Second Chance Ranch Chapter 28

Chapter TWENTY-EIGHT:

Kelly arrived at work on Tuesday morning, a giddy mess. Her weekend with Squire had been picture perfect. The stolen kisses they’d enjoyed at the picnic, behind the thickest tree trunk, still made her muscles soggy. The warmth of his strong hands against her face sent shivers through her, though the summer sun was brutal this morning.

He’d spent the day at Shiloh Ridge yesterday, so she hadn’t seen him, and today would be the first time since sneaking away with him during the after-church picnic.

He wasn’t waiting in her office the way she hoped he might be, and after the first hour of wading through dirty paperwork alone, she grew frustrated at his absence. 

She didn’t have to tell anyone where she was going or how she spent her time, but she still felt like she was sneaking out as she practically tiptoed past Frank’s dark office. Down the hall sat the controller’s desk, but it too sat empty.

Most of the administration trailer was empty. The only person there sat in front of a big-screen TV mounted to the wall, which played a football game. 

The cowboy looked exhausted and drenched in sweat, and he tipped back the last of his water bottle as she watched. Then he sighed and got to his feet, turned, saw her, and tipped his hat.

“Howdy, Bennett,” she said, noting that the usually chipper cowboy simply looked one breath away from death. 

“Howdy, Miss Kelly,” he said.

“Are you okay?” She stepped closer to him, real concern coursing through her. “You don’t look so good.”

“Allergies,” he said only two second before he sneezed. “Something at Shiloh Ridge did not agree with me.” His bright blue eyes bore redness around them, and he sniffled again. “I’ve already told Tom, but I’m going to town for a shot. If anyone asks, remind them, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said. “I will.” He started for the door, but Kelly hurried after him, cutting him off as he started to open it. “Are you sure you can drive yourself?”

He grinned, some of his sparkle returning. “I’m not driving myself, because no, I’m not okay. Beau’s gonna take me.”

“Oh, okay. Good.” Kelly let him leave, and she went outside with him. Beau was coming up the stairs, and he paused when he saw them. He looked from Kelly to Bennett and back.

“There you are,” he said. “You didn’t answer your phone, and you weren’t at home.”

“Just resting here,” Bennett said. He went down the steps, and Beau tipped his hat to Kelly before going with his best friend.

“Don’t be mad,” Beau said, as they walked away. “But I asked Stephanie where you were, and she….”

Kelly didn’t hear the rest of what Beau said, but Bennett looked at him sharply. Squire had talked about their competition when it came to women, and she smiled as she followed them at a lazy pace down the white gravel path between the outbuildings and the cabins. 

The foreman’s stood closest to the administration building, and Clark had moved in there when Squire should’ve. He and Pete lived a couple down, almost smack dab in the middle of the row of nine cabins, with the homestead way down at the end, in the middle of an oasis of grass, shrubs, trees, and bushes. 

Heidi’s second iteration of her garden was doing quite well, and Kelly wandered over to it despite the lack of shade there. Her pulse had settled into a normal beat after being so excited to see Squire, and she crouched down to wave her hand over the feathery tops of the carrots that had started to grow.

“Morning, Kel.”

She straightened and turned toward Squire. He wore every stitch of clothing exactly in the right place, and Kelly wanted to run to him and have him lift her into his arms. He’d be able to do it too, if he’d take his hands out of his jeans pockets.

His blue, white, and green shirt was all the right colors to enhance his good looks, and that cream-colored cowboy hat reminded her of home-churned butter. Mostly white, with just the tiniest drop of yellow present to be beautiful.

He wore his plaid shirt tucked into his jeans, a brown belt circling his waist. The leather in it matched that in his boots, and if Kelly had hired an artist to draw her pure male perfection, it would be Squire Ackerman.

“Good morning, Major,” she flirted. “Where have you been today?”

He grinned and nodded toward the house. “Getting my mother to put some of her soothing oils on my sore muscles. Clearing a fire line is no joke.”

Kelly ducked her head and giggled. He didn’t join in, but asked, “You think I’m joking?”

“You work out every day,” she said. “Lifting weights. Running.” She trailed off when he continued to wear his stoic face.

“Neither of which are like raking dead, dry debris through the dust for hours.” He finally cracked a smile, and Kelly moved toward him then.

She slid her hands through the openings between his elbows and his body, but he didn’t remove his hands from his pockets. “I’ve been waiting for you in my office,” she said, tipping her head back to look up at him.

“Have you?” One hand slid out of his pocket and along her hip, pressing her body against his. A groan pulled through his chest. “I’m not sure I can do much sifting today, darlin’.” 

“Then just come sit with me,” she said. “Then when I talk out loud, it won’t be to myself.” 

He grinned down at her, his head lowering slightly. But Kelly continued with, “In fact, I don’t like being out in that trailer alone. I didn’t even realize I was alone out there, and now that I know, it kind of creeps me out.”

Squire chuckled, the sound delicious in all the country stillness. His cologne tickled her nose, a mixture of something woody, pine-based, and full of leather. 

“I don’t want you to be creeped out,” he said. He leaned closer, and Kelly tipped up to meet his kiss halfway. Kissing him behind the cypress tree in the park had been magical and life-changing. But kissing him in the open stillness of this ranch she loved? 

It created a completely new reason for why Kelly loved coming out here, and she hoped she’d be able to make this place, with this man, her permanent home one day.

One day soon.

#

By the end of the day, Kelly thought she might scream. “If we don’t find something soon….” She sent a glare Squire’s way. He’d come to the trailer with her after she’d found him this morning, but his mood had been subdued, taking hers with it. She didn’t know how to finish the sentence, because the fact was, they hadn’t found anything worthwhile in days.

“Maybe this is all there is.” Squire indicated the towering piles on her desk.

“It can’t be,” she said, her voice rising in pitch as desperation overwhelmed her. “It just can’t be.”

They’d found a lot of files in random places, yes. They’d talked through the different places the ranch had sold cattle. She’d put everything into her computer, though, and the numbers didn’t line up.

Numbers should always line up, especially when a computer was doing the work. She looked mutinously at her machine, like perhaps someone had written incorrect code for it.

“Kel,” Squire said. “It’s going to be okay.”

She nodded as he gathered her into the safety of his arms. He held her for a few moments before she straightened her spine and strengthened her determination. 

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I’m just going to take a break.” She turned toward the door.

“Where?” he asked.

“It’s quitting time, cowboy.” She returned to her desk and collected her lunchbox and purse. “I’m going home.”

“Oh, don’t go so mad.” He grabbed her hand and hauled her to his chest. He kissed her solidly, moving swiftly and pouring plenty of passion into the kiss. Just as quickly as he’d kissed her, he stopped, leaving her reeling and trying to catch up.

“All right,” he said gruffly. “You can go now.”

She giggled, waved good-bye to him, and headed to her car. She kept the radio off on the way back to town, because she could sometimes work through problems better in the silence.

An entire cabinet of unseen files still remained, and when Kelly’s mind couldn’t come up with a solution to the things they had found, she started praying over the things she hadn’t.

At home, Finn ran out the front door before she’d even collected her lunchbox to go inside. “Mama! Mama! Mama!”

Kelly didn’t want to be too tired for her son, but exhaustion did pull through her. Still, she affixed a smile to her face and got out of the car to wrap her son in a hug.

“Finn, Finn, Finn!” she said back. “What did you do today with Grandma and Grandpa?”

“We wented to the petting zoo,” he said. “And got some cider— Grandma brought home some powder so we can make some hot.”

Kelly grinned, because she did love hot apple cider. She should suggest to Squire that they go out to the orchards, and the sweet scent of apples filled her nose though there wasn’t actually any fruit nearby.

“Sounds fun,” she said, trying not to feel like a complete failure of a parent. She’d like to be the one to take her son to the apple orchards and provide his daily care for him, the way she once had. “Should we got get some new school shoes tonight?”

Finn screwed up his face and shook his head. “No, Mama. I’m not gonna go to school.”

“Yes, Finny, you are.” She smiled at him. “You’re five years old now, baby. You get to go to kindergarten in a few months.”

Two months. The start of school. Kelly could drop him off and go to work, giving her mother a break while he went to kindergarten. She wouldn’t be able to pick him up in the afternoon, but she’d be home very soon after that.

He shook his hand out of hers. “Nope,” he said, skipping off and leaving Kelly to trudge up the walk to the front door alone. Inside, the blessed air conditioning welcomed Kelly back, and she noted that it didn’t welcome her home.

“Oh, there you are,” her mother said as she came down the hall that led to her bedroom. “I’m going down to Glenda’s to get my hair done.” Her mother grinned at her, her fading hair already concealed beneath a hat. “Might be fun. Do you want to come?”

No, Kelly didn’t want to go to the salon. She also didn’t want to fall into bed and stay there, giving in to her depression. And her mother’s face held such hope, so Kelly nodded and said, “Do I have a few minutes to change?”

“Of course. I’ll go tell Daddy.” 

Kelly changed and freshened up, then joined her mother in the car. For some reason, she double-checked her phone to make sure it was still on as her mother backed out of the garage. Why, she didn’t know. In case Squire called and said he’d miraculously found every missing document? He’d never stayed in her office after she left, and she had no reason to presume he had today.

Her foot tapped as Glenda set her mother’s hair. Their idle chatter barely permeated her eardrums—until she heard one of them say, “Squire Ackerman.”

She jerked her attention toward them, hoping she wasn’t being too obvious. Her mother wasn’t facing her, so she couldn’t see her expression, but Glenda was the one who’d spoken.

“I heard he got into that veterinary program at Texas A&M.” Glenda set another roller. “He’s leaving the ranch in August. Won’t be back for years.” She clucked her tongue. “Such a shame. A handsome man like that needs to find a wife and have babies.”

“He’s leaving the ranch?” her mom said, her voice louder than usual. Her words landed like bombs in Kelly’s head.

“That’s what I heard.”

“For good?”

“I think he’ll be back after he finishes school. And then what will he do? Live out at Three Rivers by himself?”

Kelly couldn’t stand to hear another word. She leapt from where she waited near the windows and practically ran from the salon. She had Squire’s number dialed before she could think. As it rang, she came to her senses and hung up.

She couldn’t believe she’d heard about his veterinary acceptance through the salon gossip circle.

Maybe it wasn’t true. The very definition of a rumor indicated it might not be. But the way sounds blurred into sights told her everything she needed to know.

She hadn’t wanted to believe her ex had another woman in Santa Monica either. But she’d seen the brunette. Seen the gold band on her finger. Seen her husband kiss that other woman.

Smell, sight, sound—they had all melded into one sickening sensation. She felt that again as she limped down Main Street, her thoughts scattered and not making any sense.

Her insides twisted, and she swallowed like she might throw up. But she wasn’t physically sick; she was heartsick. Feeling foolish, she turned away from the park where Squire had taken her to that well and kissed her for the first time.

She couldn’t blubber on Main Street. Then she’d be the topic of every conversation in town, even the ones outside of the salon. She arrived at the fountain in the center of town and quickly crossed the street to it. 

It sat right in the center of the only roundabout in town, and the northern arm that branched off the circular hub led out to Three Rivers Ranch.

Her chest collapsed as she put her hand in the gently lapping water. The fountain gurgled and giggled, the chipper sound of it usually cheering her. Today, it only reminded her that sometimes men kept secrets that broke hearts.

The first tear fell before she could call it back, and she wiped her wet hand down her face so it wouldn’t look like she was crying over the cowboy she’d hoped she could build a family with.