A Second Chance at Crimson Ranch

by Michelle Major

  “We’re going to organize a fund-raiser for the opening of the community center,” Sara told her. “To showcase all the work Olivia has done. How long are you planning on staying in town, Mrs. Jepson? We’d love to have you help plan it.”

  Olivia wasn’t sure if she could take another month with her mom in town. She held her breath, then released it as her mother said, “I need to get back to Saint Louis this weekend.”

  Her mother’s gaze swung to Olivia. “Everyone here thinks very highly of you, Olivia.” She sounded a bit stunned by the fact, and an awkward silence descended on the group.

  “We love your daughter,” Natalie said after a moment. “She’s one of us.”

  Diana pursed her lips but nodded. “I see that.” She looked at Olivia. “Are you ready? I’d like to see this community center everyone speaks so highly of before I go.” She glanced at Sara and Natalie. “It was lovely to meet you both.”

  They said their goodbyes as Natalie walked them to front door. Olivia and her mother headed to one end of the parking lot as Sara turned in the other direction.

  “Say hi to Logan for me,” Sara called over her shoulder. She winked in Olivia’s direction.

  “The contractor doing the renovations is Sara’s new brother-in-law,” she explained to her mother as they drove back toward town.

  “The young man living with you?” Diana’s voice was tight.

  “In the apartment over the garage, Mom. We’re not shacking up.”

  “Don’t be vulgar, Olivia. Remember who you are and what’s expected of you.”

  “As if I could forget.” Olivia turned the radio on to avoid any more conversation.

  * * *

  Logan hadn’t been at the job site when Olivia had taken her mother there. In fact, he seemed as eager to avoid a run-in with Diana as Olivia was.

  Jordan Dempsey had been cleaning some things in one of the upstairs rooms, however, and had actually been polite to Olivia’s mother without any prodding. When Diana excused herself to take a phone call, Olivia approached Jordan.

  “I wanted to thank you again for all of your work around the community center.”

  “I didn’t do it to help you.”

  “I know.” Olivia kept her smile firmly in place. She refused to take Jordan’s anger personally, even though it wore at her nerves. “Logan has enjoyed having you here.”

  The boy’s chin jutted forward. “But he’s going to leave. Like everyone leaves me.”

  Blown away by how similar her feelings were to Jordan’s, she forced herself to count to ten in her head before speaking. “That’s not true—”

  “It is true!” Jordan threw his backpack to the ground. “I’m not stupid.”

  “I never said you were.”

  “My mom thought I was. I could tell something was wrong with her, that she was doing something bad even before she left. She was always texting or talking on her phone and then she’d tell me she needed to run to the store.” He shook his head. “She never came back with any groceries. I wanted to tell my dad but I couldn’t. He’s so clueless. Maybe if I’d said something she wouldn’t have left.”

  Her heart broke for this boy. “I understand why you feel that way, but it isn’t your fault. The decision your mother and my ex-husband made was a bad one. They hurt a lot of people. I hope someday she can earn your forgiveness. But don’t blame yourself for their mistakes.”

  Jordan blinked several times, his chin trembling. “Who else is there?” he shouted at her suddenly. “If she loved me so much, she would have never left. I wasn’t enough for her. What if I’m never enough?”

  Olivia felt the color drain from her face. She was so shocked by the boy’s outburst, she couldn’t form a reply. She almost crumpled to the floor and let his words, which mirrored her deepest fears, consume her.

  Instead, she reached out and pulled the boy into a gentle hug. His shoulders stayed stiff for several moments before he deflated against her. “You’re a good kid, Jordan. I bet your mom misses you every day. I would if you were my son.”

  He looked up at her, wiping his sleeve across his tear-streaked cheeks. “Do you think so?”

  She nodded. “Adults make mistakes sometimes, even parents. But it’s not your fault. She loves you no matter what.”

  He took a step back then leaned forward to give her another quick hug. “I’m sorry I’ve been a jerk to you.”

  “Apology accepted,” she said with a smile.

  Her mother called up from the first floor and Jordan turned back to his work. Olivia walked down the stairs feeling as if she’d finally gotten through to the boy. Perhaps Jordan would see that she wasn’t the enemy. She knew a lot of that had to do with Logan’s guidance. She explained Jordan’s situation to her mother who’d been taken aback that Olivia would allow the reminder of Craig’s mistress to be working under her nose.

  But Olivia knew Jordan was just as much of a victim as she was. Jeremy Dempsey had even called to apologize for his outburst in the hardware store and to thank her for allowing Jordan to help at the community center. Jeremy also had asked if she’d heard from Craig and Melissa. She heard the longing in his voice along with the bitterness. It had renewed her anger at her husband, who’d not only turned her life upside down but also had destroyed another family. How could she have been such an idiot to actually marry someone like Craig in the first place?

  Her heart went out to Jordan. She knew that even when his anger had been directed at her, she had been just an outlet for feelings that were difficult to manage. She often heard Logan speaking to him about responsibility and right versus wrong. Several times, she’d walked in on the two of them bent over Jordan’s homework. Logan always played it off, saying that he’d skipped school so often that now he was trying to relearn some of the lessons. But she knew it was another way he was connecting with Jordan, making the boy feel special and cared for.

  He’d done the same thing for her. Her mother left before the weekend. After that, Olivia and Logan fell into a pattern where she’d work on the business aspect of the community center most of the morning, then come to the building where he’d have some small job set up for her. Nothing technical or particularly taxing, but enough that she could feel as if she was contributing to the renovations.

  They had dinner together almost every night, mostly simple meals in her kitchen. Craig had often worked late, or so she’d thought, although now she realized many of his late nights were probably spent with his mistress. But they hadn’t shared many meals and Olivia forgot how much she enjoyed cooking. Logan didn’t expect her to feed him, but he always complimented whatever she made and brought bread or dessert to round out the dinners. They talked and laughed and at some point each night, he’d pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless. His hands and mouth would roam her body as if he was attempting to memorize every inch of her.

  He always stopped before either of them lost total control. Olivia found herself resisting the urge to call her attorney for an update each morning. Then one day she walked out to the mailbox and her divorce decree had been delivered. There was no fanfare or big production, just a simple white envelope that pronounced her no longer married.

  She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Her marriage was officially over. She was free. Free to embrace her future with both hands. Free to become the woman she truly wanted to be.

  Despite all her frustration over waiting to be with Logan, she suddenly knew it would be worth it. At the same time, a new kind of fear settled on her. She understood what it was like to have her hopes dashed.

  All her fears and self-doubt came tumbling around her, but she pushed them aside. This was the new and improved Olivia, after all. Olivia 2.0. Olivia without the baggage of her no-good, cheating ex-husband.

  Ex. Husband.

  Her knees almost gave way and she leane
d against the front door for support. She’d never expected to be facing her thirties divorced and alone. She’d done what she was supposed to for her entire life. First as a dutiful daughter and then as a good wife. All playing by the rules had gotten her were pain and disappointment.

  Why not change her game?

  With that thought spurring her forward, she straightened her shoulders and headed into the house. She didn’t let herself think as she grabbed her keys from the counter. She made the twenty-minute drive to Aspen in silence, her heartbeat thrumming in her ears her only companion. She might be the new and improved Olivia, but she needed anonymity for this particular errand. It didn’t take long for her to find the lingerie store—leave it to ritzy Aspen to sell fancy undergarments in the mountains. Too embarrassed to try anything on, she let the saleswoman help her pick out a lacy bra and matching panties.

  Olivia couldn’t help the nervous laughter that bubbled from her throat as she drove back to Crimson, the noon sun high overhead. She parked in front of the community-center building and carried the tiny bag in with her.

  * * *

  Logan looked up from where he was measuring trim as Olivia walked in. He smiled as she came to stand in the doorway. Shifting her weight back and forth on the balls of her feet, she crumpled the small plastic bag in her hands.

  “Hello, there,” Logan said, wanting nothing more than to kiss her. But from the blush that covered her cheeks to the fact that she couldn’t quite make eye contact with him, he could tell something was up. He gave her time to tell him what it was, although he had a pretty good idea.

  “I have two things,” she said shyly. “Two new things. Three really if you count—” She cut herself off and stared at the floor.

  He took a step forward. “The first is?”

  “I’m divorced. Officially.” She scuffed the tip of one boot along the drywall dust on the floor. Logan could imagine that the blush that colored her cheeks covered her whole body. It made him crazy with want.

  “We have a dinner reservation at The Church on the Hill. Eight o’clock.”

  She glanced up through her lashes. “How do you know?”

  He shrugged. “I grew up with the manager. He’s been holding a table for me every night for the past week. I wanted to be ready.”

  Her eyes widened and she thrust out the bag in front of her. “I bought lingerie. It’s red and it matches.”

  Logan’s mouth went dry. “You’re trying to kill me,” he whispered.

  She drew back the bag. “I don’t have to wear it.”

  He ate up the distance between them in three long strides. “In a good way.” His fingers tipped up her chin until she met his gaze.

  “Is there a good way to be killed?”

  “When it involves you and red lingerie, hell yes.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “Are you going to show me?”

  She clasped the bag tight to her chest. “I did this wrong. I’m supposed to surprise you later.”

  “I hate surprises,” he assured her. “Let me see what I have to look forward to, Olivia.”

  She pulled back and opened the top of the bag. “I can’t,” she mumbled, then let out a shaky laugh. “I’m bad at this. If I can’t even hold them up, I’ll never be able to wear them.”

  He pressed his forehead against hers. “Oh, you’ll wear them. You can’t deny me the pleasure of peeling them off of you.”

  “I want tonight to be perfect,” she told him.

  “It will be.” He’d gone over it in his head for what seemed like days, anticipating every moment, what he would say, how he’d look at her. If it was up to him, this was going to be the best night of Olivia’s life. He forced his head back and looked in the bag. A tiny slip of red lace peeked out at him. His knees went weak, and he pressed the bag shut.

  “Forget tonight. I think you should model this stuff right now.”

  “Here?” Olivia’s voice was a high-pitched squeak.

  He nuzzled his face against the side of her head, nipped at her earlobe. “I’ve decided I can’t wait.”

  Someone cleared their throat behind where he and Olivia stood. “If this is a bad time, I can come back.”

  Logan’s body immediately went stiff upon hearing the voice. It was gravelly, familiar and immediately ruined his day.

  Chapter Nine

  The evening was much different than Olivia had expected. The man who’d interrupted them at the community center turned out to be Jim Thompson, Logan’s closest friend from high school. Jim had gone to prison for shooting a man. A man whose life Logan probably had saved by calling the police and having his best friend arrested.

  She could feel the tension between the two of them, but Jim didn’t seem to hold Logan responsible for his fate. He didn’t need to when Logan clearly blamed himself for the events of that long-ago night, for letting his wild streak rule his life years ago, for not stopping Jim from pulling the trigger. Jim had committed the crime, but Logan still held on to a lot of guilt from that time.

  Jim recently had been released from prison and had come through Crimson on his way to his sister’s home on the Western Slope of Colorado near the Utah border. Logan had seemed shocked to see his old friend, who’d tracked him down through people in Telluride.

  Jim’s arrival had changed their plans. Instead of a romantic dinner, the three of them had met Logan’s friend Noah Conrad for burgers and beer at a bar in town. Olivia had met Noah several times while she was married to Craig and was grateful that Noah’s affable nature brought some levity to their group.

  Logan had been tense the whole night, barely making eye contact with her. At first she’d thought it was because he’d been left with as much pent-up sexual tension as she with no way to release it. Now, as she watched a trashy blonde she didn’t recognize lean close to his ear while he lined up his shot at the bar’s corner pool table, she couldn’t help but wonder if his mind was simply elsewhere.

  “Does it feel strange to be out after all that time?” Olivia asked Jim, hoping this conversation could distract her from how off track the night had gotten. She shifted uncomfortably on the bar stool where her lingerie-clad bottom had been sitting for the past hour. Were fancy underpants really worth this much fidgeting?

  Jim Thompson looked at her over the rim of his glass. “I was sentenced eight years ago. The world feels a lot different now...”

  She nodded. “Have you reunited with your family?”

  “Reunited,” he said slowly, as if testing the sound on his tongue, “is a funny word.” He placed his glass of water on the table and studied her. “You ask a lot of questions, Ms. Wilder.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said automatically. “Usually I mind my own business. But Logan doesn’t talk much about his past or why he ultimately left Crimson.”

  “We were young and stupid back then.” Jim gave her a friendly smile. “No need to apologize. I don’t think I should have come here, though,” he added, his gaze following hers.

  Noah gave Logan a quick high five after the shot, and the young woman said something that made Logan smile at her.

  What had happened to make things go off track so quickly?

  Sure, it was disappointing to have to wait a little while longer, but the change in him had been so immediate that she couldn’t help but wonder if something else was going on.

  She squeezed Jim’s hand. “I’m sure Logan is happy to see you again.”

  “He was a better friend to me than I was to him back in the day. You know, he came to visit me every couple of months all these years. But I shouldn’t expect that friendship to continue now that I’m out.”

  “Why wouldn’t it?”

  “Guys move on. I’m a reminder of the past he doesn’t need.” He shrugged. “That’s why I was surprised he was here in Crimson. From what he told me,
he had no plans to return anytime soon.”

  “He came for his brother’s wedding.”

  Jim stared at her. “That’s not why he’s stayed.”

  At this moment, Olivia had no idea why Logan had stayed. His intentions toward her certainly had seemed to change in an instant. He’d barely said two words to her the entire night, other than to drop unsubtle hints about how Noah was single and available. He’d purposely sat her at the table next to his friend, and then pointed out all the things they had in common. Noah had handled it much better than Olivia, playfully flirting with her even though he seemed not to understand Logan’s motivations any better than she did. She’d hardly touched her food and almost spat her beer across the table when, out of the blue, Logan had mentioned that Noah’s favorite color was red.

  The longer the night wore on, the surlier Logan had gotten, until Noah had pulled him out of his chair to play pool. The women had descended on the two handsome guys like a pack of starved vultures. The curvy blonde in particular had made a point of wrapping herself all around Logan, giggling into his face with regular frequency. She wore a low-cut tank top and short denim skirt that made Olivia wonder if she’d get frostbite on the way to her car at the end of the evening. It was obvious that if the woman had anything to say about it, Logan would be there to keep her warm.

  He looked up at that moment and his gaze crashed into hers. She gave him a small smile, then cursed herself when his mouth tightened. Maybe being out tonight with women who knew what they were doing when it came to seducing a man had made him realize that she wasn’t worth the trouble.

  She watched him lean forward and say something to Noah, who returned to the table a few minutes later. “Do you want another?” Noah asked as he settled into the chair next to her.

  She shook her head. It was clear that Logan had sent Noah to tend to her again. She’d never felt more like a charity case in her life. The humiliation of it was enough to spark her temper into a fast flame.

  “You don’t need to babysit me.” She huffed out an annoyed breath.