“If you’re sure he won’t get in the way.”
Hattie waved toward the window. “It’s a working ranch. What trouble could he be? This world was made for children.”
Katie found herself warming to Jack’s mother. Hattie wasn’t completely conventional, but she had a homeyness about her that welcomed Katie. The furniture might be new but the family values were old-fashioned and comforting.
Katie wrote the standing appointment in her book. “Tomorrow at four, then,” she said. “Do you need anything before I leave?”
“Not one thing. Except…” Hattie hesitated. “Your father isn’t going to like you helping me. If he makes your life too difficult, I’ll understand if you don’t want to come here anymore.”
Katie shook her head. “I’m over eighteen. He can’t tell me what to do.”
“Fathers have a way of interfering even when they shouldn’t.”
“I know. But this is one argument my father isn’t going to win. My work is too important to me. The fact that our families have been feuding for generations doesn’t mean very much to me.”
“Good.” Hattie smiled. “See you tomorrow.”
Katie waved goodbye, then walked out of the house. Her first session with the older woman had gone well. She made a note to talk to Stephen Remington about his patient. The doctor would want to know that Hattie was making an extraordinary recovery. Probably because of her zest for life. She was one of the most—
The rumble of a truck engine broke through her thoughts. Katie looked up, then squinted in the sunlight as a pickup pulled up next to her Explorer. Even before she saw the driver clearly, she knew who was behind the wheel of the truck. On cue, her heart rate jumped into triple digits and her mouth went dry. All this before Jack Darby even said hello. Imagine what her reaction would be if he actually spoke her name.
The thought made her chuckle, and she was still smiling when he stepped out of his truck.
Dark eyes stared at her from under a battered Stetson. “You’re happy about something,” he said by way of a greeting.
Katie motioned to the blue sky and the land that stretched to the horizon. “It’s a beautiful spring day. What’s not to like?”
He stared at her as if she’d been speaking a foreign language. Katie forced herself to stand still and stare back. She took in the broad shoulders and narrow hips. If he ever got tired of ranching, Jack could make a fortune as a male model. She happened to know that as devastating as he looked in jeans, he was twice as lethal in a tuxedo.
Finally, after what seemed like at least seventeen hours, he pushed back his hat and spoke. “How’s Mom?”
“Her first session went really well,” Katie told him. “She’s made a terrific recovery. She’s about done with the brace, and her cast will come off in a couple of weeks. Dr. Remington is recommending a month of daily physical therapy, then reducing it to three times a week. Towards the end of the second month, I’ll taper off the sessions until she’s healed. Then she can do her exercises on her own.”
He didn’t even blink during her speech. She had no idea what he was thinking. There had been a time when she’d known nearly every thought in his head. Back when they’d been close—when she’d thought she would love Jack Darby forever.
She tilted her head. “So do you plan to respond to my comments? Or have you become one of those ranchers who parcels out words as if each cost him a pint of blood?”
One corner of Jack’s mouth twitched, but she wasn’t sure if he was fighting a smile or a frown.
“What are you doing back in Lone Star Canyon?” he asked.
She bristled slightly. “Are you asking why I left Dallas and moved back here or why I’m living at my father’s ranch?”
“Both.”
She took in a deep breath and told herself she’d done nothing wrong. Even though that’s how it felt to her. “I left Dallas because I wanted a different sort of environment for my son. I thought here in a small town with so much family around, he would have more opportunities to experience life in a safe place.”
“All right.”
She had the sense he was judging her and finding her wanting, which made no sense. Maybe it was her paranoia at work. “As for why I’m living at the ranch—not that it’s any of your business—I’ve bought a house. It’s being built. They just broke ground so it’s going to be about two months until it’s ready. My father offered me a place to stay until then and I said yes. End of story.”
This time his mouth turned up in a definite smile. “You don’t have to justify anything to me.”
“I know that. I’m simply pointing out that I’m paying my own way through life. No one’s taking care of me.”
“I never said differently.”
“Yes, but you implied they were. That I was living at my father’s ranch because it was easier than taking responsibility for myself and for Shane. I know how it looks from the outside, but you’re wrong.”
He leaned against his truck. “All that from asking why you’d moved home?”
She opened her mouth, then closed it. She replayed his question and her overreaction of an answer. “Oh.” She dropped her bag to the ground and planted her hands on her hips. “Okay, so I got a little defensive. What of it?”
He looked her up and down. “You’re still a gallon of trouble in a pint-size container, Katie Fitzgerald. Ready to take on the world as fearlessly as ever.” He shrugged. “You don’t have to go explaining it all to me. I remember what it was like for you back when we were kids.”
She knew he did. Everyone in town had known that Katie was a sickly child, not allowed to play outside as much as other children. As she’d grown, she’d gotten stronger but her parents had resisted letting her be a normal kid. Every inch of freedom had been hard-won. She wondered if he also remembered their long conversations after they’d become friends, when they’d talked about what they wanted for their futures. He was going to ride the rodeo circuit, and she was going to be a doctor. She’d wanted to be in a position of authority so she could tell parents of sick kids that sometimes it was okay for those children to play outside.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Being back in town makes it hard to act like an adult. I keep feeling like I’m sixteen again.”
His gaze sharpened. “I guess you could pass for sixteen in a pinch, if it’s important to you.”
She laughed. “It’s not. I’ve enjoyed being a grown-up.”
“What do you like most about it?”
“Being a mom. Shane is the best part of my life.”
Jack’s posture didn’t change, but Katie could have sworn he’d just taken a step back. “He’s a fine boy. You have a lot to be proud of.”
“Thanks.
