Second Chance Cowboy

by A. J. Pine

  “No, no.” She plopped down on the futon, and a cloud of dust rose to greet her. She coughed. “I wanted to see how the place was coming along. We can do this, and then you can give me the tour.”

  Jack dropped down next to her, and she narrowed her eyes.

  “What?” he asked, leaning back, an easy grin taking over his chiseled face.

  She let out a nervous laugh. “In faded jeans and a dirty tee, you just don’t look like a”—she switched to a whisper—“divorce lawyer.”

  Jack chuckled. “That’s because I’m a contract lawyer. You can still bail if you want the real deal.”

  She shook her head. She wasn’t one to bite the hand that fed her pro bono work. “It’s pretty cut and dry. The settlement, I mean. Tucker and I talked it all through. Plus, I did spend two full weekends at the library reading up on divorce law in whatever books and databases I could find.”

  Jack raised a brow. “That’s pretty thorough. You sure you need me at all?”

  She forced a smile. “Of course I do, but I like to make sure all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed. Then you can double-check before I double-check again.” She took a breath. “He’s buying me out of BBQ on the Bluff. I’m keeping the house. And now I have my seed money for my catering business. I guess there wasn’t too much history to divide up.”

  He pulled a pen from where it was hidden behind his ear and then held out his hand.

  “You gonna give me that envelope or keep hugging it?”

  She dipped her head toward her chest where she was, in fact, clutching said envelope to her torso like it was a life vest and she was floating in the middle of the Pacific.

  She chewed on her top lip for a moment. “I know this is all just a formality, but it’s formalities that make things real. You know? Tucker and I split six months ago, and despite how it all came about, I know it was the right decision for us. But after today I’m gonna be divorced, and I never planned on being divorced.”

  Jack wrapped his strong hand over the top of the envelope, and she finally relinquished.

  “You always live according to a plan?”

  She scoffed and reached into her oversized purse, pulling out her giant planner. She opened it up, leafing through the pages of color-coded lists, highlighted dates, and—the part she was most proud of—zero mistakes needing to be crossed out. Unless she went back to her planner from three years ago and crossed out the weekend she and Tucker had eloped. Because yes, she still had it.

  “Whoa,” Jack said, blowing out a breath. “That’s a little intense.”

  “It’s my life,” she said, her finger landing on today’s date where nothing per se was written. There was just a drawing of a black arrow in the shape of a U.

  “A U-turn,” Jack said, stating the obvious.

  She nodded, sitting up straight. “Today is the day I turn it all around. I messed up. Married the wrong guy. Put my dream on hold for his. I detoured. Today I get back on track.”

  Because wasn’t that the best euphemism for the F word?

  Jack leaned forward on his knees and pulled the papers from the envelope, leafing through them as he spoke.

  “You know,” he said, “there’s no shame in detouring.”

  She’d been afraid of this. The pep talk. But pep talks were meant for people who needed to be pepped. Buoyed. Propped up. She’d managed on her own for six months already. Now wasn’t the time to start leaning. It was time to get back behind the wheel.

  U-turn.

  She stood quickly, straightening out nonexistent wrinkles in her skirt before grabbing her bag and dropping the planner back inside. “If nothing looks out of place on first glance, I think we can do that tour now. You’ll let me know if I missed anything, right? Or if Tucker snuck something past my own contract scrutiny.” She let out a soft laugh. Nothing got past her scrutiny. Well, other than her ex-husband’s infidelity. “I’m just going to wash my hands,” she said, turning toward the small bathroom.

  Jack pressed his lips into a smile. “Just don’t close the door all the way. The doorknob on the inside is a little temperamental.” He laughed. “Walker got stuck in there for three hours a month back.”

  She laughed softly as she turned on the sink and left the door wide open. “You didn’t know he was here?” she asked over the running water.

  “No. We knew. Just thought he could use a few hours of silent reflection.”

  She was still laughing when she emerged into the office space once more.

  Jack rose to meet her, shaking out his right leg.

  “Still hurts?” she asked, recalling the accident he’d had back in the spring when he’d been hit by a car that had rebroken the same leg he’d broken as a teen.

  “Just a little stiff,” he admitted. “Must be a storm coming in. Hell, we need rain after the summer we had.” He held the door open for her. “I’ll get back to you no later than tomorrow afternoon if we need to contact Tucker’s attorney for any last-minute issues. But I’m thinking we’re all good.”

  Lily almost tripped over a dusty cowboy boot as she exited the office. Luke Everett straightened and caught her elbow before she went down.

  “Shit. Sorry. I was waiting for Jack.”

  “What’s up?” Jack asked, but he was already glancing over his brother’s shoulder to where Lily’s eyes had gone—to the tall, slender blonde circling the perimeter of the space.

  “Can I help you?” Jack called to her.

  “Jack, I—” Luke stammered, but his brother ignored him in favor of the stranger who seemed to be casing the premises.

  Lily and Luke were on Jack’s heels, and if she didn’t know better, she would have thought Luke was racing her.

  When he stepped in front of her, effectively cutting her off, she slammed into his back.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, but he held up a hand, waving her off. “Hey!” she said, poking Luke in the shoulder. “What’s your problem?”

  He spun to face her, blue eyes full of ice and his jaw tight. “Jeez, Lil. Not now, okay?”

  “Screw you,” she whisper-shouted, but Luke had already turned back toward his brother.

  She maneuvered in front of him, trying to keep him from whatever he wanted to say. She didn’t care what it was, only that she came out victorious in this little battle of wills.

  “Jack,” Luke said again, but his brother had already caught up to the mystery woman, who was several paces ahead, squatting on the floor, running her hand along the unfinished baseboard.

  “Knotted pine,” she said, standing. “Very rustic and ranchlike. A good fit.”

  “Thanks,” Jack said, his brows pulling together. “We’re not open ’til next summer, though. Depending on the crop, that is.”

  She smiled and rested a hand on her flat belly. She wore a simple blue T-shirt and dark skinny jeans that ended at a pair of ballet flats, though her legs seemed to go on for miles. Her hair was in one of those messy buns, her face seemingly free of makeup, and she was—gorgeous. Lily had this niggling feeling she’d met the woman before, but she couldn’t place her.

  Instinctively, she ran a hand through her still-growing-out blond pixie. She glanced down at the wedges she wore to make her five-foot-four frame seem longer. Then she silently chastised herself for the comparison.

  “I know,” she said. “But I heard about your place, from my boyfriend. I mean fiancé. Wow, I’m so not used to calling him that.” She was talking like she was on fast-forward. “And anyway—okay. This is gonna sound crazy, but my fiancé and I are unexpectedly expecting, so we want to get married before the baby comes. And while I can still fit in a dress. So I thought, a Thanksgiving wedding! But it’s October, and everything’s booked, and we’re not looking to have a giant affair. Just our family and close friends, and even unfinished the winery would do. Then I’d just need music and a caterer and—”

  “I’ll do it!” Lily interrupted. “The food, I mean.”

  This was definitely not in her plann
er. But hell, she was making a U-turn, right? She was almost officially divorced and absolutely officially jobless. And what safer place to cater her first party than with the moral support of her friends?

  “Fuck. No,” Luke said, glaring at her as the two of them caught up to Jack and the stranger.

  Okay, so Jack and his fiancée, Ava, were her friends. She could ignore the second eldest Everett—if he would just stop talking.

  The other woman’s eyes darted toward the younger of the two brothers.

  “Luke!” she said. “I thought that was you. Wow, do you two look alike.” She glanced back and forth between the brothers.

  He opened his mouth to say something, but Lily didn’t care who the woman was or what this little reunion between her and Luke meant. She was going to seal this deal. Now.

  “Jack,” she interrupted, “the interior should be done by the beginning of next month, right? That’s what Ava said. You could put the place on the map before it even opens, and I can do this, my first catering job.” She turned to the other woman. “I swear I can cook. I used to run a restaurant, but I left it to open my own business. I can even cook you up some menu samples this week as a resumé of sorts.”

  Jack scratched the back of his neck, and the beautiful stranger beamed.

  “A wedding?” he said. “That was never the plan for the winery, but it’s not a half bad idea.”

  Luke grabbed his brother’s shoulder. “It’s a whole bad idea. Trust me.”

  Jack narrowed his eyes. “I’d have to talk to the contractors first. Then I’d have to draw up some sort of contract. You really up for this, Lil?”

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Luke said under his breath.

  He was the only one who seemed put off by the situation, which made zero sense, but she didn’t care. Not one little bit. She was making her U-turn right here and now, and hell if she was going to let Luke Everett ruin it for her.

  Jack shrugged. “Why don’t we all head on up to the ranch where we can iron out the details.” He held out his hand. “Jack Everett,” he said.

  She shook. “Sara Sugar.”

  Lily gasped, recognition finally setting in. She had seen the woman before. On television. She looked so different that she hadn’t put the pieces together. But that’s not how she knew her. “You—you have that show on the Food Network.”

  Sara beamed. “Sugar and Spice. Yeah. The baking show. I know. I look nothing like my TV self, right? I get that all the time. It’s the hair and makeup, I guess.”

  Her heart beat like a sledgehammer against her chest. She’d finally gone and done something impulsive—put herself out there like she never had before—and look what she’d just gotten herself into.

  She should run out the damned door and never look back. Except then she’d leave Jack in one hell of an awkward situation after he’d just done thousands of dollars of work for her for free. And the buyout she’d received from Tucker for BBQ on the Bluff? She couldn’t live on it forever, especially if she was going to use it as seed money for her own business…and that whole paying-the-mortgage issue.

  She needed a job. And this was so close to being the perfect one.

  “Tucker Green is your fiancé,” Lily finally said, trying as hard as she could to make her wince look like a smile as she shook the woman’s hand.

  “Aw shit,” she heard Jack say under his breath, but Sara must have missed it. She just smiled and nodded.

  “Yes!” she said. “How did you know?”

  “I’m Lily.” She fought to keep her voice steady. “Lily Green.”

  About the Author

  A librarian for teens by day and a romance writer by night, A.J. Pine can’t seem to escape the world of fiction, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. When she finds that twenty-fifth hour in the day, she might indulge in a tiny bit of TV when she nourishes her undying love of vampires, superheroes, and a certain high-functioning sociopath detective. She hails from the far-off galaxy of the Chicago suburbs.

  You can learn more at:

  AJPine.com

  Twitter @AJ_Pine

  Facebook.com/AJPineAuthor

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