by Seton, Cora
Heather turned to look and sucked in a breath. Rose was right; Richard was walking past, and it wasn’t nearly time for him to leave school. She hurried out of the store and intercepted her son just as he was about to cross the street. “Richard?” She’d never seen the girl who walked beside him, a tall brunette whose spiky hair seemed liable to poke out Richard’s eye if he came too close. The girl wore more makeup than Heather liked to see on someone so young, but it was Richard’s presence that shocked her the most. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you in school?”
Guilt and a little fear flashed across his face, but then he glanced at the girl and straightened. “It’s just gym class. I’ll be back in time for math.”
“You’re… skipping class?” She couldn’t believe it. Richard had never done such a thing. He’d never even said he wanted to. While he preferred the outdoors and ranch chores to class time, he had a lot of friends in school and had never made a fuss about going.
The girl rolled her eyes. “Everyone does it. It’s not a big deal.”
“Everyone doesn’t do it, or the school would shut down. Richard, I want to speak to you inside.”
The girl held up a hand. “I’m out of here. You know where to find me,” she said to Richard and walked away. Richard took a half step like he was going to join her and Heather grabbed his arm.
“Oh, no you don’t. You’re going back to school and you’re going to apologize to your gym teacher and tell him you’ll never do this again.”
Richard yanked his arm away. “Like hell I will.”
Heather’s mouth dropped open. Her son had never—never—spoken to her like that before. “What did you just say to me?”
Remorse flashed across his face before he pulled himself together. Heather almost pitied him for how hard it obviously was to fake this bravado. Almost. She was too angry to pull it off.
“Catch you later,” he said. He tugged his arm free and backed away.
Colt, who had followed Heather outside, strode past her and caught him. “Your mother’s talking to you.” He tugged Richard back to the sidewalk where Mason joined them.
“What’s going on here?”
“Nothing.” Richard glared back at them defiantly. “So I missed gym class. Big deal!”
“It is a big deal,” Heather said. “Why would you skip school? You’ve never done anything like that before!”
“I bet Dad skipped school all the time.”
They all swung around to look at Colt, who scowled. “I didn’t skip school. Much,” he added when Mason snorted. “And it didn’t matter because I joined the Air Force and they were happy to take me.”
“Maybe that’s what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll drop out right now and join up.” Richard’s voice cracked and his face reddened.
“Not much call for thirteen-year-olds in the armed forces,” Mason intervened. “And regardless of what Colt says, they have standards. You drop out now and you’ll never get in.”
“He’s never getting in, anyway,” Heather exclaimed. “I refuse to watch my son—”
“I’ll sign up if I damn well want to!”
“What did you just say?” Colt turned on him, but Mason stepped in his way. “I’ll take Richard back to school. You finish up your business here, Colt. Melanie is inside waiting for you. Heather, I imagine you need to get back to work?” Mason didn’t wait for either of them to answer. He collared Richard and marched him to his truck. “See you at the ranch in an hour,” he called back. A moment later, the truck pulled away.
Chapter Fourteen
‡
“Of all the nerve,” Heather said.
Colt understood what she meant, but he couldn’t help thinking Mason had done the right thing. He’d been too angry to deal with Richard properly. He needed to learn some parenting skills, fast. When Richard swore at Heather, he’d seen red. No son of his was going to talk to his mother like that—
“He’s never acted like this before,” Heather said.
“He’s pissed off.”
“Well, so am I.”
“That makes three of us.” Colt unzipped his coat, suddenly over-warm even though they still stood outside.
Heather made a face. “This day has been too crazy. I’m going back to the store.”
“Heather, wait. I’ll pick Richard up after school and have a little talk with him.”
“Okay.” She turned away.
“Heather,” he called again.
She stopped at her truck. “What?”
“Boys will be boys. Don’t take this too much to heart.”
She nodded, but as she climbed in and started the engine, she didn’t look happy.
Back inside the store, Colt found Rose and Melanie deep in conversation. They were bent over the display case of rings, so intent on the selection their heads almost touched. Melanie looked up when he approached.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
Colt stopped himself from answering in the negative. Nothing was all right, but none of it was her fault. “Find a ring?”
“How about this one?” She was subdued as she raised her hand to show him the one on her finger, a plain diamond in a simple setting.
“It looks nice.”
“It’s cheap.”
“I’ll ring that up for you,” Rose said quietly and took it from her. She winced and dropped it on the counter, then rushed to pick it up again and pop it into a velvet-covered box.
“Why don’t you wait for me in the truck?” Colt said to Melanie. “I’ll finish up in here.”
She nodded and took the keys from him. When she was gone, Colt faced Rose. “Go on. Say whatever you’ve got to say.”
Rose shook her head. “Melanie explained everything. I get why you’re doing what you’re doing. But Colt, when I held that ring just now—I’ve never seen such a bleak future. There’s got to be another way.”
He could easily believe she’d drawn a big blank when she’d held the ring. He and Melanie had no future. “Believe me, if there was, I’d take it.”
“Can’t you explain to Heloise…?” She trailed off. “Of course you can’t. I feel utterly irresponsible selling you this ring, though.”
“Whatever happens, the responsibility is mine,” Colt said, but as he paid for the ring and pocketed the box he had a feeling she was right; things were going to get worse before they got better.
The drive home from Thayer’s was quiet and when they reached the Hall, Melanie claimed a headache and said she wanted to lie down. Colt accompanied her inside where they met Regan, who said she’d take Melanie up to the room she’d prepared for her. “Unless you plan to share Colt’s room.”
“No,” both of them said at once. Regan led Melanie away without another word.
Colt knew he should join his brothers and Dan to help with the chores until it was time to get Richard, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Heather and how she must be feeling. Secure in the knowledge that Regan would do all she could to make Melanie comfortable, he went back outside, got in his truck, and headed back to town. When he reached Renfree’s, it struck him that he hadn’t been inside the place since Heather took over. It looked much the same as always, except that without Renfree, it had a distinctly female vibe.
“Colt? Is something wrong?” Heather hurried to meet him.
“Everything’s fine. I just wanted a chance to talk to you alone. I already dropped Melanie off at the ranch.”
“Oh, okay. Susan, can you manage on your own for a while?”
“I’ve got it, boss,” Susan called out good-naturedly. “I’ll call Allison if I need help. She’s working on that newsletter.” Heather led the way through the store to a room in back that must have been the employees’ lounge. She shut the door after he’d entered.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to go into everything again.” She moved to the counter and began to stack coffee cu
ps from the dish rack.
He took the cups from her hands and turned her to face him. “I’m proud of you for what you’re doing here. You’re a great role model for Richard. Owning your own store; that’s a big step.”
“I’m kind of making a mess of it.” Heather tried to tug her hands away but he didn’t let her. He needed a physical connection to her since the world seemed so set on dragging them apart.
“Your sales are still down?”
“They’ve improved since I hosted the flooring demonstration. And one of my employees is working on advertising, but they’re not where I need them to be yet.”
“If you need any help, you let me know. Anything at all. You can boss me around and I’ll do exactly what you say.”
“That sounds fun.” She rolled her eyes. “Listen to me. You’re off limits.”
“I’m only off limits when Heloise is watching.” He drew her closer.
“Colt.” She tried to twist away when he bent to kiss her. “Not until after all of this is over. It’s not right, me kissing you when you have a fiancée.”
“You are my fiancée.”
“Don’t let Heloise hear that.”
“Heloise isn’t here.” He backed Heather up until she bumped against the counter. Letting go of her hands, he lifted her up to sit on it. “No one’s here except for you and me.” He cupped her chin. Gently tugging her close, he managed to kiss her this time. He’d ached to kiss Heather all day. He wanted to let her know in the most direct way possible that no matter what happened next, she was the only woman he wanted. Heather kissed him back, but when he slid a hand down to her breast, she pulled away.
“No. I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
Colt heaved a sigh. Bracing his palms against the counter on either side of her, he said, “So now what do we do?”
“Now we find me a fiancé,” she said. “You heard Heloise—she expects to meet him tomorrow night.”
Colt couldn’t believe he’d forgotten that in all the drama surrounding Richard’s decision to cut class. He thought a moment. “I might know a guy.”
“Seriously? You know a guy who would pretend to be my fiancé?”
“I served with him for a while and he lives not too far away. He used to have a knack for this kind of thing. I’ll give him a call and let you know what he says later.” He leaned in for another kiss, but Heather cut this one short.
“I have to get back to work.”
He didn’t let her go. “Tell me we’re going to make it through this.”
“Colt—”
“Tell me. Or I’ll call everything off right now. We’ll go tell Heloise the truth.”
“No. I don’t want to do that. Despite everything—despite what Richard says now—one day he’ll appreciate the chance to live on the ranch, so we have to play this out to the end.” She looked away. “We’ll make it through this.”
The shine of tears in her eyes cut him to the quick. He hated that they’d been put in this position.
“I want to make love to you.”
“We can’t.” She pushed him away and jumped down off of the counter. When he pursued her, she put up her hands to block him. “Not now, Colt.”
When a tear spilled down her cheek, Colt wrapped his arms around her and crushed her against his chest. “I love you and only you. No matter what happens, you have to believe that.”
She nodded, but when she pushed him away again, he let her go.
Two hours later, Heather parked her truck in front of the Hall and wiped her eyes again. She’d been a wreck since Colt had left Renfree’s and she’d been relieved when the day ended and she could close up the store. She’d barely reached the front steps when the door swung open and Regan appeared.
“Oh good; you’re home. I have to run into town to pick up a prescription refill. Storm and Ella are working on dinner. With everything that happened I forgot about tonight.”
“What’s tonight?”
“It’s Cheyenne’s birthday. She, Henry and the girls are coming for dinner. So are Darren and Belinda—and the Turners.”
Storm had mentioned the plan earlier in the week, and Heather had picked up a gift, but she had forgotten it was today. The last thing she needed was an avalanche of guests, but there was nothing for it but to paste a smile on her face and keep going. “That’s a houseful. Can I help?” Cheyenne was Storm’s mother, who’d followed Storm to Montana from California. She’d married Henry Montlake recently and moved in with him on his large ranch. Zoe, Daisy and Violet were Storm’s much younger sisters. They’d taken to Chance Creek like fish to water.
Darren had been the other possible heir to Crescent Hall, but these days he and wife, Belinda, were frequent visitors here. Belinda worked with Storm at Willow’s. The Turners were another young ranching family who owned the Flying W, where Camila lived. Eli, Noah, Maya and Stella Turner were siblings. When their father retired from ranching, their cousins Brody, Liam and Alex joined them. Heather enjoyed the boisterous Turner clan and normally she’d be happy they were coming for dinner.
“I’m sure you can; we’re all scrambling. Ask Storm!” Regan hurried off to her truck and Heather let herself into the Hall. She evidently wasn’t going to get a minute of quiet. Maybe it was better that way.
Storm set her to work making meatballs. Ella was setting the dining room table. “How are you doing?” Storm asked quietly as she stirred the sauce.
“As well as can be expected, I guess. How about you? The store doing okay?” She didn’t feel like talking about herself.
“It’s doing really well, actually. I did great over the holidays.”
“I’m glad to hear it. What about your mom and sisters?”
“Cheyenne loves it here. With her house in California sold and all her debts paid off she’s a new woman. Of course, now that she’s married to Henry she can be the stay-at-home mom she always wanted to be. I think Zoe, Violet and Daisy adore having her full attention.”
Was that wistfulness Heather heard in her voice? She knew Storm hadn’t had it easy growing up. Once her father had died, she’d filled his shoes and helped Cheyenne support her sisters. Heather could relate, although she hadn’t had any siblings to care for, like Storm had.
“I’m glad they’re so close. Otherwise you’d want to fly off to California all the time.”
“I’m glad they’re close, too. I would have missed them too much otherwise.”
Ella entered the kitchen and opened the silverware drawer. “Hi, Heather. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Heather deflected the question again. “How about you? Did I hear you’d found a therapist who was interested in working with you?”
“You heard right.” Ella brightened. “Dr. Diane Wells from Bozeman. She loves the idea of equine therapy. We’re working out the details.”
“Tell Heather about your screenplay,” Storm pointed her wooden spoon at Ella. “This one’s been busy.”
“Screenplay? What’s it about?” Heather was happy things were working out for Ella, despite the awkwardness between them. She knew it must have been hard for her to leave Hollywood behind for Chance Creek, but Ella never complained about small town life.
Ella blushed. “It’s about four sisters who inherit a bed and breakfast.”
“And don’t forget the crazy aunt and her conditions for the inheritance,” Storm sang out.
“She’s a crazy cousin, but yes, she’s modeled on someone we all know.”
A smile crossed Heather’s face for the first time that day. “That’s perfect.” Maybe Ella had hidden depths she’d overlooked before. Heather had to admit she’d always been so afraid Ella wouldn’t like her she hadn’t given her much chance to prove otherwise.
“I thought so, too,” Storm said.
“I couldn’t help but get a little revenge.”
Heather enjoyed the banter, but she knew she’d never truly feel like she belonged at the Hall until she sorted things out with Ella once and for all. Maybe
now was the time to do that. “Will it bother you if I ever marry Colt and move in for good?”
Ella’s eyes widened. “Of course not! I admit when you first showed up I worried for a minute you might still have feelings for Austin—or he might have feelings for you. As soon as I saw you with Colt, that fear went right out the window. I’ve never seen two people more in love.” She lifted her hands helplessly. “I’m sorry it hasn’t worked out the way it should have.”
“We’ve got company,” Storm cautioned them.
Heather turned to see Richard and Colt walk in. Colt came over and kissed her on the cheek. Richard hung back in the doorway.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” he mumbled, leaning against the doorjamb.
“And?” Colt’s deep voice prompted.
“I won’t skip class again. And I won’t swear… in front of you.”
“Richard!”
“Okay, I won’t swear at all. Much.”
Storm coughed and hid a chuckle behind her hand.
Heather heard Colt’s long-suffering sigh and suddenly saw the humor in the situation, as black as it was. She saw the saving grace, too: she wasn’t alone in this. No matter how crazy things got, Richard had a lot of people pulling for him.
“Okay.”
Richard’s eyes widened when he finally looked up and caught sight of her face. “Mom?”
“It’s okay,” she assured him, realizing he must have spotted the traces of her tears. “I’m just sad.”
“Because of what I did?” Suddenly he was a boy again, stricken by the consequences of his actions.
“It’s been a hard day.”
Richard looked miserable. “Dad says I better do some chores.”
Dad. Heather’s heart contracted. Glancing at Colt, she saw how much it meant to him to be called that name by his son. “I agree with your father. You can start upstairs in the third-floor bathroom. Clean the tub and sink. Do the counters, too. Use the right cleaning products. They’re in the pantry.”
“Okay.” Richard went to rummage in the pantry glumly and a few moments later she heard him trudging up the stairs.
