Chapter Eleven
T aking Sloane by the hand, Jonas helped her search the whole house. It didn’t take long to determine the teen was not there. Sloane was shaking, and he wanted to toss the bacon and eggs he’d eaten earlier.
Back in Clara’s room, he wrapped his arms around Sloane and held her tight. “We’ll find her, I promise. She couldn’t have gone far.”
“Maybe she left a note.” Sloane pushed out of his arms and found a long shirt to put over her lacking pj’s. They were adorable but now was not the time.
Clara hadn’t left a message saying where she’d gone.
“I’ll check outside.” Quickly, he circled the house, front and back, before heading back inside. Sloane was staring out the kitchen window into the backyard. “She’s not here.”
“We have to call 911.” She grabbed her phone from the table just as Jonas dug his from his pocket. Her fingers were faster than his. “Hello? I want to report a missing child.”
Tears streaked down her face. Jonas leaned his chest against her shoulder. He didn’t understand it. Clara had been so happy to be with Sloane. Why would she run away?
“She’s thirteen, blonde, has brown eyes—”
Behind him, the front door creaked open. Jonas turned. Clara was standing just inside, her smile fading as she took in her frantic sister.
“She’s here! Thank you! Yes. Thank you.” Sloane put her phone down on the table and marched over to Clara, choking out, “Where have you been?”
Jonas gave them space, figuring the kid’s explanation had better be good. He wasn’t the one she should be worried about, but his heart was still thumping. He hadn’t been that scared since he couldn’t find Blake after he’d told him to never come back to his home.
“I went to get donuts. I thought—” Clara held up a white pastry bag.
Finally, he moved, wrapping his arms around Sloane from behind and saying, close to her ear, “Shh... she’s okay.”
“Why would you go without leaving a note?” Sloane’s voice was watery, but she was starting to calm down. Jonas didn’t release her, wanting her to know he was there if she needed support.
Clara crossed her arms, the bag bumping against her belly. “On the weekends, I got donuts for my mom for breakfast. It was the only thing I could get her to eat.” The kid switched her gaze to Jonas. “I thought Sloane would want some.”
Sloane stiffened in his arms. “Where did you get the money?”
The teen looked from Jonas to her sister. “Your wallet—”
For the first time, he noticed the small backpack Sloane used for a purse on the couch, her wallet half out.
“Breathe,” he said softly to the woman in his arms.
She must’ve heard him through the panic he could feel starting to ebb. Breathing in, she held out her hand to Clara. “Come sit with me.”
“I’m sorry—I didn’t mean—” Clara took her sister’s hand. Sloane pushed her purse aside. They sat together, knees touching.
“I’m not mad at you. You just scared me to death. And Jonas too.” She glanced at him and then turned back to the teen. “We have to have rules.”
Listening, he went to the kitchen and filled two glasses with water. He put them on the coffee table in front of Sloane and Clara.
“No leaving the house without telling me. And ask before you get into my wallet,” Sloane finished softly.
Clara stared down at her hands. “Mom always needed me to take care of her.”
“That was very grown-up of you, but you don’t have to take care of me.” Sloane gently tilted her sister’s chin so that their gazes met. “All you have to do is be a good kid. Okay?”
Clara nodded.
Sloane held her tight, then picked up the pastry bag and peered inside. “Let’s see what kind of treats you brought home.”
*
Jonas sat on the fence of the outdoor training arena and watched Blake as he gave riding lessons to all the kids, including Clara.
The kid was quiet, but seemed to have recovered from her mistake that morning.
A natural on horseback, she was riding Angel, a white-spotted chestnut mare, as if she’d been riding all her life.
He hadn’t recovered. If anything had happened to her—His heart was still in his throat. Sloane had done a good job of smoothing out the crisis, but he knew she was in the same place he was. How did they convince Clara that she was the child and they were the parents?
His whirling thoughts came to a dead stop. They were the parents.
Sloane would make a great mother. His mom and dad had been the best, giving their boys the run of the ranch for as long as they could. But when left with Nathan and Blake to take care of, he hadn’t done so well.
Nathan, Izzy, and Malorie joined him. Malorie took pictures with her phone, while Izzy, their marketing guru, snapped photos with a high-end digital camera to get what she wanted to add to the website.
“They’re doing great,” Nathan said, his arms folded on the top rail. “Next year, if they want, they’ll be good enough to compete in the youth events at the rodeo.”
Jonas was ready to assist in case Blake needed help, but his brother had the kids well in hand as usual, only letting two of them circle the arena at a time. “The rodeo is coming up fast.”
“Will we have Duke’s results by then?” Nathan smoothed out his close-cut mustache and beard.
“It’s going to be close,” he admitted.
In the meantime, all he could think about was Sloane wrapped in his arms as worry tore her apart. Now he understood how his brothers had fallen in love. It was a given that raising a teenager wasn’t always easy, but he didn’t want to see her go through that alone again.
He glanced at his watch. Sloane hadn’t wanted to go to work, but Dean needed her help. From where he sat, he could see the last stretch of the drive leading to the Triple L that ended in the parking area in front of the barn.
“I don’t suppose you know anything about my profile ending up on the same dating app that Sloane uses?” he asked Nathan.
“Yup.” Nathan didn’t bother to hide his grin. “Look at Timmy go. He’s getting better every time he rides, don’t you think?”
He’d known it had to be his brothers. Jonas pressed his lips together. “What are you and Blake up to?”
Nathan turned toward him, one arm stretched across the top rail of the fence.
“It’s your turn, big brother. Don’t think that we didn’t notice how you played matchmaker with us.
You weren’t that subtle.” Before he could admit the accusation was true, Nathan stopped him.
“Don’t get me wrong. We wouldn’t change a thing, but what comes around goes around, dude, and you are not headed in the right direction. ”
“What are you talking about?” Jonas drew his brows together, half afraid he had an idea where this conversation was heading.
Sloane’s truck was barreling down the road. Nathan saw it too. He gestured toward the Ford. “I don’t understand why, but that woman loves you.”
“No, she doesn’t.” Jonas straightened. Nathan didn’t know she was on the fence about being friends. “We’re just friends.”
Her reliance on him that morning made his chest swell and was a good indication that she might have changed her mind. Unknowingly, she’d shown him what he’d been missing all these years while he was pursuing a law career that had taken him away from Strawberry Ridge.
“I didn’t know you were that blind, Jonas.
Before you talk yourself into believing you’re only friends , maybe you should take Sloane on a real date, with candlelight and all the trimmings that go along with it.
End with a kiss when you drop her off at the end of the night.
You’ll be surprised to find out how you really feel about your friend .
” The conviction in his brother’s voice surprised Jonas.
Nathan should know. Until he met Izzy, he’d been a loner who preferred his own company.
Duke stopped beside him in the middle of Nathan’s speech. He looked up to find Blake leaning toward them with his arm on the saddle horn. “I couldn’t have said it better.”
“So, you boys colluded and set up a profile for me?”
“It wasn’t hard,” Blake admitted. Nathan nodded.
He was too old to be brawling with his brothers. Suddenly curious, he asked, “What do you suggest I say to Sloane?”
“How about, will you go out with me .” Blake proposed with a grin that said Jonas was well and truly caught.
The slam of the truck’s door stopped him from telling his brothers what they could do with their interference. Sloane finding his profile on her dating app would probably not be good.
She joined them, a little breathless, as though she’d been in a hurry. Her gaze latched onto Clara. She took a deep breath. “Hey, guys. How’s the riding lessons going?”
“Great,” Blake said with a smirk at Jonas, then pulling the reins to the side, guided Duke back to his students.
Jonas got down from his perch on the fence and asked quietly, “You doing okay?”
“I’m fine.” She struggled to smile but got there finally.
He nudged her arm, distracting her from watching Clara on Angel. “How about we get the barbeque started?”
“Okay.” She waved at her sister, who waved back before returning her attention to Blake and the instructions he was giving.
Clara was used to being the parent to her mother’s needs. It would take a while for her to become the kid in her and Sloane’s relationship. If he could, he wanted to help with that transition.
They walked toward the back of the house in silence, with his arm draped over her shoulder, until Jonas couldn’t stay quiet any longer. “Everything at work okay?”
“Busy,” she said, her mind clearly somewhere else.
Hoping to get her to talk, he snugged her closer under his arm. “I could live without going through this morning again.”
“Me too,” she said emphatically. “I understand what Clara was thinking, but I’m going to have nightmares about not being able to find her for a while.” She pulled him to a stop, her cheeks turning pink. “I’m glad you were there.”
“I’ll always be here for you,” he promised, in case she’d forgotten. It was time to change the subject. “Did Clara like the train ride?”