Page 1 of Rescued By the Ranger

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LEESA

“Mom, look, look! There it is!”My five-year-old daughter, Jasmine —Jazzy to family and friends— cranes her neck to see out the window strapped in her car seat in the back of my Lexus.

I slow the SUV and my jaw drops open to catch flies, if there were any, but being winter in the Rocky Mountains, there aren’t.

My co-worker, Shane, said that his family’s cabin was “quite spacious,” but this… this is a freaking mansion!

Maybe I have the wrong place?

I remember him using air quotes around “quite spacious,” so I should’ve known something was up. I pull over to the side of the road and dial him.

“Hey, Leesa. You made it?”

“Ummm. Shane, how… what… I can’t… this isn’t…”

“Wow, you haven’t had this much trouble getting something out since you found out that they cancelledFriendson TV. Are you having a stroke? What’s up?”

“This can’t be the right address.”

He chuckles. “Yeah, I kinda didn’t want you to say no. That’s why I didn’t tell you that it’s a seven-bedroom, five-bathmountain monstrosity. You deserve this, Lees. Please, don’t say no.”

My throat tightens. It’s been an extremely taxing, never-ending year. My ex-husband made it feel more like than a thousand days long. He went from being the man I adored, to a monster in less than two years, and then when I wanted out, he became twice as bad.

Thankfully, being a family practice lawyer, I knew how bad it could get. Unfortunately, he surprised the fuck out of me.

“Leesa? Are you there?” Shane says softly. “Hey, I’m sure I’m on speaker, so I’ll keep this P.C. for Jazzy’s sake, but you frickin’ frackin’ deserve this.”

“He needs to put two dollars in the jar,” Jazzy says and Shane laughs.

“Will do, peanut,” he tells her and she smiles.

My daughter loves to be right. And she’s almost always right, something she gets from me. I lost my right for a while when everything was just plain wrong, but as I smile, I realize that maybe there’s much more right in my world than there was.

Shane’s been there for me during my divorce and if he wasn’t gay, I would’ve asked him out after the ink dried. Not only do I adore him, but my daughter does too. But he’s taken and Jazzy loves his partner, Quinton, as much as I do. They foster twin girls same age as Jazzy, Kyla and Maya, and I’m hoping they’ll adopt them soon. Those girls are like sisters to my daughter and since I don’t see more kids being a part of my future, I’d love for her to have someone she can treat like a sister.

“Okay, I’ll make it work,” I say, blowing out a long breath.

“It’s not a broken bra strap, Lees! Enjoy! There’s a jacuzzi tub in the guest suite and?—”

“Suite?!” My head spins.

“It’s just a word. Take a deep breath, please.”

I inhale slowly and remember that I need to be a good role model for Jazzy. I need to show her that nothing is too big for us to tackle together or individually. Her father won’t be in her life barely at all, so it’s her and I against the world.

But man, the world can be rough.

“It’s gorgeous,” I say after a quick reassessment of my attitude.

“I love it, Mommy!” Jazzy says and Shane chuckles.

“Thanks, Jazz! Glad you like it. Have a great time! And hey, there’s crayons and drawing paper in the living room cabinet and maybe… maybe I left something wrapped for you under the Christmas tree.”

She squeals, “A present! Thank you, Uncle Shane!”

That’s the first time that she’s called him that and I swear that I hear a sniffle.

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