Chapter 9
Grant watchedNick run toward the school, his backpack bouncing against him as if it were the object propelling him forward. He was swarmed by all the other children as they merged as one huge wave into the building.
It was hard to swallow the fact that he’d missed six years of his son’s life. There were a lot of firsts he’d never get back. While he wanted to blame Dee for not telling him about his son, deep down, he knew it wouldn’t do any good.
Resentment was a poison he couldn’t afford to be infected with.
“Dad!”
Grant spun around, finding Nick charging toward him. He crouched down, his head filling with all the reasons his son might be coming his way. Was he hurt? Did something happen?
Nick threw his arms around his father. “I love you, Dad.”
Slowly, Grant’s hands came around his son. “I love you too, buddy.”
Pulling back, Nick grinned. “Do you think we can see Bella today?”
Grant’s head reared back and he nearly choked on the air he sucked in sharply. “You want to visit Bella?”
“Yeah. I wanted to make sure she was okay. She seemed sad when we had dinner with her.”
“I don’t think so, kiddo.”
Nick frowned. “Why?”
“Nick!” A teacher stood a few feet from the school building. “Time to come inside.”
Grant gave his son a little push. “We can talk about this after school. Go on. Your teacher can’t wait too long.”
Nick hesitated. “Are you going to pick me up?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
His son spun around and rushed for his teacher. Grant shook his head and chuckled. Bella would have probably gotten a kick out of how much Nick adored her. If he had her number, he might have called her to tell her.
No, that would have been weird. She’d think he was hitting on her. Still, the temptation to head over to the sheriff’s station ate at him. Would it be so bad if he paid a visit to see if she had any ideas for moving forward? He hadn’t heard any updates at the ranch.
He got into his truck, and while he told himself he was just heading to town to get a few things, he ended up finding himself parked in front of the building he knew he should be avoiding.
Grant stared at the brick structure, his brows furrowed. There was no reason for him to be here. He couldn’t make any excuses. So why couldn’t he force himself to take his leave and get out of there?
The door opened and Bella herself appeared. He stiffened as her eyes locked with his. At first, she peered at him like she wasn’t sure it was him. Then she folded her arms and marched over to the driver’s side.
“Mr. Shaw. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Oh,” he shook his head, “I wasn’t here to visit you.” Heat rose into his face. Shoot! He’d been caught staring at the building and now she was going to point out his bald-faced lie. He should just tell her he wanted to see her.
Bella lifted a brow, proving his thoughts were correct.
And yet, for whatever reason, he couldn’t bring himself to any of that. “I wasn’t,” he insisted. “I was actually going to run over to the shop right there.” He gestured vaguely down the street, and she glanced in that direction.
“The jewelry shop?”
His eyes darted back to meet hers. Grant chuckled nervously. “I was thinking about getting Nick a… bracelet?”
There was no coming back from this without making a bigger fool of himself. What was the worst that could happen? He’d admit he couldn’t get her out of his head, and she’d tell him she wasn’t interested.
Her next words brought him back to the present. “Is that a question?”
He could hear it in her voice. She was enjoying catching him off guard. Dang it, if he were back on his own turf, he knew what he would have done. Bella was strong and independent, albeit a little judgmental. But her eyes were the sort that wars were started over. It had been nice to have dinner with her, and right now all he could think about was doing it again.
“Look, Mr. Shaw?—”
“Call me Grant.”
“Grant,” she said slowly, “I’ve got a few places to go today, but it’s good that we bumped into each other.” She pulled out her notepad and tossed a few pages over the spiral binding before she wrote something on it. “I’m going to give you my number.”
His throat closed up. He must have been more obvious than he’d thought.
She chuckled. “Don’t get too excited. Eli is insisting that we don’t install cameras on the premises, and he also doesn’t want any of our guys patrolling the area. There’s no way for me to catch whoever is doing this if I don’t have eyes at the ranch.”
Understanding flooded his entire being. “You want me to keep an eye on things.”
Bella nodded, ripping out the paper and handing it to him.
“But what if I’m the one who’s causing all of those problems?” He reached for the paper, keeping his tone light—almost teasing her.
She didn’t let go of the paper right away and her eyes narrowed.
That was the wrong choice.
Bella’s voice was low and even with a hint of threat behind it. “I’m only going to say this once. You haven’t done anything to destroy my trust so far, I’d suggest you keep it that way. If I find out that you’ve lied to me…”
“Say no more.” Grant pulled the paper free and folded it carefully. “And for the record, I haven’t lied to you. Everything I’ve said is the truth.”
The radio on her shoulder crackled and she grabbed it. “Please call me if anything catches your attention.”
“You got it.”
Bella walked toward her car, speaking into the device in her hand and leaving Grant more excited than he had any right to be—because she’d given him her number.
* * *
Grant hurried toward the barn.He was a little late getting back due to traffic and he didn’t need anyone breathing down his neck about his work ethic when his morals were being put into question.
The second he rounded the barn entrance, Eli tossed a duffle bag at him. It clanged heavily against his chest and he scrambled to catch it.
Eli pointed to the bag. “You’re late. I needed you out at the fence line fifteen minutes ago.” He didn’t sound angry or upset. In fact, his voice held that matter-of-fact tone that he was known for. “We’re short a couple guys who had to take a trip to the city today. You’re going to be on your own. With all the issues we’ve been having lately, I need you to check the gates, the fence lines, and the locks. We don’t have any cattle in that paddock right now, but we’ll be moving them there tomorrow. Do you think you can manage?”
The remaining cowboys who hadn’t gone off to do their jobs eyed Grant. He could feel their gazes drilling into him as if to suggest they didn’t trust him to do the job right.
Grant rolled his shoulders and nodded. “I’ll grab a lunch from Charlotte and head out.”
On his way back to the barn, Bo stepped into his path. Grant stared at him expectantly. Like his father, he didn’t seem upset. His eyes were hard, but his body language suggested he was willing to give Grant the benefit of the doubt.
“Just because you had an alibi when the sheriff was here asking questions doesn’t mean I trust you.”
Maybe Grant was wrong.
“That being said…” Bo heaved a sigh. “I want you to let me know if anything looks off.” His gaze flitted right to left and back to Grant. “We never had these issues before we had to hire extra people. While I want to believe that you’re not the one responsible, I’m not going to rule you out, either.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Grant said. His thoughts shifted to what Bella had said about trusting her and needing someone to have eyes and ears open around here. Bo could be the one trying to frame him—and not only him, but anyone else. “I’ll let you know.”
Bo continued as if he hadn’t heard Grant speak at all. “Whoever is causing the headache is going to be out. I don’t care if it’s you or someone else. We’re a family here and we expect everyone to act as such.”
Grant nodded and it took all his energy not to react defensively. While Bo made it a point not to target him, he certainly didn’t make Grant feel like he was in the clear. It didn’t feel good being on the other side of things when it came to running a business.
Grant could have bought Sagebrush Ranch several times over. The only reason he was working was to keep up appearances. The last thing he needed was additional unwanted attention.
Over the next several hours, Grant pushed aside detrimental thoughts that Bo and Eli had inadvertently created. Working at the ranch gave Grant a purpose he enjoyed, and he was determined to do just that. He painstakingly checked every post, wire, and gate. He walked the perimeter and stress tested everything that might cause issues for the herd. When he was about two-thirds of the way done, he took a break to eat the sandwich he’d grabbed from the kitchen.
The fields rolled out in front of him, so different from the cityscape he’d grown accustomed to. He could understand why Dee had wanted to move here so much. It wasn’t until he had experienced it himself that he could truly appreciate it.
Blue sky stretched as far as the eye could see. Not a cloud hung overhead, but a gentle breeze tugged at his clothes and ruffled his hair. Grant leaned against the tree where he sat, picked up the canteen of water, and took a long pull from it.
Times like this, he could see himself moving out to Rocky Ridge permanently. He didn’t know that he’d want to be a ranch hand at Sagebrush, but he wouldn’t mind getting a small piece of land and a couple of horses. Nick would probably like that a lot.
If he could figure out the custody issue that was plaguing him, maybe he could look further into making that kind of change. He smiled, a strange kind of feeling overcoming him. Grant blinked a few times and sat up, but the dizziness intensified. His vision blurred and his hands tingled.
He could barely keep his eyes open, sleepiness starting to set in. This wasn’t right. Something had happened. Was it a reaction to something? He attempted to look around him, feeling the grass, but nothing made sense.
Grant leaned his head against the tree and took in several deep breaths. Maybe it was a panic attack of sorts. He was worried about so much right now. And the deep breaths weren’t doing anything to ease what was going on inside him.
His heart rate increased as the panic set in. Dizziness. Incoordination. Fatigue.
Grant scrambled for his phone. Eli and Bo would want to know what was going on. Grant clawed at the tree as he stood up in an effort to prolong his consciousness. Just as he was about to call his boss, he stopped himself.
What if this was another one of those situations where he was getting framed for something?
Would Eli believe him? What might appear was happening to him from the outside? He shut his eyes tight then opened them and forced himself to focus as he pulled the sheet of paper from his pocket. Bella was the only one he could trust. She had no skin in the game. If he called her, she’d know what to do.
With his last bit of energy, Grant pushed the call button and prayed that she answered quickly.