Chapter 28 #2
She'd prepared herself for a conversation about lawyers, appraisals, and inheritances.
Not that.
“I meant what I said last night.” Her voice caught, and she cleared her throat. “I'd rather have a brother who isn't a jerk like Troy than anything else. I don't have any family anymore. I never realized how lonely that could be until my mom passed away.
“So... yes. I'd like to stay here and get to know you and your family better. I'd love to call your daughters—and your son once he's born—my nieces and nephew.” She offered him a tentative smile. “If that's okay with you.”
He held her gaze for several long seconds before a slow smile spread across his face. “I was hoping you'd say that.”
The words landed somewhere deep inside her, loosening another knot she'd carried since arriving in Hazard Falls.
“If staying is what you want,” he continued, “I'd like that too.”
She blinked. “You would?”
He nodded. “I grew up an only child. Even though there were plenty of people working on the ranch, it wasn't the same as having a sibling. I won’t turn away the chance to have a sister now.”
Leaning forward, he crossed his arms on the tabletop. “And if you're going to be my sister, you deserve the same opportunity Dad gave me. He taught me the ranch from the ground up. Every part of running it.” A faint smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “Seems only fair you experience that too.”
She stared at him, certain she'd misunderstood. “You'd teach me?”
“Yep.”
“But—but I've never worked on a ranch. Hell, I never even stepped foot on one before I came here.” A nervous laugh escaped before she could stop it. “I've waited tables. Worked retail. That's about the extent of my qualifications.”
“So?”
“So...” She spread her hands helplessly. “None of that exactly screams someone who belongs on a ranch.”
“No, it doesn’t.” He grinned. “But everybody's got to start somewhere, right?”
She searched his face for any sign that he was joking.
There wasn't one.
“Shylo, if you decide this is where you want to be, I'll teach you everything you need to know about running a ranch. Tucker will, too, once he tones down his alpha-protection mode.” His grin widened.
“Don't take that personally. If it makes you feel any better, he wasn't thrilled when Paige showed up to be our nanny either. Big changes take him a little while to adjust to.”
The corners of her mouth twitched. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Anyway, ranching's a lot more than cattle and horses.
There's breeding, equipment, payroll, finances...
a little bit of everything. If the business side turns out to be more your thing, the office staff can teach you that.
And if, someday, you decide you want to help run the ranch, we'll figure out where you fit best.”
He took another sip of coffee before continuing. “Whether you stay or leave, your share of the ranch is yours. If you'd rather build a life somewhere else, I'll buy you out at a fair price. But if you want to stay...” He smiled. “...there'll always be a place for you here.”
She was stunned.
She'd come to Kansas expecting to fight for an inheritance.
But Shane was offering her something far more valuable.
Relief washed over her so completely that she almost laughed from the sheer absurdity of it. Twenty-four hours ago, she'd been rehearsing arguments about wills and inheritance laws. Now they were discussing her future on a ranch she'd never expected to set foot on.
“You're going to regret this,” she teased.
“I doubt it.”
“You've clearly forgotten I've never set foot on a ranch before last week.”
He laughed. “True.”
“So how'd your dad teach you?”
“Our dad...” He paused and met her gaze head-on for a beat before continuing.
“...started putting me to work before I was old enough to reach half the latches around the place.” He smiled at the memory.
“He always found something I could do. Feed the chickens. Gather eggs. Sweep the barn. Hold a gate. As I got older, the jobs got bigger and dirtier—like roping calves and mucking out stalls.”
“What's that? Mucking.”
“Shoveling horse shit.”
“Ew,” she said with a grimace.
He chuckled. “You get used to it, but I agree—riding horses is a lot more fun than cleaning up after them.”
A genuine laugh escaped her for the first time all day.
As he watched her, a thoughtful expression spread across Shane’s face. “Huh. I see it now.”
She cocked her head to the side. “See what?”
“Tuck was right.” He held her gaze. “We both have Dad's smile.”
She hadn't expected those words to matter so much. Yet they did.
For years, she wondered if she'd inherited anything at all from the man she'd never met. Now, for the first time, someone who had actually known Peter was giving her a memory of him.
Not about the way he looked or his personality.
About the way he smiled.
Did it still hurt that she'd grown up without knowing her father?
Of course.
But she couldn't change the past. What she had now was the chance to build a future with the brother she'd only just found.
The warmth filling her chest lasted only a moment before another thought forced its way to the surface.
Troy.
Her smile faded.
She'd come dangerously close to forgetting why she'd been so frightened the day before. Shane had every right to know Troy was in Hazard Falls... and why he'd come.