Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Brynn
I’m halfway out the office door when I hear Jack’s voice behind me.
“Brynn, wait.”
I stop, my fingers tightening around the doorknob. There’s something in his tone that makes my stomach drop, a seriousness that coils tension up my spine. I turn back to face him, schooling my expression into something neutral.
Is he going to mention us having sex? Is this where he tells me that it can’t happen again?
Stop with the insecurity, Brynn. There’s no need for you two to have any sort of conversation about it. You’re freaking out over nothing.
“Yeah?”
He leans back in the chair, arms crossed, his brows pulled together in a way that makes him look even more rugged than usual. He exhales sharply, like he’s debating whether to say whatever’s on his mind.
Just rip the Band-Aid off already!
“There’s something I need to ask you about, but I need you to be completely honest with me.”
“Okay.”
“I saw the paperwork for the second mortgage.”
My heart stutters. “Excuse me?”
His gaze sharpens. “I saw the paperwork for the second mortgage your mother took out on the ranch. I also saw that you’re making the payments on the mortgage, not the ranch. That’s concerning to me. Is the ranch in trouble financially?”
Fuck!
Why did I let him come into the office? I should have stopped him!
I can feel the panic seeping in. I’ve kept this from my dad for two years; I’m not going to allow Jack to let it out now. I inhale and exhale slowly.
It is kind of a relief that he knows.
I force out a laugh, but it sounds brittle even to my own ears. “That’s none of your business.”
His jaw tightens. “Actually, it is. As the ranch manager, I’m responsible for the financial part, too.”
“No, you’re not. I said that I would handle it, but of course, you had to brute force your way into everything.”
“Brute force?” he asks with a low, dry chuckle. “I’m assuming your dad doesn’t know since I wasn’t briefed about it.”
I bristle, my grip on the doorknob tightening. “I said it’s none of your business, Jack.”
He stands up and crosses the room until he’s directly in front of me. He doesn’t back down. Of course, he doesn’t. Irritation fills me, and I can feel my face turning red.
Why can’t this man leave well enough alone?
“Brynn,” he says in an exasperated voice.
I inhale sharply through my nose.
How dare he come in here like he owns the place? No one should be handling our financials except family. I don’t know why my dad ever let it be otherwise.
This is none of his business.
“Let it go, Jack. I handled it.”
“You have to talk to me, Brynn. You can’t keep things like this from me. You also cannot keep things bottled up to protect everyone else. It’s not on you to protect or save anyone else. You’re going to drown trying to do that.”
Has he been talking to Nick? Why would he say the part about saving, too?
I stare back at him in disbelief. It doesn’t matter if he was talking to Nick, though. He’s a cocky jerk, and he knows nothing about me.
How dare he even try to pretend like he does?
He’s staring at me; those deep, whiskey-colored eyes are boring into me, and they’re somehow zapping all the fight out of me. I bite the inside of my cheek and inhale. I look away, cross my arms in front of my chest, and tap my foot nervously.
Ugh, why does he have this power to get me to break?
I step back into the office and shut the door behind me. If we’re going to have this conversation, we’re not doing it where anyone can overhear.
He watches me carefully, his expression unreadable, as I sit down in a nearby chair. He goes back to the desk.
“What do you want to know?”
His voice is softer now. “I understand why she took out the second mortgage; she put it in the memo. But why doesn’t your dad know?”
I press my lips together, looking away. My throat tightens, and for a moment, I don’t think I can say it. But then the words just spill out.
“Because my mother asked me not to tell him.”
His brows draw together. “What?”
I swallow hard. “When she found out she was sick and how quickly it progressed, she went to the bank and took out the mortgage.”
“Your dad would have had to sign off on it; the ranch is in both of their names.”
“He did sign off on it. My mom told him that it was the paperwork for something else.”
“What?” he gasps.
“I don’t know the specifics, okay? I wasn’t there.
My mom was high as a kite on morphine, and she told me that she tricked him into signing the paperwork, but I didn’t really understand how she did it.
I also didn’t ask my dad because I didn’t want him questioning why I was asking.
It’s probably better that way. The ranch…
the ranch was completely paid off. My dad is the third generation of Castings to run it.
She told me that she wanted to pay all the medical bills so that my dad didn’t have to handle them or have the reminder of her death hanging over him. ”
Jack runs a hand over his face, exhaling slowly. “Jesus, Brynn. Didn’t she realize she was causing more issues?”
There’s a quick flash of anger as I take offense to his words. I inhale and exhale slowly, taking into account that he probably didn’t mean to suggest anything bad about my mom but that is the way that it came out.
“I didn’t get to ask a lot of questions, but…
my mom was really good with money. She…she wouldn’t have taken such a risk had she thought it would go down the way it did.
She said that the harvest payouts would cover it all.
I looked back through all the financial paperwork, and she’s right; the harvest payouts should have taken care of everything she took out. ”
“But it didn’t?”
“No, because there was the outbreak with the cattle. Then, we had issues with suppliers and had to order things at a higher price. We had to install an irrigation system. We…couldn’t catch a break.
She told me I was strong. Resilient. That I could handle it.
” My voice wavers, and I blink rapidly, trying to keep it together. “And I thought I could.”
His brows furrow. “Bovine Respiratory Disease?”
I nod. “Yeah. That fake auction company—it brought in infected cattle, and it hit us hard.” I shake my head, pressing my fingers against my temples.
“I didn’t have the heart to tell my dad we couldn’t afford something.
I knew it would just end in a fight, so I didn’t.
I made up the difference with my pay from the flower shop. Quietly. Without him knowing.”
Jack is silent for a long moment, and when I finally look up at him, his expression is unreadable. But there’s something in his eyes—something that looks a lot like frustration but also something softer, something almost like concern.
“You shouldn’t have done that alone,” he says, his voice low, steady. “You shouldn’t have kept that to yourself.”
I let out a shaky breath. “I didn’t see another option.”
“Maybe so, but you were wrong to handle it that way. You caused yourself unnecessary stress because you didn’t want a confrontation with your father.”
“How do you tell your father that he can’t buy something because your mother made a wrong decision before she died?” I hiss.
He shakes his head, standing from the chair and stepping closer. “From here on out, you can’t keep stuff like this to yourself, Brynn. You don’t do anyone any good by trying to shoulder it all alone.”
I suck in a breath and swallow hard. The weight of everything crashes over me all at once, and before I can stop myself, my face crumples. A sob breaks free, and suddenly, I’m unraveling right in front of him.
He doesn’t hesitate. He closes the distance between us and pulls me into his arms. I don’t fight it.
I can’t. I press my face against his chest, breathing in his scent and collapsing against him like he’s the only thing keeping me from falling apart completely.
He holds me tightly, one hand cradling the back of my head, the other wrapped securely around my waist.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs.
I shake my head against his chest, my tears soaking into his shirt. “I didn’t know what else to do. I’m not…I’m not strong and resilient like everyone says…I mean, I don’t want to be that anymore. I’m so fucking tired of having to be the one who takes care of everyone else.”
His grip tightens. “I’ve got you,” he repeats.
Maybe they’re just words, but right now, I fully believe him.