Page 5 of Rancher's Return

“Why don’t we go inside?” his mother said. “But no more hitting.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Boone said, looking ashamed for the first time.

This didn’t have to be easy.

Buck was used to things being hard.

But he was home.

For better or for worse.

He was home.

Chapter Two

The first week of school was always a little dramatic, but Marigold Rivers didn’t mind.

She loved that her daughter told her everything. That she gave her the rundown on all the drama. Hers, her friends’, everyone’s. Marigold had not told her mom anything. Because she had been a sullen and withdrawn teen still recovering from her brother’s death and had kept all of her feelings and bad behaviors to herself.

She was thankful Lily didn’t do that. Lily told her about all her classes, about all her crushes, about everything.

This week, though, had been light on the drama. Senior year was starting off relaxed.

Marigold was almost grateful for that.

Even as the idea of her daughter graduating in nine months made her want to curl into a ball and howl.

In some ways, she supposed she was lucky to be thirty-three with her daughter very nearly out of the house.

All the dating and everything she had mostly missed out on as a young mom could commence. She could travel. Could engage in wild one-night stands with hot mysterious Greek guys, just like the women in her favorite books.

Of course, in those books, the woman was usually virginal—lord, that ship had sailed—and usually ended up pregnant. Marigold had seen that film before. The guy didn’t stick around.

Or, maybe it wasn’t fair to compare the actions of a nineteen-year-old boy to the actions of thirty-year-old men who were billionaires. And fictional. There was that.

Whatever.

In a few short months, Lily would be off to college. And yes, there was anxiety associated with that. With applying for schools, financial aid, all of it. And, of course, worrying about whether or not Lily was acclimating to her new life, new friends, new environment. Marigold would be missing her so much that she would probably wish she was dead, but at least there would be freedom. Probably.

Mostly, she felt sad that this stage of her life was over already.

Being a teen mom had been hard. But nothing was harder than this—preparing to say goodbye.

She schlepped half the load of groceries inside and called up the stairs. “Lily, I’m home.”

Lily drove herself to school now, and that had been a big adjustment too. Her daughter having freedom. Her own car. She had gotten her license a little late, because of course Marigold was paranoid about teen driving. And teen drinking. And teen sex.

Her family was a deeply unfortunate after-school special.

Her brother had decided to drink and get into a car with another boy who had been drinking. So many kids made that mistake. Her brother had paid for it with his life.

She’d had unprotected sex. She’d gotten pregnant.

And while she didn’t think of Lily as aconsequence—at least not these days—she certainly didn’t want the same thing for her daughter.

As a result, while she did her best to be the kind of mom who fostered open communication, she was also...well, she had been very honest with her daughter about life’s dangers.

She had tried to do it in a way that wasn’t just about making rules, but that also explained her experience. She’d done a lot of work on herself since she was seventeen. After her brother died, she’d lost herself. She’d been angry. Looking for someone to blame—and she’d found him.

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