JENNY
Lucas Cross is back on my ranch, and I want him gone.
He walked away eight years ago without a backward glance—chose a football scholarship over me, over us, and left me to pick up the pieces alone. I rebuilt myself. Became the person holding this ranch together while everyone else fell apart. I don't need him. I don't want him.
Except Dad hired him. So now Lucas is everywhere—those blue eyes watching me, that cocky grin making my blood boil, all that muscle straining against his shirt while he pretends he knows what he's doing. He acts like we're old friends. Like he didn't rip my heart out and stomp on it.
I should ignore him. Focus on my work, my plans to finally leave this place and build something of my own. But every time he gets close, every time his voice drops low and he looks at me like I'm the only thing that matters, I remember exactly why I fell for him in the first place.
I can't do this again. I won't survive losing him twice.
But God, I want to let him try.
JENNY
The ranch is a sight for sore eyes, even if it’s a pretty sore sight itself.
Mary pops out of the doorway just as I click the button to lock my car. Her round face splits into a bright smile at the sight of me, and she slings a rag over her shoulder before trotting down the porch steps.
“You’re back early!” She tugs my duffel bag from my hands, insistent on helping — like always. “Thought you were staying another week?”
“Eh, you know those Cali folk,” I say, with a shrug and an easy grin. “All about deadlines. I decided to wrap it up early and come back home where there are no surfer boys parading as CEOs.”
In reality, I busted my ass to get things over with as quickly as possible. I had to get back before Dad had time to run the ranch into the ground in my absence. Mary’s a little more trustworthy than him in regards to getting things done around here, but her determination doesn’t exactly make up for her lack of experience. She’s gotten a lot better, but she still goes pale at some of things the rest of us have long since been desensitized to.
“Looks like they paid you well,” she says teasingly, nodding toward my car.
It’s brand new off the lot, sleek and shiny, the BMW logo shimmering with a pristine blue and white glow. I’ve wanted a Z3 since I was a kid, and walking into the dealership in California and buying it outright felt so good I can’t help but grin just thinking about it.
“What can I say? They may be annoying, but those hotshot directors pay well when you can fix their finances.” I don’t bother to hide the pride in my voice. “Drove it right off the lot and came right back here. Wanted this to be the first place I parked it for more than a few minutes.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were homesick,” Mary jokes, eyes crinkling at the corners. “That’s a long drive to make without stopping.”
Iwasanxious to get home, but more because I was worried Dad would revert back to his old bone-deep exhaustion without me here to keep things running smoothly. I’m not saying that aloud, though.
“I guess I missed you guys,” I tease back. “But it was nice to get away for a bit.”
A month in California was exactly what I needed after… well, everything.
Things were tumultuous before I left, to say the least. Katie and Wayne had their baby, and we barely had time to celebrate before the news of Al’s death came calling. It wasn’t out of nowhere, exactly — he had aggressive stage four leukemia — but that didn’t mean any of us were prepared. We all thought we had more time. He probably thought he had more time, too.
But one day he was here, and the next he was gone.
I couldn’t stand being on the ranch without him. He was like an uncle to me, especially as I got older. Every passing second made me feel like I was going to crawl out of my skin, which issaying something now that Dad doesn’t fall into arguments over stupid things with me as easily anymore. It’s all just been too much. Big ups and big downs. Al’s passing on top of Wayne’s return, him having a baby — which makes me an aunt — and then Mary entering the picture and saving the ranch, all the chaos of Dad finally getting his act together … it’s just too much. I needed a break from it all.
So I took a minute. A month. Whatever.
It was good for me.
“It’s good to have you back home,” Mary says softly.
The look in her eyes tells me she knows exactly where my mind wandered off to in those few moments of silence, but I’m grateful she doesn’t bring it up. I can only talk about it so many times, and I don’t really want to break down in tears the second I get back home.
“Happy to be here.” And to see the buildings still standing. “Everything go okay while I was gone?”
“I won’t lie and say it was easy, but I think your dad and I make a pretty good team,” she says with a wry grin, blue eyes sparkling with affection. “He hired someone to pick up some of the slack. I don’t think he’s quite taking over Al’s position, but… extra hands help.”
I flinch ever so slightly at the thought of anyone else being Dad’s right hand man. It feels wrong to even consider someone else in that position, even though I know it needs to be filled eventually.
