Chapter 7
Zane
“Who is this person cooking dinner for us?” Ridge glares at his phone. He wandered in while I was rearranging the chicken feed, avoiding going up to the house.
I jerk my head up. “What?”
He reads the message on the screen. “Hope is volunteering to make dinner, any requests?”
“Tell her that—”
“Never mind, we’re going to make kale and white bean soup. Who is Hope?”
I yank my hat off and shove my hand through my sweaty hair. Apparently Mom isn’t done texting, because Ridge doesn’t wait for an answer before reading another message.
“And she doesn’t have a phone, so we need to provide her one.” He lifts his head again, transferring his glare to me. “Again, I repeat, who is this person?”
“A young mother in need. I ran into her yesterday just off the range road. Her car was overheating."
Ridge's expression doesn't change.
“Offered her help,” I continue, the story spilling out of me now, which is probably stupid.
“She said she didn’t need it. So I gave her some cash, pointed her toward town.
She broke down again in Mercy’s parking lot, and between her and Cash, the suggestion came up that she could help Mom with the kale problem—and make some money to cover the car repair. ”
His jaw tightens at Mercy's name.
Dirty trick, but I don’t need to be the only Kincaid brother on the back foot right now.
“She reminded me of Mom. I offered her the help I wish someone had offered Luna, you know?”
Ridge goes very still. "She got someone hunting her?”
“I don’t know what she’s running from. But yeah, maybe.” And that thought twists me inside out. As much as I don’t think she should be here, I don’t want her anywhere else, either.
But Ridge feels differently. “Then she needs to keep running."
"Maybe she needs a safe place to stop and rest." And now I sound like Mercy. Fuck.
"We're not that place."
"We literally put Refuge on the gate for a reason!"
"For Mom. Not for every person being chased by the devil. That brings the devil to our doorstep, and then it’s not a refuge for anyone, is it?"
"Dragonfly Creek was a refuge for us long before we bought this ranch. People helped us, and—”
"She hid here. And look how that worked out for her," Ridge says, his voice sharp. "She lost twenty years with her family. Her parents died before she could reconcile with them. Her brothers, too. She spent her entire life looking over her shoulder."
"She's also alive. We're alive. And we're here, together, because someone in this town gave her a job and didn't ask questions." I meet his eyes. “We owe it to pay that forward. It’s one week, and then she’ll be gone. Be nice to her. Or even better, stay out of her way. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Ridge grunts and fires off a text message, then stalks away.
Sighing, I check my phone and see that he’s told Luna he’ll feed himself—and that he has a long two days of fencing planned, so don’t expect him around for other meals, either.
That’s one way to handle that.
And I should do the same — Hope was terrified of me, after all, and she seems to be settling in well with Mom. Best not to disrupt that.
Zane
Anything is fine for me, but I’ve got work to do, so I’ll grab leftovers if that’s all right?
Luna
Not a problem, we’ll have a quiet girls dinner and then they’ll probably go to bed early
As if my younger brother can sense that I’ve got my phone in my hand, a text pops up from Cash just before I put it away.
Cash
You got a minute?
I call instead of texting back. “Hey.”
“Listen, this woman Mercy’s helping…”
The hairs on the back of my neck lift. “Yeah?”
“What do you know about her? You said she might be running from something, right?”
“Why?”
He hesitates a beat.
“Cash—”
"Her registration is a few years out of date. Just noticed that while I was checking for a tire lock.”
Ah. He was being fucking nosy in her glove box, the shit. Cash has never met a situation he didn’t want more information about, for better or for worse. And I probably sent him on that hunt by saying too much earlier.
And…well, shit. That is a problem. “It's a miracle she didn't get pulled over.”
“You have any idea what kind of trouble she’s in?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
He chuckles. “She must be real pretty if you’re getting this defensive. First you didn’t want her on the ranch, now you don’t want me asking questions.”
"Shut your mouth." Heat crawls up my neck. "This isn't about that."
Pretty doesn't even begin to touch it. She's painfully beautiful. But it's so much more complicated than that—and that’s also none of Cash's business.
My hand tightens on my phone and too much of an explanation spills out.
"What I didn’t tell you earlier is that I saw her yesterday.
I saw her, and I wanted to help, get you to tow her car to the garage, and I didn't do that. I don’t know.
I’m torn between being glad Mercy tugged her back into my orbit, and feeling like I shouldn’t overstep with the protection, because who knows what the repercussions could be. ”
“Ah, fuck the repercussions. It’s not like we can’t handle that.”
“I know, but we shouldn’t have to. We’ve been through enough.”
On the other end of the phone, he practically growls. “If it’s a choice between our reputation and a woman in need, we do what we gotta do. Fuck the consequences.”
“Cash—”
“No, I’m serious, Zane. It’s not the end of the world if there’s some blowback. I should know, right?”
I grunt.
He just laughs. “It’s my record, man. I’ll make all the jail jokes I want.”
I wince. “All right. Well, put her repairs on my tab, then. She shouldn’t have to bear the burden of that all alone. Probably whoever she’s running from is the reason her car’s a piece of shit in the first place. Let’s get it fixed up right and let her pay for the oil change or something.”
“Got it.”
"Thank you."
“She really should get her car registered properly before she heads back on the road. You gonna talk to her about that?”
“Yeah, I’ll find a way.” Maybe I’ll get Mom to. Except I don’t want to pass this off to Luna. “Do what you can for the car first, and we’ll worry about that next."