Page 6 of Rancher's Heart

“Very funny, that only happened twice, and you know it.” I sat in the chair across the desk from him. “I need you to have a look at my shoulder. It’s been causing me some grief.” Of course, I wasn’t telling him everything, but he was a good doctor, and I was sure he’d be able to figure the rest out.

“Shirt off.” He said as he stood and washed his hands. He put me through some exercises, and I reached above my head more times in the last two minutes than I had in the last year.

“Without x-rays, it’s hard to tell, and I highly doubt you’ll go for any, right?” Jake said as he took a seat behind his desk.

“That’s a pretty good guess.”I nodded.

Okay, I want you to call this woman. She should be able to make your day-to-day easier. She’s really nice; I work with her at the hospital.” Jake reached across his desk, and I grabbed the card with my good arm.

The name in bold in the middle of the card read Elle Greggory, and I couldn’t stop the smile that was quickly blooming across my face.

“You know her?” Jake asked as he narrowed his stare.

“Yeah, I met her this morning. She helped me with a situation.” I wasn’t about to tell Jake, she’d brought my horses back, and we flirted all the while I couldn’t keep my eyes off her tits.

“Small world.” Jake chuckled.

“It sure is. Thanks, Doc. I’ll let you know how I’m getting along.” I stood and walked out of his office.

CHAPTER 4

ELLE

Why was there a base drum pounding next to my ear in my dream? A steady beat, and then it stops, whoever was singing in this band sounded like a cat’s tail being stepped on. Pound, pound, pound.

“I know you’re in there. Get out here now,” the voice yelled. But it wasn’t in my dream. It was coming from the window above my head. “Look, lady, get your lazy ass out of bed, or I’m coming in.”

Hopping out of bed, I grabbed my robe and slid it on, tying it as I left the quiet darkness of my room and walked into the kitchen. Glancing at the dingy white cupboard door that was hanging off its hinges and down to the peeling linoleum flooring, I wondered what the hell I was doing in this place. Surely, there was another option for us. But right now there wasn’t. “What the fuck do you want?” I yelled as I pulled the door open.

“Nice of you to join the land of the living.” The man sneered as his eyes fell to the place where my robe gaped in my hurry to get it on. Realizing what he was staring at, I adjusted it and held the cloth together with a death grip.

“I worked nights, you ass hat. What the hell do you want?” I stared at the near toothless man, with his overgrown, grey,patchy beard harboring what looked like were the remnants of his lunch tangled in it. His ice-blue eyes could’ve been the one nice thing about him, but they were always bloodshot, and I wondered if he wasn’t a little jaundiced because they had a yellow hue to them.

“I sold the place. You’re out in three weeks.” His smirk as he let his eyes graze down my body made the bile in my stomach lodge in my throat.

“Three weeks? Why wasn’t I given the option to buy?” I crossed my arms over my chest covering the outline of my breasts.

“Offer wasn’t anything you could come close to.” The man turned and walked off the rickety front steps. “Be out in three weeks.” One last look at my body, and he licked his lips before wandering back to his truck. The old piece of shit rumbled to life, and the wheels kicked up rocks and dirt as he sped off.

“Fuck. Fuck.” I yelled into the vast emptiness. What was I supposed to do now? I was weeks away from being homeless. Troy would absolutely love that, and then he’d have grounds to get full custody of Parker.

Custody wasn’t something we’d ever fought over, and I didn’t take child support from him since we’d agreed on a fifty-fifty arrangement, but being homeless as a parent had severe consequences. I had to provide a safe place for Parker, and if I couldn’t Troy sure as hell would provide it.

“Mom, who was that?” Parker asked as he popped his head out of his room.

Jumping three feet in the air at the sound of Parker’s voice, I turned and pressed my hand to my chest. “When did you get back?” I asked.

“An hour ago. Figured you needed to sleep, so I’ve just been in my room playing my game.” That boy and his video games. I didn’t get on him about it because he was always willing todrop everything if I needed help. It was also his only way of interacting with other deaf kids like him. They’d created a little club of sorts, and while I wasn’t excited for him to be talking to people online at the start, I’d gotten to know some of the other parents when they were as protective as I was. “That guy, who was he?”

“Billy Hays, he said we have to be out of here in three weeks. The place sold.” I watched his eyes fill with disappointment and worry. My bighearted son has had to deal with more moves in his life than I care to think of.

“Are we leaving Weston Gap?”

“No, I promised you wouldn’t change schools again, and you won’t. I’ll get this figured out.”

“Should we talk to Dad?”

“No.” I said more harshly than I’d intended but the last thing I needed was Troy “Moneybags” Wilson riding into save the day, thinking because he’d done me a favor, it would mean I owed him something in return. It will be a cold day in hell before that man climbs back in my bed. “I’ll deal with it. We might have to move into town for a bit until I can find another ranch to rent, but I promise it won’t be long.”

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