by Em Petrova
Her stare lit on the flatscreen above the fireplace, and her heart hit the floor with a sickening splat. Her breath stopped moving in and out of her lungs, as that day came to her with a rush.
She must have made a strangled noise, because Jordy whipped his head around, saw her standing there and then grabbed the remote and shut off the TV.
He scrambled to his feet, cheeks blazing red. “I…I’m sorry, Sadie. Theo told me not to watch rodeo around you. I thought…if I kept the sound off, I could catch the competition from last night.”
When she saw the remorse burning in his eyes and the touching way he stumbled over what to say to her, her stomach bobbed into place and she managed a deep breath of air.
“Jordy,” she said slowly, trying to recover from the shock of seeing bulls on the screen, and the flash of a name that she knew so well, “do you even know why Theo said that to you?”
Gaze fixed on his feet, he shook his head.
Heart going out to him, she waved for him to sit. He did, and she sank to the chair adjacent to him. Leaning forward, she scrubbed her hands over her face, hoping to find words to explain.
Best to come out with the plain truth.
“My husband was a bull rider.”
His blond brows shot up toward his hair, which she’d managed to trim nicely.
“He died when he fell off and got trampled.”
“Oh man,” he said in a rush, “I’m so sorry, Sadie. I didn’t know. I just…love the rodeo. It’s one thing that helped me escape when…” He paused as if struggling with whether to continue. Finally he met her gaze full-on. “When things got rough in my house, I watched the rodeo. I imagined I could run away and join the rodeo too. And when I was a big star winning every competition, I would be able to take care of myself.”
All at once, her tears broke free. And with a shock, she realized they weren’t for herself but for Jordy.
Swiping her fingertips under each eye, she said, “Is that how you ended up at the Bellamy Ranch?”
He nodded. “I didn’t plan to stay. Was only lookin’ for a place to sleep.”
“And now?” she asked gently. “Do you still want to be a rodeo star?”
He shrugged, glancing down again. “I love being around animals. I spent a lot of time with them, ya know, after everyone went to sleep on the ranch. I’d sneak out of the shed where I slept and talk to the horses. I’d sit with them and watch them sleep or graze. It’s…peaceful.” He met her stare again.
She nodded. “It is peaceful. Everything about Crossroads is.”
“It’s peaceful here too. It’s nice not to worry about somebody coming in and finding me. Or sending me home.”
“I’m glad you enjoy it here. I love having you around. And you know what? I love the rodeo too. It’s why I married a man who rode bulls and followed him all over the country when he competed.”
“It musta been hard, hearin’ he died,” Jordy said roughly.
She nodded. “It was. But I don’t want you to hide it from me anymore. If you want to watch, you’re welcome to watch. Just keep the volume down, please.”
His eyes sparked to life, and he actually got up to lean over where she sat in the chair and awkwardly put his arms around her. Stunned and touched to the point of battling a lump choking her throat, she hugged him in return.
If only Theo could see this, she thought.
When Jordy stepped away, she smiled at him. He returned it with a shy one of his own, and she wondered if he’d surprised himself by his action as much as he had her.
She slapped her palms on her thighs. “You know we missed lunch.”
He nodded. “I’m kinda hungry.”
“Kinda?” She cocked a brow.
“Pretty hungry,” he admitted with a laugh.
“So am I. Why don’t you go out and start the grill the way Theo showed you and we’ll grill up some hot dogs?”
He bobbed his head and hurried out the back door that led to a small platform that she wanted to expand into a bigger entertainment area at some point. Maybe next summer she and Theo could begin on the project.
Smiling at her thoughts and how they’d drifted from the pang of her loss to having Jordy open up about his life, to hopes of the future, she walked into the kitchen to grab the hot dogs and fixin’s.
Jordy came inside and announced, “Grill’s on.”
“Good. We’ll give it a couple minutes to heat.”
He moved toward the table, where she’d been working at her laptop. Leaning in, he peered at the website she’d been tweaking for days now. “Wow! This is your business?”
She’d told him a bit about her business, and he hadn’t shown much interest at the time. To a fifteen-year-old boy, interior design was a bore. But now his expression lit.
Standing beside him, she looked at the website with fresh eyes. The colors were on trend and yet classic. Her photos from former projects had been enhanced with light filters to give them the best look possible.
“Yes, this is it. What do you think of my website?”
“It’s amazing!”
She beamed. “Thank you. I’m so close to finishing up, and then I can hit publish. Oh! The hot dogs. Let’s put those on the grill.”
Jordy offered to do the honors of grilling, and her heart warmed at how much he was loosening up around her and taking on tasks that he took pride in. When he returned a few minutes later bearing a plate with five dogs grilled to perfection, she patted his arm and praised him.
She moved her notes and laptop aside to one end of the table while they ate at the other. Jordy loaded his dogs with ketchup, mustard, relish and some crumbles of cheese she’d added to the platter. As she ate hers, he downed two and then dug into the potato chips.
As they ate, they chatted. She steered clear of sensitive topics such as his immediate future, but soon she had him talking about how much he enjoyed helping Theo do the wood trim.
“Maybe you’d like to pursue construction someday,” she said and added, “when you finish school.”
He met her gaze. She waited for him to shy away or grow surly about the topic of school. Because school meant having a home, which was more permanent than the ranch or here with her.
But he nodded at her words. “Maybe I would.”
When they finished their lunch, she started to clear away the plates. Jordy circled the table and bumped her side with his hip. “You sit, and I’ll clean up. You have work to do.” He nodded toward her open laptop.
She smiled, heart satisfied and her belly full. Or maybe it was the other way around.
“Thanks, Jordy,” she said, drawing her laptop close to begin whittling at her list again.
A few minutes later, the lightbulb hanging over the kitchen table started to flicker again. It was a problem that occurred once before, and Theo mentioned replacing the faulty bulb.
The flickering was making her eyestrain more intense, and she pushed away from the table and rubbed her eyes.
“Why’s the light flickering that way?” Jordy asked.
“It’s only the bulb.”
“Do you have some to replace it?”
“Yeah, in the corner cupboard. I’ll do it later. I’m getting a headache.”
He nodded and drifted into the living room while she went to rummage around the medicine cabinet for some painkiller. When she found none, she realized a trip to the store was in order too.
She poked her head into the living room. “Jordy, I’m heading to the store. Do you want to come?”
“No thanks.”
She’d offered several times to take him out of the house, but he always refused. Probably scared he’d be seen by somebody who could turn him in.
“Okay. Well, do you want me to pick anything up for you?”
“I’m good. Thanks, Sadie.” He smiled her way before turning his attention to the TV again. She followed his stare and saw he’d put on a home improvement show where they were building a porch.
Smiling to hersel
f, and wincing at the stabs of pain in her temples and eyes, she grabbed her keys and went out to her truck.
* * * * *
Sadie did better than grab a bottle of painkillers—she bought root beer and vanilla ice cream for floats.
Excited to show Jordy her purchase, she stepped through the door, calling out to him. “Bet you can’t guess what I got!”
The quiet of the space was her only answer. She glanced toward the living area. The TV was off. Jordy didn’t respond.
He could have gone outside to sit in the grass, as he sometimes did, but he hadn’t come in the house behind her.
Weird.
She turned for the kitchen and froze dead in her tracks at the sight.
A ladder scooted up near the table, which was flipped on its side. Panic hit as she realized he must have been on the ladder and fallen.
She dropped her bag and ran to the table, scouring the floor for Jordy under the snapped wood table leg and the glass of lightbulbs. Relief stole through her…and then she saw it.
Her laptop.
The screen smashed, and some of her keyboard bashed in.
Sucking in a gasp, she raised her hand to her mouth. Taking in the clues of the scene, she could only guess Jordy had tried to replace the bulb on the very high ceiling. He’d fallen off the ladder or it had tipped. The table flipped, which sent the bulbs and her laptop flying to the floor.
One glance up showed her the bulb no longer flickered—he’d successfully changed it.
Where was he?
“Jordy? Jordy!” She ran to the bathroom, but the door was wide open and the room empty. Next she hit the stairs leading to the loft. A peek at the small space revealed he wasn’t here either, though all his belongings were still scattered across the small wooden dresser.
She rushed down again and outside. After searching the property and calling for him several times, terror slammed her.
He’d run before. He wouldn’t hesitate to run again.
From what Theo shared with her about Jordy’s life, he’d received harsh treatment at home, so what would stop him from believing he’d earn the same here?
With shaking hands, she pulled out the phone and dialed Theo. They had to find Jordy.
Only when he told her he was on his way did she go inside to the wreck in her kitchen.
She moved the ladder out of the way in order to clean up the broken glass. Picking her way through the shards, she lifted her laptop.
All of a sudden, she realized the table and laptop might not have been the only things destroyed. Had she ever saved her website?
Another flutter of panic had her gasping.
The computer wouldn’t even turn on. All her work—days’ worth of it—the website, her extended business plan with so many thoughts and ideas typed out…
Gone.
Don’t panic yet. You might be able to retrieve them from the hard drive. Plus, it’s not the end of the world.
She looked around the empty schoolhouse, her heart breaking with a strong conviction that Jordy had run. To Jordy, it was the end of the world.
* * * * *
Theo gripped the phone to his ear so hard it dug into his skin. He heard what Sadie told him. Twice. He simply couldn’t process the words or meaning behind them.
An accident…lightbulbs and a ladder. Jordy gone.
“You have to look for him, Theo! Maybe he came to find you. The Bellamy was his safe haven.” Her voice broke, and then she dragged in an audible breath.
His palms started to sweat. “I’m going now. I’ll call you when I find him.”
After ending the call, he gripped the saddle horn and swung onto his mount. Terror sprang up in his chest like lava overflowing and spreading, overtaking everything in its path including his heart.
If Jordy really had returned to the ranch, he would only be in a few hiding places. And if he hadn’t? He’d deal with that disaster when it broke down his door.
Chest tight and pulse pounding, he spurred his horse toward the ranch. Why did he have to be in the farthest point of the Bellamy today of all days? And on horseback? If he had his truck or an ATV, he’d hit the road and circle the ranch in minutes. But he preferred checking on the herd on horseback, and now he couldn’t regret it more.
As his mount ate up the distance between them and the main ranch, he replayed Sadie’s words in his head. All the events played out in his mind’s eye. Jordy hadn’t been smoking cigars this time and burned down a shed. Or forgot to close a water valve and flooded a field. He wasn’t taunting a bull.
While the shed was rebuilt and the bull and horses all on the mend, Jordy had either been flat-out careless or made bad decisions. But this? Trying to help Sadie by replacing those bulbs?
And if he’d fallen and landed hard enough to break the table, then he must be hurt too. Banged up and bruised at the very least.
God, what if he hadn’t run to the Bellamy but took off to parts unknown? Theo couldn’t live with himself not knowing where the boy was.
He should have tried harder to gain custody, but he was still working things out in his mind and Jordy seemed safely out of trouble with Sadie.
When she told him about the smashed laptop, she reiterated that it didn’t matter—nothing did but finding Jordy. But Theo knew how many hours she put into her business, and if she hadn’t saved it online, chances were big that she lost it all.
Jordy would know this too. No wonder the kid ran.
He guided the horse through field after field. As he crested a small hill and the ranch buildings spread out below him, his stomach knotted. With his stare fixed on the shed Jordy had stayed so many weeks in, hidden from view, he increased the horse’s speed.
As he drew closer, he saw Cort’s truck burn up the driveway, leaving a trail of dust behind it. Cort didn’t drive that way for fun, which meant something must be happening. What now?
Theo didn’t know if he could handle much more. If Cort needed him on a task that couldn’t wait, he didn’t know what he’d do. Jordy had become a top priority for him, next to making Sadie the happiest woman alive.
He circled the pasture that was now dry and treated with a spray after the disaster of half a dozen horses with vet bills and creams to fix their skin conditions.
When he reached the gate of the paddock, he reined in and leaped out of the saddle. With a slap to the horse’s rump, he sent it into the paddock to trot around and cool down on its own for a few until he returned.
He raced around the corner and nearly trampled Huxley. The ranch hand stumbled to a stop, chest heaving.
“Was comin’ to find you.” Huxley’s expression revealed equal parts excitement and strain.
“What for?” Theo took off toward the shed. Somehow, he needed to shake the guy before going inside and searching for Jordy.
“Kaoz found a kid hidin’ in the hay shed. Looked to have been there for a while. He had food stashed under some hay and a blanket too.”
Theo jerked his head around. “Where is this boy?” he asked so sharply that Huxley’s eyes widened.
“Cort and Kaoz got him outside the garage.”
Theo’s chest constricted. Air could barely pass through his already tight throat, but his lungs were hopeless. He’d just have to run on fumes. But hadn’t he been doing exactly that for months now? Always trying to keep one step away from Cort and the others finding Jordy, and now it was too late.
When he rushed into the open, his long strides carrying him to the garage as fast as they could go, he fixed his stare on the men standing in a cluster. He guessed Jordy stood in the middle, being interrogated.
Kaoz looked up as Theo appeared, and Cort followed. Both men stared at him and broke away from the group enough that Theo saw the boy.
He stood with shoulders hunched, but he glanced up. Theo saw the relief on Jordy’s face from here.
He jogged the rest of the distance. Everyone parted to gawk. Cort and Kaoz stepped up to meet him, but he pushed past them and positioned
himself in front of Jordy.
Cort rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Damn, what he said’s true,” he muttered. “Theo, you know this kid?”
“Yeah.” He braced his legs in preparation for a fight.
“Found him in the hay shed. He’s been squattin’ here a while, it seems. When we asked him, he said he wouldn’t talk to anybody but you.” Confusion lit Cort’s eyes.
“Look, I know you want answers, and I’ll provide them. But first, I need a minute alone with Jordy.”
He stared between Cort and Kaoz, challenging either of the men who were his bosses but also his friends to force him away from what he had to do.
Seeing he’d receive no resistance, Theo pivoted to Jordy. “Let’s go.” He strode away, knowing he’d follow. He continued walking all the way to his truck. After he stopped, he watched Jordy. The boy seemed to be walking a little gingerly. But whatever injury he sustained from falling off that ladder hadn’t kept him from walking all the way out here to the ranch.
He met Theo’s eyes and then his glance skittered to his feet. Theo took a step toward him. Jordy tensed.
And Theo reached out and pulled him into a rough hug. Gripping the back of the boy’s head to his chest, he finally breathed with relief. “You scared the hell outta us.”
“Didn’t mean to break all her stuff, Theo. I swear. I came here because at least I know how to stay out of trouble on the ranch.”
“Hell, boy. She isn’t angry with you—she’s scared she wouldn’t see you again, same as me.” He held the boy at arms’ length, examining his watery eyes and the redness streaking his face and throat. “Are ya hurt?”
“Only my side. I bruised it when I fell.”
“Pull up your shirt and lemme see. I want to make sure you didn’t break ribs.”
Jordy did reluctantly, but Theo peered at the rising bruise too small and pale to be broken bones.
He gave him a nod. “Doesn’t look broke, but we’ll tend to it in a bit. You know now that all those men know about you, you can’t stay.”
He lifted his jaw. “I can’t go to Sadie’s.”
Realizing that the boy reacted to every situation as a direct result of his upbringing, he nodded. “We’ll figure things out. Me and you. But for now, I gotta talk to the Bellamys.”
