The Rancher Meets His Match

by Kate Pearce

Are you really ok? I know when my dad started to struggle with his MS it hit me hard. He was always the strong one, you know? Like my rock? And suddenly, there he was in a hospital bed looking at me to make decisions for him. I was terrified.

  Kaiden stared at the screen until the words blurred as he tried to make sense of how they made him feel. He pictured his dad’s face again and swallowed hard.

  I wish I were with you right now, Kaiden.

  For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating and that he’d typed the words on the screen rather than Julia.

  Thanks

  He winced at his own lameness. If he tried to explain how her words had hit him right in the feels, he would end up blubbering, and his dad would never allow that.

  Kaiden, it’s okay if you want to share stuff with me. I won’t tell anyone, and I do totally get what you are going through.

  He smiled at the screen. She got him, she really did, but that wasn’t an excuse for him to give in and spoil her evening as well as his own.

  I appreciate that. He paused and then carried on typing. I really do.

  Coward.

  He frowned at the single word.

  Where the hell did that come from?!!

  You know.

  Maybe I’m just trying to keep things in perspective here.

  Sure you are.

  Kaiden typed furiously. Maybe I’m better at explaining myself in person.

  Dude, you’re worse in person. You just charm me and confuse me until I don’t remember up from down, and then you avoid discussing anything painful.

  He liked the first half of her response, but wasn’t keen on the second. He reread the thread and considered what to say next. Part of him wanted to get in his truck, drive over there, and convince her of how wrong she was about everything. But, if she was right about his foot in the mouth syndrome, then he might just make things worse.

  He let out a long, slow breath and replied.

  Ok, you win. I suck. I’m going to bed now. Have a great night.

  Will do.

  He waited for a few seconds but she’d definitely signed off. From the shortness of her reply, he was pretty sure that she was as mad at him as he was with her, and hadn’t bought his passive-aggressive attempt to apologize at all.

  He got off the bed and went into the bathroom with the unsettling feeling that he’d missed an opportunity. What was even worse was that he knew Julia would make damn sure she didn’t offer him the same chance again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Julia made quite certain that she was out when Kaiden texted her the next day to let her know he was coming up to the ranch. Her father was busy chatting to Mike and Bernie about the structure of the house and didn’t need her help, and she had errands to run in town.

  The whole conversation the night before had left her torn between annoyance that Kaiden was still putting up barriers, and an instinctive understanding that if he had succumbed and shared his feelings she would have to admit how much she’d come to care for him. And she didn’t want to care. She was going back to San Francisco, and he would be staying in Morgan Valley, and that was the end of it regardless of how they might feel about each other.

  She pulled into a diagonal parking spot in front of the post office and got out into the deceptively cool sunshine. It took a long time for Morgan Valley to emerge from the cold clasp of the winter months. Spring was short, and often rushed into summer far too quickly for Julia’s liking. She’d never been a fan of the scorching hot days when the creek almost ran dry and finding water for a ranch full of cattle became all-consuming.

  Not that they had many cows right now as her father had sold off most of his breeding stock two years ago and not brought in any youngsters. If Julia had her way, she’d ask Roy, the foreman at Morgan Ranch, to help her round up what remained and get rid of them so her father had more money in the bank. But she didn’t have the authority to do that, and, if her father had his way, she never would.

  Julia stomped up the wooden steps to the raised walkway and went into the post office to check the ranch mailbox. Most of the mail was feed catalogues and Western wear, but there was the occasional letter from a friend or her mother’s family back in Guatemala that would cheer Juan up. She took the pile back to the truck without sorting it through and set it on the floor on the passenger side where she wouldn’t forget it.

  After checking out the various shops on the way, she went into Yvonne’s and saw Nancy already sitting at a table waving at her.

  “Hey!”

  She walked over and took the seat opposite. “Hey, to you too. What’s up?”

  “Nothing much.” Nancy indicated the third chair. “Beth’s just gone into the bathroom. She’ll be back in a sec.”

  “Cool.”

  Julia had decided to approach Beth Baker about looking after her dad. After consulting with Nancy, who knew everyone in town, she’d decided that a casual meet and greet with Nancy and Beth in Yvonne’s was the best way to go. If she liked Beth, she could always approach her more formally.

  Beth was tall like her brother Ted, who ran the local gas station, and had the same friendly smile and quiet way about her. Julia already knew, courtesy of Nancy, that Beth’s recent past hadn’t been great resulting in her leaving her abusive husband and coming back to Morgantown. She had a teenage son and also gave Wes, her stepson who worked with Kaiden, a home.

  Beth smiled as she spotted Julia. “Hey! How are you?”

  “I’m good,” Julia replied. “I hope you don’t mind me butting in like this.”

  “Not at all.” Beth reclaimed her seat. “It’s nice to see you again. Are you back for good, or are you just visiting?”

  “I’m just here to help my dad with some family stuff and improvements to the ranch house for a couple of weeks.”

  “Mr. Garcia has MS, doesn’t he?” Beth asked.

  “Yes, and he’s had a major flare-up resulting in him needing to use his wheelchair more so we need to adapt the house.”

  “At least it’s all on one level.” Beth nodded. “I hear you’ve got Kaiden Miller on it, so you’re gold.”

  Julia might have snorted because both Nancy and Beth looked inquiringly at her.

  “You’re still pissed with him?” Nancy asked.

  “He is a giant pain in the ass.” Julia crossed her arms over her chest and dared either of the women to contradict her.

  “I’ve always thought he was lovely,” Beth said. “He’s been so good with Wes. We were beginning to think he’d never settle into any kind of routine or work, but Kaiden has been helping with that.”

  “Wes was great when I met him,” Julia said.

  “Which wouldn’t have been the case pre-Kaiden.” Beth grinned. “Wes ran through three jobs before the carpentry apprenticeship opened up. Kaiden was the only guy left in the community college program who was even willing to give him a chance.”

  “That’s really awesome,” Julia agreed. “I can’t say I’ve ever seen Kaiden Miller as a role model.”

  The other two laughed.

  “Nope,” Nancy said. “He was always the class clown, wasn’t he? Maybe karma does exist.”

  Lizzie Taylor came over to the table, her tablet at the ready.

  “Hey, guys, are you eating, or is it just a beverage kind of day?”

  Julia’s avid gaze slid to the array of pastries behind the glass counter. “I think I might just have room for something sweet. How about you two?”

  * * *

  She came away from the coffee shop full of delicious cake and fairly certain that if Beth was interested, and her dad okay about it, she had found the perfect person to help him. She’d heard nothing from work all day, which indicated that both Melanie and Blaine were happy with how things had gone. In fact, it had been fun talking to Nancy and Beth, who had no idea what her kind of lawyer actually did, or any interest in exploiting her contacts.

  As the sun was still shining, she checked in with her dad to make sure either he or the g
uys didn’t need anything, and then went in the general store with her list of groceries. Maureen, Nancy’s mom, who ran the store, was sitting at the checkout playing some kind of game on her phone.

  “Hi, Julia, how’s your dad doing?”

  “He’s doing great, Maureen,” Julia called out, as she picked up a basket and headed into the store at some speed. If she stopped to chat on the way in as well as the way out she would be there all day.

  She’d done the food shopping and had gone into the back where the Western wear and ranch supplies were located, when her cell buzzed. Thinking it might be her father remembering something he’d forgotten, she pulled it out.

  “Hey, Sis.”

  She gripped the phone tightly. “Miguel?”

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  For a moment her brain filled with so many words that the idea of sorting them into coherent sentences seemed impossible. She already knew that if she started off by complaining about how hard he was to get hold of, he’d simply end the call. She settled on the most important thing.

  “Dad’s not been well.”

  “Yeah?”

  His indifferent tone implied that was old news and nothing to do with him.

  “His MS has gotten worse, and he’s having to use his wheelchair to get around most of the time. He isn’t able to get out on the ranch.”

  There was a long silence as Miguel obviously digested that.

  “Are you with him?”

  “Yes, I am at the moment. I’m sorting out the remodel of the house and trying to set up some everyday care for him.”

  “I don’t have any more money to send him.”

  Julia suppressed a sigh. “I didn’t ask you for any. I can handle the bill for the renovations.”

  She waited, but he made no effort to ask what else he could do to help, leaving the burden of the conversation entirely on her. Not for the first time, Julia wondered what had happened to her brother to make him so uninterested in her and his family. He’d changed when their mother had left, and nothing had ever been the same since.

  “Dad would really like to see you, Miguel.”

  The silence was so long this time that she thought he’d cut the connection so she talked into it.

  “He’s worried about the future of the ranch. You know he wants you to be the fifth generation of the family to run it.”

  “I can’t come back.”

  Julia’s patience grew ragged at the edges.

  “Can’t or won’t, Miguel?”

  “Does it matter?” He sighed. “Look, Julia, tell the old man that I don’t want the place, okay?”

  Even though there was no one in the store, Julia straightened her back. “No, you need to come back and tell him yourself.”

  “Why? What difference does it make?”

  “Miguel, you owe him that at least. You know it will break his heart.”

  “I already told him years ago.”

  “And he didn’t believe you.”

  “So, why would he believe me now? Better to leave it as it is and wait for the inevitable. Listen, Sis—”

  “No, you listen to me.” Julia struggled to contain the shake in her voice. “Are you saying you’d rather wait until he’s dead, Miguel? That you’ll only come back when he’s gone, and you can take what’s yours? If that’s your plan, then you should know that there might not be anything worth having if you even bother to turn up for his funeral.”

  He abruptly terminated the connection leaving her staring at the poster on the back wall of the shop of a grinning PBR world champion who looked about twelve years old. She shouldn’t have lost her temper, but his callous disregard for their father had enraged her.

  Yet again, Miguel expected her to pick up the pieces, to make everything right. For the first time in her life she wasn’t sure if she was willing to do it. She knew he’d been through a lot—that his military career in covert ops had hardened him into an even tougher version of the boy who had left home. But hadn’t it instilled a sense of responsibility in him too?

  She put her phone away and walked over to the veritable wall of denim that covered the back wall of the shop. She’d buy herself and her dad some new jeans and shirts. Shopping always calmed her down. Working her way through the sizes would keep her occupied until she regained control of her emotions and could face Maureen, who was almost as good at ferreting out gossip as her daughter Nancy.

  * * *

  “That man.” Rae stormed into the kitchen, her hands on her hips, and her cheeks flushed. “Is impossible.”

  Kaiden, who had been about to leave for the Garcia Ranch, looked inquiringly at her. “What did he do now?”

  Twelve hours into his convalescence and Jeff had already set everyone’s backs up. Daisy had almost been in tears before she’d gone to work, and even Leanne, who had a calm disposition like Danny’s, had almost shouted at him.

  “What’s the current issue?” Kaiden asked.

  “He threatened to throw the bowl of oatmeal at me,” Rae said ominously. “And demanded eggs, bacon, and fried bread.”

  Kaiden frowned. “He doesn’t even eat that stuff anymore.”

  “He says that if he’s going to die from all the mollycoddling, he’s going to go out on a high.”

  “Stay there.” Kaiden set his toolbox on the countertop. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  He walked down the hallway to his dad’s bedroom. The door was open. His father was sitting up in bed, his arms crossed over his chest, and his scowl prominent. Kaiden went in and shut the door.

  “You are behaving like a giant ass.” He pointed at his father. “Knock it off.”

  He braced himself for his father’s fury, but Jeff looked away from him out the window and said nothing. After a stunned moment, Kaiden went and sat by the bed.

  “What’s going on, Dad?”

  “This is the first day in fifty years that I’ve been stuck in bed and not out working the ranch.”

  “You just had surgery. You need a few days to get over it,” Kaiden pointed out. “If you do what Dr. Tio says, and take your meds, you’ll be back out there in no time.”

  Jeff slowly turned back to look at him. “Will I?”

  “That’s what the doctor said. Didn’t you hear him this morning?” Kaiden searched his father’s face. “And what does this have to do with you wanting to stuff your face with eggs and bacon rather than oatmeal, and being rude to Rae?”

  “It’s all part of the same thing, isn’t it?” Jeff looked down at his work-scarred hands. “I’ve never been good with change.”

  “Can’t disagree with you about that,” Kaiden said. “But, this time I think you’re going to have to do what you’re told.”

  “I hate—”

  “—doing what you’re told,” Kaiden finished the sentence with him. “Do you think you could give yourself a break for a few days? Just let us look after you for a change?”

  “Nope.” Jeff shook his head.

  Kaiden fake sighed. “Then, we’ll have to go with option two, tie you to the bed and stick all your food in a blender so you can suck it out of a straw.”

  Jeff ’s scowl returned. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  Kaiden held his gaze. “I will if you continue to disrespect the people who love you and are just trying to do their best for you.”

  For the first time ever, Jeff blinked first. “All right. I’ll apologize. I’ll even eat the damned oatmeal.”

  Kaiden stood up. “Good.” He half turned to the door. “We all know how hard this is for you, Dad. Give us a chance, okay?”

  His father’s brief nod was the best he was going to get, so he went back to the kitchen where his aunt and mother were comparing notes on Jeff ’s insufferable behavior. They both looked up when he entered.

  “Did he get mad at you?” Rae asked.

  “He tried, but I told him to stop disrespecting the people who were trying to help him.”

  “And how did that go?” Leanne pointed at his head.
“I’m surprised you’re not wearing the oatmeal.”

  “He said he’d apologize. Let me know if he doesn’t.” Kaiden picked up his toolbox and hesitated. “I think he’s scared, and he doesn’t know how to deal with it.”

  His mother nodded, her thoughtful gaze fixed on his face. “You might be onto something. He’s never reacted well to being challenged.”

  “That still isn’t any excuse for being mean to everyone. I told him that as well. In fact, I threatened to tie him to the bed and feed him through a straw if he didn’t get his act together.”

  His aunt and mother stared at him in silence for so long that he frowned.

  “What?”

  “You’re a genius,” Rae said in hushed tones. “There we are, all trying to be nice to him, and what does he respond to? Threats.”

  Kaiden held up his hand. “I wouldn’t recommend you guys—”

  Leanne and Rae exchanged a speaking glance.

  “Oh, we won’t be shouting at him, Kaiden, don’t you worry about that.” Rae winked at him. “We’ll just tell him that if he won’t behave we’ll send you in to deal with him.”

  * * *

  Kaiden was still thinking about his conversation with his dad when he left the Garcia Ranch. He’d checked in with Mike and Bernie, taken some more precise measurements for the kitchen cabinets, and pointedly not asked where Julia had gone. He shouldn’t have sent her that text announcing he was coming over. He should’ve known she would do anything to avoid seeing him right now.

  Satisfied that everything was going well, he continued down into town where he had a few things to pick up at the lumberyard and feed store before he returned to work on the old movie theater. He’d offered to stay home and help out, but Evan had decided to step up, and Danny and Adam said they could manage without him.

  He parked in the lot beside the feed store and pictured his dad’s face. Whatever Jeff was saying, he wasn’t coping well with being stuck in bed. He never sat down and he was always working. Kaiden considered that relentless drive anew as he got out of the truck. Could his dad ease off? Was it even possible? But what was the alternative? He pushed himself too hard and had another more serious heart attack?