Undone (Poplar Springs #1)
1. Josh
ONE
JOSH
O rdinarily, watching the sunrise over the Poplar mountains gave me a sense of calmness. I’d stare out over that stunning vista, filled with the knowledge that there was great beauty in the world and sometimes, we just needed to stop and look.
Today was not that day. In fact, it hadn’t been that day for more days than I cared to count.
“Well, we gotta make do, simple as that,” I said to Dustin Whitlock, my foreman. “No way we can replace it with all of the upgrades we need to do around here, so repair is the name of the game.”
We were headed back from our ride out to the far pasture to check on the stranded and broken-down tractor, the latest in a series of unexpected expenses that were giving me nonstop headaches.
Both my granddad and dad had taught me that you didn’t throw anything away until you’d gotten all of its use out of it, which meant we probably had sufficient parts to fix the tractor. Again.
“I’ll do my best,” Dustin responded with a nod. “Might need to pick up a few things from Old Man Martin’s. ”
“That’s fine. Just put it on the ranch account.
” Owen Martin had run the local feed and equipment store since he’d taken it over from his father almost fifty years ago.
He’d always been a good friend to my family—all the families around here, really—and allowed us to purchase items under his version of a “buy now, pay later” plan when times were tough.
We both turned at the sound of tires crunching up the long dirt driveway that led to Lost Valley Ranch’s main house.
“Expecting someone, boss?” Dustin asked.
“Nope.”
I frowned and rubbed my hand down the coppery scruff along my jawline.
We weren’t due any visitors that I knew of, and I wasn’t in the mood to entertain whoever was zipping closer, a little too fast for my liking.
I spotted someone in sunglasses singing along to the radio.
A very pretty, very familiar someone, unmistakable even in the two point five seconds I had to take her in as she sped by.
“ Damn it .”
Dustin glanced at me. “Something wrong?”
“Maybe. Probably ,” I muttered. “C’mon, we need to put these horses up.”
We urged them into gallops and followed behind the cloud of kicked up dust to the driveway in front of the house.
“You mind taking care of Indigo for me?” I asked Dustin as he slid off his horse. “I need to deal with…that.”
We both glanced over at the Jeep.
“Well, huh,” Dustin said as he leaned over and took the reins from me. “I guess you do. ”
The appreciation in Dustin’s voice was obvious, and I couldn’t blame him.
The petite, dark-haired woman grabbing bags from the back of the Jeep was immediately appealing even at a distance.
Her jeans fit her just right, and every time she leaned forward, we were granted a view of her ample assets down the front of her white T-shirt.
I walked over and took advantage of the fact that she was completely oblivious to my presence to check her out from head to toe.
Yup, she was as gorgeous as I remembered.
Her dark brown hair was shorter now, but she still kept it tucked behind her ears the way she used to.
I remembered her saying she didn’t like the way it got in her eyes when she was trying to work.
And for someone who spent most of her time glued to a computer, she sure had a phenomenal body.
The question was, why was Zoe Wilson here now?
“Hey, Zo,” I called to her, reverting to my old nickname for her instinctively.
She jumped, letting out a little shriek. Something else that hadn’t changed about my old girlfriend; she got so in her head that she tuned out the world around her.
“Josh! You scared me.” She placed a hand on her chest and fluttered her fingers as if it would lower her elevated heart rate. “Hi.”
When she met my gaze, I was once again knocked sideways by how striking she was.
Her skin was still porcelain pale, probably because she was part-vampire, part-night owl.
Even though I usually preferred longer hair on women, Zoe’s shorter cut suited her, and made her sharp cheekbones even more prominent.
I refrained from letting my gaze drift downward because I wanted to be a gentleman, plus I’d already clocked the curves.
It had been ages since we’d seen each other, and I shouldn’t have felt the little bubble of excitement when she said my name, but Zoe had always had that effect on me .
“I wasn’t expecting you until next month,” I said, trying not to sound irritated even though I was, a little. I pushed my hat farther back on my head and leaned up against the side of her black Jeep.
“No, that’s when I’m supposed to leave,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone, turning back to continue unloading her bags.
“Shannon said it was fine for me to stay here for the next month to clear my head and help you guys update the ranch’s website.
Or maybe a bit longer depending on… well, everything. ”
“A month or longer? I thought you were only supposed to be here for a weekend?”
Zoe gestured to her bags. “I’d say I overpacked if I’m only here for the weekend.” She snorted in amusement when she realized I was about to agree with her. “You don’t mind, do you, Josh?”
It was a loaded question and we both knew it.
On the face of it, Zoe was simply here because she needed a temporary place to stay, and my sister had offered.
But I could have sworn Shannon had told me she would be here next month.
Had I gotten it backward, with her coming this weekend and staying for a month?
I should have known better than to say yes to anything Shannon asked me when I was distracted—she knew I was only half listening and used it to her advantage.
She’d been doing that a lot more lately and I refused to acknowledge that most days, I only half listened to her to begin with.
Unless it directly pertained to the current fires I needed to put out around the ranch, I didn’t pay that much attention to anything or anyone.
So apparently, I would be housing my former girlfriend for an entire month.
And sure, she was my sister’s best friend and had come at Shannon’s invite—but still.
Peel back the layers and we both knew there was some unresolved…
stuff between us. Not only was I now fuming at my sister for inviting her, I wasn’t happy about the idea of having to see Zoe every day .
Zoe Wilson was part of my past that I had worked hard to move on from, and it didn’t feel good to have it shoved back in my face.
I chose to ignore the subtext as well as the fact that her showing up unexpectedly on what was shaping up to be a crappy day was the last thing I wanted.
I didn’t like surprises, especially ones that put my still-adorable ex under the same roof as me.
I had enough on my plate to worry about, like the entire future of the damn ranch, and I simmered at Shannon for putting me in this situation.
“Yeah, it’s…it’s fine,” I finally managed to say.
But it wasn’t.
I was so up in my head that I didn’t notice petite Zoe struggling with a duffel bag that looked as big as she was. She tugged it from the back of her Jeep, and it fell to the ground with a thud that finally caught my attention.
“Here, let me get that for you,” I said, hustling over to her.
Zoe gave me a grateful smile. “Thank you. Shannon texted me that she’s doing something horsey and would help me get set up in my room when she was finished, but I figured I might as well get started.”
“Did she tell you which room she’s putting you in?”
“Yeah, she said something about the yellow room?” Zoe pulled an overflowing backpack onto her shoulder with a grunt, staggering as she adjusted to the weight.
The different colored rooms had started with my grandmother.
When she’d married my granddad and moved into the family ranch, Pop-Pop had given her some money to decorate the house as she saw fit.
I don’t think he’d expected her to use quite so much color in her decorating scheme, but Gran had loved vibrant shades, and most of the budget had gone toward making each bedroom vivid and distinct.
We’d all grown up referring to the different rooms by their paint color.
The yellow room had once been Gran’s sewing room and some of her earliest quilts were on display in there.
The bright sunshiney room was perfect for Zoe.
I nodded as I hefted the duffel bag onto my shoulder.
The room also happened to be at the opposite end of the house to me.
Good. I didn’t have time for distractions, and that way I could pretend that she wasn’t here.
Lord knew I had plenty to keep me busy and keep my mind off of her.
In addition to the everyday chores, and the growing list of needed repairs, the time that I spent wrestling with the accounting books, trying to find a way to keep our heads above water meant that I was occupied from sun up until I crashed into bed for the night.
“Well, come on let’s go,” I said, throwing an arm out toward the house. “I’d lead the way, but I’m sure you know where you’re headed.”
Zoe grinned at me as she walked by, that adorable, crinkly nose thing she used to do back in the day, and I ignored the flicker of warmth in my chest. I wasn’t happy that Zoe was here but I suspected I’d have a hard time convincing my heart of that.