I pushed the thought from my mind. The idea of Will and Dad in the same town was terrifying enough. “I’m just happy that you’re healing,” I told Crystal. “You gave us a scare.”
“I can tell. Some of the guys are still fussing. I keep telling them I’m fine.”
Remy smacked the armrest of his chair. “You were shot. That’s not fine!”
“Yeah, but I’m not a child.. That’s all.”
It never ceased to amaze me that Remy and my father were so close when Remy had always worried about Crystal’s welfare, and Dad could hardly spare me a second glance. When I had to fill out medical paperwork, I always listed Zane and Hailey as my emergency contacts. I could have one eyeball hanging out, and Dad would tell me to stop being dramatic.
“I was actually wondering if we could talk,” Remy volunteered a short while later. “Just the two of us.”
I shrugged, but something about Remy’s tone set off alarm bells in my mind.
When I met Crystal’s eyes, her confusion mirrored my own. At least I knew it wasn’t a pre-planned ambush. “Sure. Right now?”
“Yeah.” Remy rose to his feet and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You hungry? Could grab some chow in the cafeteria. Food’s not bad.”
“Okay.” I hugged Crystal, whispering, “What is it with fathers and scheming?”
She snickered. “There’s always something.”
I tried to keep my cool as I followed Remy onto the elevator. “Are they still serving breakfast?” I asked to break the silence. “I don’t even know what time it is.”
“It’s only 10. Might be lunch now.”
The cafeteria wasn’t too full as we got in line. They were in transition, with half of the metal trays full of standard breakfast fare and the other half full of sides. Remy got cream-chipped beef with macaroni and cheese on the side. I went for a cup of chicken noodle and two biscuits. “We’re so healthy,” I muttered as I paid, practically bouncing Remy with my hip to keep him from throwing money at the cashier. “I’ve got it, Remy. Jeez. It’s eight dollars.”
“You’ve already done so much for us.”
“Don’t get sappy on me again,” I warned as I tore open the plastic film wrapped around the utensil pack. “I mean it. I only did exactly what Crystal would have done for me.” I dunked a piece of biscuit into my soup. “Though I will say this just once that Crystal would have died if we hadn’t asked Will Blythe for help.”
Remy closed his eyes for a few moments. “I know. I know. And that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Go on,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound defeated by the entire idea of discussing Will with the man who was like a second father or a beloved uncle to me. On the bright side, it didn’t sound like he’d heard about the night I’d spent at Will’s trailer. Or, if he had, he was too kind to mention it. “We’re going to have to talk about it eventually.”
Remy spooned a clump of macaroni into his mouth. “I’ve got no love for the Blythes. But I can’t overlook the fact that Will and his friends turned up for the worst days of my life.” He looked up at the ceiling like he might be able to see Dad. “I know that your father is afraid of giving you the ranch because you could end up with the Blythe boy.”
Now it was getting intriguing. Remy knew most of our family secrets, not all, and I could never unravel how Dad decided what to tell him. “Hence Sam.” If he wanted to be blunt, I could play that game. “Since I’m untrustworthy with my female brain and my hysterical feminine emotions and my hormones, right?”
“I’m not fighting with you about that,” Remy muttered. “I’m not your father. And he’s right that people will treat you differently and try to pull one over on you just because you’re a woman. You’re better off having a man next to you, not because you can’t do the job, but because it’ll be simpler having a buffer.”
“What does this have to do with Will?”
“I don’t want to be in the middle of this battle that I can see brewing.” Remy must have registered my surprise because he sat back and ran a hand over his head. “I love that ranch. It’s got my blood and my sweat in it even though I’m not a Wentworth.”
I nodded. I knew Dad would agree with that, too.
“If your father is going to pick a fight over your history with Will Blythe, I don’t feel right taking sides anymore. Will Blythe helped rescue my little girl. I still hate Jacob Blythe like anything, but maybe Will isn’t his father’s son. I don’t know.”
I decided to just put Remy out of his misery. “So, what you’re saying is that you don’t hate Will anymore, so you can’t watch Dad throw away the ranch because of how much he hates Will.”
“Something like that. I’m just mixed up now. It’s not as black and white.”
I snorted. “Remy, it was never black and white.”
“It was for me.”
“I don’t know how you’re going to stay out of it. Dad’s supposedly improving. Once he comes home, we’ll have to talk about the future of the ranch again.”
“I was actually thinking of taking a leave of absence,” Remy admitted. “Just for a couple of weeks. I can’t work anyway with Crystal laid up like this, and she won’t be able to do much for herself when they cut her loose tomorrow.”
I couldn’t remember the last time Remy had missed a day of work. “From what I gather, you do have a ridiculous number of vacation days just sitting there.”
“I was going to talk to Beth and Sam about it later, but I wanted to ask you first. I know it’s sort of a cheap move just to avoid what’s going on with you and your father, but I’m clean worn out right now.”
“Ask me what?”
“If you’re okay with me staying home with Crystal for a while. I don’t want to abandon you. And if there’s any kind of emergency, I can drive straight in.”
It took a moment to sink in that Remy was asking my permission. Like I was in charge. Like I mattered. “You have to take care of your family. You should do whatever you need to do for Crystal. We’ll figure out how to keep the animals from mutinying while you’re gone.” I was only kidding a little bit. Some of the horses loved him so much that they would pout when he was out with the cattle or traveling with Dad.
“Thank you again. For everything,” Remy sighed. “I think Crystal is a little more shaken up than she lets on. I really think some quiet time at home is the medicine she needs.”
“Then that’s what you should get for her,” I replied, slapping the table. “Thank you for being honest with me and including me in your decision. It means a lot.”
“I hope your father comes around soon.”
“Me, too. Hoping for it, but not counting on it.” After all, I was a Wentworth woman. I knew better.
Chapter 14
I spent the rest of the afternoon putting out fires—not literal ones, thankfully—that popped up in rapid succession. One of the cowboys suspected an issue with a young heifer that required summoning the ranch veterinarian, who later reported that nothing was amiss. Two others got into an argument, though neither of them would admit over what. Several of our ATVs were ready to be picked up from the repair shop.
I learned most of this from floating between the barns and the bunkhouse with a radio clipped to my belt. Sam filled me in on the rest in a series of impersonal text messages. Are we okay? I wrote back. He didn’t respond.
When Gus specifically asked Sam to meet him to discuss a problem, I intuited that I’d worn out my welcome. I wasn’t too upset over it since there were a few pending legal disputes that needed attention. “They came in scary envelopes,” Beth said as she pointed me towards the library. “I thought you’d understand the legal mumbo jumbo.”
“I did go to Legal Mumbo Jumbo school.”
It was incredible how much work could pile up over a few days. With how frantic Remy had been to find Crystal, Dad in the hospital, and the rest of us combing over a quarter of Texas, it was no wonder that we had a bit of a bow wave to catch upon.
Luckily, the scary envelopes were fairly benign. I fixed myself a cup of tea and set up an improvised office on the far end of the library. It would have made more sense to use the large table, but it reminded too much of the time I’d spent with Sam when he’d first arrived.
Pushing aside the pang of hurt that he wouldn’t just talk to me, I turned to the document on top of the closest stack. Over the next two hours, I reviewed a contract for some kind of wildlife conservation study on the edge of our land and drafted a proposed settlement for a disgruntled feed vendor who’d shorted Dad and then sued for harassment when he wanted his rightful due.
I normally wouldn’t have entertained the idea of settling with a dishonest person, but I wanted to give Dad as many options as possible to get some of these relatively minor matters off of his desk. He hardly ever listened to doctors, but maybe they’d succeed in imparting that his stubbornness could be fatal.
I left the papers on the table in the library and sorted through some of the non-routine bills that had been delivered to the house. Most of them went through our finance personnel and the various teams of consultants that seemed equally divided between Houston, Dallas, and Denver. The remainder seemed to be pet projects of Dad’s or things that had required his personal attention.
I texted Sam a few minutes after sitting down to let him know that he was free to join me. I can’t promise that you won’t fall asleep. It’s pretty boring stuff. He didn’t answer, again, but I didn’t want to push it further. For all I knew, he was out on the ranch somewhere without cell service. Who knew what kind of trouble Gus was getting into? But in my heart, I suspected that Sam was deliberately avoiding me at this point.
When I took a break to find something to eat, I was proud of what I’d accomplished, even if I did have to run it all by Dad for final approval. This was the type of work that the cowboys didn’t see. I wasn’t down in the mud or wrangling cattle, but paperwork was the backbone of this business just as much as any other company.
Beth was at the hospital, and I wasn’t much for eating formal dinners, especially when they were by myself, so I told Brian that I’d be OK with a sandwich. He knocked on my door an hour later with a cart of side dishes and an artisan turkey sandwich on ciabatta bread. I couldn’t tell if this was his sarcastic interpretation of my request or if he was serious. “Seriously, you could have sent up a peanut butter and jelly. I’m not picky.”
He told me the names of each side and what it contained. “Before your father hired me, I worked at a restaurant with two Michelin stars.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
Brian nodded at the plate. “It means that this is the most casual sandwich I can physically make without becoming ill.”
I burst out laughing. “My father doesn’t deserve you.”
He told me to leave the cart outside when I was finished and left me with my ridiculously ornate sandwich. At least he didn’t criticize me for eating in my bedroom, a pet peeve of both of my parents.
I used the small desk as a table as I sampled the various dishes. It was a welcome distraction from contemplating whether this counted as hiding from Sam. I hadn’t told Hailey about Will yet, but I texted to fill her in on what Sam had said. Her response was typical: Call me! This is so not a text conversation!
We were close enough friends—literally sisters at this point—that she didn’t mind talking to me while I ate. “But didn’t he turn you down when you told him you liked him? Right before you started your thing with Will?”
“That’s exactly what I said!” I relayed Sam’s response, explaining that he’d been afraid of what a relationship with me could mean. “So, I guess it’s understandable.”
Hailey scoffed. “That’s total crap.”
“What do you mean?”
“No one had more on the line for loving you than Will. No one. And he didn’t let that get in his way.”
When I looked at it objectively, that wasn’t a fair comparison. “It was a different kind of risk for Sam. Sam was worried about being able to survive and keeping his job on the ranch.”
That wasn’t to minimize Will’s sacrifices or his hardships. His father was violent at times, and he’d been used as a bargaining chip with his siblings. He’d lost his mother just like I had. But at the end of the day, we didn’t have to worry about supporting ourselves. Even if our families had disowned us as teenagers, our names alone meant something. Sam didn’t have that.
“You’re right,” Hailey said, relenting. “I just don’t want you to forget that Will risked a lot for you, too.”
“I know. We’ve been talking again after everything with Crystal.” I resolved to only give her the watered-down version until I knew for sure that this thing with Will was more than just wishful thinking.
“Like, talking talking?” she prodded. “Or just talking as friends?”
I hesitated. “I don’t know. Honestly, there’s been so much going on with Crystal and Dad that thinking about Will has just gone by the wayside.” It was true. I hadn’t had much time to dwell on him, though memories and questions resurfaced whenever there was a lull.
“You should just ask him how he feels instead of trying to read his mind. This is what went wrong last time.”
“What do you mean?”
Hailey’s sigh crackled through the phone. “You two didn’t talk about anything. You were under so much stress because of your mom. And then you made this sudden decision to break it off without even telling him the whole story. You torched the whole bridge when maybe you could have come up with a plan together.”
I bristled at the idea that my hastiness had ruined a chance to keep Will. “You don’t know what it’s like to have everyone trying to keep you apart from the only person you want to be with. Yeah, you and Zane had a rocky start, but it wasn’t like—”
“Do you hear yourself right now?” she interjected. “You just called Will ‘the only person you want to be with’ and you’re still arguing that you shouldn’t just tell him how you feel?”
I was suddenly homesick for the past when we would all sneak out together and let the boundaries fall away. Me, Hailey, Will, Stan, Crystal, Sam. I’d felt so free with them, able to be myself and make mistakes and love without a disclaimer attached. It had been more than just the innocence of childhood friendships. They’d known everything about me and still stayed.
When my father put me down or made me feel small, my friends were the only ones who could heal me. And while I loved Zane and Daniel with all of my heart, they were the siblings I’d been given by fate. Hailey was the sister I’d chosen. “I hate that you’re making so much sense right now.”
Hailey laughed. “What use am I if I don’t kick you in the butt when you’re stubborn? You kept saying that you were happy in New York, but you didn’t act like it. If Will can make you smile even with everything else that’s going on, that’s special.”
Her words remained with me after we hung up. I was suddenly restless, feeling cooped up in the confines of the house. Will must have read my mind. Just as I was sitting down to put on my boots, my phone buzzed. Are you busy?
Five minutes later, I was smiling so hard my face hurt as I reversed out of the garage, Eli giving me a knowing smirk. I waved at him and opened the window to shout, “Would you go home already?”
“I can’t, Miss Sky. I’m waiting to pick up Mrs. Wentworth in a couple of hours.”
“Oh.” The name stole the breath from my lungs. Of course, I wasn’t foolish enough to think that the staff wouldn’t call Beth by the same name as my mother. They had the same name. Still, it was different to hear it from Eli, who’d once driven Mom, than it was to hear “Mrs. Wentworth” on the lips of people who hadn’t known her.
The only other holdover from my childhood was Brian, and he wasn’t much in the way of honorifics beyond the stiff “sir” or “ma’am” he managed when we forced him to come upstairs at parties to receive compliments from guests.
Eli
must have read my thoughts because he pressed a hand to his heart. “Mrs. B. Wentworth,” he clarified.
I gave him a nod, not trusting my voice to project when I was upset. I took my time driving towards Will’s, thinking of how it was simultaneously difficult and comforting to live in my mother’s shadow. It was impossible to be in Bellfield and not see her in the flowers or the schoolyard where she’d let me stay late to play on the jungle gym. “I just wish I could talk to you for thirty seconds,” I said, my eyes flicking skyward. “So that you can tell me if I’m making the right decision. If I’m making you proud.”
The doubt wasn’t enough to stop me from arriving at Will’s trailer. He opened my door as soon as the truck stopped moving, as though he couldn’t wait one second for me to step out. “What are you doing?” I asked, laughing and almost stalling it as he started unbuckling my seatbelt.
He grabbed my hand. “You’re taking too long.”
I set the brake and allowed him to pull me out. He pressed me against the side of the truck, his long hair tickling my cheeks. Desire flooded through me, my body growing warm and heavy at the feel of his lips at my throat, his hands roaming at the small of my back. “What’s gotten into you?” I gasped, surprised—but not displeased—by the ambush.
“A man dying of a thirteen-year thirst needs more than a sip.” He kissed me with such fervor that I could barely hold on, my hands interlaced behind his head.
I nipped at his throat. “You’re too tall. This is cheating.” I peered down at our feet, then stepped onto the ends of his boots to make myself a few inches taller. “That’s better.”
Will leaned forward to whisper, “I have a surprise for you.”
“Is it in your trailer?”
“That’s for later,” he said, sounding more excited than disappointed. “First, I thought maybe you could use a little relaxation.”
“What do you have in mind?”
The Cowboy's Promise: Love Triangle Billionaire Romance (The Wentworth Cowboy Billionaire Series) Page 12
