Page 33 of Rancher's Heart

“Troy, I get your worry about Griff. I had it, too when he first made the offer. But I had a friend check him out, and I’ve had people I trust vouch for him. There’s no way I would have put Parker in danger. If you want to see the emails I got on the guy, I’ll send them to you.”

He gave me a half smile, and he chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. I did my own digging after I found out who he was.”

Reaching out I touched his arm, “So then what’s this really about?”

“Am I going to lose my son?” His eyes grew soft and hurt rose in them like water in a bathtub. My heart broke for the man whose love for his son was the most important thing in his life.

“Oh god, Troy, no, you will never lose him. No matter who comes into his life, you’re his dad, and you always will be. You’re the one person who nobody else can be. I hate that we couldn’tmake this work, but we’re really good parents to our boy, even if we don’t love one another anymore. I will never let another man come between you two.” It was the truth. I wouldn’t ever stop Troy from being his dad.

“Thank you.” His voice caught in his throat.

We stood in silence for a few minutes and I watched him frown and bite the corner of his mouth. It’s what he did when he was trying to ask something. “Just ask,” I said as I threw my hands up at my sides.

“Are you and he?” He arched his brow but never finished the question.

“Sleeping together? No, we’re letting things play out naturally and see what happens. But nothing in front of Parker.” This was not a conversation I ever wanted to have with anyone let alone my ex-husband. He nodded and gave me half a smile.

“Starcie isn’t a thing, she’d like to be a thing, but she’s annoying as fuck.” I couldn’t control my laughter, and it bubbled out of me.

“You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.” We laughed together, and for the first time in ages, I wasn’t uncomfortable around him. “But you deserve to be happy, and even if it was Starcie, I wouldn’t have said anything more about it.”

“I was happy once, but I fucked that up.” He reached up and moved a chunk of my hair that had blown over my face and tucked it behind my ear.

“No it wasn’t just you, and you know it.” There were a lot of things I could blame Troy for but the end of our marriage wasn’t on him alone.

Laughter from a few cars over broke the moment, and he cleared his throat. “I’m heading out of town next week, think I could get Parker a few nights this week?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Just let me know when, and I’ll let the bus driver know where to get him.”

“I’ll drive him. I might not be as big as Griffin Harp, but I don’t mind scaring some little shits so they leave our kid alone.” Protective Troy was pretty fierce, and I hated to think of what he and Griff would do together, given the chance.

“Sounds good. I better get going.”

“Sorry about all this.” He said as he followed me around to the driver’s side of the truck. Reaching around me, he opened the door, and I climbed in.

“Nothing to be sorry about.” I smiled. He walked to his truck, and I sat for a minute, thanking the stars that that went much better than I’d imagined.

My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so instead of heading back to the ranch, I swung into a parking spot in front of Steam ’n Sugar.

The bell chimed above the door, and Fred looked up from the till and smiled. “Well, I haven’t seen you in over a week. How’s things?” Now that I knew Nash, he was a spitting image of his father. I couldn’t believe over all this time, I hadn’t put two and two together.

“Crazy, strange, slightly terrifying, but I think really good.” I smiled at him before looking up at the menu.

“Heard you and Parker are on the Diamond now.” He beamed like it was his pride and joy.

“We are, yep.” I nodded, wondering where this conversation was going.

“That’s good. I’m glad you’re out of the Hays place. That was trouble waiting to happen. What can I get for you?” I wondered if he’d heard about the trouble I’d had, but I didn’t really want to bring it up in such a public setting.

“A white cranberry latte and a grilled ham and cheese, please.” I looked down the counter, and his fiancée turned andwaved at me. Wanda was much younger than Fred, but any time I’d seen them together, I could tell they were perfect for one another. I smiled and waved back at her.

“How was girls’ night?” She called while she washed her hands.

“I had a great time.”

“Julie and I will catch the next one. We couldn’t miss our golf night.” She looked over at Fred, who almost snarled as he looked at her.

“Oh, we could have easily missed it,” Fred grumbled, as he pushed buttons on the coffee machine. Wanda dried her hands and moved him out of the way with a bump to his hip. Fred ran his hand along the top of her rear end as he let her take his spot. She smiled up at him and I couldn’t help but be slightly jealous of the obvious love they had for one another.

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