Chapter 27
Jake Ahlstrom could not believe the audacity of some people. He dropped down into the chute, only a fence away from the pretty blonde, and glared. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
“We’re taking a tour,” she said, and those words had no meaning inside Jake’s ears.
“You can’t just come take a tour. We’re a working cattle ranch.”
The woman smiled at him and stepped down off the rung where she’d dared to put her feet. “Yeah, I know,” she said. “Libby just had to run inside with her baby.”
Jake looked past her and frowned down the road toward the homestead. He’d grown up with Libby Ackerman, though everything about their lives had diverged. She was married and had two kids now, and Jake couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a serious girlfriend.
Fine, he could, but he wished he couldn’t.
She turned as footsteps approached, and then turned back to him, smiling. “This here’s Lila Mae,” she said, “I think he’s the vet here.”
Jake looked at the second blonde woman approaching, and then checked the road for Libby one more time. When he still didn’t see her, he focused on the women in front of him.
“What are you guys doing out here?” the second one asked.
“This is Lila Mae Dixon,” the first woman said again. “And I’m Hailey Winters.”
The first name struck a chord in Jake’s mind, but he wasn’t exactly sure where he’d heard it.
“Jake Ahlstrom,” he said. “And yes, I’m the veterinarian here.”
“Just the person I want to talk to,” Lila Mae said, and she actually whipped out a notebook, as if she’d start asking him questions right then and there.
Jake’s impatience fired, and he glared at her.
When she looked up after consulting her notes, she opened her mouth and something like a squeak came out before she closed it again.
He didn’t mean to be quite so grumpy, but he had a ton of work to do that day, and certainly no time to answer this woman’s questions. His glare must have said it all, because Lila Mae flipped closed her notebook and tucked it back into her bag.
“Would you mind terribly if I got your phone number?” she asked. “Then I can ask you some questions when it’s more convenient for you.”
“Questions about what?” he asked.
“I’m building a new cat sanctuary here in town,” she said. “Well, down in Three Rivers, and I think I’ll be attending the small ranch owners’ meetings with you.” She raised her eyebrows, and Jake tried to swallow down some of his ire.
“Sure,” he said, his memory finally coming together for him. “You’re Trap’s girl.”
“Yes.” Lila Mae brightened and grinned at him. “And I’m just trying to learn as much as possible about the climate here, the landscape, and how big operations like these work.”
“You bought the Hensen place,” he said, once again not asking.
“Yes,” she said again. “Trap and I are working on it together, and I’m from Georgia—well, kind of— which is quite a bit different than Texas. I’m just trying to learn everything I can, and I’d love it if my veterinarian or I could talk to you and ask questions from time to time.”
Jake certainly couldn’t see how he could tell her no, and he cut a look over to Hailey, who didn’t quite wear the same PR smile that Lila Mae did.
He was terrible at judging age, but if he had to guess, both women were close to him—early to mid-thirties. While they both wore tank tops, jeans, and closed-toed shoes—Sensible, he thought—something sparked way hotter in him when he looked at Hailey.
Yeah, irritation, he thought, because he suspected she’d taken that last photo of him just to be cheeky.
“I suppose I can talk to you,” he said. “But we’re really busy today and we’re behind schedule.”
“We didn’t mean to interrupt,” Lila Mae said, and he noted that the moment she’d arrived, Hailey had stopped talking. He wasn’t sure what that meant, and he told himself he didn’t care.
He hadn’t given up his dream job and big, beautiful house in the stunning Texas Hill Country to return home to small-town Three Rivers and wrestle cattle for fun.
No, he’d done it because he couldn’t stay anywhere near where Chantelle lived.
She’d taken his heart, cracked it right in two, and he’d left little pieces of it between here and there.
So he ducked his head and tipped his hat and said, “If you’ll excuse me, ladies,” and turned back to his task at hand.
Little John raised his eyebrows at him, but Jake simply shook his head. “Where we at?” he asked, letting his inner grump once again come out.
Because he’d told Hailey and Lila Mae the truth: they were behind on getting their blood samples and administering the vaccinations. Carver and Levi would be back in the next few minutes with yet another herd of cattle that needed to go through the chutes.
Jake had let one pretty face distract him in the past, and though he glanced over and found Hailey and Lila Mae still there watching, he told himself he would not allow such a thing to happen again.
He loved Three Rivers Ranch and he loved this job.
He loved being closer to his parents and his younger brother, and he felt loved and accepted by the men and women at the small ranch owners’ meetings.
All of that would have to be enough, because Jake was not willing to let his heart and life be shredded by a woman, even one as beautiful as Hailey Winters.
After all, if everything blew up here in Three Rivers the way it had in Hondo, Jake didn’t have anywhere else to escape to.