Page 13 of If You Loved Me

Her eyes were sad as she finally looked up at me. “I saw him last weekend at the farmer’s market. I thought maybe he was just visiting his family, but I heard through the grapevine that he’s moving back to town.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I didn’t want to get you worked up over something when I wasn’t sure if he was back for good. I just got confirmation last night that he was buying a house.”

Hot anger had my blood simmering beneath my skin. I wanted so badly to punch something, but seeing as how that’s what got me put away in the first place I kept my clenched fists firmly in my lap.

So many years of my life were gone. Countless memories I could have shared with my little sister and best friend. Being forced to leave them to tend to the ranch when it wasmydream, not theirs.

LeRoy Cummings had fucked up my life beyondimagination and to hear that the smug asshole was back in town knowing that I would never leave had smoke damn near shooting from my ears.

“Are you going to be okay?” I could hear the concern in her voice as she placed a gentle palm on my forearm.

I felt my nostrils flare as I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath. When I opened my eyes, I patted her hand. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. It’s just the initial shock of the news. That’s all.”

“Okay.” She rubbed her hand back and forth over my arm. I hated the tears that lined her eyes as she said, “He’s already taken so much from you, Ranger. Don’t give him anything else.”

Callie Rose was right. LeRoy would always be a douchebag looking for the next person to screw over for his benefit, especially if that meant someone else could be his fall guy.

Shifting my gaze ahead, I took in the endless rows of grape vines my sister had planted with her bare hands and the acres of hills beyond where our cattle grazed. I’d spent ten years of my life fighting to get back to this. To not succumb to the mindfuck of being locked in a cage for someone else’s mistake.

No matter what he did, I couldn’t let him rob me of more time. Because no matter how much money the ranch was starting to make, time was the one thing money couldn’t buy.

Chapter 6

Sarah

I’m going to be late. It was the only thought running through my mind as I handed over the box full of pastries to Mrs. Gronemyer. She had to watch her grandchildren unexpectedly this afternoon, so she was running behind in picking up her order.

I should have just told her that she would need to pick it up tomorrow morning, but she sounded so frazzled over the phone and I didn’t want to make her feel worse. But that small act of grace was going to cost me big time because it was Sunday, which meant that I was going to be late for our first family dinner in years.

My mother was going to blow a gasket.

As soon as Mrs. Gronemyer was through the door, I threw my apron over my head, grabbed my purse, and ran for my car. Thankfully, it was Sunday and most people were home with their families preparing for the work week ahead so the roads werefairly empty.

When I finally pulled into my parents’ driveway, I glanced at the clock on my dashboard and noted the time was seventeen minutes past six.

“Gah!” I groaned to myself. When my mother said six o’clock sharp, she meant it. I didn’t even want to pull out my phone that was snug in my purse because I knew I probably had dozens of text messages from her.

I threw my car into park and jogged up the stone steps to their front door. While my parents had less property than the Baxley estate, their house was very similar in its grandeur. When I was younger, I never paid much attention to what having such a pillar of a home meant. How it was a representation of what my family would expect from me. That I would need to find my way of accomplishing enough to have my own grand home. Or that I would need to find a man who could provide it for me while I ran the household.

As I gripped the long door handle that had beautiful spirals on each end, I felt the weight of the door like it was the weight I’d been bearing on my shoulders for years. Before I stepped through the entryway, I took a deep breath in, smelling the delicious aroma of fresh herbs and spices mixed with the savory notes of meat. I let my shoulders fall and I told myself that tonight would be okay. I was an adult. No longer forced to fit into their box. My brother and I had every right to live our lives as we saw fit and they would just have to deal with it.

The pep talk gave me enough strength to make it down the long hallway to the final room on the left, across from the kitchen. The tall wooden French doors to the dining roomwere slightly ajar when I pushed them open to find my father at the head of the long mahogany table, my mother to his right, and Theo to his left. They all shifted their gazes toward me and the moment I met my mother’s brown eyes, I knew I was in deep trouble.

“It’s so nice of you to finally join us, Sarah.” Even when my mother was angry she never compromised her manners, but her tone was sharp, cutting through the tense air like a knife.

“Sorry,” I mumbled as I slid into the chair next to Theo. I knew that even if I told her about Mrs. Gronemyer being late my mother wouldn’t take it as an excuse, so I silently slid the napkin on my empty plate out from the ring and placed it on my lap.

My parents’ butler, Calvin, must have been listening through the kitchen door because the moment I was settled he came in with a serving plate of our main course. Steam rose from the roast, potatoes, and carrots. My mouth watered as I realized I hadn’t eaten anything since this morning. Not on purpose of course. There were just some days when the bakery became so busy I forgot to take a moment to feed myself.

Once the table was fully set with the meal and my dad said grace, we dug in. I was thankful for the initial silence as we all savored the delicious food their chef prepared.

But then the questions started and I could feel Theo tense beside me as our dad said, “I heard that Stephanie decided to delay college a year to help out at your bakery.”

My throat was dry as a bone as I tried to swallow the biteof roast I’d just taken. Not even five minutes in and the accusatory judgments had already begun.

“Yes. The first year she worked for me, she was trying to save money so she wouldn’t have to take out as many student loans. She mostly worked the register, but over the last six months she’s started to help me in the back and she’s been enjoying it. So she decided to stay with me another year to see if she’d rather work with me or for another bakery instead of pursuing college.”

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