Page 84 of A Cowboy in the Streets

The sun was high in the cloudless sky by the time we were done. We took a breather by the fence to give our horses a rest before we headed back to the barn. The cows congregated under a tree, occasionally eyeing us like they suspected we weren’t done with our shenanigans.

“You staying for lunch?” I asked Brax.

He took a long gulp from his water bottle before answering. “Figured I would. Dad’s sandwiches are better than anything I’d find in town.” He nodded at my horse. “Crackerjack looked good out there.”

“He’s coming along real nice.” I gave him an affectionate pat on the neck. It would be rough to turn him over to someone else, but that was the nature of the business. If I kept every horse I liked, we’d never make a single sale.

“Belle is, too. She’s going to put Lodestar Ranch back on the map. You and James got big plans for her next year?”

I scowled at the mention of the woman who, any second now, was going to break my heart. “I have big plans. James won’t be here to see them. Blaine will take over Belle’s training.”

Brax stared at me like I was speaking in tongues. “Come again?”

“You met her parents last night. They want her to go back to California with them.”

“California?” Brax spat the word with disgust. “You’ve got to be kidding me. She’s going to leave us in the lurch like that?”

“Working with her dad is her dream. I’m not going to stand in the way of that. Anyway, she did what we needed her to do. She got Belle to take a rider. Blaine can take it from here.” I said it like I didn’t care, but Crackerjack knew better. He felt the tension roll through me and tossed his head, demanding I ease my grip on the reins. I flexed my fingers and let the leather slide through a bit.

I fooled Brax about as well as I fooled Crackerjack. “What about you, Adam? Is Blaine going to take care of you, too?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Very funny. This might come as a shock to you, but I’m a full-grown man. I don’t need someone to take care of me. I’ll be just fine without her.”

Brax tipped his hat back and leveled me with a hard look that saw straight through my bullshit. “Of course you’ll be fine. You’re not Dad. When your world falls apart, you don’t fall apart with it. You muscle your way through like a damn robot. So, yeah. You’ll be fine without James. But who the hell wants to spend their life being just fine? Don’t you want to be happy?”

“I’m happy enough.” Or I would be, anyway. At some point, this ache in my chest had to ease, right? “I have Ben. I have the ranch.”

“Happy enough.” Brax snorted.

Now I was pissed. “What do you want from me, man? James has wanted this her whole life. You want me to put myself between her and her dream? I can’t do that.”

“So that’s it? You just give up?” Brax shook his head. “Some things never change, I guess.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I demanded. “You’re the one who gave up on Lodestar and Dad, not me.”

“First of all, fuck you. I never gave up on Lodestar, and I sure as hell never gave up on Dad. I’m here, aren’t I? You think because I didn’t dedicate my whole life to the ranch that means I gave up on it? No. Lodestar was Dad’s dream. I don’t owe his dream my life. And you don’t, either. So don’t throw that martyr bullshit at me. You want this life. That’s the difference.”

I glared, but he wasn’t wrong. Hadn’t James said pretty much the same thing? She had barely been here a week at that point, but she still had me figured out. Was that really two months ago? It felt like a lifetime. It felt like yesterday.

“If you need more help here, ask for it. I’ll do what I can,” Brax continued. He paused, then added somewhat reluctantly, “Do you need more help?”

I considered. James had lifted my burdens considerably since she’d arrived two months ago, in more ways than just training. Honestly, I had no idea how we would replace her. “Not so much lately. Six months ago, I would have had a different answer.”

“Then six months ago, you should have come to me and asked for help. We would have figured something out. I’m not a mind-reader.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

“You’re not a mind-reader, either. Neither is James.”

Oh, there it was. I should have known he wasn’t done with this shit. “You got something to say?” I challenged.

“I thought I just said it.”

I shook my head. “We’re done here. Let’s head back.”

“Sure.”

Brax nudged Orion into an easy walk. The horses had earned an easy ride home. I squeezed my calves around Crackerjack’s belly, urging him forward next to Orion.

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