Lost and Found Family

by Jennifer Ryan

  “And you?”

  “I used to love it. Still do sometimes, but I wanted something more. I wanted this to balance the demands of the job. Here, no one’s life is hanging in the balance. If I get something wrong, no one gets hurt. I didn’t put a dangerous or hurtful person back out on the streets.”

  “If you’re not happy as a defense attorney, why not change your specialty?”

  “I like defending people in court. I’ve just stopped taking high-profile, complex cases. Though lucrative, they suck up a lot of time and take a toll on my life.”

  “All work and no play,” she guessed, finding common ground with Luke.

  “If I wasn’t in the office or court, I was barely getting any sleep at home before I went back to the office. When I made time for personal relationships . . . they fizzled out or ended badly because of my overscheduled life. I burned out at work and in life. My parents owned this place before I took it over. When I was young, we spent summers here, riding horses, camping, fishing, and hiking. Then the place mostly sat empty for years. I took it over and turned it into a working ranch. I loved this place. Still do. I’ve lived here the past three years.”

  “It suits you.” She’d seen it in the way he loved his horses like they were his children.

  A horse nickered and kicked at a stall gate.

  “That’s Ace,” Luke said. “He must want to see you, too.”

  She bent and rubbed Nick’s back as he giggled at Tiger, who had flopped down between his legs on his back and held Nick’s hand to his belly while Nick petted him. “I’ll be right down there.” She pointed to the last stall.

  Nick nodded. “I like him.”

  She kissed Nick’s head. “He likes you, too.” She stood and met Luke’s steady gaze. “Watch Nick. I’ll go say hello to Ace.”

  “Just don’t steal him again,” Luke teased.

  She headed down the aisle and called out, “No promises.”

  Luke mock-groaned behind her. Soon she heard his low voice as he played with Nick and the cats.

  She reached Ace’s gate just as he kicked it again. “Hey now. That’s enough of that, big guy.”

  Ace turned and put his head over the gate. She gave his neck a long stroke. “There, now. That’s a nice boy.” She wished she could take him out for a ride, but settled for babying him with lots of pats.

  A phone rang in the distance.

  “Hey Sarah,” Luke called.

  She turned and found him standing next to Nick holding up his cell. “Sorry. It’s work. I need to take this.”

  She nodded, gave Ace another rub down his long nose, then kissed his face. “Be good. I’ll see you later.”

  She headed back down the aisle as Luke walked away from her and Nick. She met her son in the middle and picked him up. “Did you have fun with the kitties?”

  “I love them.” He tucked his hands between her and his legs. “I have to go.”

  “Okay.”

  Luke stood at the end of the barn, his back to her. She rushed toward him, knowing Nick probably couldn’t wait long to go to the bathroom.

  “What did you find out about the car accident?” Luke’s question stopped her in her tracks. “I want to know everything about it and the woman in the car with him.”

  “Mama. I have to pee.”

  Luke spun around, his eyes filled with guilt. He pointed to a closed door next to an office.

  She took Nick, opened the door, set him down, and made sure the light was on before he closed the door and did his business.

  “I need to call you back,” Luke said, then turned to her. He opened his mouth to say something, but immediately closed it.

  “Nothing to say? Let me. I thought after our talk you dropped this, but you’re still digging into my past. It doesn’t matter what I say or do, you’re going to continue to believe everything Margaret says about me for a friend you didn’t even keep in contact with past high school. You’re more loyal to a woman obviously bent on revenge even though I’ve done nothing to warrant it and a dead man you don’t even know anymore. Do you really believe I’m such a terrible person and mother?”

  “Mama.” Nick stood in the open bathroom door, his gaze bouncing between her and Luke.

  She held her hand out to him. “Time to go home.”

  “But we didn’t pick vegetables,” Nick whined. “Jack isn’t even here yet.”

  Sarah picked up Nick and walked toward the barn doors. “We’re going back to Grandma’s.”

  “Sarah, wait. Let me explain.”

  She turned but didn’t meet his eyes.

  “After our talk about . . . ” Luke glanced at Nick, then said, “. . . your uncle, I completely forgot I asked my guy to look into Sean, too.”

  She appreciated that he didn’t say anything in front of Nick about what she’d done as a teen, but it didn’t excuse that he was still digging into things that had nothing to do with whether or not she was a good mother to her boys.

  So she had the final word. “What happened when I was a kid, what happened with Sean, they made me want to be the best mom I can be. That’s all you need to know. My marriage is none of your business. He’s gone. I’ve moved on. So should you.”

  With that she turned and left, a knot in her gut that if he kept digging he might expose what she’d spent the last two years keeping secret.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sarah pulled the large tote bag up to her shoulder and took both boys’ hands in the parking lot just off the Carmel public beach. Margaret carried the chairs and Bridget pulled the rolling cooler.

  Margaret and Bridget went ahead. The boys moved slowly over the sand, but they made it to the spot Bridget chose just as she spread out a blanket.

  Sarah pulled out the bucket and tools she’d brought and handed them to Jack. “Pick a spot close by to make sand castles.”

  Jack and Nick moved a few feet away, plopped down in the wet sand, and started playing.

  “There’s Sophia,” Bridget announced. “Why is he walking her all the way here?” She wasn’t enthusiastic about seeing her ex.

  While Bridget came to the house to drive with her and Margaret, Sophia had spent the night at her dad’s place because it was his weekend to have her. Rob agreed to drop her back with Bridget to spend a few hours with all of them today.

  Sophia ran over, dropped her towel on the blanket, and said, “Hi, Grandma. Hi, Aunt Sarah,” then ran to play with the boys.

  Sarah turned and watched Bridget with Rob.

  “You’re late.” Bridget held her hand out for Sophia’s bag.

  Rob handed it over, checked his watch, then stuffed his hands in his shorts pockets. “By three minutes. Parking on a Saturday at the beach . . . not easy. And this is supposed to be my day.”

  “I’m sure Little Miss Tight-ass-no-brains will keep you company.”

  “And I’ll enjoy every minute of it because she won’t be spewing this kind of BS at me.” Rob walked away from Bridget toward Sarah. “Sophia told me you were here.” Rob wrapped her in a quick hug. “It’s so good to see you.”

  Finally, someone was happy to see her. She and Rob had always gotten along. “It’s good to see you, too. Thanks for bringing Sophia. The boys loved playing with her when she visited their grandma.”

  Rob smiled and nodded at Margaret. “Good to see you.”

  Margaret nodded her hello, but didn’t say anything because Bridget seethed beside her with her arms crossed over her chest.

  Rob lowered his voice. “Looks like Bridget forgot to bring a chair for you.” Rob shook his head. “If it helps, I get even worse treatment.”

  “I’m fine on the blanket,” she whispered back.

  “It’s a slice here and there and before you know it, you’re bleeding to death. And she wonders why our marriage fell apart.”

  “I heard you’re seeing someone new.”

  “It’s nice to be with someone who sees me.” Rob’s gaze got lost out at sea.

  Sarah understood all t
oo well. In the end, Sean only looked at her as a means to an end. Not a real person. Not someone he used to love. If he even ever did.

  “How’s the construction business?” she asked so Bridget could hear and stop staring daggers at them for whispering together.

  “Great. I just got a huge contract to take over the new Oak Park custom home development.”

  Bridget sat forward in her chair. “You said you didn’t get the project.” She got a suspicious look in her eyes. “Or maybe you just held off taking it until the divorce was final because you didn’t want that kind of big payday included in our settlement.”

  Rob rolled his eyes. “Another construction company got the contract when I initially bid on it, but they had some issues come up and lost the deal, so the developer recently gave it to me. But please, make this into something it isn’t. I’ve missed that so much.” Sarcasm dripped from his lips.

  Bridget fell back in her seat. “I haven’t missed the way you lie so easily.”

  Rob shook his head and stared up at the sky.

  Sarah didn’t want to take a side, so she just went with being nice. “Congratulations on the contract.”

  “Thanks.”

  Jack ran up to them. “Can we go horseback riding at Luke’s when we get home? Sophia wants to come.”

  Sarah sighed. “Honey, I told you Luke has to invite us. We can’t just show up at his place. And Sophia’s daddy is picking her up in a couple hours to take her home with him.” Not that she wanted to play another round of contradiction, with Luke being nice only so he could compare what he saw right in front of him with whatever he dug up next. “Can you say hi to Uncle Rob, please?”

  “Hi Uncle Rob.”

  Rob smiled. “Hey buddy. I heard you’ve been hanging out with Luke.” He turned his gaze on her. “Lucky guy.”

  She blushed, despite the fact she and Luke weren’t a thing. Though for a moment she’d thought . . . But it wasn’t. She hadn’t seen or heard from him after the scene in the stables.

  Like all her other interactions with him, he left her wondering where she stood. He didn’t hide his attraction to her. He’d kissed her. But then he questioned things that had nothing to do with who she was now. Did he really want to use her past against her? Or did he see that what happened to her as a child and her marriage to Sean made her who she was today?

  And what did his investigator tell him about Sean’s accident?

  Did he know the truth?

  If he did, he hadn’t shared it with Margaret.

  Which made her wonder if he’d dropped the whole thing or if he was just biding his time to use it against her if she refused to let Margaret see the kids in the future.

  She hated not knowing what he really wanted from her.

  Bridget called out, “She hasn’t been back to Luke’s place and he hasn’t been to Mom’s in days.”

  Margaret must be keeping Bridget up to date on everything Sarah related. Great.

  Bridget sneered. “He saw her for exactly who she is. Too bad Sean didn’t sooner or he’d still be alive.”

  Jack stared at his aunt, dead quiet and still.

  Sarah wondered if Bridget was right.

  Rob stepped in front of Jack and stared down Bridget. “You never know when to keep quiet. Not in front of Sophia or Sean’s sons. You used to be nice. Now you don’t seem to care about anything or anyone’s feelings.”

  Bridget looked angry and remorseful all at once.

  Sarah touched Jack’s back. “Go play with Sophia and your brother.”

  Jack ran back to them.

  Rob turned to her. “I’m sorry her anger with me has spilled over onto you.”

  “She doesn’t like me either.”

  “It’s no excuse to say something like that in front of Jack. Or at all,” he called over his shoulder, knowing Bridget hung on their every word. Rob lowered his voice. “If it wouldn’t cause another fight, and Sophia wasn’t so excited about spending a couple hours at the beach with the boys, I’d just take her back with me.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on her.”

  Rob nodded. “Thanks. Ask me, Luke’s a fool. I never believed even half of what Sean told Bridget.”

  She touched his arm. “Thanks.”

  “Isn’t your girlfriend waiting for you?” Bridget called out.

  Sarah removed her hand, angry that she couldn’t even get away with a simple gesture of gratitude without Bridget thinking it meant more.

  Rob turned and called back, “I’ll be back at three to pick her up.” He turned and started backing up from Sarah. “You agreed to six weeks of this.” He shook his head, gave her a “you’re crazy” look, then turned and walked off.

  Sarah sighed. Then she pulled her shirt over her head, grabbed the sunscreen she’d sprayed all over the boys before they left the house, and applied a generous amount on her arms, chest, belly, legs, and her back the best she could.

  “You’re so pale, you’re going to fry out here.” Margaret awkwardly scooted out of her low chair and stood.

  Bridget brooded and didn’t even attempt to help her struggling mother up.

  Sarah would have tried, but Margaret usually snapped at her for trying to help.

  Margaret held her hand out for the can of sunscreen.

  Sarah gave it to her.

  Margaret surprised her by moving around her, pulling her ponytail off her back, and spraying her down thoroughly. She handed the can back.

  “Thank you.”

  Margaret acknowledged that with a tilt of her head, then struggled to sit in her chair again, mostly falling into it.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m old.” Margaret tried and failed to hide a wince of pain and went back to watching the kids.

  Sarah sat on the edge of the blanket, kicked off her flip-flops, and sank her toes in the sand. She pulled her phone out of her cutoff jeans shorts back pocket and tapped the screen, sighing when she saw 123 new emails from yesterday to today.

  “More work?” Margaret asked, an edge to her voice.

  “Just a few emails,” she said, hoping to not have another argument about how she didn’t pay enough attention to the boys.

  “Mom! Can we go in the water?” Jack called, all three kids standing and waiting to splash in the waves.

  Sarah stuffed her phone in her tote bag and got up. “Wait for me.” Before she joined the boys, she turned to Bridget. “Do you mind if Sophia goes in the water?”

  “I mind that she’ll be staring at you in that skimpy bikini top.”

  Jealous much?

  Sarah’s suit wasn’t any more revealing than those of any of the other women sunbathing on the beach.

  Bridget wore a simple one-piece tank-style suit. She looked cute in it, but obviously didn’t feel that way and kept a sarong tied around her hips and covering her thighs to her knees.

  “But she can swim, right?”

  Bridget waved her away. “Yes. Go strut your stuff.”

  Sarah rolled her eyes. She didn’t strut anywhere. But she did join the kids down the beach where the waves crested on the sand. She took Nick’s hand and walked with him farther into the surf. He was too little to keep his balance in the rolling waves. Jack did better, but Sophia had to help him every once in a while. But the kids had a blast and Sarah found herself laughing and kicking and playing in the sand and surf with the kids and really enjoying herself like she hadn’t done in a long time.

  She needed more of this.

  She definitely needed more sleep.

  But instead of doing that the last few days, she found herself leaving her laptop in the boys’ room with the camera on so she could keep an eye on them on her phone while they slept, and she snuck out of the house in the dead of night. She didn’t think Margaret would hear them from downstairs if they awoke for some reason. She walked in the fresh air and under the stars so she could wind down and finally sleep after work. Inevitably, she found her way to Luke’s place and the horses that drew her there as mu
ch as thinking about him did.

  She didn’t know what it was about him that had her turning over their every interaction to figure out what she’d said or done to make him react the way he did around her. Or what she should have said or done to make him like her.

  She thought they’d gotten to a better place, but then he’d received that call and she got scared that he’d dig up things better left buried.

  “Watch out,” Sophia called, racing with Jack toward her as a big wave followed them in.

  She picked up Nick just in time to save him from toppling over and spun him around as the water rose up to her thighs.

  Jack and Sophia made it up the beach and out of the worst of it.

  Sophia ran back to her as the water receded. “Nice save.”

  “Thanks.” She smiled and laughed with Nick as he splashed her legs.

  “You’re really pretty,” Sophia blurted out.

  “Thank you, sweetheart. So are you.”

  “I hate this suit.” The princess on the front was a bit juvenile for a ten-year-old. “Mom won’t let me get a two-piece. Not even one of the tank ones.”

  “Yours seems to be getting tight on you. Next time your mom takes you shopping for one, if you can’t get what you want, look for a one-piece that is a solid color or a pattern. It will make you look your age. More sophisticated,” she added, earning a huge smile from Sophia.

  “Thanks. Good to know.”

  She was happy to help, but no way was she going to tell Bridget how to parent her child. Or suggest an appropriate two-piece wasn’t the end of the world to make Sophia feel like the young lady she was blossoming into.

  “You’re way cooler than my mom.”

  “Only because she’s your mom. Mom’s aren’t cool to their kids.”

  “I think you’re cool,” Nick said, holding on to her leg as another wave washed in.

  “Thank you, buddy.”

  He smiled real big and hugged her close. “I’m glad you came and played instead of working.”

  She bent and kissed him on the head. “Me, too, bud.”