Page 6 of Rancher's Pride

He’d always joked backhandedly that if something needed to be done, he’d have me to do it, since I was raised blue collar. It was a source of tension when I didn’t perform or behave the way he thought I should. “Put your cowgirl away. Nobody appreciates it here.” I’d heard him whisper more often than I cared to remember. According to him, I was a joke. I didn’t fit in his elite horse racing world. I didn’t fit in with his shady business deals, threats, or his mistresses, either.

The snap of the ring was freeing. Peeling it off, I did the same to my wedding band. I looked at the broken rings in the palm of my hand, realizing they were a little too symbolic. Running back into the house, I set them on top of the divorce papers. I was sure he wouldn’t find it as poetic as I did, but damn, it was perfect.

I took one last look at the house that had neverbeen our home and sighed. A single tear tracked down my cheek as I got in the car. Not for the loss of what I had, because that was nothing, but the loss of what should've been. With that, I backed out of the driveway, heading toward our new adventure.

Josie was already fast asleep in her car seat. At the end of the driveway, I hit the button for the garage door and waited before speeding off into the night. I watched the lights of the city grow smaller behind me as the interstate stretched out before me.

Now all I had to worry about was showing up back at the ranch. And answering the questions I knew everyone would have, but my little girl deserved to have a safe place to call home, and what better than the same place I’d once had. The ranch was safe and secure but also home to my people that I’d avoided for over five years. But there was one person I was worried about seeing, one person that wouldn’t be as forgiving of my absence as the rest.

CHAPTER FIVE

NASH

Pink and orange rose above the horizon as the sound of the radio drowned out the hum of the engine in the big truck. The drive into town was always better if I could watch the sun rise. The color glinted off the blinding white snow and it looked like the sparkling glitter in a Christmas snow globe that beckoned anyone who saw it to jump in it.

The bell rang as I walked into the coffee shop and looked around. The bitter smell of freshly ground coffee mixed in with the warm scent of vanilla, fruit and yeast of the fresh pastries flooded my nose when I opened the door. An empty coffee shop wasn’t surprising. Everyone was probably getting ready to hunker down for the impending storm. Ranchers would be getting extra feed and bedding ready for their animals. This blizzard had been predicted for a week, and had been growing in intensity each day. We’re going tohave to support one another as a community to get through it.

“Hey Nash, are you here to see your dad?” The woman behind the counter smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back at her. Wanda Trader had quit her job at the daycare and started working with my dad here at the coffee shop, but she didn’t leave her charisma behind. I don’t know how she managed it, especially with how busy things were around here, but the woman was an eternal optimist. Falling for my pop had been the reason she’d changed careers. But on occasion she made a comment or two about daycare politics, parenting styles, which made it evident there were a lot of secrets behind that smile. Her hair was pulled tight in a high ponytail. Her pink apron was covered with goodness knows what from her job of baking and brewing coffee.

“Yeah, is he in?” I walked to the side counter as she nodded.

“Let me go get him.” She walked into the back room, and I suspected Pop was in his office. Wanda was a lot younger than my father, but I think their new love has been good for him. She hung on every word he said, made sure he knew he was the most important person in her life, and he was like a new man. Who knew that all he needed in his life was Wanda?

“Well, this is a surprise,” Fred, my dad, said as he walked in from the back room, his arm around his sweetheart’s waist. He’d never been this way with mymother. They constantly argued as far back as I could remember. Fred loved my mother and tried to do everything he could to make her happy, but she resented him and me regardless. I was the reason she hadn’t been able to escape this life with him, my mere existence had tied her down, which made me a burden.

“Hi, Pop. Can we talk?” My tone, gruff and low, made my words come out far more serious than I had planned and I watched the crease between his brows grow deeper and his face, which had been relaxed, was now etched with worry.

“Sure, son, let’s go to the office.” He motioned to the back and kissed Wanda on the cheek. “If you need help, just shout.” Swatting her on the ass before he broke away from her. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. He slung his arm over my shoulder and laughed.

She giggled and shook her head. “I’ll be fine, Fred.” The bell rang again, and she turned her attention to the customer who’d walked in.

My father had worked for the Miller ranch when he was younger, but my mom hated his long hours and she wanted a fancy coffee shop to make our town more sophisticated. So he made it happen, and now he was the one that was saddled with it.

Well, not him, me, the ranch, and the fake company I had to start so I could buy it without him thinking I was taking pity on him. I’d had a friend my dad hadn’t met be the go between to do the business deal and Iwas sure he didn’t know I was the actual owner of Steam ’n Sugar.

Taking a seat across from me, he folded his hands. “So, what’s this all about?” Grabbing the papers, I slid them across the desk and waited as he read them over.

“Rescind the restraining order on Kipp. You’re both very different men than you were two years ago. You know he was just protecting me.” I folded my arms across my chest and waited.

My father’s eyes hardened. “I’m still not sure I deserved the beating he gave me.”

“Pop, you put everyone in danger.” I thought back to the incident in question. His truck careening carelessly through the yard, narrowly missing the corner of the barn, before taking out the corrals and a cattle feeder. When he finally appeared under control, he backed up and turned around. Julie had been running across the yard and she froze as she saw the truck veer toward her. Kipp somehow got the door open and pulled the steering wheel, ramming his truck into a huge rock at the corner of the house yard.

Kipp still was not dealing with the loss of his father well, and then seeing his mom so close to danger made him go wild. Punches were thrown, Pop’s nose was broken and his eyes almost swollen shut, but he was so drunk he just laughed. It took Griff, Ryder and Linc to pull Kipp off my father. “You were lucky it wasn’t me who got to you first.” I balled my hands up into fists, thinking back to that night.

He’d spent his weeks’ worth of profits at the bar and then decided to confront me about my mother leaving. At that point, he was sure I had been the one to encourage her to go. I never understood his thought process when he’d been drinking. When he was sober, he knew my mother despised me as much as him, but when he was drunk everything was my fault.

“You’re lucky he sobered you up and sent you on your way. He was well within his right to press charges, and then you turned around and served him a restraining order. Pop, isn’t it time to drop this? I want you at the ranch. I want you in my life.” For the first time in ages, I was honest with him and I hoped he’d listened.

His face softened, and the corner of his mouth turned up. “I already did, son.” He took a deep breath and continued. “After he and Nora got engaged, I knew that if I wanted to be part of her life, I needed to stop fighting it. Her showing up here asking for a job made me see how much I’d missed you. It’s hard to admit when you’re wrong and I’ve been so wrong about a lot of things these last few years.” He leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his thinning hair and sighed. The last few years had been hard on him, but slowly I was seeing him return to the man I used to idolize. He was acting like my father again, not a man I avoided seeing unless I was hauling his drunk ass out of the bar, so I knew he’d made it home safely and didn’t kill anyone on the way.

“Why doesn’t Kipp know?” I wanted to be angry that nobody told me, but I didn’t have the energy to be angry at him anymore. The last two years had beaten me down just like it had done to him, but I had people at my back. It was time for me to have Pop’s back again.

“Have you asked him about it recently?” He arched his brow and folded his hands over his stomach.

“No, I haven’t, but I’m surprised he didn’t say anything.” Kipp, and I didn’t talk about the issue with my father often, and lately he’d been so happy with Nora, and Fred had been head over heels for Wanda, life had been chugging along without an insurmountable hill to climb.

“He’s like his father. It wasn’t his news to tell you, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I put you in an uncomfortable situation and that wasn’t fair.” My father stood and walked around his desk, offering me his hand. “I assure you, nothing like that will happen again. Your babysitting days are over.” I reached for his hand and he pulled me into a hug. I was immediately transported back to simpler times, when everyone was happy.

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