Page 30 of Then You Happened
Is he married? Divorced? A player? Hell, is he even who he says he is?
The thoughts fire off as I tell myself not to watch him from my perch on the porch. I should be focused on my dwindling finances, which are listed on spreadsheets on the table before me, but curiosity rules my mind.
It doesn’t help that Fiona’s comments run circles around my own thoughts.
I glance toward the bunkhouse and the shadow that keeps passing in front of the window every few seconds. I can only imagine what he’s doing in there. It isn’t as if he has many belongings to put away. Maybe he’s on the phone with his lover or telling someone how crazy he is for agreeing to work here.
And yet, I keep watching.
I keep questioning if I made the right decision in inviting Jack Sutton to work here, to be a part of my life, to know my business.
I keep wondering if he will even be able to save my ranch and home.
One glance at the total listed at the bottom of the spreadsheet is a stark reminder of what’s left of my savings.
At some point, the dream of running this ranch stopped being only Fletcher’s, but I don’t know at which point it started to be mine. Is it my dream, or is it my chance to prove to everyone else that they are wrong? Can my motivation be spite? To prove to a dead person exactly how it can be done without cheating people and to show an entire town that I’m stronger than they think I am?
Maybe it’s more personal than that. Maybe it’s my need to know that I didn’t give up my family, my career, and my possibilities for nothing.
Will simply saving my ranch from foreclosure give me that, or do I also need to make sure it’s a raging success before I feel as if I’ve found whatever in the hell it is I’m trying to find? Closure. Confidence.
Blowing out a breath, I lean back in the porch chair, rest my head along its back, and look up. Stars light up the ni
ght sky, and I stare at them until they blend into the darkness. The tumult of emotions that never seem to stop whirl around me, but this time, they’re different. Sure, the anger over what Fletcher did will always be there and so will the sense of loss I felt when I found out that everything I had believed in was a lie. There is even a bit of understanding that, while he might have loved me, loving someone doesn’t mean I have to accept being screwed over and left to clean up the other person’s mess.
But there’s also a guarded curiosity.
Is Jack Sutton what I need right now? Not only to fix my ranch but also to help me learn how to run it myself?
Perhaps it’s a bit of all of them.
An echo of laughter floats across the country silence. I’m so used to the rustle of trees, the neigh of horses, and the sound of my thoughts, that a man’s deep tenor as he laughs at something is alien to me.
It feels weird to have a man living on-site again. Sure, I’ve had ranch hands on and off, but they went to their own homes at night. I haven’t let them live here because I didn’t want to share space, hear them, see them, or run into them while I was sitting on the porch in my pajamas at eight o’clock at night with only the ache of loneliness as my company.
It’s only been four hours since Jack followed me up here, signed the contract, and started getting settled, but the change in atmosphere is noticeable. Undeniable.
I squeeze my eyes shut but force my hands to relax their grip on the arms of the chair.
Six months.
That’s all it is, Tate.
One hundred eighty days before his contract expires and he’s gone and I’ll know if I . . . what? If I’ve saved my ranch and have turned some kind of profit? If I’ll be forced to walk away as a failure?
Hell, even if I save this place and prove everyone in town wrong, I’m not sure if I’ll stay. The thought of living with Fletcher’s ghost isn’t something that really appeals to me.
I shake my head as uncertainty circles and watch the small window above the shower light up as he moves into the bathroom.
“Work, Tatum. Get back to work,” I mumble as I grab my papers and head inside, but not before one more glance his way.
7
TATE
One cluck of a tongue is all it takes for Willow to fall in love with him.
That’s all it takes for her to saunter over to him, lower her nose, and nuzzle her forehead against his as he whispers sweet nothings to her.
