Page 53 of Red Hot Rancher

She missed those touches. The photos of their own horses grazing in the pastures. The aerial view of the property. And especially artwork of the prairie countryside.

She would miss all of that. Having her own place in a cubicle farm held no appeal. It was one thing if the work appealed to her, but it didn’t. At all. There was nothing about nature in this type of work. She wouldn’t have any reason to keep up on cattle feed trends, or work with Justin on which colostrum worked better for his lambs, or have a hand in Caleb lowering the open rates of his cows.

Already, her mind fit ideas into place. Start with mineral. Change silage from corn to sorghum. Research another bull to purchase to breed in heartier DNA.

But here, she’d get farther and farther out of touch with the industry the longer she was working behind plated glass on the fifth floor of an office building.

Digging out her phone, she called Caleb. When he answered, she briefly closed her eyes. Hearing his voice was a balm to irritations she hadn’t known existed.

“Hey,” she said. “Interview’s done.”

“How’d it go?” His words were taken by the wind. A car door opening and closing was muffled over the line.

“It went well. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

“Nope. I might have to go when my mom arrives, though.”

“Your mom’s in town?” She hated that she couldn’t be there for him. She’d always thought of his mom as a petite natural disaster. She rolled into town, caused some sort of devastation—usually with her own son—and left for an unknown, often extended, amount of time.

“With a new dude. I guess Russ kicked her out.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It is what it is.” There was Caleb’s eternal tolerance for his mom’s behavior. Her own mom saw it as a failure of his, but not Brigit. It was self-preservation. Anger and bitterness at Adele would only hurt him, not her. “They wanted to see the place so I’m meeting them out here.”

“I’ll let you go then.”

“You don’t have to. They’re not here yet.” The edge in his voice was unmistakable.

“When is she supposed to get there?”

“Twenty minutes ago.” Ouch. “So, the interview? How’d it really go?”

“The interview? Perfect. They seemed happy with me. The job, though…”

“That bad?”

“No. It’d be okay for someone who was into that kind of work. I don’t know if I’m cut out for it.” She almost whispered. But no one was home. Just she and Caleb knew the truth.

“You’ve always liked to get your hands dirty, literally. You were born and raised a rancher, Bridge. It’s okay to do that for a living. It’s okay to want to do that for a living.”

“I think I’m realizing that now.” Her breath froze. That was a hell of an admission.

“You’d be willing to stay in Moore. With me?” The awe in his voice warmed her more than the Phoenix sun ever could.

“I’ve grudgingly started seeing Moore’s appeal.” She’d stood up to Maisy. Priya wasn’t the mean-girl monster she recalled. Seeing her twin everyday was more than a bonus, and living close to her other brother and his family was something she’d missed more than she thought.

And dammit, like that credit union in Minneapolis thought, she was educated and experienced. The Teddies of Moore would just have to deal with her. She’d make sure of it.

“And you’re in Moore,” she said.

“Then come home. We’ll figure it out. You and I.”

A smile tugged at her lips. “My flight’s tomorrow, anyway.” She was going home. Home. Phoenix wasn’t her home, and she didn’t have to make it be her home.

“I know. It sucks waking up without you.” And he’d said his ranch was her ranch.

“Can I do this? Can I really do this?” Was she brave enough to change a life’s worth of expectations to spend her time with the man she loved? She hadn’t told him she loved him. But she’d rectify that when she got back.

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