the question, she knew the answer. She couldn’t make anyone understand anything. Wars were fought trying to do that, and political careers made and broken.
So she wouldn’t be able to get a cowboy to believe anything. Yes, Cache was generally easy-going, but Karla had learned over the months that his joviality was what he allowed others to see.
He was like an iceberg, with only the best part of him showing above the surface of the water. But underneath, he was craggly, and deep, and complex—and Karla had spoken true. She loved him. Every part of that buried iceberg and all of his complications.
“I need to get him back,” she said, her mind already whirring. “How long do you think he’ll stay away from the ranch?”
Of course, Bluebell didn’t know, and a series of texts came through her phone. Scarlett, wondering where she was and if she was coming back. Wendy, saying she’d need a few more minutes until she could call.
You should see what I just broke up, she said, causing a smile to cross Karla’s face. Gratitude also moved through her that she didn’t have to clean up dressing rooms, deal with frazzled moms trying to get the best deal, or report thieves to mall security.
“Thank you,” she whispered to the sky, hoping the vow of gratitude would make it to God’s ears. “Now, could you help me figure out how to get Cache back? Bluebell here isn’t helping.”
By the time Wendy called, Karla had been back in her cabin for a couple of hours. Adele had gotten everyone to clear out, and she’d left the kindest note for Karla about how she was right next door and she’d be back later to check on her.
“Hey,” she said to her sister, definitely more upbeat now than she’d been in the pasture. “How’s work?”
“Horrible,” Wendy said. “And Joey’s been crying since I got home.” She sounded miserable and tired, and Karla didn’t want to burden her with more.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Maybe you should quit.”
“You know what? Jerome said the same thing. I think he was just trying to make me feel better.”
“Well, your husband has a good job. You don’t really have to go to work. Do you?” Karla once again thought of the iceberg. She only saw what Wendy wanted her to.
“I’m going to look at our budget,” she said. “I’ve only been back to work for a week, and it’s so hard. So much harder than I thought it would be.” Scuffling came through the line, and she heard her whisper to her husband, “Thanks. Yes, I’ll take him.”
Karla wanted with everything inside her to be there for her sister, and she wondered if she could get in her car and leave the ranch as easily as Cache had.
“So what’s up?” Wendy asked.
“Nothing,” Karla said a little too quickly. “I was just thinking of booking my ticket soon.” She sighed, hating the little fib though it didn’t really hurt anyone. “And Cache broke up with me.”
Surprisingly, she delivered the words without any catch in her voice.
“Oh, Karla, I’m sorry. What happened?”
She pressed her lips together as the emotion overcame her now. She shook her head, though Wendy wasn’t there to see it.
“Karla, just…you like him right?”
“Yes,” she said in a burst, thinking Wendy had gotten the wrong L-word.
“Then go fix it.” She drew in a deep breath. “I know you don’t want me to tell you that, but y
ou called me. You didn’t have to call me. If you like this man, and you want to be with him, then go fix it. You didn’t even try to fix things with Jackson, and you’ve been miserable ever since. I’m sorry. I know you don’t think you have. But you have.”
Wendy blew out her breath and a soft baby noise came through the line. “At least until you started dating Cache. Now, I can see the happiness in your texts. It’s almost infectious, even from all the way across the country.”
Karla half-cried and half-laughed. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll go fix it. But Wendy, he’s not even here anymore.”
“Then go where he is. Don’t wait. Remember how you didn’t wait to go after your education or your career? When you’re being proactive, you’re happier.”
Karla did know where Cache had gone. Maybe she didn’t know the exact location of Shiloh Ridge, but she had a computer with the Internet. She knew how to drive. She knew how to use the GPS on her phone.
Standing, she turned in a circle as if some magical fairies would appear and help her start packing. She needed to talk to Scarlett, and Sissy, and Dave maybe about the cow cuddling. Or maybe she could just cancel. Someone else could water them.
Right?
“Are you even listening to me?” Wendy asked.
“Sorry,” Karla said. “I got excited about making a plan and doing something.”
Her sister laughed. “All right. Go do it. Text me the details—but not too late and not too early. I’m off tomorrow, thank the heavens.”
Karla said, “Thank you so much, Wendy. I’m going to make this right.”
“I know you will. Love you.”
“Love you too, sis.” She hung up and just stood in her living room, her brain throwing ideas at her like curve balls. “Scarlett,” she said. “I have to start with Scarlett.”
She left the cabin through the front door, not bothering to text Scarlett first to figure out where she was. If she wasn’t at the homestead, then she’d do that. After knocking on the back door, her heart started pounding in her chest.
