17. Nora
CHAPTER 17
Nora
“ O kay. So. Just so I’m clear,” I say, looking at my dad. “There is no lingering cancer.”
“No.”
“But they still want you to do chemo?”
He sighs. “Yeah. Sounds like even though there’s nothing in me, they still want to do chemo.”
“Why?”
He picks at the edge of the tablecloth, which has been in place since I was five years old, so it’s faded and torn in so many places, the rips are just part of the effect now. “Because I’m old, Nora.”
“Dad. You’re hardly old.”
“I’m old. I’ve lived a life that’s been hard on me, and they don’t like how my… fatigue is impacting me.”
“But there’s no cancer.”
He shakes his head. “None that came up on any scans.”
“Okay, well, that’s a little different from ‘no cancer,’ don’t you think?” I huff angrily.
My dad reaches forward, grabbing my hand. “Nora, I need you to calm down.”
“I’m calm!” I shout. He gives me a look, and I take a deep breath. “I am perfectly calm, Dad,” I say .
“Nothing in life is a guarantee. You can only take care of some of the risks. But I can’t tell you there’s no cancer. Same as I can’t tell you that tomorrow there won’t be a wildfire, or that the earth won’t crack up and swallow us whole. It’s unlikely,” he says, noticing my face start to pinch with anxiety, “but we can’t guarantee these things.”
“But cancer?—”
“I’m doing what I can to keep my risk of cancer reappearing low,” he says softly. “That’s all we need to worry about right now.”
“Well, you just gave me about six other things to worry about,” I grumble.
“Nora. You can’t prevent an act of God. All you can do is take this day. These problems.” He taps the table. “All you can do is deal with what you have and live the life you’re given.”
I don’t respond.
My dad sighs. “How was the night?”
“Uneventful,” I lie. Sex with Clint was very, very eventful. As was cuddling with Landon last night. As was the kiss Shane dropped on me when I came downstairs this morning.
I don’t think my dad would be happy if he knew any of that, though.
“Good.” He nods. “Rhett and the fire department are trying to figure out the timing, so they can talk to Sheriff Mendez about looking at some of the security cameras in town.”
“Why would the town cameras pick up someone coming to our property?”
My dad shrugs. “Unless whoever started the fire is just some kind of vagabond, running through the fields and living in the mountains, he would have left town at some point.”
I guess that’s logical. I stand, leaning in to kiss my dad on the forehead.
He smiles as I pull back. “What was that for?”
“I love you, Dad.”
“Love you too, Bluebird. And you know what?”
I tilt my head. “What?”
“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m grateful for those boys from the Wild Spur,” he rumbles .
I laugh. “Me too.”
I doubt he’d feel grateful if he knew about us, but honestly? I’m sure that he would actually rather not know. This is between us, me and the guys. What we have right now isn’t exactly conventional, but I don’t care. If nothing else, it makes me like them that much more. The fact that they’re willing to meet me with what I want, and what I need? It’s sexy.
I also feel like I can actually count on them. For example, even though he’s pretty crusty, Clint has been nothing but protective toward me. He’s made sure that I didn’t get hurt when Thunder delivered her foals. He made sure that Kendall and I managed to get out of the bar without running into a fight. Even when he’s been fighting himself and how he feels with me, he’s been kind to me.
And he’s sexy as hell. The thing he does with horses is absolutely a miracle to watch. He’s skilled. He’s protective and grumpy, but he isn’t an asshole.
Shane is smart. He’s come back to the conversation about my MBA a couple of times since he last brought it up, and I appreciate how thoughtful he is when we talk. I can also see that he’s smart as hell, and even though he’s clearly a trust fund baby as much as Aaron was, he’s… different. It hasn’t gotten to his head, that’s for sure.
Landon is like a puppy. It’s hard to hate him. He’s always so sunny and easy to talk to. I love laughing at his jokes, and how quick he is to lean in with a hug or a touch, always ready to help me feel better.
All of them together are insanely competent. They’re a team, a well-oiled machine, and together, they get shit done. That, more than anything, is sexy.
For the first time, the threat of Aaron feels a little less. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, and like Aaron following me here is all my fault, I feel… reassured.
With these guys on my side, I feel like I can do anything.
It’s a good feeling. I don’t think that I’ve felt like I can truly count on anyone, aside from my dad, in… Well. Maybe ever.
My dad taught me to be fiercely independent. He raised a daughter that would one day inherit a ranch all by herself. But that shit is hard. It’s so much nicer, so much easier, to have people that I can rely on. People that I can count on to help me. People who have my back.
God, it’s so nice.
With that thought, and a smile on my face, I head out. I want to find the guys. I know they had a rough night, so I want to see if they need anything. I’d love to help however I can.
Repaying the favor to them feels right. We’re a little beyond neighborly at this point. But…
My heart thumps. Maybe we’ve become more than neighborly, in the best way. Maybe there’s something more than that in the future.
For the four of us.
I don’t see any of them around the house. It seems odd, given that they were so invested in security, but the new security cameras seem to be up and running, so…
Maybe they went back to Wild Spur.
I hop into my SUV, putting it in gear. I want to check on the horses, anyway. Obviously, in the Wild Spur barn, they’re going to get top-notch care, but I want to look at them all the same. Joan needs the vet to come. I’m pretty sure at this point she’s way, way too pregnant.
When I pull up to the Wild Spur, the guys’ trucks are all out front. Good.
I walk to the porch, but right as my foot hits the step, raised voices catch my attention. I pause, listening.
“We need to tell her.”
“Why? If she doesn’t know, it doesn’t change anything.”
“We need to tell her because we owe it to her to tell her,” Landon’s deep voice says.
“Even if we tell her, it doesn’t change the outcome,” Clint snaps.
My heart starts to pound, and my stomach clenches painfully. What are they talking about?
I creep forward, careful to keep my weight slow and evenly distributed across my feet so that nothing squeaks on the porch as I walk up .
“The ranch is doing fine. She and her dad are doing fine,” Shane says. “It’s not right, Clint.”
My heart in my chest, I open the door. “What do you want me to know?”
The silence that greets me is overwhelming.
My anger rises. “What do you want me to know, Clint?”
Clint’s eyes dart to the side. “There’s nothing to know.”
“We have a plan to lure your ex out,” Landon says. “But that’s not what we were talking about.”
“What the hell were you talking about then, Landon?”
Shane looks over at Landon, who looks at Clint, who looks away.
“Fine,” Landon snaps. The lightness that’s normal to his tone is gone, replaced by something that seems much darker and more serious. “I’ll tell her.”
“Tell. Me. What,” I say through clenched teeth.
Landon nods. “The reason that we gave you that rental contract was that originally, we had planned to buy the ranch from you.”
“Why did you plan on that?”
“We knew the ranch was failing. We knew that you had gone to the bank for a loan,” Shane says softly.
I feel like I’m going to be sick. “So, you forced me to sign the stupid lease?”
“No. You negotiated out of the worst part,” he says. “But… when the ranch did fail, we would buy it from you.”
When the ranch did fail.
I step back like I’ve been slapped. “What do you mean, when it failed?”
“It felt kind of inevitable, Nora. We didn’t know at the time that you and your dad were trying your best to stay afloat. We only knew the rumors and the fact that you had applied for a loan.”
“But you decided not to, right?”
They exchange glances. Landon gives a low whistle. “It was up for debate.”
I hold up my hand.
“So, you signed a lease with me. You watched my dad and I work our asses off to try to make sure that you didn’t take one fucking cent—” They all wince at my use of language, which is a tiny bit satisfying. “—and you… what? You were just going to wait for us to fail? Hanging out until the corpse of the Foster Ranch was ready for you to pick over, like fucking jackals?”
“Again,” Shane says, looking at Clint. “It was up for debate.”
“Debate. Were you debating that when you decided to sleep with me?”
“Nora,” Landon starts, but I hold up my hand.
“No. Do not talk to me. Don’t even… don’t even think about talking to me ever again. The lease still has terms, so we’ll honor them, but if you so much as speak one single word to me ever again…” I hate that my voice is shaking.
I hate that my heart, which felt so high not even twenty minutes ago, feels like it’s been trampled by a stampede.
They were just… fucking with me. There’s no other explanation. I thought that each one of them actually cared about me. I thought that they were being nice to me and my dad, helping us, because they were good.
Not because they were playing with me like a cat with a mouse. Not because they were sitting back, secretly waiting for me to fail, so that they could swoop in and buy the ranch from under me.
Shane takes a step forward, but I step back. “No. I’m dead fucking serious. Do not talk to me. I don’t want to know. I don’t want you to talk to me or my dad. I don’t want your help with anything.”
“You’re in danger, Nora,” Clint growls. “We need to protect you.”
I laugh. “Seriously? You think that I need protection from an ex-boyfriend?”
“Yes,” Shane says darkly. “He almost killed?—”
“The only protection I need is from you three,” I snarl.
With that, I spin. I march out of the house, letting the screen door slam behind me. I start up my SUV, the engine roaring to life as I tear down their drive.
I gulp in air, trying my best to keep the tears from my eyes.
Try to pretend your heart isn’t breaking.
As much as I repeat it, though, it becomes harder. I can’t pretend.
My heart, at this moment, is very much breaking.