Chapter Fifteen
Unloading the animals and setting them up in their new homes took Brett longer than he’d thought it would.
Hopefully, Trish hadn’t had any issues with Lucy.
She was already getting nervous about raising twin babies on her own.
He could understand that; he was nervous for her doing it alone.
And he was nervous for himself, too, that he kept feeling some obligation toward her and those babies.
Was it just because she was Frank’s daughter?
Was that why he felt like he had to keep stepping in and helping even when he didn’t agree with what she was doing? At least with the petting zoo and kids’ camps. He had no intention of helping her with her kids, and despite her nerves she claimed that she didn’t want help.
He totally understood why she wanted to raise her kids on her own.
He would have hated growing up like she had, shuffled between bickering parents.
He hadn’t been too happy about the way he’d grown up after his family had moved to the city.
So he definitely understood her wanting to have these camps for kids to spend time with animals out in the fresh air.
He would have loved to do that as a kid. And he imagined that all the kids who participated in the camps would love them, too. They’d picked out some perfect animals for the petting zoo. And Trish had mentioned having plans for other activities as well.
After settling in the last of the animals, Brett rushed across the yard toward the house. His stomach dropped when he noticed the vehicle parked in the driveway. The vintage red Cadillac.
His grandparents were here.
Then he noticed what was gone: Trish’s truck.
He groaned but continued up the steps to the house. When he pushed open the screen door, Sadie put a finger to her lips and pointed to where Lem rocked Lucy in one of the living room chairs.
“She just got back to sleep,” Sadie whispered.
That was probably where Trish should have been after their busy morning. But she’d taken off.
“You two just drop in?” he asked.
Sadie smiled and shook her head. “No. Elise called us to watch her. Nobody was here then.”
“Where did Trish go?” he asked, but he tried to make the question sound casual, like he didn’t care. He was all too aware how his grandparents loved playing matchmaker, how they loved love.
And each other. They sent each other a sappy-looking smile. But he wasn’t sure if that was expressing their love or something else.
Probably some plan that involved him.
“She went into town to follow up with Maci about the will,” Sadie said. “She said she wanted to make sure that her father’s estate is all settled now.”
He narrowed his eyes. “She wanted to make sure? Or you do, Grandma?”
Sadie’s smile widened, and she stood up and kissed his cheek. “She does. She brought it up and apologized about holding up the will. She’s actually a very sweet young woman.”
He groaned.
“What? You don’t think so?” she asked.
He swallowed another groan. “I think she’s just gone through a very messy divorce, and she has no interest in someone trying to match her up with anyone else, Grandma.” He shot a warning glance at Lem. “Grandpa.”
Lem arched his bushy white eyebrows, looking all innocent.
Brett knew better.
“What about you?” Sadie asked.
He acted deliberately obtuse. “I have not gone through a messy divorce. That’s something I will never do because I will never get married.”
Lem sighed and shook his head. “That’s a shame for sure. You don’t know what joy you’re missing.”
“And what pain,” Brett said.
“Ah…” Sadie sighed. “Pain is part of life, Brett. You know that. You lost your mother and your grandmother. And now Frank Dempsey, your best friend and boss. You can’t avoid pain no matter how much you want to try.”
His stomach flipped with the realization of how very right she was.
“But in trying to avoid pain,” Sadie continued, “you’re also avoiding the one thing that makes that pain bearable. Love.”
“But if I don’t love someone, I don’t have to worry about losing them,” he said.
“If you don’t love someone, you don’t have anything worth having,” Lem said.
“And you love people,” Sadie said. “You love your family. Your friends…”
He had no friends now that weren’t family. Frankie and Maci, though not biologically related, were family. And Trish…
He had no idea what Trish was beyond a partner in the ranch. Was she a friend? She definitely wasn’t family. But he cared about her, especially after having to rush her to the hospital that day.
He didn’t want anything to happen to her. But he certainly wasn’t in love with her. He would never let himself fall for anyone, no matter how much his grandparents tried to match him up with someone.
Maybe they’d been doing the same with Trish, and that was why she’d taken off. She was even more determined to remain single than he was.
* * *
Trish hadn’t intended to drive back to Willow Creek that afternoon. But after trying to care for Lucy and then meeting Brett’s grandparents, she’d been so overwhelmed she’d felt as if she was suffocating. She needed air, and so she’d grasped the excuse to talk to Maci.
Not that she didn’t want to talk to her friend.
She did. She also needed to follow up with her, just as she’d claimed to Sadie and Lem, and make sure that everything with the estate was settled.
For all their help with the ranch, it was the least that she could do for her partners in the Four Corners.
So she made the drive back to Willow Creek, this time alone. And for some reason she had a hollow feeling inside her heart, like something was missing. Or she was empty.
But the babies shifted inside her stomach. She wasn’t sure if they were kicking her or each other. They seemed eager to get out. But she wasn’t ready. Not yet. She wasn’t sure, though, if she would ever be ready.
Babysitting Lucy had not been easy. She hadn’t known what she was doing with the little girl.
Clearly, the baby had had gas since her great-grandfather had gotten a burp and a sweet coo out of her the minute he’d taken her from Trish.
For a second, she panicked at the thought of someone taking away her children because she didn’t know what she was doing.
Someone like Elise, who worked for child protective services.
Would Trish’s children need protection from her because she was that incompetent?
No. She would figure out how to be a good mother. While her mother hadn’t been the best example, she had Elise in her life now. Even though Trish wanted to raise her kids on her own, she could ask Elise for advice.
She could and would be a good mother. And she also wanted to be a good partner in the ranch like her partners were all being so good to her. Especially Brett.
He’d gone above and beyond to help her get the ball rolling on the kids’ camp and petting zoo.
So when Sadie had asked about the estate, Trish had decided she needed to know immediately that it was all settled. She could have called Maci, but she’d just texted her to find out if she was at home or her office. She wanted to talk to her in person.
She had also wanted to get away from Sadie and Lem.
While they were very sweet, she hadn’t been comfortable with them.
After she’d upset their family, she didn’t feel as if she deserved their kindness.
And something about the way they’d kept looking at each other as they’d asked her questions, especially questions about Brett, had unsettled her.
Were they matchmaking?
But her and Brett?
He was the one she’d hurt the most when she’d not immediately agreed to honor her father’s wishes. When she’d not been there for her dad like she should have been…
If she could have undone the past, she would have, but that wasn’t possible. So she just had to make sure that the present and future were better.
She reached the main street of Willow Creek, surprised to see how busy it was.
When she’d driven through at night, she hadn’t noticed how much larger the city had grown, how many new businesses there were.
And the population had definitely increased with all the improvements.
She had to circle the block twice before a spot opened up near the building where Maci rented space from Brett’s dad.
Brett had suggested that Trish should meet him, to ask him about his regrets over not accepting help when his wife was sick.
There was no way she would ever pose such a personal question to the man, though.
She wasn’t sure that she even wanted to meet him.
Meeting Brett’s grandparents had already been a lot for one day.
She should have asked Maci in her text if she was alone in the office.
Hoping that she was, she drew in a breath, stepped out of the truck and walked the short distance to the building that she remembered as being a cigar shop the last time she was in Willow Creek.
When she pushed open the door, the faint scent of cigars hung in the air.
And tears stung her eyes as it reminded her of her father.
This was where he’d bought the cigars he’d smoked in his den. Oh, how she missed him…
How she wished he had had the chance to meet his grandchildren.
She had no doubt that he would have loved them like Lem and Sadie loved theirs. And he would have been happy that she intended to raise them on the ranch.
Maybe doing that and honoring his last wishes for the Four Corners would make up for not being there for him like she should have been, like she wished she could have been.
A bell had dinged when she opened the door, but there was no one around when she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
Nobody sat at the desk in the front of the building, and nobody called out from the back.
Then a little gray kitten scampered down a wide center hallway, its back arched slightly. It stopped at her feet and began to purr.