And Then You Kiss (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 3) (26 page)

Jace was somewhere in Montana, he wasn’t sure where. He’d been driving all night, headed to a stock contractor’s place he’d heard about at the last rodeo he rode in. He was looking for Beiman Rough Stock Company. He’d heard the owner was looking for some help, and Jace was getting tired of traveling.

His phone pinged and he knew who the text was from. Bree was the only one he ever heard from, other than his mother, who didn’t text, she called.

He didn’t hear from her often, but this time, he’d been expecting it. He pulled off on the side of the road and looked at the pictures she sent to him. His eyes filled with tears as he scrolled through the photos of his newborn nephew. Her last text said,
Cochran Henry Rice, born 2:10
am
, nine pounds, four ounces, twenty-one inches.

He’d never wished he could be in two places at once more than he did right now. If only there was a way he could get back to Colorado to see his nephew, and Tucker. But there was no way he could, mainly because he wouldn’t be welcome.

Tucker knew how to reach him if he wanted to, and Jace knew his brother didn’t want to. He could feel it, or better put, he couldn’t feel it. Tucker was completely shut off from him. He had been for months.

When he left Monument, instead of heading west, to Crested Butte, Jace went north. He competed in more regional rodeos than he could remember. After the first couple, they all started blending together. Each morning when he woke up, it took him a while to figure out where the hell he was. Once he did, he had to figure out where the hell he was headed. He traveled around Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and visited the Cody Stampede and Cheyenne Frontier Days.

He called Billy the day after he left Colorado. He owed him and Renie that much. They’d been good to him, he considered both of them friends.

“Take the time you need,” Billy told him “There ain’t nobody I know who hasn’t done somethin’ they regret Jace, especially when they were a teenager. You don’t wanna hear my stories. I got a hella lot of ’em.”

He thanked Billy and told him he’d be in touch. He had no idea when, but when he was ready, he would be.

“You come see us whenever you want to. You’re always welcome here,” Renie told him when Billy handed her the phone.

That had been over five months ago, and he hadn’t talked to either one of them since.

If he was being honest with himself, and these days, he was trying damn hard to be, he’d been hiding out, getting lost, most of the last seven years. That’s what working at the dude ranch in Colorado had been all about.

No one knew him there. They didn’t know his background, they didn’t know his brother. When he was there, he was Jace Rice, an easy-going cowboy. He flirted with the guests, who soaked it in, and then left when their six-day vacation was over.

Until the day Irene Fairchild set foot on the ranch, he hadn’t been interested in getting to know any
one well enough that their lives crossed again when the summer ended. She changed everything.

In less than a year he’d gone from that carefree cowboy to one who had to face the pain in his life, the pain he’d worked hard to bury. And in doing so, he lost his brother. It made him sick to his stomach whenever he thought about it.

He could blame Tucker, say he was being an asshole about it. Billy was right, who didn’t fuck up during their teens? Everyone did. Even Tucker had. But he couldn’t blame his brother. He’d had every chance in the world to come clean.

Of his many regrets, he didn’t know which one was the biggest. Getting involved with Rosa? That was pretty big. That started the chain of events that came to a crashing conclusion five months ago.

He also regretted the way things ended with Bree. It had been important to him to be the one to tell her the story himself, and when she questioned his motives, he got angry and left.

The fact that she texted him meant a lot to him. There had been several times he wanted to pick up the phone and call her. Or at the very least, text her back. But why? Her sister was married to his brother, the brother who never wanted to see him again. As much as he’d been drawn to Bree, leaving then had been best. She had plenty of her own shit to work through. Yep, it was better this way. No contact. He’d forget about her, she’d forget about him.

That’s why he never answered her. He wanted her to forget about him. He wanted to forget himself. How ironic was it that only a few months ago, Tucker had wanted the same thing? He ran after the accident, intending to leave his previous life behind. Instead, it was Jace who was living that nightmare.

He pulled into a diner in Helena around dawn. He’d get something to eat here, find a place to stay, and then head out in search of the Beiman ranch.

The Beimans were big in Alberta, Canada, and old man Beiman had been inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in the early nineties. Jace remembered hearing about the rough stock contractor’s death a few years ago. He’d died in a car accident along with another rancher known for breaking horses and raising cattle. The loss of both men had been a tragedy talked about often in the rodeo world.

Beiman’s son and grandson had taken over the rough stock business, but it was becoming too much for them. Jace heard that they were looking for help in the way of contractors, but he also heard they were looking for a partner, someone to take over the Montana operation.

If what he’d heard was true, he planned to make the ranch outside Helena, Montana his new home, at least for the time being. He didn’t allow himself to think too far ahead. Whenever he did, he couldn’t stand the loneliness he predicted would define the rest of his life.

The meeting with the Beimans lasted a little over two hours. As it turned out, they weren’t looking for a partner as much as they were looking to sell. If he did this, it would mean tying up almost all of his money in the ranch. It wasn’t a decision he wanted to make without talking it over with his parents. He called his father, who agreed to fly up with his mom, the next day.

Jace almost cried when he hung up. He missed his family, he hadn’t realized how much. He wished he could talk to Tuck about it too. This was the kind of thing his brother would have loved to see Jace do. He would have helped Jace come up with a name for the ranch, and would have wanted to design a new brand. Jace couldn’t imagine that he’d ever like anything anyone but his brother designed.

His parents stayed in Helena for two weeks, and when they left, they were partners in a 12,000-acre business venture they named Triple-Bar-R Rough Stock and Cattle Company.

It hadn’t worked out the way Jace had originally planned, but his father was unrelenting in his insistence that he wanted to be a partner in his son’s venture. Jace only had to liquidate half of his holdings to make the deal, both his parents put up the rest of the capital needed. They were headed back to Aspen now, but intended to come back and settle in one of the two main houses already built on the ranch property.

For the second time in as many weeks, Jace found himself on the verge of tears. Having his parents close was something he hadn’t even considered. Maybe the on-going ache of loneliness would be somewhat diminished by knowing they were within arms’ reach.

***

The day Bree graduated was bittersweet. Her whole family was there, even Brooke and her husband, who flew in from Germany. No matter how many people surrounded her, it didn’t make up for the two who didn’t. Everyone knew she’d be missing Zack today, but no one knew there was someone else she wished was there.

It had been almost a year, but she still thought about Jace almost every day, especially when she was with Cochran. When she wasn’t studying, or working on her thesis, Bree spent as much time as she could with Blythe and the baby.

She helped them furnish and decorate the house in Black Forest, and offered to babysit at least once a week, so Blythe and Tucker could have some time alone. They usually went out for dinner, which meant they were gone less than two hours. Bree lived for that time with her nephew.

He was growing up so fast, and Jace was missing it. She took pictures and wanted to text them to him, but since he never responded when she did, she wondered if maybe he didn’t want to see them. So she stopped.

After the graduation ceremony, they went back to her parents’ house, where they were hosting a barbecue. She found herself fighting the threatening tears for most of the afternoon.

Blythe asked her if she wanted to go for a walk with her and Cochran. Bree jumped at the chance.

“I could tell you were uncomfortable,” Blythe told her.

“Emotional more than uncomfortable.”

“You miss him.”

“Zack? Of course I do. I miss him every day.” The tears she fought hard to keep control of began to fall. Thinking about Zack made her think of Jace. How crazy was that? But he would’ve understood how she was feeling today, if no one else did. God she missed him.

“Not Zack, Bree. I know you miss Jace.”

That made her cry harder. “I do. I miss him so much. Is that horrible Blythe? Am I terrible person? I miss Jace more than I miss Zack.”

“I don’t think that’s true. I think you miss both of them. They’re intertwined. Jace became someone you leaned on after Zack died.”

“I’m not sure about that. Jace was…a friend, I suppose. I didn’t even know him very well. It’s silly, that I miss him.”

She hoped no one else recognized what Blythe did. Did everyone know how she felt about Jace? She didn’t want to ask.

“Has Tucker talked to him?”

“No, but we talk to his parents. They moved to Montana. Jace bought a ranch and they’re going to help him run it.”

“You’re kidding. Jace bought a ranch? Why?”

“
I’m not sure, but
I
have no idea. It isn’t easy to get Tucker to talk about him, or anything to do
guess Hank and Carol are partners
with him
. I had to pry
in
it
out of him when I asked him why his parents were moving to Montana
.”

“Where is it?”

“Somewhere near Helena, I think.
I’m going to
I’ll
call his
parents myself
mom
this week and see what else I can find out. When I do, I’ll let you know.”

“He’s raising rough stock,” Blythe told her a few days later when Bree was having lunch with her and Lyric.

“What’s that?”

“What’s what?” asked Lyric.

“Rough stock,” answered Bree.

“You know, broncs and bulls.”

“Rodeo broncs and bulls.”

“Well, yeah,” Lyric rolled her eyes. “What else would someone raise them for?”

“Does he know what he’s doing?”

“He must. It’s quite an investment. I wouldn’t think he’d get into it if he didn’t.”

Bree needed to change the subject. She thought about Jace Rice too much as it was. Imagining him working a ranch in Montana, wasn’t helping. Picturing him on the back of a horse, his face weathered from days spent riding…she fanned her face.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do next?”

Thank goodness Lyric changed the subject so Bree didn’t have to think of something else to talk about.

“I’ve been applying for teaching positions. I may have a chance at a temporary position at the Air Force Academy. It’s at the junior faculty level, and is only for two years, but it’s a start.”

“Oh. So you aren’t moving out?”

Why would Lyric think she was moving out? Did she want her to?

“I hadn’t planned on it, but I suppose I could find another place if you needed me to.”

“No, no, not at all. I thought you might be leaving the area.”

Where did she come up with this stuff? Why would she be leaving the area?

“Relax Bree. It’s all good. I’m hardly ever home anyway. I thought you’d have to get a job out of state or somethin’.”

She hoped not. She couldn’t stand the thought of being away from her family, especially her sister and the baby. She’d miss him more than she missed anyone else.

“I have a babysitting position I’m not willing to let go of,”
she laughed. “I love that little boy so much,” she murmured.

“And he loves you,” answered Blythe, who reached over and rubbed her shoulder. “He’d miss his Auntie Bree, so you better not be thinking of moving away.”

Lyric was intuitive, more so than Bree. She seemed to be able to sense when Bree needed a change, so her asking whether she was thinking about leaving the area worried her. Was there something Lyric was seeing that Bree wasn’t? Was she relying too much on her family? Was she becoming a burden?

“Okay, I’ll fess up. I had another reason for askin’.”

Oh God, what was Lyric about to say? She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear whatever it was.

“It’s my brother, he’s havin’ a pretty hard time of it. I need to get him out of Oklahoma. And it isn’t only him. He’s got a wife and new baby. They need a fresh start, and I was hopin’ it could be here.”