Page 30 of The Cowboy Fix

If that attitude worked for her, why wouldn’t it work for him too?

Blake came to Nathan’s other side and gave the kids advice on their riding techniques.

Shoving his hands into his back pockets, Nathan said quietly, “You’re doing a good job teaching them how to ride.”

“Thanks.” Blake took his eyes off the kids for a second and glanced at Nathan. “I think. Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah.” He wasn’t ready to tell the brother who’d been gone sixteen years while he lived a different life before Jonas had brought him back to the fold, that he had regrets.

Fortunately, Izzy, as was her way, saved the day. “Mom is having a great time, and she’s feeling better than she has in a long time. I think I’ve got her talked into staying for a while.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Nathan was glad. It suddenly occurred to him that if Sylvia was happy on the ranch, Izzy could be too.

“I think so,” Izzy agreed and something inside Nathan perked up.

Jonas arrived with the supplies. They all, including Timmy and Andee after they dismounted and tethered the horses, helped unload the truck.

“That should do it.” After discussing when they would come back to get to work on the changes they wanted to make, Nathan looked at his family.

He could no longer blame Jonas and Blake for leaving him essentially on his own to run the ranch. It was equally clear that his cranky relationship with his brothers was more his fault than theirs. His feeling of being alone had started long before they’d left him—or been chased off, in Blake’s case.

Blake had made amends. Now, it was his turn. Hopefully, he hadn’t waited too long.

“Can we ride some more when we get back to the house?” Timmy asked.

Nathan placed a careful hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You’ll have to check with your dad, but you can help me in the barn tomorrow morning if you want.”

That brought a smile to his nephew’s face. “Thanks, Uncle Nathan.”

His family was happy. He couldn’t ask for more, could he? Getting the horses, he handed Rosie’s reins to Izzy. “We’d better get going.”

“I’ll see you back at the guesthouse.” Izzy hugged her mom.

After watering the horses, they waved goodbye to Blake and Malorie, and their little family. This was exactly what Nathan wanted. To someday raise a family on the Triple L.

They went back the way they came. When he couldn’t see the shed any longer, he decided, in for a penny, in for a pound. Maybe Izzy could shed some insight onto his dilemma. She seemed to have a special knack for very quickly getting to the source of problems.

“Have you ever been married?”

“No,” she said briefly.

So, she didn’t want to talk about it. For the first time in a long time, Nathan was more interested in someone other than his own troubles.

His gut said she would make a great wife and mother for the man she eventually decided to marry. “It sounds like there’s a story there.”

He wanted to figure Izzy Payton out. The trick for her would be finding a partner who didn’t mind her wandering ways. That wouldn’t be him. Too bad they didn’t have similar ideas about how they wanted to live their lives.

“It’s not a pretty story.”

That sounded very familiar. “I swear I won’t tell anyone. Besides, you’ve seen my not-so-pleasant side. I promise I won’t be shocked.”

Shifting in her saddle, she cast him a disgruntled glance. “I was engaged once. And before you ask why it didn’t work out, he left me at the altar to go on a world walking tour with his best friend Catheryn Evans. They met in college,” she supplied before he could ask.

“What an idiot,” Nathan swore. He couldn’t imagine walking away from Izzy under any circumstances. Even though they’d had a rocky start and had different goals in life, she was one of the most interesting women he’d met. “What did you do?”

“It’s embarrassing. I should have seen it coming.” She shrugged, then grinned, a brief glimpse of mischief lighting her face. “I donated everything to a donation center, including the wedding gifts, still wrapped, the food from the reception, the cake, and I said good riddance.”

“Good for you. I don’t know if I would have been that forward-thinking.”

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