Broken Creek (The Creek #1) (6 page)

Waiting made me nervous, and I paced. Before that day, I’d avoided Stephan for a long time, and even though I didn’t have feelings for him any longer, I remembered some of our better times. He was the only man I’d been intimate with. It had taken me forever to decide that giving up that part of me was a good decision, and afterwards, I realized he wasn’t the one, and I’d made a rotten choice. However I came to that bad decision, I’ll never know.

Right on time, the snake slithered up my drive in his tall, Chevy truck. I guess you could say I was dancing with the devil, or maybe, I was just playing the cards I was dealt. Either way, I didn’t feel good regarding what I was about to do, but I thought I had no other choice.

I opened the door to the front porch and let him in.

“Don’t you look like a beautiful ray of sunshine on a cold day,” he soothed. When he reached out to pull me into his arms, I recoiled.

“Not happening. This is business, strictly business, or you can go.” My hands were on my hips, and my shoulders were tall and firm.

“Fine,” his right hand in the air—once more. “What’s this mission I’ve so easily gotten myself into?”

“I need manpower to fix the bridge. It’s about to go. I’ve got the lumber in the barn, just need a price for labor, and it has to be done this week, since it’s our one good shot at warmer weather before I go back to school. Also, I need to preferably borrow a brush hog and tractor, since ours is beyond repair. Do you know anyone who could let me borrow one and would be willing to bring it out? And lastly, I need to sell the back acres, and I’ve put out an ad to lease the front.”

Stephan’s eyes searched mine. I saw sheer concern on his face. “What’s going on? Your mom would never sell that creek back there.”

“We don’t have a choice. I’m in school with little money, and this place is broken—going down fast. I’m hoping I can get someone to lease the land for cattle.”

“Who’s gonna fix fences and do the upkeep? Have you thought that far?”

“No.”

“You can’t take care of this place from Texas, Wrenn.”

“Don’t you think I know that, asshole?”

“I’m here to help you, and you’re already calling me names. Forget it.” The screech of his chair across the wood floor sent a chill down my spine.

Stephan walked to the door, and I lock in on his tight jeans and pressed shirt. He always was a sight for any girl’s eyes, especially with his blond curly hair and green eyes.

“I’m sorry. Please don’t go. I can’t do this from right here, much less Denton. I need help, and I’m frustrated.”

“I can take care of that frustration.” His deep voice was sultry and coaxing. If anything, he’d always been sex on a stick.

“No, you don’t, dude. Business, remember.” I shook my finger at him in a playful gesture.

“Yeah, but then you’ll owe me.” He laughed.

We did a little dance as we stepped around each other in my kitchen opening—him trying to come closer, me moving away.

“That’s the part that scares me. I’m not sleeping with you, so don’t go thinking that it’s your bargaining chip.”

We were in close proximity in the small kitchen, and I could hear his deep breaths. When he approached me, my eyes trailed to the fullness at the crotch of his jeans. I backed away from him and made myself a glass of ice water. Something he would wear to cool himself off if he decided to get any closer.

“I’d do anything for your mom—and you, no threats needed.”

We walked out to the bridge and observed that it was not a total loss, some of the wood could be reused. I wasn’t prepared for buying more lumber, but I had my savings if it came to it. We checked the supplies in the barn, and there was more steel pipe than I’d remembered, so the price of repair would be less than expected.

Walking back to the house, he caught me of guard. “I’m happy you got out of here and went back to school. You’ll make a better life for yourself than what you’d find here.”

“I got railroaded by Dr. P and Mom.”

“Really? She finally pushed you out?”

“So to speak.”

He laughed. It was a sound I loved to hear. There was nothing better than his laugh when he was carefree, but when he was drinking and jealous—that was a different story.

Back inside, I didn’t dare trust myself enough to sit with him on the sofa, so I parked his ass at the kitchen table. We looked over the list and laid out a timeline.

“Wrenn, I’m really sorry about everything. I just want you to know that.”

“You hurt me, Stephan. You broke my arm in a jealous rage.”

“And you tried to shoot me.” He gave a little chuckle, trying to make light of what had happened.

“You’re lucky that pistol in the truck wasn’t loaded. Look, I can’t rehash the past. I just can’t. I’ve forgiven you and let’s leave it at that.”

“But I can’t forgive myself.”

His words stunned me.

Right about that time, I got a call that changed everything.

“Ms. Cunningham?” the deep male voice asked.

“Speaking.”

“Ms. Cunningham, I’m Holt Severs, out of Fort Smith. Your ad for land just came across our fax, and my son is looking for more land for his cattle. The only problem is that he also wants to rent a place for a ranch-hand of his to stay with the herd. Would you know of a place around there?”

“You mean a room for rent or something like that?”

“Sure, that would be nice. Do you know of something?

“Perhaps. Can I get your number and give you a call back tomorrow?”

“Better yet, I’ll give you Ben’s number, and you can call him yourself.”

After I took the notes from Holt, I sat down in pure amazement as Stephan looked on.

“You win the lottery?”

“Something like that.”

I ushered Stephan away and was grateful he didn’t offer too much resistance. I needed to garner up a clear head and a stubborn streak to deal with my mother.

The problem with the bridge repair meant that no one could come and go on our property while the repairs were going on, and it would take a full day of work to get it back to usable status again. So, the plan was to get the brush hog on the land first, and I could do that during the day each day until the weekend, and that would be when the guys would come and fix the bridge.

When Mom got home, I had dinner prepared, but she was too tired to eat. She sat down in her recliner and closed her eyes. I observed her from the kitchen for several moments. She looked ragged and worn. The sight of her aging before my eyes depressed me.

I wiped at the tears that trickled down my cheeks. If I allowed the emotion to creep in, we were going to be in far worse than we already were.

“Mom, have you thought about boarding a room out to someone who wants to put their cattle here?”

“A strange man living in my house? What would the town folk say? Are you nuts?” She turned at stared at me.

I walked over and sat on the sofa, the end closest to her chair as her gaze followed me. The lamp light between us lit her face. She wasn’t impressed with my question.

“No, I’m thinking logistically. Purely hypothetical at this point, but what if a young man needed to rent out a room and would be available to help out around here? That wouldn’t be bad, and I know other people have done it like the Duncans.”

She stood from the chair abruptly. “Yes, but they were a family and rented a room. Not a single woman.” Her hands were on her hips, a clear sign she wasn’t backing down.

I threw my hands in the air. “Fine, it was just a suggestion. I’m trying to do everything I can.”

“And you think I’m not?” Her words flung out at me, her face tight with frustration and despair. My skin was intact, but I felt the invisible rip of my flesh. She was angry and resented my attempts to help, like I was meddling and trying to become the alpha adult.

She went to bed, hungry and angry, not to mention slamming a door on her way. Something she rarely did. The emotional wounds left wide open, for both of us.

I made the decision not to tell her the rest of my plans. She was tired. The argument was fresh, and we still had a couple of weeks to get it worked out, but I wasn’t giving up. There was no fighting change. Things were going to be different whether it was what we wished or not, or the bank was going to take over.

Holt Severs gave my number to his son, Ben. When I received Ben’s call on Wednesday, I was surprised at how much he knew about our little town. Seems he’d spent quite a bit of time working land just up the road from us. He had about seven hundred head of cattle and wished to put about four hundred on our place. Justin, his ranch hand, was only twenty-two years old and needed to stay with the herd. His family was in Oklahoma, so he wasn’t too far away, and Ben said he could provide a thorough background check and references.

I scheduled a meeting with both Justin and Ben on Sunday, so they could meet Mom too.

I was certain there were going to be fireworks when the subject came up, and if I had a crystal ball, I would’ve predicted Mom was going to lose her mind and her religion on me when I gave her the news. It was just a meet and greet, but I was pushing the limits, especially when she’d already said no.

By Friday afternoon, I had the pastures in good shape and had fixed the two fences that had been in need of minor repair. Stephan had called in a few favors with some of his friends and their relatives to come help with the bridge. The worst part was going to be for the ones having to work from below in the ice cold water.