Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
REMINGTON
“ Y our mother wants to retire.” My dad and I are sitting on horses, almost ready to pack it in after a long day of checking calves.
“You’re already supposed to be retired,” I remind him. “That’s why I’m in charge now. Yet, you come to work every day.”
“Hell yes, I do. I get to enjoy the ranch without any of the responsibility for the first time since before you were born. I’m having a hell of a time. Am I in the way?”
I can’t help but laugh at that and shake my head. “Of course not. I don’t know what this place would do without you. So, what does Mom mean, exactly?”
“ She wants to retire,” he says, stressing the she , and I nod slowly. “She’s been taking care of the books for this place since we got married, and she’s damn good at it. But she’d like to pass the torch to someone else.”
“We tried.” I rub my hand over the back of my neck. “We’ve been through several bookkeepers, but they’re never up to Mom’s standards, and we end up letting them go, and Mom goes back to business as usual.”
“I know,” he says with a sigh. “Maybe it’s time we look for another one and see if that one sticks. Joy wants to travel, and you know as well as I do that I could never tell that woman no.”
“She wants to travel?” I stare over at him in surprise. “She hates to fly. She’s always sworn that she wouldn’t get on a tin can with wings.”
“She’s changed her mind.” He shrugs. “Maybe it’s hormonal. How in the hell should I know? Anyway, I wanted to let you know so it’s on your radar.”
Great. One more thing on my already overloaded radar.
“No problem. I’ll see to it. I heard from Ryan the other day.”
Dad’s eyebrow wings up. “And?”
“He’s coming home next week. He was just giving me a heads-up. We’ll want to do a big family dinner, I suppose.”
“Your mother would like that,” he agrees. “You know, you and Ryan need to figure your shit out.”
I smirk and shrug a shoulder.
“I’m serious, Rem. You two may be as different as they come, but he’s your brother.”
“I don’t dislike him.”
Okay, that’s a lie. I do dislike my brother. He’s only a year younger than me, and we were always as close as we could be. Best friends. Planned to live our lives on this ranch, the way our dad and his dad had done before us. Then Ryan got a taste for money. Venture capitals, and all of the shit involved in that that I don’t understand or care about.
But it’s made Ryan a billionaire before he’s thirty-five.
“You don’t like him,” Dad points out.
“We want different things.”
Dad nods thoughtfully. “That’s for sure. When do the kids get out of school?”
I check my watch. “In about an hour. I should get back to the house and clean up before I head to town to pick them up.”
“The school bus has a stop right at the end of our driveway.”
I shake my head as we turn the horses and start back to the barn. “I don’t want my kids sitting on that bus for two hours after school. That’s not fair. I’ll get them.”
“Maybe you need a nanny,” Dad suggests, and I shake my head again.
“I’m doing fine by my kids.”
“You’re doing fantastic,” he corrects me. “Doesn’t mean that you couldn’t use some help. If your mother and I do start to travel, we won’t be here to help as much.”
I’ve thought of that, of course. I admit, I depend on my mom for a lot when it comes to the kids. If she’s gone, I’ll just have to utilize my ranch hands more to cover the work I can’t see to.
And that doesn’t feel right either.
“Something else to think about,” Dad says with a smile.
I feel a little guilty that whenever I go into the coffee shop in the afternoons, on my way to get the kids, my sister is already gone for the day. I hardly ever see her now that she’s moved into town and is doing her own thing. As annoying as she could be when she was little, I’ll admit that I miss the hell out of her.
But I don’t have time to come into town any earlier than this. Hell, I’m lucky if I make it off the ranch in time to stop in for the coffee at all.
Some days, Marion, the owner, is here, and she tries to chat me up. Marion has always been chatty. She’s nice enough, but my mind is usually elsewhere.
Today, the other afternoon woman is here. I don’t know her name. I assume she’s new to town because I only started seeing her around Christmastime.
She’s pretty. Okay, pretty is a fucking understatement. She’s gorgeous, from head to toe. Rich, dark hair is twisted up in a bun at the base of her neck. She’s wearing a green Bitterroot Valley Coffee Co. T-shirt, a black apron, and some jeans that hug her ass in a way that makes my dick twitch, and she’s wielding a mop when I walk through the door.
She looks up, and her friendly smile dims, replaced by a fake one.
“Hello,” she says happily and sets the mop aside before walking behind the counter to wait on me. “Man, it’s been raining all day.”
Just when I’m about to tell her that it hasn’t rained a bit at the ranch, she starts to sneeze uncontrollably. She steps away, sneezing into the towel she picked up off the counter. It’s not a feminine sneeze, the way some women let out a tiny little achoo.
No, hers is loud and sounds like a linebacker’s.
It’s actually kind of cute.
“Oh, man, sorry about that. There must be something in the air right now, with it being spring and everything. I’ve been sneezing like that all day.” She walks over to wash her hands before walking back over to me.
“Allergy meds,” I say simply, and when she looks up at me in surprise, I raise an eyebrow. “They help, you know.”
“Yeah, I’ll pick some up on my way home.” She tucks a stray piece of hair behind her ear and returns to the cash register. “Now, what can I get you? Did you like the muffins the other day?”
“Yeah.” The kids thought they’d died and gone to heaven when they got into my SUV and I passed them each one. “What do you have left?”
“Let’s see.” She bites her lip and studies the glass case. “We have some chocolate chip cookies and a huckleberry Danish.”
“I’ll take it all,” I reply. “And a coffee. Black.”
She nods, tapping my order on her screen, then turns it to me so I can tap my card while she fills the order.
I like to watch her bounce around back there. She’s cheerful and even hums while she works. Her movements are efficient and graceful.
Hell, she’s sexy as fuck.
Not that I have time to think about sexy women, even someone as interesting as this one. She reminds me of the seven dwarfs that Holly loves to watch so much.
I’ve seen her happy, which is most days. In the beginning, she was bashful. Then one day, I came in, and she was practically asleep on her feet.
And today, she’s sneezy.
Obviously, I watch too much TV with my five-year-old daughter.
She crosses to pass me the bag of cookies before pouring my coffee. But when she turns to hand me the hot brew, she sneezes, and a bit of the coffee lands on my hand, scalding me.
“Holy shit, I’m so sorry.” She rushes to grab an ice cube and grabs my hand, placing the ice cube on the small burn. “This should soothe it.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s hot ,” she retorts. “I don’t want you to burn.”
“Honest, it’s fine,” I repeat and wipe the coffee—and melted ice—with a napkin. “There isn’t even a mark.”
“Okay.” She blows out a breath of relief and then smiles at me. “I hope you have a good day.”
“Thanks, Doc.” It just slips out, but I can’t say that I’m sorry. Especially when she looks back at me with a frown.
“Huh?”
“Like the dwarf. Doc. You’ve been happy and sneezy and even dopey that day you said you had a blonde moment. Then you tended to my burn.”
Now those green eyes narrow on me. “So, that would make you Grumpy.”
I can’t stop the bark of laughter at that, and when she smiles, it makes my blood hum in a way that it hasn’t in years.
“Wow, you can smile. And apparently talk , since this is the most you’ve said to me in the four months that I’ve worked here.”
She sets the coffee in front of me.
“Guess so.” I take a sip and turn to leave. “See you around, Doc.”
Before the door closes behind me, I hear her say, “Peace out, Grumpy.”
Satisfied that that interaction went well, I get into my SUV and drive over to the elementary school, snagging a parking spot in line. I learned early on that if I want a good spot at pickup, I have to get here early.
While I wait, I drink my coffee and catch up on emails, check beef prices, and contact vendors. I actually get a lot of office work done from the driver’s seat in the pickup line at school.
And today, I munch on a Danish while I do it.
Before long, I hear the bell ring, and kids almost immediately come rushing out the doors of the small elementary school. My kids rush to the car, hand in hand, with smiles on their little faces.
God, I fucking love them.
“Hey, Dad,” Johnny says as he jumps into the back seat and scoots over to make room for his sister.
“Hi, Daddy,” Holly echoes.
“Hi, guys. Did you have a good day?”
“Yeah, but I have a project due tomorrow. I forgot to tell you,” Johnny says as I pass them cookies from the café. “Yay, chocolate chip!”
“What kind of project?” I ask as I wait my turn to pull out into traffic.
“I have to make a poster all about me,” he continues, licking chocolate off his fingers. “You know, just use some pictures and stuff. It’ll be easy.”
“Sure, except we don’t have any of the supplies at home,” I mutter and pull away from the school, headed for the nearest craft supply store. “You really need to tell me about these things, buddy.”
“You got an email from Mrs. Holt,” he says with a shrug, and I mentally sigh. I likely did but didn’t pay attention to it.
Jesus, I’m tired.
By the time we choose materials for Johnny’s project and get back out to the ranch, it’s dinnertime. Thankfully, my mom has a pot of stew on the stove, waiting for us when we walk in.
“There’s bread cooling on a rack, as well,” she says and kisses my cheek. “I have to go. I have a book club meeting in just a little bit.”
“Thanks for making dinner,” I reply. “Really. It’s a big help.”
“You’re welcome. We have to keep our babies fed.”
She kisses each of the kids, and then she’s off for the evening, and I get to work, serving dinner and getting the kids bathed so they can enjoy some TV or reading time before bed.
“I want to go to the barn,” Holly announces. “To see the new baby horses.”
“Me, too,” Johnny agrees.
“Sorry, we have to do your project.” I shake my head as they both frown. “That’s what happens when you wait until the last minute. Come on, let’s dig in. You can see the horses tomorrow.”
“I didn’t wait until the last minute,” Holly grumbles. “That’s stupid that I can’t go.”
“You’re not going by yourself,” I inform her. “So, you can help us, or you can grab a book to read or watch something on TV.”
“She can’t help us,” Johnny argues, and I sigh as my kids start to fight.
“Enough.” My voice is deep and sharp, which makes them stop swiping at each other. “Holly, go find something to do while we work on this.”
She stomps out of the room, and I turn to my son, who’s scowling. “This isn’t your sister’s fault.”
“She’s a busybody.”
“Where did you hear that phrase?”
“From Grandma.”
It’s late when I finally get the kids into bed and sit down to eat some stew myself. I’m hungrier than I realized and go back for seconds before sealing up the leftovers and popping them into the fridge.
With two fingers of whiskey, I sit in my leather chair in front of the fire and sigh.
Today would have been Jessica’s thirty-sixth birthday.
I didn’t mention it to anyone. Johnny was only two when she died, and he has no memory of her. Jessica’s family moved away from Bitterroot Valley after her death because they said it was too painful to be reminded of her all the time.
So, there’s no one here to remember her with me.
Jess wasn’t the love of my life. We married because she was pregnant, and we were friends. I liked her a lot, and we did well as co-parents. We were a good team.
But was there love? Passion? Not really.
And I never felt guilty about that because it was the same for her.
But it feels wrong that today, on her birthday, it’s just another day. Hell, I didn’t even remember until I had tucked Holly in and passed by Jess’s picture in the hallway.
Blowing out a breath, I lift my glass in salute. “Happy Birthday, Jess.”
“I can’t find Holly.”
I turn and scowl at my son. “What?”
Without waiting for him to answer, I rush upstairs, with Johnny right behind me.
“She’s not in her room,” he says. “I don’t know where she went.”
“Holly!” I yell her name as I search every room on the second floor and do the same downstairs. “Shit, Holly!”
“Did she die?” Johnny asks, tears filling his eyes. I turn to him and scoop him into my arms.
“Definitely not. She’s just hiding.” I kiss his cheek and pull my phone out of my pocket, just as it rings.
It’s my senior ranch hand, Lucky.
“Yeah.”
“Your little princess is in the barn, boss,” he says in my ear, and I deflate in relief. “Found her petting the filly.”
“I’m on my way.” I hang up and set Johnny on his feet. “Get your stuff for school, and I’ll grab Holly’s.”
We drive to the barn, and I rush inside and find my daughter giggling as the filly sniffs at her neck.
“Holly Wild.”
Her gaze snaps up to mine, and there’s guilt in her eyes.
“Get out of that stall now. ”
“Daddy, I just wanted to see the babies.”
“You know you’re not allowed in the barn by yourself.” I pick her up and head for the SUV. “Thanks, Lucky.”
“You bet, boss.”
“It’s a good thing you’re dressed, or you’d be going to school in your pajamas.”
“Why are you mad?” she asks as I set her in the back seat. “It’s just the barn.”
“You’re five ,” I remind her. “I make the rules here, and you know you’re not allowed to wander around the property by yourself. We have animals out here, Holly. You saw the big bear we had last fall.”
“He looks friendly,” she says.
“He’s not friendly.” I start the car, and then Johnny gasps. “What?”
“I forgot my poster.”
I close my eyes and count to ten, then drive back to the house and run in for Johnny’s project before returning to the car to take them to school.
“You won’t be in the barn for the rest of the month,” I inform Holly. “You’re grounded from it.”
“But, the babies!”
“You should have thought of that before you broke the rules. And you don’t get to go to Kayla’s birthday party on Saturday.”
“But we already bought a present!”
“That’s the consequence, baby girl.”
Holly sniffles in the back seat. “I’m really sorry, Daddy. I didn’t know any better.”
But rather than fall for that old trick, I laugh. “Oh, yeah, you did. You’re just stubborn, and you made a potentially dangerous choice today, so you’ll have to pay the price for that. I’m not kidding when I say I don’t want you walking around alone.”
“I’m not a baby!”
“Yes, you are,” I shoot back. “You’re my baby, and you’ll do as I say for as long as you live in my house.”
“I want to move in with Grandma.”
I snicker and shake my head, not willing to participate in this conversation any longer.
Damn it, maybe my dad’s right. I need some help.