And Then You Kiss (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 3) (27 page)

Bree breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t have anything to do with her. She wished Lyric had said so in the first place.

“But, don’t worry about it. I’ll figure somethin’ out for them. I’ll try to find a little house for them to rent.”

“Who’s working the boarding stables at Billy and Renie’s place?” asked Blythe. “Your brother knows horses, doesn’t he? Maybe he could work for them.”

Blythe picked up her phone as though she was going to make a call, and then set it back down again.

“You know, there’s a small house on the edge of the property between our place and Patterson Ranch that no one has lived in for a couple of years. Maybe the Pattersons would consider letting your brother stay there in exchange for workin’ the ranch.”

“How do you know all this?” Bree asked her sister.

“We see Dottie and Bill all the time now that we live next door. Dottie has been teaching me how to cook.”

Bree shook her head. There were days she barely recognized her baby sister. It seemed as though she grew up overnight.

Lyric looked at Bree again, as though she expected her to say something.

“What?”

“I don’t know, you seem restless to me.”

“I do?”

“You’re in a rut.”

She was? Yeah, she was. Lyric was right, she’d been in a rut since Zack died. She finished her degree, and graduated, but otherwise her social life revolved around her family. And no matter where she ended up getting a job, if she got one, she’d have the summer off.

“I have two months before I start teaching, if I get the position at the academy that is. I should know this week. It might be a good time to do some traveling.”

“There you go,” Lyric smiled. “Where?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve gone fishing.”

“Fishing?”

“Oh yeah, you don’t know this, but Bree is a master fly-fisherwoman,” said Blythe.

“A what?”

It was Bree’s turn to laugh. “Fly-fishing. I love it.”

“And she’s good at it,” added Blythe.

“Why?” Lyric asked, not seeming to understand at all.

“It’s very relaxing, but challenging at the same time. I like the solitude of it.”

Now that she thought about it, it would be exactly what she needed. Time alone, to get her head back on straight.

She needed to grieve her husband, and stop thinking about Jace Rice. He’d become a crutch. If she thought about him, she didn’t have to think about the pain of losing Zack. If she was honest with herself, and she was trying to be, she had to recognize it for what it was.

As hard as it would be, she had to force herself to work through the stages of grief she was trying hard to avoid. There was no way to avoid it. There would come a time she’d have to face it.

Ten days later, Bree left for Stanley, Idaho. She was spending the next four weeks at Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch. She’d fish, and ride…and mourn. And when she came back, she’d spend every day teaching cadets, ones just like her husband had been.

What had she gotten herself into?

I write because I love it.
My books are filled with things that bring me joy: music, wine, skiing,
kids
families
, artists and cowboys. Not always in that order.
Pretty simple really

I’ve always been creative. My husband and I have owned a marketing firm for many years, where I am a copywriter and designer; I’ve edited and designed two hundred books for a small press publisher; and in my spare time, I became certified as an executive sommelier.

I’m an author, speaker, editor, teacher, blogger, and in my spare time—became certified as an executive sommelier.

I bring years of experience in the publishing world to all I do. I’ve edited and designed more than two hundred books, including fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, coffee table, and cookbooks. And then one day, I decided to write my own.

I’m an east coast girl, who spent half her life on the west coast. But now my husband, our two boys
,
and I happily call Colorado home.

You can find me here:

Website:
http://www.heatherabuchman.com

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/heatherbuchman

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/Heather-A-Buchman

Coming soon, book four,
And Then You Fly.
As always, thanks for reading.