Page 30 of A Montana Fake Marriage (Sagebrush Ranch Sweethearts #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Stupid.

The word hovered and weighed down on Sammie’s mind as she drove through downtown Rocky Ridge. Last night’s events plagued her, blurring with all the furious emotions that came with the sour ache in her chest.

The second she’d walked into her room and found those ridiculous papers on her bed, she had wanted to charge into Caleb’s room and throw them right back into his face.

But she’d refrained.

Sheer will kept her tied to her place. She couldn’t go to him and demand that he take them back.

She couldn’t tell him that they’d get signed over her dead body—because she’d brought this whole situation down on herself.

She’d pushed him away. She’d practically thrown him from her heart and slammed the door in his face.

Caleb wanted out. He’d realized that they couldn’t trust each other like they’d thought they could, and she wasn’t going to trap him in a marriage no matter how much she wanted to.

So, she’d done the most rash thing she could think of doing, and she’d signed the dang things. Every single initial seemed to make her bleed. Her vision had blurred as angry tears had swum in her eyes. If he wanted a divorce so bad, she’d give it to him.

Heck, she’d do him one better.

She hadn’t heard anything final about her inheritance. Her father had been MIA for the last week, and her lawyer hadn’t gotten back to her, either. She didn’t know if she was even going to get that money, but she felt defiant as all get out.

So she’d packed her things and ran from the only place that felt like home.

Hallie had graciously offered to let her borrow her car until she found something more permanent, and now Sammie was wandering the street aimlessly. She knew better than to try to move into a motel. That would get expensive. She didn’t trust herself to stay on the Reese family property.

She had nowhere to go.

Sammie groaned, resting her head on the steering wheel. Maybe it was time to accept that she was the poor little street urchin she was and sleep in her car until she could get a more permanent job.

The Steer House was hiring waitresses. That had potential. She’d never worked in the food service industry—but then again, she’d never worked on a ranch. Her life had been turned upside down since she’d graduated college, and now she was officially on her own.

Sammie stared down at the ring on her finger. It was the only thing she couldn’t bear to lose after she’d walked away from Caleb’s home. Removing it would make the whole situation feel all the more real.

It wasn’t until she pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot and climbed out that she realized her head was making a decision, and her body was just going along for the ride.

She didn’t immediately track down the manager, though that would have been a good place to start. Instead, she looked around until she found a familiar face.

The hostess came up to her, blocking her view. “Table for one?”

Sammie jumped and looked at the woman, briefly terrified that she’d made the worst mistake in coming here. Then she nodded. “Does Lacey have any open tables?”

The hostess seemed confused at first. Then hesitation filled her eyes. “I’m supposed to give you a table based on?—”

“Just sit her at one of my tables, Maria. No one is going to get upset.” Lacey smiled at Sammie, a tray on her hip. Then she held out her hand. “Never mind. Give me the menu, and I’ll take her to one in the corner.”

Sammie followed the waitress, hating the way her legs simply had decided to do things without consulting the rest of her.

When Lacey gestured to the booth, Sammie slipped inside.

She felt numb and cold, which was strange because the former should have canceled out anything else.

She heaved a sigh of frustration that it had come to this.

What kind of person went from having everything to losing everything? She’d realized it far too late, and she didn’t have any excuses. Caleb had been her everything at one time, and she’d allowed herself to believe it would last forever.

She’d been an idiot—an idiot who took everything for granted. That was her.

Lacey’s smile faltered. She must have seen the distraught look on Sammie’s face, because she flagged down another waitress and murmured something about taking a quick break before slipping into the booth across from Sammie. “You finally back to have that chat?”

Sammie swallowed down the tears that threatened to escape her.

She nodded. That was all she could do at this moment.

She had nothing. Nowhere to go. Sure, she had a little bit of money saved over the last year.

It was enough to maybe find a really cheap place to rent, but now that she had walked away from her job, who would want to offer her even the security of a place to stay?

“What’s the matter?” Lacey’s voice was soft. It didn’t seem to match with the confidence the woman oozed when she was walking around the restaurant on a mission. She reached across the table and patted Sammie’s upper arm. “You can tell me. Maybe I can help.”

Sammie placed her face in her hands, her elbows thumping on the table, and finally the tears fell.

Unlike the painful sobs that wracked her body when she’d cried to Caleb, these ones were near silent.

The last thing she wanted to do was garner attention from the tables of people who were trying to enjoy their dinners in peace.

“Sweetie? What’s the matter?” Notes of frantic worry edged the woman’s voice, and Sammie glanced up, embarrassed.

“I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. I mean it. What’s going on?”

“I—do you know if this place is hiring someone without experience?”

Lacey’s eyes narrowed then widened with understanding. “Are you looking for a job?”

Sammie nodded, cheeks flooding with heat.

“I…” The thought of telling this woman every nasty detail of her life terrified her.

She couldn’t bring herself to do it. All she could do was suck in sharp breaths and pray that she’d find the words to make it sound not quite as bad as it was.

“I’m getting a divorce… and I need to find work elsewhere.

I was working for his family.” Her voice broke, her emotions getting the better of her when she noted the understanding in the woman’s gaze.

Lacey probably saw all the desperation written in Sammie’s eyes.

So mortifying.

“Do you need a place to stay, hon? It’s not very big, but I have a couch you could crash on. And I’ve got a kid, if that doesn’t bother you.”

Sammie’s eyes widened. “You’d let me do that? Why?”

Lacey let out a laugh at the accusation that seemed to spike in Sammie’s voice. “Because you need it, and once upon a time, I needed help, too. I get it.”

“But we’re strangers.”

She shrugged then leaned forward. “Honestly, I know of the Reese family. They’re good folks. If one of them saw something good enough in you to marry you, then?—”

“But I’m getting a divorce. You don’t know if I’m a good person. Or if I’ll rob you blind?—”

This time, she laughed. “Honey, I’ve met bad people in my life. And I can tell them apart better than anyone. You’re not bad people. Accept my offer or don’t. And if you’d like, I can put in a good word for you with the manager. Have you ever waitressed before?”

Sammie shook her head slowly, her cheeks burning more than ever. “But I’m a fast learner.”

“I’m sure you are.” Lacey patted her arm again. “Tell you what. I’ll have a word with the manager, and you hang out here until my shift is done. Then we can figure out your next plans.”

Sammie was dumbfounded. Back home, people weren’t like this.

Then again, maybe it was just the social circles her father ran in. Here in this small town, people were… different. They were better. It might have been the town, or it might have been the fact that Sammie was no longer a jaded individual who thought the worst of people. She nodded, grateful.

Lacey got to her feet, squeezed Sammie’s shoulder, and wandered off, presumably to the office in the back.

Sammie looked around the modest apartment. Like Lacey had said, it wasn’t much, but it was better than Hallie’s car.

The small living room was attached in an open concept with the kitchen. There was a door to what could only be a bedroom in the back of the place.

“There’s only one bathroom, and it’s attached to the bedroom. I’ll try to keep my bedroom door open so you can access it without feeling weird,” Lacey offered.

Sammie smiled at her. “Thank you. For everything.” Lacey had managed to convince the manager to hire her on a temporary basis.

He’d wanted to see just how quickly Sammie could learn on her feet.

And that meant shadowing Lacey for a while.

The woman worked long hours throughout the week while her son was in childcare.

Sammie didn’t bother asking about the father.

There were no pictures of a man anywhere—probably for good reason.

Her son played in the cramped living room with toys from a large basket that sat beside a television console table.

Lacey didn’t waste any time removing her shoes and the apron from her waist. She nodded toward the kitchen. “Hungry?”

Unfortunately, Sammie had long since lost her appetite.

She didn’t think she could stomach anything right now.

Up until she’d had that conversation with Lacey, she didn’t know if she’d end up crawling back to Caleb’s family.

The thought had been mortifying. And she certainly wasn’t going to contact her father.

She needed to make her own way—something she probably should have done from the start.

Sammie offered Lacey an appreciative smile. “No, thanks. I’m good.” Her eyes snagged on the boy, then she found Lacey watching her.

“His name is Bridger.”

The boy lifted his head and glanced at them briefly before returning to his toys.

Sammie’s heart warmed. A few weeks ago, she would have thought that she was going to have children with Caleb.

But that dream was a distant memory. Watching the boy dredged up complicated thoughts, and it was all she could do to bite her tongue.

She’d thought that Caleb had loved her. Truly, she had. Still, she knew he harbored a fondness for her. But the question was whether he’d loved her because of who she was and what she’d become to him, or did he love the idea of saving her from a fate that she’d believed to be worse than death?

The thought didn’t quite seem fair to her. To box up their relationship into something so finite wasn’t something she was comfortable doing.

For now, she was going to push away all the feelings she’d had for Caleb to the far recesses of her mind. She was going to focus on herself.

Sammie had gone from her father’s daughter, caged and put into a mold that didn’t suit her, to then being married and labeled Caleb’s wife. It was hard to decipher what parts of her were innately Sammie and what parts were those which were placed on her.

Who was Sarah Ann Michaels?

What did she want from this life? And eventually, would Caleb be part of it?