Page 147 of Fish out of Water
This wasn’t a house. This was an estate.
A compound.
And it only got bigger the closer they got.
Brett pulled the truck to a stop, parking in a line of other, similar trucks before getting out and coming around to help Wyatt jump down. He held one hand out. “Need a hand?”
Clara eyed his offered palm. She’d been on her own for a year, and depending on someone for anything ever again left a sour feeling in her gut. “I’m okay.” She grabbed the door with one hand and her dress with the other, holding onto both for dear life as she jumped out, the soles of her flat sandals not doing much to protect the bottoms of her feet from the bite of the rough gravel.
But she smiled through it. Just like she’d done a million times in the past year.
Fake it till you make it.
“Can I go see the horses?” Wyatt had definitely already forgotten all their talk about being respectful.
“I’m sure Mr. Pace has things to do.” Clara gave Brett an apologetic smile she hoped made it clear she’d tried to teach her child how to act right.
“Actually, I havenothingelse to do.” Brett lifted his brows at Wyatt. “But you should probably ask your momma if it’s okay for you to go see them.”
Wyatt turned his big brown eyes on her. “Can I please?”
She’d been able to give her son so little of what he was used to since the twat decided he wanted to trade her in for a younger model, stripping away all she thought her life would be.
Clara scanned the ranch. This was supposed to be their new home. It’s what she told Wyatt. Promised him.
He deserved to feel at home somewhere again.
She gave him a nod. “Remember your manners.”
She watched as Brett and Wyatt made their way toward a large red barn.
This was going to be a good thing. What they needed.
What she needed.
Clara scanned the property, her stomach tightening.
Was she supposed to go find Maryann Pace?
Wait here for Brett and Wyatt to come back so they could go get her car from the middle of the road?
“Shit.”Clara allowed a rare slip of one of her favorite words and dropped her head back to stare at the sky.
Once again she was only half-prepared for the life she was stuck in.
“Can I help you?”
A deep male voice sent her spine straight and her head leveling out. Clara spun around to face the source of the voice.
Oh hell.
Brett was easy to brush off.
He was cute, but definitely young.
The man in front of her was not what any woman would callcute.
Not by a long shot.
