Page 32 of A Montana Fake Marriage (Sagebrush Ranch Sweethearts #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

No letters in the mail.

No emails.

Not a single missed call or text message.

Sammie’s father had gone quiet.

Granted, she hadn’t reached out to him, either. Part of her blamed him for what had happened between herself and Caleb. He’d wormed his way into her mind and made her second guess the guy who had been her best friend.

But then, she couldn’t exactly blame her father entirely. What kind of friend would allow another person’s comments to destroy a close friendship? She should have known better than to let her father influence her.

Sammie deserved every hardship she suffered now.

She glanced around at Lacey’s modest apartment.

Right now, Sammie was living on her couch.

Everything she owned was either in suitcases, or in boxes in the complex’s storage building.

Sammie didn’t have much. Most of what she owned was still back at her childhood home.

And right about now, she wasn’t interested in retrieving any of it.

With Caleb, she’d developed an appreciation for living simply. There was no need for extravagant things. She didn’t have to buy every pair of shoes she loved. She didn’t need that dress when she had several at home.

But even with Caleb at her side, she’d let her intrusive thoughts win. She’d let the judgment and disappointment her father had for her take root. When was she ever going to free herself from his clutches?

Bridger hurried into the living room, a stuffed dinosaur in his arms. He beamed at Sammie before climbing up onto the couch with her.

She’d only been staying here for a few weeks, and already the kid seemed to have made Sammie his new best friend. He told her the other day that he was five and he’d be six soon. His favorite animal was a T-rex, and his favorite color was green.

“Will you turn on Dino Tales?” he asked, scooting even closer to her.

Sammie stared down at him and once more wondered if things had turned out differently, would she be planning her own family? How many kids did Caleb want?

Bridger looked up at her and scrunched his face. “Sammie,” he moaned. “I want to watch Dino Tales.”

She let out an amused sigh. “I’m pretty sure you’ve seen all of the episodes there are.”

He shrugged.

“Don’t you want to try something different?”

Bridger shook his head. “I want to watch the one with the puppy.”

“The one where the dinosaurs adopt a dog?”

He nodded. “That one.”

Sammie sighed again, shaking her head.

“It’s not as bad as it seems,” Lacey laughed as she exited her bedroom and moved toward the coffee maker. “Occasionally, we get to watch reruns of that show about Australian dogs.” She held up the coffee pot. “You want any?”

“Please,” Sammie murmured, reaching for the remote. She curled her legs beneath her and pointed the device at the television screen. “Dino Tales it is.”

Soon, the smell of fresh coffee filled the apartment. Lacey joined them on the couch, handing Sammie her mug before she got comfortable.

“You hear about your inheritance yet?” Lacey mused, her eyes never leaving the brightly colored cartoons on the screen.

“Nope. And honestly, I’m not even sure I care anymore.”

Lacey shot her a look out of the corner of her eye. “You’re kidding.”

She shook her head. “This whole mess has been a disaster from day one, and for what? So I can get money my mother set aside for me. Money is the cause of all my problems right now, and while I can appreciate that it’s a necessary evil, I’m not so sure the benefits outweigh the stress it’s caused.”

Lacey hummed.

“I did text him the other day, though.”

“Caleb?”

Sammie rolled her eyes. “ No . Not Caleb. My father.”

Slowly, Lacey’s eyes drifted toward her over the top of her son’s head. “Really? What did you say?”

Sammie shrugged.

“Seriously, what did you say? Did you tell him off? Please tell me you told him he isn’t allowed to contact you anymore. That man is bad news. I don’t know any father who would treat their daughter the way he’s treated you.”

Sammie wanted to shrink away until no one could see her. Caleb had mentioned something similar over the last couple of years. He despised her father more than anyone she knew. “Not exactly.”

Lacey placed her mug on the coffee table and turned to face Sammie fully, pulling Bridger into her lap as she did. “What did you say?”

With another lift of her shoulder, Sammie heaved out a sad breath. “I told him he should be happy because he was right about Caleb.”

“Sammie—” Lacey snapped, her voice argumentative.

“But I’m still not coming home.”

Her friend gaped at her. “You’re not ? Not ever ?”

It wasn’t difficult to shake her head. Sammie folded her arms and turned her gaze to the cartoon, unable to meet Lacey’s eyes as she continued.

“I told him he can sell all my stuff. I don’t want it.

I’m not going to jump through any more hoops for that money because it poisons people.

” She had wanted to tell him she shouldn’t have listened to him about Caleb, but she had refrained.

To do so would only demonstrate that she wasn’t smart enough to think with her head instead of her heart.

“Sweetie…” Lacey’s voice was softer this time, and completely laced with pity.

Sammie frowned, her jaw flexing. She didn’t want Lacey’s pity. She didn’t want to be told everything would be okay. All she wanted was to get through the heartache she’d experienced and start fresh.

Unfortunately, she wanted nothing more than to have her fresh start here—in Rocky Ridge. She just didn’t know if she’d be able to manage it now that she had a history with one of its citizens.

“I’m going to keep working at the restaurant. I’ll save up what I can and find a place of my own.”

“You don’t have to?—”

“I can’t keep crashing on your couch.” She offered Lacey a grateful smile. “As much fun as watching Dino Tales every Saturday morning is, I think it’s important for me to make it out on my own—without any help.”

Lacey nodded. If anyone could understand, it was her. She’d had her own past that pushed her to carve her own path.

Sammie let their conversation hover in the air between them before she glanced over at Lacey.

“Do you know if any of the vet clinics in this area need help? Or maybe a ranch that specializes in training horses? I really want to work with animals, and since I don’t have the money for school, I need to start at the bottom until I can get to that point. ”

Lacey’s brow puckered. “I don’t know. Honestly? I think that Sagebrush is the ranch that does the most with horses right now. But seeing as that’s where Caleb is…”

Sammie shook her head. “I can’t go there.” Probably not ever. She didn’t want to show her face after she’d just left without saying goodbye. She’d spoken to Bo about no longer being available to work, so that wasn’t the issue.

It was Caleb.

She knew in her gut that she wouldn’t be able to survive living and working on the same ranch as him. It would hurt too much.

“I suppose I could ask around. I have a lot of regulars who might know. And you can always go visit the clinics in person to ask around. I’m not sure what they’d start you with…” Lacey shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt to ask, though.”

Sammie nodded. Not the lead she was hoping for.

“You working tonight?” Lacey murmured.

“Yeah. You?”

She nodded.

More silence ensued. While Lacey knew to an extent the situation with Caleb, she didn’t know everything. She’d known that the marriage had been one of convenience for the inheritance. She also understood that after the divorce, Sammie was on her own.

Sammie refused to tell Lacey that she’d been dumb enough to fall for Caleb—and fall hard.

That part of the story was too embarrassing.

Lacey understood that the family was unaware the relationship was fake, which was the reason Sammie gave for not being willing to go back there.

She’d wanted to cut ties to make things easier for those who weren’t in the loop.

Lacey rested her chin on her son’s head, her eyes glued to the screen. It was so tempting to tell Lacey everything. She wanted to vent about how she’d messed everything up and ask for advice on how to fix it.

But where was she to start? The fear of what Lacey might say forced Sammie to keep her mouth shut.

She’d found a place to stay. She had an income.

Sammie should be grateful that Lacey was only charging her a meager amount to stay here.

They weren’t exactly close, but they were friends, and yet Sammie felt the need to shield herself from the possibility of being judged.

Boy, she was a piece of work.

The emotional scars her father had inflicted on her ran deeper than she had wanted to admit. Did she really think Lacey would laugh at her? Judge her for falling in love with a good man?

Logically, she knew the answer.

Sammie shut her eyes tight, and her face flushed as she forced the words from her lips. “I love him.” She turned her focus to Lacey and steeled herself for whatever reaction she might receive.

Lacey didn’t move. Her eyes never flickered from the television. “I know,” she murmured simply.

Sammie’s eyes widened.

A smile stretched across Lacey’s lips. “Girl? Anyone with eyes can see you’re in love with him. And why wouldn’t you be?” She turned to look Sammie in the eye. “You two were close before you got married. What did you expect to happen?”

The blush beneath Sammie’s skin heated to an intolerable level.

“But…”

“But what?” Lacey snickered. “He’s a catch. You didn’t have a chance.”

Sammie blinked several times. She didn’t know why she hadn’t realized that her love for Caleb was obvious. She’d been told she always wore her heart on her sleeve. But to hear it confirmed by Lacey hit different.

“And before you ask, I know he loves you, too.”

The hits just kept coming.

“What?” Sammie whispered. She couldn’t have heard Lacey correctly. The woman didn’t know Caleb. At least not as well as she was making it out to be. And Sammie hadn’t said much about him since moving in.

Lacey tilted her face into Bridger’s hair so that only her eyes were visible. “I’ve seen you two around. You can’t tell me that he offered to marry you to help you deal with your dad because he didn’t love you.”

Sammie rolled her eyes. “Okay, well, that’s not fair, because the way he loved me then isn’t the way I love him now.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Of course not. I can love someone as a friend and not be romantic toward them.”

“Sure,” Lacey grinned. “But that friendly sort of love can have the potential for something more. You don’t think Caleb wants you the same way you want him.” It wasn’t really a question—rather, Lacey seemed unwilling to believe that Sammie could be so blind.

“Well… no. He told me he wanted a divorce. He said that we would always be good friends, but…” Her heart ached just recalling the conversation they’d had. The outcome hadn’t been what she’d wanted at all.

“Maybe you have to start looking at the situation a bit different then. If you can’t stop thinking about him. If you’re heartsick over what you lost… then perhaps you need to revisit what happened and how it happened.”

Sammie shook her head, pulling her legs to her chest to hug them. “I can’t trust my judgment on this one. I practically accused him of only marrying me because I had an inheritance coming.”

Lacey grimaced. “Ooof. Yeah, that’s not so great.

” Then she tilted her head. “But then, I’ve seen love overcome a lot more than that.

You never know. Perhaps you shouldn’t be fretting over trusting your own judgment.

” She rested her chin once more on her son’s head.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s someone else you could put your trust in—someone who has always been there for you and wanted what’s best for you? ” She winked. “A certain cowboy?”

Just the thought of reaching out to Caleb set Sammie on edge. She didn’t want to be hurt more than she already was. She didn’t think she could take it if he turned her down again.

But what if Lacey was right?

Before her father showed up, she’d been the happiest she could remember since before her mother passed. And she knew it had a lot to do with Caleb.

He truly had been there for her in more ways than she deserved. If there was a small chance that he could love her, she owed it to herself to find out. Right?

No matter how terrifying it might be.