Page 2 of Second Chance at Mountain Creek Ranch
Technically, Nash is my boss, but Jameson likes to throw his weight around, claiming that since I work onhisfamily’s ranch, I work for him too. It’s not worth fighting him on it.
I sigh and cut the ignition on the ATV and step off it. I grab the keys he's dangling in his outstretched hand. Jameson doesn't waste any time jumping on and speeding off towards the northwest fields.
I get in the truck and head out. Eagleton is about thirty minutes away, and if I want to get to Willow or Savannah before the sun goes down, I need to hurry. I don't like the idea of either of them on the side of the road, let alone when it's dark.
Thanks to my lead foot, I get there in about twenty minutes. I see the car on the side of the road just ahead. It isn't until this moment when I see the familiar curvy figure leaning against the back of the car that I realize Jameson never said which sister I'd be picking up. I'd just assumed Willow or Savannah because they still lived in Centennial Springs. It never occurred to me that the sister I was going to pick up was my ex and the one that got away.
Harper.
“I’m going to punch Jameson so hard in the balls,” I grumble under my breath as I pull the truck to a stop behind her.
I take a moment before I get out of the truck to survey the Harper in front of me against the Harper of my memories. Despite the years, it's been since I'd seen her last, she looks almost the same. Her auburn hair still as vibrant as it was, but her curves have filled out more. My dick twitches in my pants as I gaze trails down every dip and curve of her body. How is it that she looks even better after all these years?
I’m annoyed that no one told me that she was coming home. They all knew our history, especially Nash. He knew that I liked to make myself scarce whenever she came home. It was too hard to see her. She was happy and successful in her new life. And I was still in the same place she left me all those years ago.
I get out of the truck and see on her face the moment when she sees that it’s me. The sun is nearly completely set, so it makes sense that she couldn’t see me before.
“I thought Jameson was sending one of my sisters.”
No,hello? No,it’s been a long time? Okay, I see how she wants this to play out. I can pretend like we don’t have a history between us too.
"I don't know anything about that. I was told that one of his sisters was stranded on the side of the highway, and I needed to go help her out,” I say, trying to hide any feelings returning to life inside me for her. “I didn’t know it would be you.”
I walk past her towards the front of the car. The hood is already propped up, and I take a look. It’s a tangled mess of repurposed parts and what looks like duct tape. It’s no wonder she got stuck on the side of the road. I’m surprised it didn’t explode on her. I don’t bother trying to salvage it. This thing is toast.
“Can you fix it?” she asks, sounding hopeful.
I try not to take offense because the last thing I want to do is be stuck in the same truck with her, either.
“There’s nothing to fix. This car is dead.” I close the hood to emphasize my point.
“But the guy at the dealership—”
“This car was being held together by duct tape and wishful thinking. I don’t know what possessed you to buy this piece of junk.”
“It’s all I could afford,” she admits, her voice barely above a whisper.
I look at her and then back to the car. I didn’t see at first that it was packed with boxes. This isn’t just a visit home. She’s moving back. A mixture of hope and uneasiness fills me. I don’t know how I should be feeling about this?
I run my hand over my face. “Well, there is nothing we can do for the car tonight. Let’s get your stuff and put it in the back of the truck. You can call to get this towed tomorrow.”
I help her empty the car. The scent of her strawberry shampoo wafts off her, the same one she used in high school, and for a moment, I'm taken back to the boy I was at seventeen when I dreamed of marrying this girl.
“That’s everything,” she says, handing me the last of her stuff to put in the back.
I nod once and head for the driver's seat. The next thirty minutes will be a test for me, but one I know I can survive. If I lived through losing her all those years ago, I could live through the drive back to the ranch.
I hope.
2
HARPER
Last night, the tension in the cab of the truck on the ride home could’ve been cut with a knife. Neither one of us said anything the entire way. But without even trying, it felt like I was seventeen again—the scent of the spearmint gum he chewed, a country song playing on the radio, and the way he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music. The only thing missing was me sitting tucked under his arm by his side, trying to distract him with kisses on that special spot just below his ear. It was somehow both agonizingly long and too short at the same time.
Before I knew it, we pulled up the drive to my family's ranch. We were met with many of my brothers and sisters standing around, waiting to greet us. My sisters looped their arms with mine and dragged me inside, while my brothers and Travis unloaded my things.
Travis didn't stick around after the last box was put in my old room, or rather my new room. I was exhausted from traveling, so no one questioned it when I told them I wanted to go to bed early. But I know they were all dying to ask me the question on everyone's minds.Why had I moved back?
