He, Craig, and Johnny grew up together. The two men had been a couple since they graduated high school, and had given him the courage to come out to his father. When both Craig’s and Johnny’s parents turned their backs on them, Shea’s father had given them jobs and a place to live without question.
A fresh wave of grief hit him square in the chest at his loss. “Dammit, Daddy.” He pounded the steering wheel. “Why you? It ain’t fair.”
“Don’t be wishin’ ill on others, now.”Shea could hear his father’s quiet rebuke as if he sat next to him in the truck.“Concentrate on yourself and bein’ the best you can be.”
He parked in front of the main house, in the paved area they’d put in once they decided to convert Forget Me Not into a dude ranch. Then he hotfooted it up the steps and let himself in. His stomach let out a growl, and he hoped Aunt Patty had a big breakfast waiting. Sniffing the air with appreciation, he crossed the wide-open space of the rustic front room toward the rear of the house. He pushed open the kitchen door, and spying Patty standing in front of her huge professional stove, he went over, slipped his arms around the only mother figure he’d ever known, and kissed her soft cheek.
“Mornin’, gorgeous.”
“Don’t think that’s gonna butter me up none, Shea Montgomery.” She turned around and pressed her lips together, but not before Shea caught them twitching upward. Sky-blue eyes that matched his own sparkled as she pointed to the table. “It’s a good thing there happens to be extra. Go on and sit yourself down.” She flicked him with her dish towel.
When his mother died giving birth to him, Patty had put aside her own grief at her sister’s death and moved in to help his lost and bewildered father raise him. And even when she married his father seven years later, she’d never let Shea call her Momma, so she’d always been his Aunt Patty. Shea couldn’t have been happier for them and loved her more than anything in the world.
“Here you go,” she said, placing a plate heaped high with fluffy pancakes, crispy turkey bacon—gotta watch the fat if he wanted his abs to keep making him money—and scrambled egg whites.
Happier than a pig sleeping in the sunshine, Shea dug into his food. Patty set a steaming cup of coffee in front of him and sat across the table with her mug of lavender tea.
“Thank you, my love.”
“Don’t thank me just yet. Tell me, where’d you find yourself this morning when you woke up?”
Crap.
A hundred different excuses popped into his head, but Patty would see right through his bullshit. He never could fool her. Whether he was skipping school or trying to figure out a way to hide a bad grade on his report card, somehow she always knew. Yet here he was, thirty years old, and he still hadn’t learned his lesson. He gave her a half smile before opening his mouth—
“You know I can see right through whatever you’re cookin’ up in that head of yours. That Shea Montgomery smile fulla charm might work for the fellas up there in Dallas with them underwear pictures they take of you, but it don’t hold no water down here, ’specially with me.”
Chastened, Shea cast his eyes to the big old farm table and propped his chin in his hands. “I, uh, had a little too much to drink with Toby and spent the night in my truck.”
He darted a glance up and saw her shaking her head. “Aw, honey, what didya go do somethin’ so foolish for?”
“Just stupid, I guess.”
She covered his hand with hers. “No, more like lonely and sad. You gotta stop turnin’ to Toby when things get tough. You’ve been taking care of the ranch every day, all day, then spending every other minute at your daddy’s side. And loneliness makes a person do things they normally wouldn’t do.” Not one to let him wallow in self-pity, she smacked him lightly. “Stupid things. Toby isn’t the right man for you. And it’s not fair to give him hope that you’re gonna get back with him.”
“He don’t take no for an answer too well.”
“Well, can you blame him? Your kind of no—leadin’ him on when you have too much drink inside you—isn’t really a no, is it? That’s not bein’ fair to him or yourself. You’re not the type to play with someone’s heart.”
“I just wasn’t countin’ on Daddy dying,” he whispered. The food, so tasty a moment earlier, now sat like lead in his gut. “I miss him so much. I planned on leaving, but he got sick, and now…I feel so darn guilty. I know I need to stay and make the ranch work—there’s nobody else, and it’s what Daddy woulda wanted—but it don’t stop me from still wanting to go. And it hurts.”
“Your daddy and me only wanted you to be happy.” Patty’s eyes filled with tears. “You gotta do what’s best and right for your heart. Now,” she said, turning away, but not before he caught her wiping at the wetness. “Finish that darn breakfast. We got folks comin’ in later on, and I got to prepare. It’s some corporate group from New York City, and you know they’re gonna be picky.”
He tucked into the pancakes. Corporate contracts were very different from families coming to the ranch or the ladies’ weekends that were becoming more popular. The family-oriented ones tended to be laid-back and didn’t care to be on so much of a schedule, which he and the rest of the ranch liked. Plus they tended to be friendlier people overall and treated them less like the hired help.
Corporate retreats, on the other hand, were highly regimented, with meals and activities on a strict schedule. The employees barely recognized the staff at the ranch beyond an impersonal hello or a thank-you, if they even said that much. Patty loved the families because they often liked to spend time with the animals or relaxing in the great room or on the porch, and she’d get to know them, whereas the employees were more apt to stay in their rooms, calling and requesting things the ranch often didn’t have accessible.
“When’re they scheduled to arrive?” He wiped his mouth and brought his plate to the sink. “We got shearing today, and then there’s that auction.”
“Not until later on, near dinnertime. Plenty of time for you to rest up and get rid of them bags under your eyes.” Patty placed her hands on his shoulders and tipped her chin up to give him a straight-eyed stare. “Don’t be spendin’ your life drinkin’ away your problems. Your daddy knew one day you’d sell the place and leave. You don’t gotta worry about us. Beau made sure everyone would be taken care of.”
The heavy burden on his shoulders and in his chest lifted somewhat.
“Thanks, Patty.” He kissed her cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Shea-Shea.”
He smiled at the nickname she’d given him when he was a baby.
