friend, his instant reaction was to duck. Afterward, when he spotted the boys laughing at everyone, he’d let go with a dressing down that brought the picnic to a halt and tears to the youthful offenders. The gathered witnesses understood Tyler’s reaction. No one scolded him, but his fiancée gave him such a look of disgust that Tyler knew the engagement was over, much to his relief.
The next morning Tyler had hugged his foster parents and told them he’d be in contact. His fiancée was nowhere to be seen after the picnic, but she’d left her engagement ring with his foster sister. In the ten months since he’d been gone, he’d called home once, but it didn’t go well.
He and Dogger roamed the country until he’d run into Zach McClure in that restaurant in Albuquerque over a month ago. The more he thought about it, the more he knew that “chance” meeting wasn’t just chance.
Since being here, something inside him had eased. Of course, that also could be credited to being in the same city as his best buddy’s family. He’d finally worked up the nerve to call Paul’s mom. She welcomed him with open arms, making him feel even guiltier for not saving Paul’s life. Tyler immediately saw the pain in Paul’s younger brother eyes and knew this was where he was supposed to be. Somehow, someway, he would try to make up Paul’s death to Riley.
Dogger’s move today surprised and unsettled Tyler, and yet, oddly enough, he trusted the dog’s instincts. Dogger seemed to be able to actually discern a person’s heart. Dogger didn’t like his ex-fiancée and had growled at her the first time they met. Things had not improved between them. Dogger had pegged her.
“I’m going to need your help with the kid tomorrow. He needs a friend.” Tyler squatted by the dog’s side and ran his hand over his head. “You’ll like him. You liked Paul, and I know you’ll like his kid brother.”
At least he prayed he would. Tyler would need all the help he could get to win over the reluctant boy.
* * *
Tyler sat on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through his hair. The dream—no nightmare—had seized him again, but before it could end, Dogger woke him.
The dog jumped down from the bed and sat beside Tyler.
“Thanks, boy.”
Dogger cocked his head.
Why’d he have that dream tonight? He hadn’t had the nightmare since he’d started working at Second Chance.
He knew he couldn’t go back to sleep, so he slipped on his jeans, grabbed a can of soda from the refrigerator and walked out onto the porch. He parked himself on the top step. At one time, he would’ve grabbed a beer, but after a bender in Denver that landed him in the hospital, he knew he couldn’t drown his problems anymore.
Dogger settled by his side.
“Thanks, bud, for the heads-up.” Tyler stroked the dog’s head.
The dog had started alerting Tyler when he’d detected the dream and would wake Tyler. The first time Dogger did that they’d just returned stateside, and he was at home with his foster parents. Tyler had started dreaming about Paul’s death, but before the dream ramped up, Dogger had jumped on the bed and started licking his face. Tyler woke up with a jerk, coming face-to-face with the dog. It took a moment for his brain to clear and understand what the dog had done. Dogger lay down on the bed and looked at him. His foster parents had run into his room, panicked, and looked helpless. He explained it was just a bad dream. They reluctantly left.
From that time on, Dogger started to sleep beside Tyler. Dogger had been his guard against the nightmare. It also spared him from having his foster parents run into his room and witness him in the throes of the dream.
It had been months since he’d had the dream, so why now?
Popping up the can tab, he took a swallow and thought about what happened this afternoon with Beth. Was that it?
He’d noticed her the first day he’d been here at the ranch. Well, what man with breath wouldn’t notice her? With reddish-brown curls that touched her shoulders, intense green eyes and a joyous smile, she attracted people to her like a magnet. She did everything with an enthusiasm that was contagious. He’d seen her talk a grumpy child out of his pout and enjoy the riding lesson.
Her laughter made his heart ache, wanting things that he knew were beyond him now. But as he witnessed Zach’s and Sophie’s secret smiles and constant touches, it made him yearn for things that could never be. It also made him realize how far off that dream was for him.
Scratching the dog’s head, he said, “So you like her, huh? You think the lady needs to be your friend?”
Dogger sat up and cocked his head.
“So what do you see in her that deserves your trust?”
The dog ignored him and settled his head on his paws, leaving Tyler no closer to an answer than he was before.
When he dragged himself to bed an hour later, it was the question he fell asleep thinking about.
Chapter Two
Beth pulled her truck into one of the empty parking spaces behind the stables and grabbed the tote containing her ranch clothes, boots and cowboy hat. She’d been volunteering at the ranch long before Zach started attending therapy sessions for his war injuries. Eventually he fell in love and married the woman running the place, Sophie Powell. Once they bought New Hope Ranch, they renamed it Second Chance Ranch in honor of Zach.
Slipping the tote over her shoulder, she started toward the ranch office needing to change her clothes. She couldn’t work with the horses and kids in heels and a straight black skirt. Her quick trip to New York to review the department store’s purchases had only taken a few days, and she was glad to make it back for her favorite little girl, Chelsea, who came weekly for rehabilitation of her legs after the car accident she’d been in.
As Beth walked into the business office, she saw a young kid sitting on a bench by the stable doors. His thin arms were wrapped around his chest and his mouth was compressed into a stubborn line, daring anyone to mess with him.
“Hey, Sophie, how are you feeling today?”
Sophie looked up from her computer screen and took another bite of her banana covered in peanut butter. “Hungry. And the cravings are—let’s just say your brother can only shake his head in awe. He tried making a comment when I dipped a sweet pickle into some apricot jam. The fact that I burst out crying made him quickly apologize. Since then, he doesn’t comment. Kinda walks quietly around me.”
Beth laughed. “It serves him right.” She hurried into the bathroom and changed her clothes. Stuffing her heels and skirt into her bag, she walked outside the bathroom, holding her boots and socks. She sat down by Sophie and started to pull on her socks.
“Who’s the kid sitting outside the stable door with the don’t-talk-to-me look on his face?”
“He’s the new kid Tyler wanted to bring to hang around for a while. He’s the brother of one of the guys in his unit in Iraq.”
“And?”
Sophie shrugged. “Tyler said the kid needs to focus on something else besides his computer
