Page 9 of Want You Back (Second Chance Ranch #1)

Chapter 9

Colt

Now

“I can’t wait to show you all my new tricks.” Willow bounced along in the passenger seat as we headed to her Saturday riding lesson.

“I’m excited to see them.” I was looking forward to seeing Willow ride because anything that made her happy made me happy, but I was less than thrilled with the where. Thanks to an arrangement I’d worked out a few years back, Willow’s horse boarded at Lovelorn Ranch, and she trained there with a ranch hand who was one of Betsey’s former barrel racing buddies. The ranch meant the possibility of seeing Maverick, but I’d brave it for Willow. “Sorry I haven’t been the one bringing you for a few weeks.”

“It’s okay.” Willow shrugged her slim shoulders. “A sheriff’s work is never done. Grandma says you have the weight of the whole county on your shoulders.”

“Grandma’s not wrong, but you come first. Always.” I made a mental note to talk to my mother about what she said to Willow. Mom worried about me constantly, but she didn’t need to pass that anxiety on to Willow.

“I wish I had a sister. Someone. Or a friend who lived closer.” Willow groaned and threw her head back against the seat. Like me and my siblings, Willow went to the county school that served not only Lovelorn but the other tiny towns that made up Disappointment County. After the loss of her mom, she’d struggled with finding friends in middle school, and the few she had lived much farther out from our place in Lovelorn. “Summer is so boring . Grandma. Aunt Georgia. Aunt Peg. Aunt Tiffany. I’m tired of the aunts.”

“I’m sorry.” I said that a lot with Willow. I was sorry she was bored. Sorry that her horse lived all the way out on the ranch. Sorry that I wasn’t her mom. Sorry that I worked so much. “I’m not comfortable with you home alone, even if you are in middle school now.”

“I’m not gonna use the stove,” Willow said like fire was the only risk of a bored kid home alone for hours during the summer. I’d seen too much as a deputy to leave Willow completely to her own devices, which meant a cobbled-together schedule of my mom, sisters, and aunts.

“I know you’re a good kid, Willow.” I made my tone upbeat, hoping she’d drop the home-alone question for now.

“Aunt Tiffany is trying for another baby.” Willow brought up an even less welcome subject. My sister was worse than my mom when it came to what she said in Willow’s hearing. “Did you and Mom ever try for another kid?”

“That’s kind of a personal question.” I pursed my lips. I’d always made a point of being honest with Willow, but sometimes that meant confronting uncomfortable truths. “Your mom was busy with barrel racing and teaching riding lessons. I was busy with deputy work. The timing never seemed quite right, I guess. And we won the kid lottery the first time around.”

I hoped my answer sounded balanced. I didn’t want to blame Betsey, although the truth was that I would have welcomed more kids. The physical side of our relationship had been a slow smolder, years in the making, and sporadic due to our schedules. I would have tried, though, but Betsey had been the crankiest pregnant person on the planet and was reluctant to go through it a second time.

“You did get a winner,” Willow said archly. “Kat says I’m gonna be as good a rider as Mom. Maybe better.”

“If you keep working hard, I’m sure you will be.” I pitched my voice to be encouraging but stopped short of the sort of investment Betsey’s parents had had in her riding and success. I never wanted to be a stage parent. “But you know you don’t have to ride, right? I’d be happy no matter what hobbies you wanted to try.”

“I know. I’ve got the art day camp coming up. And the trail ride with the outdoor club.” Willow’s voice turned far away as she studied the rugged landscape outside the truck windows. “When I’m on a horse, everything feels okay again. Good even.”

“I miss her too.” My voice came out thick and rusty. I missed my best friend—who’d gotten me through my twenties after Mav left town—my parenting partner, my late-night movie buddy, and my sounding board.

“I know,” Willow said softly, only to perk up a moment later as I took the turn for the Lovelorn Ranch. “We’re here.”

Willow bounded out of her seat the moment I parked near the large horse barn and attached indoor riding arena. Her riding instructor, Kat, was waiting near the door for us. Kat was tall and stocky with long dark hair shot through with silver that she wore in a braid.

“Hi, Kat!” Willow greeted her with a hug and then frowned as a girl, likely somewhere between eleven and thirteen, stepped out from behind Kat. “Who’s this?”

“This is Hannah.” Kat gestured at the girl. I’d already guessed who she was because she was a near clone of Maverick in middle school—angular features, light-brown hair, piercing blue eyes. Hints of Faith too, but Faith had always had a primness to her that Hannah lacked. Her hair hung straight and a little messy and her sneakers had hay clinging to the laces. “Hannah lives at the ranch house now. She’s been…shadowing me today,” Kat explained, tone careful. “I told her she could maybe watch your lesson if you said okay.”

“Okay.” Willow was agreeable as ever. One of the things I liked best about my kid was her ability to roll with change. She pointed at Hannah’s T-shirt which advertised some pop band. “I like your shirt.”

“Embellish?” Hannah preened. “I’ve seen them live three times.”

“Wow. Lucky.” Willow sounded jealous but not overly put out. I filed the band name away for birthday and Christmas present ideas. “You wanna meet my horse?”

“Sure.” Hannah’s eyes went wide and eager. The two girls raced off into the stables, leaving Kat and me to follow at a more moderate pace.

“Well, that went decent.” Kat gave an amiable shrug. Like Willow, she had battle-honed adaptability. “I’ll have plenty of one-on-one time for Willow, promise. Hannah just kind of showed up this morning. I haven’t had the heart to send her back to the house yet. She seems captivated by the horses. Gray said she never stopped asking questions when he gave her and Maverick a tour. “

“Her mother is going to be horrified if her kid turns out to be a horse girl.” Despite growing up on the ranch, Faith had no use for horses, rodeos, or cowboys, setting her sights much higher.

“Hannah?” Maverick called from behind us. Kat and I both turned, and Maverick’s eyes narrowed. “Oh. Colt. What are you doing here? Official business? Everything okay?”

“Not official business.” I pointed at my choice of T-shirt and jeans. “I’m in dad mode. Willow takes riding lessons from Kat on Saturdays.”

“Uncle Maverick!” Hannah took that moment to pop her head out of a nearby stall. “Come see Pepperjack.”

“Hi, Pepperjack.” Maverick gave a wary wave. Pepperjack paid all of us no mind. He was a chestnut quarter horse born at this very ranch and was the last of the rodeo horses Betsey and her parents had trained. Willow was experienced and had Pepperjack safely tethered so she could start the process of getting her horse ready to ride. Hannah gazed at Willow’s ease in handling the horse with nothing short of pure hero worship.

“Willow says she can make him do tricks,” Hannah said to Maverick. “They race in real rodeos together.”

“You wanna brush him?” Willow offered archly, clearly loving being the teacher. “Then I gotta get him saddled and warmed up.”

Hannah took Willow’s instructions well, carefully brushing Pepperjack while praising the horse and listening to Willow’s spiel on how to saddle him.

“I think you’ve got a horse girl on your hands,” I said to Maverick, leaning my arms on a nearby stable door.

“Apparently.” Maverick shook his head. “Faith’s gonna have kittens. Surprisingly, I can’t wait to see it.”

“Guess it’s good one of y’all has fun.” I smiled, watching the girls, feeling more conversational than usual. “You settling in?”

“I suppose. Got the Wi-Fi sorted. Bumbling through some ranch questions with Grayson. Set up a finance meeting. Faith is looking into challenging the will.”

“Sounds productive.” I had no doubt Faith and Maverick would bail the second they found a loophole, but the longer they stayed the better for the community and also for my kid. I didn’t know where else Willow could train at a price I could afford.

“I’ve got no clue what I’m doing.” Maverick slumped against a post. “I’m gonna fuck things up.”

“Probably.” I wouldn’t lie. Maverick had spent his whole life running from the ranch. He was going to make mistakes, probably some big ones. But he also knew more than he thought he did. “Maybe no worse than someone else would.”

“Guess that’s one way to look at it.” Maverick’s gaze shifted to watching the girls as Willow saddled up Pepperjack. “Willow looks like Betsey but with your eyes.”

“Yeah.” Willow was tall for her age, blonde with brown eyes, and Betsey’s confidence, as was evidenced by her efficient movements and determined jaw.

“I’m sorry you lost Betsey.” Maverick’s tone turned sympathetic. “It must have been hard on you and Willow both.”

“Thanks.” I gave a curt nod. “Been harder on Willow. Betsey’s folks moved to Arizona after the accident. Couldn’t stomach sticking around here.” Betsey had died on the way to a rodeo, an unlucky tango with a semi. “We’re grateful to Gray and Kat for giving us a place to keep Willow’s horse.”

“I’m glad Gray and Kat were there for you.”

“Hey, Kat!” Willow called out. “What if Hannah tries Magnolia?”

“I could ride?” Hannah’s eyes darn near turned into a pair of horseshoes.

“Sure.” Willow didn’t seem in any hurry to get to her usual routine of warming up before chasing down barrels. “I can show you.”

“She’s probably as good a teacher as me at this point.” Kat gave a warm laugh, turning toward Maverick. “And Magnolia is old, slow, and as sweet as they come.” She pointed over at Magnolia’s stall, where the older horse regarded us through bored eyes. “You wanna call Faith for permission, or do you wanna give the green light?”

“I’ll let Faith turn her wrath on me.” Maverick laughed with the ease of someone who hadn’t been a parent. However, in this case, I was inclined to let him make the call. Hannah clearly yearned to ride. “Easier to beg forgiveness.”

“Alrighty.” Kat rubbed her calloused hands together. “Let’s get Magnolia saddled.”

“You sticking around to watch?” Maverick asked me.

This would be the ideal moment to slip away, go do some errands in town, anything to avoid more time with Maverick. “Sure.” I nodded anyway. “I’ve got the whole day for Willow.”

And him. I always had been a bit of an idiot where Maverick Lovelorn was concerned.