Page 6 of Reuniting with the Rancher

“I was able to save some of the food,” he said as he finished plating the food for the two of them. Caleb avoided his eyes as he mumbled a thanks and took a plate from his outstretched hands. He kissed his aunt on the cheek before he shuffled off to one of the bedrooms off the living room.

LaLa watched him as he went, her lip trembling. Once he closed the door, she wiped away the wet from her eyes and took a couple deep breaths, tapping her hand against her thigh as she breathed.

Feelings he didn’t want to feel surfaced as he watched her, a protectiveness over her and Caleb and profound sadness for all of them. Anger was a more familiar beast, in some ways a safer one. Still, Lily was a human being, and she was hurtin’.

“I’m sorry to hear about Marigold. I knew about the accident, but not who died. She was a good woman and judging by Bryson,I mean Caleb, continued to be a phenomenal mom,” he said and he meant it. LaLa and her sister were inseparable when he met both of them in college. LaLa spent practically every weekend in Marigold’s dorm until she graduated from NYU and joined them as an official grad student.

When Marigold fell pregnant, it was LaLa who moved them into an apartment and started singing in nightclubs to support Mari and baby Caleb, then called Bryson, when the professor that had gotten Mari pregnant went back to his wife. Before she was LaLa, she was Lily, a woman who loved kids and was quick to toss him the diaper bag and snag Caleb’s car seat, turning their dates into a moment of rest for Mari.

Shaking off the memories, he grabbed the second plate, set it on the half counter separating the great room from the kitchen, and moved to stride past her. His heart stopped, then painfully kicked over again when she reached out and touched his arm. He moved slightly out of her reach.

LaLa pursed her lips and crossed her arms, withdrawing into herself. “I had a concussion from the accident. They were worried about a secondary concussion. That’s why…Anyway, not for me, I know you wouldn’t do shit for me, but for Caleb, please don’t tell anyone we are here. The pressure of LaLa Fair is too much and no kid should have to live in that after what he’s been through. He needs to heal. We only use his middle name and mom’s maiden name to keep him safe, to let him have a good life…So..”

Her reaching for him created a longing that he hated, and he barked a little. “I have no interest in bringing the LaLa Fair Circus to my ranch.”

“Your–”

He crossed his arms in satisfaction as understanding, then horror bloomed across her face.

“Yes, LaLa, I’m your boss.”

“I quit.”

Lily

She must’ve been a mega bitch in another life because the level of bullshit splattering against the windowpane of her life was more than should be allowed.

Lily flipped through messages from her body double in Europe, LaTavia.

Ms. LaLa, thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity to travel the world and dedicate myself to my studies. I am ready for the bar and after I am starting a new job in housing legal aid. You have made it possible for me to see the most amazing things and live an extraordinary life, but I’m ready to be me now and I can afford to use my degree to really help people. Because of you, I’m debt free and have a nest egg. That means I can do this important work for years. I can honor my mom and work to make sure that families don’t experience homelessness like we did because they didn’t have access to people who could help them. I wish you’d let me out of the NDA so I could tell the world about the REAL you.

-LaTavia

Just what she needed. Resisting the urge to throw her phone, she fired off an appropriately kind response. She really liked LaTavia and was happy for her, but selfishly she just didn’t want to deal with one more issue. And she really didn’t want to put LaLa Fair back in rehab.

“I tithe, I donate to a host of do gooding organizations, I’ve tried to be a good person in this life so what the fuck God?” she asked as she limped back and forth in front of Crystal Fountain.She tipped her head back and looked up to the heavens, even though she didn’t expect a response.

“Perhaps it’s the ‘what the fuck part’ in the same sentence as His name,” a deep voice rumbled behind her.

For the second time in one day, she almost fell on her ass. She caught herself in time and hid her cane behind her back. Better this stranger thought she was clumsy rather than a hobbled target.

After Greyson’s smug declaration, she promptly quit and kicked him out of the cottage. Then she placed several, increasingly frantic, phone calls to her lawyers. At some point, she left the house so Caleb wouldn’t overhear and ended up here at the fountain. She should have been more responsible than to be out walking the property this late.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, Ms. Fair. I’m here on behalf of Greyson.”

“So much for no interest in the circus,” she grumbled, mentally calculating how quickly the press could descend on this place. “How much does he want? Or does he want me to counter a tabloid offer?”

The tall, powerfully built man put up his hands in a gesture of submissive peace and stepped closer so that the lights around the fountain caught his objectively handsome face. He smiled, showing off a prominent eye tooth that gave him a wolfish appearance, but something about his smile made her take a second, then a third step back.

“I’m Logan Kahale and I mean you no harm...”

There was an unspoken “yet” they both heard loud and clear. That earned two more steps back and her cane brought to the front.

“I’m here to find out your intentions toward the Monroe family.”

Lily kept her posture straighter than the pain radiating through her leg up to her hip should’ve allowed and spoke with a bravery she certainly didn’t feel. She raised her voice above the soft, damn near whisper speak she’d adopted to save what was left of her voice. She had the distinct feeling the voice she used tonight would either save or end her life.

“I have no intentions of anything toward that family. If I never come across them again, I’d be too glad. I came here to get my nephew away from LaLa Fair’s life. I’ve got shit luck lately, and it keeps getting worse. Greyson isn’t listed on any of the company’s information and supposedly the foundation funding this place has a great reputation. Obviously, I was mistaken. There is not a single reason for me to ever cross paths with Greyson Monroe, and I certainly wouldn’t seek him out and drag my nephew along. Greyson told me exactly where to go ten years ago.”

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