Where Her Heart Finds Home (The Montgomery Ranch #1)

Chapter One

Mikayla

When I started college, I had all these dreams of what it would mean for my future. I would get my degree in biology, go to medical school and become a surgeon. But of course, life never goes as planned, and mine is no exception.

I finished my last year of college with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

That isn’t the bad part; in fact, I’m proud of myself for finishing!

What sucked balls was my final year of school…

it was… well, to be totally honest, it was the worst year of my life.

I’m not being dramatic. Well, maybe I am. But it was horrible.

My dad got sick during the summer before my second year of college.

Pancreatic cancer. The cancer that puts all cancers to shame.

The oncologist gave my dad six months. But Phil Masterson was a fighter.

My dad fought for every single day he had, and he did the most incredible thing because he gave me the best gift of all.

More time with him. He fought until his body wouldn’t let him fight anymore, and the week after I graduated, he succumbed to the disease.

Soon after my father was diagnosed, my mother began to change. She began going out, dressing differently, coming home drunk. And I’m pretty sure she was cheating on my father. I have no proof, but all signs point in that direction.

My older brother, Jack, said I was being too hard on her, that with Dad sick, she was having a hard time coping. But he didn’t live with us, and he didn’t see what I saw. My mom didn’t want to be a mother anymore. Or a wife, for that matter.

I drove Dad to his appointments; I stayed with him during his chemotherapy sessions, and he helped me study. I somehow managed to get mostly As through school, even with all my stresses and worries.

“Don’t hate her,” my father said during one of his sessions. I handed him a popsicle before sitting and opening my anatomy textbook.

“I don’t hate her,” I said in frustration.

“Then what do you feel?” He looked so frail, so tired, yet he kept coming to his sessions, never wavering from his treatment plan. His head tilted to the side as he regarded me, his brows furrowed.

I sighed and closed the book and looked at him. “I’m angry,” I said. “I don’t know who that woman is, but she isn’t my mom.”

“She’s never been able to handle difficult situations. I knew that when I married her,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of time left, and I just want the two of you to get along when I’m gone.”

“I’ll try,” I said, shrugging my shoulders in resignation.

“That’s all I can ask,” he replied, squeezing my hand. “Now, let’s get you an A on your next final.”

Things did not get better, but for my dad, I kept my thoughts and feelings to myself. I don’t know if that was the right thing to do, but I wanted my father’s last months, weeks, days—to be filled with positivity. So, I put a smile on my face and pretended everything was okay.

Things with my boyfriend weren’t faring much better either.

Cody and I had only been seeing each other for four months when my dad got sick.

He was in school for computer science, but by the end of our third year, he had dropped out.

Cody was lost, and I didn’t have it in me to end things when he was so down.

Raquel, my best friend, was my safe space during all this strife. With us both in different schools, we did our best to stay connected. And when I couldn’t visit her because of my dad’s treatment, he bought her a plane ticket to stay with us.

Raquel saw firsthand what my mom was doing. So, when Jack tried to defend her again, it was my best friend who yelled at him.

My mom changed, and that was just the reality of it. Or maybe she had always been this way, and my dad had been a buffer? I don’t even know.

What I do know is that after he passed away, she wasted no time in grieving his loss.

Since the beginning of summer, she has been going out…

and, more troubling—she comes home with different guys, and it’s just—gross and, frankly, not safe.

The men she brings home are so sleazy. Some of them are my age!

But today, well, let’s just say, today she gets the Award for Most Fucked-Up Mother of the Year.

“What in the everlasting fuck?” I yell, walking into the living room of my house. I stop short and drop all my shit on the ground as my brain processes what my eyes see.

“Micky!” my mother yells as she tries to cover herself.

I blink and blink and blink, but I can’t unsee what I’m seeing!

My boyfriend Cody is naked… on the sofa, behind my mother… who is also naked. They are both naked in the living room. My mother and my boyfriend! My mother is fucking my boyfriend!

It’s like the Beetlejuice sign in the movie… all my brain can see is naked… naked… naked flashing in neon red lights.

“It’s not what it looks like!” Cody stammers, pulling up his pants.

I scoff. Did he really just say that? I mean, come on! That’s like the worst, most cliché thing he could say.

“Oh, so your dick accidentally slid into my mother’s vagina?!” I yell, pointing at his unzipped pants.

My heart is pounding. I’m mortified, obviously. No one expects to walk in on his or her mother having sex. I also never expected to find my mother fucking my boyfriend.

Cody just stands there, his face crestfallen. He wipes his hands over his face and looks like he’s about to cry.

Why does he look so devastated? I’m the one who was cheated on! I should be the one who is devastated. He was fucking my mother! We haven’t even had sex since my dad died! And now… I’m just disgusted.

Things between us had deteriorated over the last year.

I was focused on my dad and school. With my mom MIA, all Dad had in the end was me.

I should have just broken up with Cody. I’m not in love with him, and I am never going to be.

But then he dropped out of school and it just…

he would say things like, “I’m so lucky to have you in my life,” and “I don’t know what I’d do without you.

” How do you dump a guy who says those things to you and seems so lost?

I would have felt like the worst person in the world.

I never in a million years would have imagined this! This—I mean… I never even suspected he was cheating on me… little did I know he was fucking my mother!

“Micky, let’s be adults about this,” my mother says as though all of a sudden, she’s a normal adult.

“Are you kidding me right now?” I look at her with my face all scrunched up. I can’t even meet her gaze right now. “You literally had a guy over here last night! And now you’re fucking my boyfriend on the sofa I sit on every day?” I’m mortified, and yes, I’m yelling. I can’t help it.

I’m gonna vomit. I want to puke! My stomach is churning, and I feel sick. I can’t be here! I can’t.

My eyes dart to Cody, but he just averts his gaze from me. His cheeks burn crimson, and he combs his fingers through his blonde locks.

I look back at my mother and cringe when she winks at Cody.

Yeah, I want to vomit. Fiery heat grows inside me as my mother pulls on her clothing.

She looks over at me and shakes her head, rolling her eyes at me.

She’s looking at me like I’m somehow being immature about this, that somehow, I’m being unreasonable.

Tears sting my eyes as I run to my room.

I fling open my closet doors and grab my duffel bag.

I don’t fold anything. I’m not even paying attention to what I’m grabbing.

I just yank whatever I can off my hangers, shoving them into the bag.

I pull open my drawers, taking handfuls of underwear and bras.

I just take whatever I touch until the bag is full.

I hoist it over my shoulder and run to my bathroom, throwing everything into my toiletry bag.

I can’t be here anymore! I can’t live in this house and be near this person! I just can’t pretend this behavior is normal. I’m just done!

If my dad were alive, what would he think? Would he be mad at me or Mom? Would he understand?

“Micky!” Cody yells as I walk out of my bedroom, my arms full of shit.

I can’t even look at him. I can’t believe he’s talking to me. Cody reaches for my hand, but I jerk it away. He drops his arm in resignation and frowns.

“I’m so sorry,” he says, his face red. “I…”

I hold up my hand and just dart past him with my bag slung over my shoulder.

“Where are you going?” my mother asks. My brow furrows in confusion at the sound of worry in her tone.

“Away.” I walk to the front door.

“Are you going to come back to cook dinner?”

I stop, unable to believe what she literally just asked me. I turn around and look at her, my brow furrowed. My head is pounding so hard I’m worried I may actually collapse!

“Are you insane?” I ask incredulously.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic? It’s not like you were married!”

Something breaks inside my head. I drop the duffel and turn to her. “You’re sick! Sick! I don’t even know who you are! What kind of woman fucks her daughter’s boyfriend! I don’t know what is going on with you, but this…” I shake my hand between all of us, “this is fucked up. And I’m done.”

My mother rolls her eyes at me again. Then, I turn my gaze to Cody. “How long has this been going on?”

“I… no! I came here to talk to you.” He walks toward me.

I scoff and pick up my bags. “And you thought fucking my mother would get me in the mood?” He opens his mouth to speak, but I hold up my hand. “I’m done. We are done.”

“Micky!” my mom yells as I walk to the door.

But this time I don’t stop. I don’t respond. I just walk to my car, throw my bags into my trunk and drive away.