blame you in the least. But you must realize that life went on while you were overseas. We all went our own ways.”
She let him off the hook and smiled. “Anyway, I do really want to say thank-you for letting me crash. Losing my job was a big blow. I was living paycheck to paycheck and really couldn’t see how I could keep up with the rent on the town house.”
“What about Carter? Doesn’t he pay you any alimony?”
She nodded. “Yes, but it’s not much. Carter’s alimony is peanuts, really. He’s got his own troubles. I wouldn’t ask him for anything more.”
“You’d be within your rights. He walked out on you and left you with everything—including all the debt.”
As Lacey thought about how to answer her brother, she got up and poured him the last cup of coffee from the pot. She put it down in front of him and then put her hand on his shoulder.
“It was a mutual decision, Duke,” she said softly. “It just wasn’t working. We were both unhappy.” She didn’t feel like mentioning that the debt Duke spoke of was mostly due to her and all her medical tests and treatment that weren’t covered by her insurance. “I just want you to know that I appreciate the chance to stay here while I figure out what’s next.”
Duke smiled down into his coffee.
“What?”
He looked up and his eyes crinkled around the edges. “You sound like me a few months ago.”
She knew Duke wanted her to take on her third of the ranch. If she did, and if they could convince Rylan to take on his third, the ranch stayed as is. But if they didn’t...well, Duke would either have to find a way to buy them out of their thirds, or the place would be sold. It was an annoying thing, what their grandfather had done in his will. And it would have been much easier to brush off if Duke hadn’t decided to stay on.
“I’m not taking on my third, Duke. I’ll help you in any way I can, but not that.”
Duke took a long drink of his cooling coffee. “Well, there’s lots of time to think about it. What are you doing today?”
His whole dismissal sent out a message of “give me time to change your mind” and she ignored it. “I’m sending out my résumé, seeing if I can find any leads to a new job. It’s not an ideal commute to Great Falls, but spring will be here soon and the bad weather is mostly done. I can do it for a while, until I build up some financial reserves. And who knows? Maybe I’ll find something closer.”
“Have you seen Quinn yet?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Of course I did. He was the welcoming committee.” She smiled saucily.
“Oh, great. You weren’t too hard on him, were you?”
She gave him a swat. “So much for family loyalty. What about how grouchy he might have been to me?”
Duke’s frown deepened. “Was he?”
“Of course not.” No matter her issues with Quinn, she wouldn’t put Duke in the middle of it. He relied on Quinn too much. She wasn’t here to stir up trouble.
“Hey. If I had one reservation about you staying at the house, it was that you’d be sharing space with Quinn. I know you don’t get along. I don’t know why, but you don’t. I’m hoping you can coexist peacefully.”
“We’ve laid out some ground rules.” She sat back down at the table.
“Well, try not to kill each other. This place doesn’t run without him.” Duke raised his cup, drained what was left of his coffee, and stood. “Thanks for the coffee. I’d better get back.”
“Anytime. This is your place, after all.”
“No, it’s yours. For as long as you want it, Lace.” He put his hand over hers on top of the table. “I mean that. I wasn’t around a lot, definitely not when you were going through some rough times. I’d like to be there for you now.”
The backs of her eyes stung and she nodded through blurred vision. “That means a lot, Duke.”
“Right. Better be off.” He went down the hall and put on his gear again. “Oh, Lace?”
She looked up.
“Maybe next time you can have some cookies to go with that coffee? Carrie’s on a ‘no sweets’ kick with the pregnancy. And somehow her kale chips just aren’t cutting it for me.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll see what I can do,” she replied. “Now go, so I can find a job, will you?”
With a wink he disappeared.
Lacey turned her attention back to the document on the screen but didn’t really focus on it. Instead she was thinking about what Duke had just said, and thinking about how it felt to be here. It felt good. It felt...right. Somehow being with family, having that support, was exactly what she needed.
She just had to be careful not to get too used to it, or use it as a crutch. This time she was making her own decisions and standing entirely on her own two feet. At least if she relied on herself, she wasn’t being set up for disappointment.
* * *
JACK, ONE OF the regular hands, was out with the flu so Quinn spent the rest of his morning mucking out stalls in the horse barn. It was a job he actually enjoyed. The slight physical exertion kept him warm and he usually talked to the horses as he worked. Even the scrape of the shovel on the barn floor had a comforting sound to it, and he worked away with the radio playing in the background, just him and his thoughts.
He had a lot of thoughts, as it happened. Most days it was about what needed to be done at the ranch, or worries about being a good single dad to Amber as she got older. He already knew far more about Disney princesses and ballet slippers and hair ribbons than most dads. And it wasn’t that he minded. It was just...he knew Marie would have done a much better job. A little girl needed a mom. And Quinn wasn’t sure how to solve that, because he wasn’t really interested in getting married again.
Not when it had hurt so much the first time.
Thankfully he had Carrie and Kailey. Carrie was around even more now that she and Duke were married, and Amber loved spending time at Crooked Valley. Kailey was Carrie’s best friend and lived at a neighboring ranch. Between the two of them, they provided Amber with some great girlie time. On Sundays, too, they visited with Quinn’s mom, who lived in a little one-bedroom apartment in Great Falls. She’d moved there after his dad had died and she had a vital, happy life in the assisted-living complex, and help with the arthritis that sometimes made her day-to-day living a challenge.
Visits and special time were great. The girls were great. But they weren’t her mother, and Quinn couldn’t help but feel like he’d somehow let Amber down even though Marie’s death had been a freak accident. A heart defect that had gone undetected until it was too late. One morning she’d been laughing with him over breakfast. Two hours later she’d just been...gone.
At noon he ventured back to the house and lifted his hand to knock at the door, then pulled it back again. Lacey had said to come and go as he pleased, and he should. This was, after all, a working
