Page 31 of The Prodigal Brother Returns

Friendship was all she had to give to Blake. But she was afraid just being his friend would not be easy. Every time she saw him, with or without the kids trailing his footsteps, something inside her that had dried up sprang back to life.

Like the romantic comedies she loved to watch. One minute the girl was suspicious of the guy, sure there could be nothing between them. By the end of the movie, he was the love of her life.

That was not going to happen.

“Ready?” Blake asked with a grin.

The kids shouted from the back seat, “Ready!”

Not ready!

Today, all she was ready for was to enjoy a day of fun with her twins. It wasn’t her fault that Blake and Timmy came as part of the deal and were a nice bonus. Later, when she had time, she’d figure out why that mattered.

Blake Lohmen had nothing to do with the excitement swirling in her chest, Malorie firmly told herself. The man who wrote theTimmy, the Superherobooks, and the prodigal brother who’d returned to manage the ranch while his brother was down—He was too good to be true.

He was... she didn’t know, but a move from Oregon to Colorado could be a little scary or kind of exciting, depending on which way she looked at it. For today, she’d take her chances on her current assignment and the soothing rhythm of life on the Triple L, and not think about the future.

Chapter Nine

If Blake thoughtone more time about how amazing Malorie and her twins were, he’d have to find some other way to distract himself than diving into the work that had to be done to refresh the ranch. He was getting a little too starstruck. And though he was considering finding a work around Nathan so that he and Timmy could make their home on the Triple L, it was unlikely the Harpers would still be on the ranch.

He and Malorie were ships passing in the night. So he focused on exploring Strawberry Ridge while the kids stayed ahead of the adults. Every time he checked on them, Andee and Reece were including Timmy and making sure he was keeping up as they peered through the windows of the stores.

He and Malorie caught up with them on the corner of Second and Rawling. Their faces were pressed to the glass, hands blocking the sun from their eyes. “Look! It’s a bookstore. And a lady is reading to a bunch of kids,” Andee exclaimed, then turned to her mom. “Can we go inside and listen to the story?”

Malorie laughed, the sweet sound taking Blake right back to, not that she was amazing, which she was, but closer to here was a woman he could spend more than a little time with. If he were looking for someone to share his life with. He wasn’t! Was he?

“Of course you can go in. We’ll be right behind you.” Shooing the kids in with a wave of her hand, she turned to him with a curious look that made Blake a little nervous.

Andee and Reece pulled Timmy into The Book Lovers Hideaway, while Malorie slowly followed. She stopped just before going in, stepping to the side where they had a good view through the window of all three kids taking a seat on a rug with the other kids.

He was taller than she was, so she had to look up to lock gazes with him. Her dark hair bobbed around her shoulders. His pulse picked up.

“I want to ask you something,” she said. “The problem is, it’s none of my business. But I think if I understand what’s going on between you and your brothers, I can help Nathan with his healing process.”

Was that the only reason she wanted to know about the worst thing he’d ever done? Suddenly, his interest in the woman watching him with a calm, clear expression that lacked any judgment on her part took off for the mountains surrounding Strawberry Ridge.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. He wanted to show Malorie there was more to him than the stories she may have heard from Nathan, but was telling her the story of his past necessary? “What do you want to know?”

“What happened between you and Nathan?” she asked without hesitation.

She was brave to intrude where he didn’t normally let folks go. On the other hand, for some reason he couldn’t explain, he wanted her to know he’d grown up since he was that hardheaded, out-of-control teenager.

In the end, when she had no more fight left, Tina wanted him to keep moving on from his past. She’d wanted him to lean into life after she was gone and make a good future for himself and Timmy. He still loved her and the life they’d had, but looking into the clear cinnamon of Malorie’s eyes, he finally understood what Tina had been trying to tell him.

Malorie might not be ‘the one,’ but she made him want to be a good friend, and he was pretty sure good friends told each other their stories.

Still, he hesitated a moment longer. Baring his soul was hard. “After my dad died—I was fifteen—I went a little wild. I started drinking and skipping school. Mom did the best she could, but I missed Dad so much, she had a hard time reaching me. To keep me out of trouble, she taught me how to keep the financial books for the ranch.”

Blake pushed one hand through his hair. “Two years later, she died of a broken heart. The doctor said she had a stroke, but I didn’t believe him. I was drinking more, and on the night of her funeral, I took Dad’s truck, the classic that Nathan, Jonas, and I helped him restore, and drove it out into the pasture to the tree where Dad had carved his and Mom’s initials in an old oak tree that was there.”

Quietly listening, her eyes filling with an understanding he didn’t deserve, Malorie took his hand. Blake breathed in the floral scent mixed with vanilla, which seemed to be her favorite. “I crashed the truck into their tree.”

“Did you intend to kill yourself?” she asked softly, the understanding not changing a single lick.

The air around him went still, making it difficult to inhale.

“I don’t know.” He pulled his hand free and, dropping his gaze to the sidewalk, returned both hands to his pockets. He was not that hurting kid anymore. Life had given him grace. He looked up and faced Malorie and all the regrets he still carried. “No, I didn’t. My foot slipped off the brake onto the gas pedal. That truck was our dad’s pride and joy. After that, Nathan stopped talking to me and Jonas told me to pack my bag and leave and never come back. So I did, and I didn’t come back until I got a call from Jonas a week and a half ago, demanding I return home.”

---