And Then You Kiss (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 3)

by Heather A Buchman

  “How big is it?”

  “About six thousand square feet.”

  “Oh. Again, I don’t know what that means.”

  “It’s about the same size as your parents’ house.”

  “But their house is ginormous. What do we need with all this space Tucker?”

  He patted her stomach. “For this little one and his or her brothers and sisters.”

  “How often do you plan to impregnate me?”

  “As often as you’ll let me.”

  Tucker took her hand and walked over to the fireplace. The hearth was built up, so she could sit on it.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  “I like it. But it’s up to you. If you like it, that’s what matters. And um…you know, can we, uh…afford it? I don’t make very much money you know.”

  Tucker laughed and kissed her forehead. “Yes Blythe, we can afford it.”

  “Tucker?”

  “Yes?”

  “What about your house in Spain? And your condo in Aspen, the one you share with Jace?”

  Tucker didn’t want to talk about the condo, but he was going to have to get used to talking to Blythe about everything. Not only the easy stuff, the hard stuff too.

  “I signed the condo over to Jace. He owns it outright now.”

  “Does that mean you’ve talked to him?”

  No, it didn’t, he told her. He’d asked his father to handle it through their family attorney. Since they were brothers, a simple quitclaim deed took care of it. As far as the place in Spain, they didn’t need to worry about it for now. He wanted to take her, and the baby, there when they could travel. After that, they’d decide together what to do about it.

  “Tucker?”

  “Yes Blythe? You’re full of questions today, aren’t you?”

  “Well, we’re making a lot of assumptions. Just because we’re having a baby together doesn’t mean we automatically have to start making all these decisions. Maybe we should figure out, you know, if we’re going to be together or not first.”

  He knelt down in front of her and pulled her in close to him. “I thought you liked it when I made decisions for you.”

  “I do, when you’re picking restaurants, or what we’re going to eat, but when it’s about the rest of our lives, maybe you should let me give you my opinion.”

  “Oh? Okay then,” he reached into his pocket. “What is your opinion of this ring? It’s the one I picked out in order to ask you to marry me.”

  Blythe stared down at the ring he had in his hand. It was a emerald-cut diamond flanked by two similar-sized emeralds. “It’s magnificent,” she said.

  “Since you think so,” he slipped it on her finger. “Would you like to give me your opinion about marrying me?”

  “I would love to marry you.” She kissed him. “I love you Tucker.”

  “I love you Blythe. What do you think of the house?”

  “Also magnificent, even if it is a bit big.”

  “So it’s a yes to the ring, a yes to marriage, and a yes to the house?”

  “Yes, to all of the above.”

  She and Tucker walked through the house a couple more times, and talked about which room they would use as a nursery, and what they might do with the others until the time came that it became a child’s bedroom. When Blythe yawned Tucker told her it was time for him to get her back to her parents’ house. “Your dad is preparing a celebration feast.”

  “He is? For who?”

  “Bree is coming over, and I heard a rumor that Liv and Ben are in town with little Caden, which means we are expecting Billy, Renie and Willow too. Oh, and Dottie and Bill. And Lyric. I think that about covers it.”

  Someone was missing. They both knew it, it didn’t need to be said. It had been over a month since anyone, other than their mother, had heard from him. Tucker told her his mother said Jace was okay, he was taking time for himself. When she asked Tucker if he wanted to know where he was, or how to get in touch with him, he declined.

  “He’s your brother,” she reminded him.

  It wasn’t a reminder he needed.

  ***

  On October 3, Cochran Henry Rice was born at two in the morning. Bree was in the delivery room with Blythe and her husband, for moral support.

  She pulled out her phone and took photos of the baby boy as he was weighed and measured, then wrapped in a blanket and handed to his mother. She took another picture of Tucker kissing first Cochran, then Blythe.

  She texted every one of them to the same number she’d texted periodically over the last few months. She never got a response, so she didn’t know whether it was still Jace’s number. If it was, she wanted him to see the first photos of their nephew—Aunt Bree and Uncle Jace. He’d said once they better figure out how to get along because he knew they both planned to be a part of this baby’s life.

  Chapter 22

  Jace was somewhere in Montana, he wasn’t sure where. He’d been driving all night, headed to a stock contractor’s place he’d heard about at the last rodeo he rode in. He was looking for Beiman Rough Stock Company. He’d heard the owner was looking for some help, and Jace was getting tired of traveling.

  His phone pinged and he knew who the text was from. Bree was the only one he ever heard from, other than his mother, who didn’t text, she called.

  He didn’t hear from her often, but this time, he’d been expecting it. He pulled off on the side of the road and looked at the pictures she sent to him. His eyes filled with tears as he scrolled through the photos of his newborn nephew. Her last text said, Cochran Henry Rice, born 2:10 am, nine pounds, four ounces, twenty-one inches.

  He’d never wished he could be in two places at once more than he did right now. If only there was a way he could get back to Colorado to see his nephew, and Tucker. But there was no way he could, mainly because he wouldn’t be welcome.

  Tucker knew how to reach him if he wanted to, and Jace knew his brother didn’t want to. He could feel it, or better put, he couldn’t feel it. Tucker was completely shut off from him. He had been for months.

  When he left Monument, instead of heading west, to Crested Butte, Jace went north. He competed in more regional rodeos than he could remember. After the first couple, they all started blending together. Each morning when he woke up, it took him a while to figure out where the hell he was. Once he did, he had to figure out where the hell he was headed. He traveled around Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and visited the Cody Stampede and Cheyenne Frontier Days.

  He called Billy the day after he left Colorado. He owed him and Renie that much. They’d been good to him, he considered both of them friends.

  “Take the time you need,” Billy told him “There ain’t nobody I know who hasn’t done somethin’ they regret Jace, especially when they were a teenager. You don’t wanna hear my stories. I got a hella lot of ’em.”

  He thanked Billy and told him he’d be in touch. He had no idea when, but when he was ready, he would be.

  “You come see us whenever you want to. You’re always welcome here,” Renie told him when Billy handed her the phone.

  That had been over five months ago, and he hadn’t talked to either one of them since.

  If he was being honest with himself, and these days, he was trying damn hard to be, he’d been hiding out, getting lost, most of the last seven years. That’s what working at the dude ranch in Colorado had been all about.

  No one knew him there. They didn’t know his background, they didn’t know his brother. When he was there, he was Jace Rice, an easy-going cowboy. He flirted with the guests, who soaked it in, and then left when their six-day vacation was over.

  Until the day Irene Fairchild set foot on the ranch, he hadn’t been interested in getting to know anyone well enough that their lives crossed again when the summer ended. She changed everything.

  In less than a year he’d gone from that carefree cowboy to one who had to face the pain in his life, the pain he’d worked hard to bury. And in doing so,
he lost his brother. It made him sick to his stomach whenever he thought about it.

  He could blame Tucker, say he was being an asshole about it. Billy was right, who didn’t fuck up during their teens? Everyone did. Even Tucker had. But he couldn’t blame his brother. He’d had every chance in the world to come clean.

  Of his many regrets, he didn’t know which one was the biggest. Getting involved with Rosa? That was pretty big. That started the chain of events that came to a crashing conclusion five months ago.

  He also regretted the way things ended with Bree. It had been important to him to be the one to tell her the story himself, and when she questioned his motives, he got angry and left.

  The fact that she texted him meant a lot to him. There had been several times he wanted to pick up the phone and call her. Or at the very least, text her back. But why? Her sister was married to his brother, the brother who never wanted to see him again. As much as he’d been drawn to Bree, leaving then had been best. She had plenty of her own shit to work through. Yep, it was better this way. No contact. He’d forget about her, she’d forget about him.

  That’s why he never answered her. He wanted her to forget about him. He wanted to forget himself. How ironic was it that only a few months ago, Tucker had wanted the same thing? He ran after the accident, intending to leave his previous life behind. Instead, it was Jace who was living that nightmare.

  He pulled into a diner in Helena around dawn. He’d get something to eat here, find a place to stay, and then head out in search of the Beiman ranch.

  The Beimans were big in Alberta, Canada, and old man Beiman had been inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in the early nineties. Jace remembered hearing about the rough stock contractor’s death a few years ago. He’d died in a car accident along with another rancher known for breaking horses and raising cattle. The loss of both men had been a tragedy talked about often in the rodeo world.

  Beiman’s son and grandson had taken over the rough stock business, but it was becoming too much for them. Jace heard that they were looking for help in the way of contractors, but he also heard they were looking for a partner, someone to take over the Montana operation.

  If what he’d heard was true, he planned to make the ranch outside Helena, Montana his new home, at least for the time being. He didn’t allow himself to think too far ahead. Whenever he did, he couldn’t stand the loneliness he predicted would define the rest of his life.

  The meeting with the Beimans lasted a little over two hours. As it turned out, they weren’t looking for a partner as much as they were looking to sell. If he did this, it would mean tying up almost all of his money in the ranch. It wasn’t a decision he wanted to make without talking it over with his parents. He called his father, who agreed to fly up with his mom, the next day.

  Jace almost cried when he hung up. He missed his family, he hadn’t realized how much. He wished he could talk to Tuck about it too. This was the kind of thing his brother would have loved to see Jace do. He would have helped Jace come up with a name for the ranch, and would have wanted to design a new brand. Jace couldn’t imagine that he’d ever like anything anyone but his brother designed.

  His parents stayed in Helena for two weeks, and when they left, they were partners in a 12,000-acre business venture they named Triple-Bar-R Rough Stock and Cattle Company.

  It hadn’t worked out the way Jace had originally planned, but his father was unrelenting in his insistence that he wanted to be a partner in his son’s venture. Jace only had to liquidate half of his holdings to make the deal, both his parents put up the rest of the capital needed. They were headed back to Aspen now, but intended to come back and settle in one of the two main houses already built on the ranch property.

  For the second time in as many weeks, Jace found himself on the verge of tears. Having his parents close was something he hadn’t even considered. Maybe the on-going ache of loneliness would be somewhat diminished by knowing they were within arms’ reach.

  ***

  The day Bree graduated was bittersweet. Her whole family was there, even Brooke and her husband, who flew in from Germany. No matter how many people surrounded her, it didn’t make up for the two who didn’t. Everyone knew she’d be missing Zack today, but no one knew there was someone else she wished was there.

  It had been almost a year, but she still thought about Jace almost every day, especially when she was with Cochran. When she wasn’t studying, or working on her thesis, Bree spent as much time as she could with Blythe and the baby.

  She helped them furnish and decorate the house in Black Forest, and offered to babysit at least once a week, so Blythe and Tucker could have some time alone. They usually went out for dinner, which meant they were gone less than two hours. Bree lived for that time with her nephew.

  He was growing up so fast, and Jace was missing it. She took pictures and wanted to text them to him, but since he never responded when she did, she wondered if maybe he didn’t want to see them. So she stopped.

  After the graduation ceremony, they went back to her parents’ house, where they were hosting a barbecue. She found herself fighting the threatening tears for most of the afternoon.

  Blythe asked her if she wanted to go for a walk with her and Cochran. Bree jumped at the chance.

  “I could tell you were uncomfortable,” Blythe told her.

  “Emotional more than uncomfortable.”

  “You miss him.”

  “Zack? Of course I do. I miss him every day.” The tears she fought hard to keep control of began to fall. Thinking about Zack made her think of Jace. How crazy was that? But he would’ve understood how she was feeling today, if no one else did. God she missed him.

  “Not Zack, Bree. I know you miss Jace.”

  That made her cry harder. “I do. I miss him so much. Is that horrible Blythe? Am I terrible person? I miss Jace more than I miss Zack.”

  “I don’t think that’s true. I think you miss both of them. They’re intertwined. Jace became someone you leaned on after Zack died.”

  “I’m not sure about that. Jace was…a friend, I suppose. I didn’t even know him very well. It’s silly, that I miss him.”

  She hoped no one else recognized what Blythe did. Did everyone know how she felt about Jace? She didn’t want to ask.

  “Has Tucker talked to him?”

  “No, but we talk to his parents. They moved to Montana. Jace bought a ranch and they’re going to help him run it.”

  “You’re kidding. Jace bought a ranch? Why?”

  “ I’m not sure, but I have no idea. It isn’t easy to get Tucker to talk about him, or anything to do guess Hank and Carol are partners with him . I had to pry in it out of him when I asked him why his parents were moving to Montana .”

  “Where is it?”

  “Somewhere near Helena, I think. I’m going to I’ll call his parents myself mom this week and see what else I can find out. When I do, I’ll let you know.”

  “He’s raising rough stock,” Blythe told her a few days later when Bree was having lunch with her and Lyric.

  “What’s that?”

  “What’s what?” asked Lyric.

  “Rough stock,” answered Bree.

  “You know, broncs and bulls.”

  “Rodeo broncs and bulls.”

  “Well, yeah,” Lyric rolled her eyes. “What else would someone raise them for?”

  “Does he know what he’s doing?”

  “He must. It’s quite an investment. I wouldn’t think he’d get into it if he didn’t.”

  Bree needed to change the subject. She thought about Jace Rice too much as it was. Imagining him working a ranch in Montana, wasn’t helping. Picturing him on the back of a horse, his face weathered from days spent riding…she fanned her face.

  “Have you decided what you’re going to do next?”

  Thank goodness Lyric changed the subject so Bree didn’t have to think of something else to talk about.

  “I’ve been applying for teachin
g positions. I may have a chance at a temporary position at the Air Force Academy. It’s at the junior faculty level, and is only for two years, but it’s a start.”

  “Oh. So you aren’t moving out?”

  Why would Lyric think she was moving out? Did she want her to?

  “I hadn’t planned on it, but I suppose I could find another place if you needed me to.”

  “No, no, not at all. I thought you might be leaving the area.”

  Where did she come up with this stuff? Why would she be leaving the area?

  “Relax Bree. It’s all good. I’m hardly ever home anyway. I thought you’d have to get a job out of state or somethin’.”

  She hoped not. She couldn’t stand the thought of being away from her family, especially her sister and the baby. She’d miss him more than she missed anyone else.

  “I have a babysitting position I’m not willing to let go of,” she laughed. “I love that little boy so much,” she murmured.

  “And he loves you,” answered Blythe, who reached over and rubbed her shoulder. “He’d miss his Auntie Bree, so you better not be thinking of moving away.”

  Lyric was intuitive, more so than Bree. She seemed to be able to sense when Bree needed a change, so her asking whether she was thinking about leaving the area worried her. Was there something Lyric was seeing that Bree wasn’t? Was she relying too much on her family? Was she becoming a burden?

  “Okay, I’ll fess up. I had another reason for askin’.”

  Oh God, what was Lyric about to say? She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear whatever it was.

  “It’s my brother, he’s havin’ a pretty hard time of it. I need to get him out of Oklahoma. And it isn’t only him. He’s got a wife and new baby. They need a fresh start, and I was hopin’ it could be here.”

  Bree breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t have anything to do with her. She wished Lyric had said so in the first place.

  “But, don’t worry about it. I’ll figure somethin’ out for them. I’ll try to find a little house for them to rent.”