Chapter 2
Kit Beaumont glanced out at the scenery speeding by as she spoke on the phone with her best friend, Daisy. It was closing in on eight in the morning, the cloudless sky bright and as blue as blue could be. The heat and dryness were instantly recognizable in the sparse vegetation.
“I’ve been to Arizona before.” Kit guided the car into the right lane of the Superstition Freeway as desert scrub and cacti gave way to more scrub and cacti. “I know I’ll like it here.”
“Just wait ‘til you hit triple digits in the teens. L.A. doesn’t get close to 117 degrees in the summer.” Daisy sounded exasperated as her voice came over the speakers in the Lexus SUV. It was great having an old friend to keep her company on the trip of a lifetime. “You’re going to miss the 70-degree weather.”
The sign showed the turnoff to King Creek coming up in one mile. “I’m tough.” Kit had been through far worse than a little heat and had survived.
“Not to mention stubborn.” Daisy went on, “Being a chef in a five-star boutique hotel is a big difference from being a cook at a one-star ranch.”
Kit laughed. “It could be a five-star ranch for all I know.”
“It’s probably more like a zero-star.” Daisy was smiling. Kit could tell from the laughter in her best friend’s voice on the other end of the line. Even in the desert it came through like Daisy was sitting right next to her in the car.
“I don’t think there’s such a thing as a zero-star anything.” Kit followed the direction her GPS pointed her in and guided her SUV from the freeway and onto the off-ramp. “If it’s below one, it’s too crappy to rate.”
“You never did tell me why on earth you’d want to go work on a smelly, dusty, place in the middle of nowhere.” Kit could imagine Daisy shaking her head at the idea.
Daisy had done just that when she first found out that Kit was interested in leaving her entire life behind and taking a pay cut to go work at a ranch in the middle of the desert. Daisy thought it was crazy, but she helped Kit pack her things and move out here anyway.
Thinking about the reason why she wanted to be in the country usually made Kit’s stomach sink. At this moment, however, she found excitement building inside.
“My grandparents had a farm in northern California before they passed away. Some of my best memories are from days we spent in the country. It will be like going back to my roots.” She missed the time she had spent on the farm and missed her grandparents so very much.
She needed to return to that simplicity in life.
Surprise was clear in Daisy’s tone. “You grew up on a farm? Why haven’t you told me about that one important detail?”
“It’s been hard for me to talk about.” A wave of sadness washed over Kit as she took the exit. “My sister and I spent summers on the farm during our childhood with Grandpa Will and Grandma Martha. They were our paternal grandparents.”
She glanced in her rearview mirror as she pulled onto Kings Ranch Road and headed north. “I loved the farm and I’ve wanted to go back for so long. This gives me the opportunity to do that.”
“I understand.” Daisy’s voice softened. “I’m going to miss you.”
Kit swallowed past the lump that lodged in her throat. Daisy had been her closest friend since moving from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It wasn’t going to be easy not seeing her on a regular basis.
“We’re only going to be 350 miles or so apart.” Kit tried to make her voice sound perky, even though she didn’t feel that way. “That’s five or six hours.” Or so.
“I’m going to miss our lunch, movie, hairstyle, and shopping dates,” Daisy said. “Who am I going to drag to Neiman Marcus when I need a new pair of shoes?”
Kit laughed.
“If it wasn’t for that cheating bastard, you’d still be here,” Daisy went on. “Did I ever say how much I hate that S.O.B.?”
Kit gripped the steering wheel tighter, until her hands ached. “I needed a change anyway, and I want to see if I still fit in the boonies.” Or the boonies fit in me.
She slowed as she neared a four-way intersection. Her heart slowed too, as Daisy’s words brought thoughts of her ex-boyfriend, Derrick, to the forefront of her mind, where she didn’t want him at all.
She came to a stop at the sign before continuing. There was no other traffic. I haven’t seen another car in ages.
It struck her how different this was from the world she lived in before. It brought back some fond memories of a simpler life. Where she didn’t have to fight against city traffic on a day to day basis.
This place must be out in the middle of nowhere.
Perfect.
Truth was she would have been happy to stay in L.A. with the great future she’d imagined with Derrick, if he’d been who she’d thought he was. Unfortunately, that was all it was, her imagination painting the idyllic picture of a home with someone she’d been so certain she was desperately in love with.
In her heart she knew that was the problem. She’d been desperate for love. At thirty-three, it was far past time to break the pattern.
Not going to happen again.
Even as she went to culinary school, she always dreamed of opening her own restaurant in a small town. When she met Derrick, wanting true love, she’d changed. Her life goals changed too, in order to fit into the L.A. lifestyle with him. She didn’t realize how much she would regret that.
Taking this job at the ranch in Arizona was her chance to clear her head and reset back to what her goals were before him. She planned to work at the ranch and save up money before deciding where to go and open her restaurant.
Kit barely slowed as she checked all directions before continuing on down the road.
“Who knows.” Daisy spoke in a brighter tone. “Maybe Mr. Big Time Cowboy Rancher will turn out to be sexy. Come to think of it, cowboys are pretty hot. I bet your boss will be, too.”
Kit rolled her eyes. “Cowboys are hot, but he’s probably twenty years older than me. As sexy as cowboys are, they do have an expiration date.”
“Sam Elliott is still hot,” Daisy said in a teasing voice.
“Point taken.” Kit laughed.
Maybe it would be nice to have someone easy on the eyes.
Got to be better than what I had.
Daisy spoke to someone in her office, her words slightly muffled, then moved the phone to her mouth again. “I’m sorry, Kit. I’ve got to get back to work. Call me when you get settled in. Promise?”
“Promise.” Kit’s throat and eyes ached. She was going to miss Daisy and her life in L.A. Had she made the right decision? Or had she been too reactive?
She gritted her teeth. She’d made the decision and she was going through with it. If things didn’t go well, she could always give notice and return to L.A. Except for the fact that she was stubborn and hated to admit she was wrong.
“Call me,” Daisy said again. “Soon.”
“Count on it.” Kit pressed the disconnect button on the steering wheel and ended the call.
She sighed and pulled her full focus back to the road. Not that there was much to pay attention to. Light traffic would be an overstatement. One car now shared the road with her.
The view outside the SUV’s windows gave way to greener brush, grass, and wildflowers crowding the sides of the road. The majestic Superstition Mountains soared toward the sky to her right, its peaks and valleys green with new growth, while the bluff was a stark white contrast against the green. A collection of wildflowers sprouted alongside the road, vivid against the more muted greens.
It was the first week of April and spring was in full swing in what locals referred to as the Valley—the Phoenix metro area. Even though Kit hadn’t been raised in the desert, she felt a certain affinity for the wildness of the land.
The dry ground and sturdy trees meant to withstand the harsh conditions managed to survive when there wasn’t much water to go around. Like her—she’d survived, and she would continue to.
The difference in the scenery made her think of how different it was at home.
Home.
She didn’t have a home anymore thanks to Derrick. She had no place to come home to at night to cuddle up with someone she loved, someone who was there for her in her life and in her heart and soul. Just like when her father died, she had no home.
All she had after she left Derrick was a cold barren apartment. An apartment that had lost everything that made it home.
She knew that everyone thought she was crazy for this.
It doesn’t matter.
What mattered was that she had left it all behind to get a fresh start. That she had made the move to change her life for the better and leave behind the pain that she had been feeling. A lot of people would tell her that she was running away, but it didn’t feel that way. She was freer than ever.
Still that little inkling of doubt stuck in the back of her mind. What if this was a mistake?
You can always go back if it doesn’t work.
It brought her some comfort knowing she could drag herself back from this if it turned out to be a bad decision.
She really hoped that it wouldn’t end up being a mistake.
Kit clenched her teeth as her thoughts jumped back to Derrick and how he had left her. The pain of his betrayal had triggered memories and feelings of the past all the way back to her father’s death. She had never been able to forgive her father for leaving her mother, sister, and herself with nothing when he died.
They’d lost everything. Every damned penny, the house, and the cars, too.
She probably shouldn’t feel the way she did, but she couldn’t get herself to forgive him. Of course, her father hadn’t planned on dying in the printing-press accident. But he should have been prepared. Should have known they would be left with nothing if he died.
Nothing.
The hypocrisy of her own abandonment slapped Kit. After what she had done, who was she to judge about abandoning someone?
Still, her entire body tensed. She’d had relationships over the years, and they’d all gone bad. She’d thought Derrick was different, that she could trust him and believe in him.
Kit slammed the heel of her palm on the steering wheel and an ache shot through her hand. How could I have trusted him? She had shared everything with Derrick, every single secret she’d kept before meeting him.
When she caught him having an affair, he had blamed her, saying that he wouldn’t have strayed if she could have children. It was bull, but the pain had been sharp and searing, all the way to her gut. A part of her couldn’t help but feel inadequate.
The biggest blow came soon after—the woman he’d been screwing was pregnant with his child.
Pregnant.
Dear God.
She couldn’t believe that something like that could happen outside of a daytime soap opera. It still didn’t seem real.
Kit had to remind herself every time she thought of it. It was real. He was expecting a child with that woman.
And Kit couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
The pavement gave way to a dirt road with bumps and potholes, causing the SUV to jostle in a few places. If she hadn’t been driving, Kit would have closed her eyes and cried, even though she shouldn’t waste one single tear or thought on that sonofabitch.
Likely, she would never get married, because she couldn’t give a man what he wanted. A family. Children of his own. It was a lonely truth that felt like it was teasing her.
She swallowed and straightened in her seat, still gripping the steering wheel so tightly she wondered if she could break it if she tried. She reached for the stereo knob and turned up the music.
OneRepublic’s latest hit blasted through the speakers. Thankfully, the loud music helped drown out her thoughts.
Because the thoughts hadn’t been easy to drown out since she had found out about Derrick. She knew why he felt the way he did, but it didn’t make what he had done to her right. She deserved better than that. Hell, even the worst person on earth deserved better than what had happened.
She focused on the scenery again and the music started to calm her down. She unclenched the steering wheel as the words that spoke to her soul filled the cabin.
The naturally sparse vegetation of the Arizona desert stretched out for what seemed like miles of brown earth.
Little more than patches of dry yellow grass here and there dotted the hard-packed dry earth. Mostly scraggly bushes and cacti made bumps across the earth. They were all smooth earth tones, lacking the brightness of more traditional landscape scenes.
The GPS told her she had almost reached the ranch. She had made good time and would actually get there early. She wasn’t due in until this evening, where she’d have a chance to get settled and start her new job come morning.
A good impression on a new life.