Page 2 of Caleb

“You’re as obsessed with control as ever. I wonder, Caleb, have you considered that your real problem isn’t a lack of good marketing, which I know nothing about, but the lack of something else entirely?”

“Like what?” he asked and immediately regretted saying anything.

“We didn’t have marketing back in my day. We raised cattle,” she said. “We raised families and little ones, or you wouldn’t even be here.”

“Here we go,” Caleb muttered under his breath, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms. “Give it to me, and then please leave.”

This would waste his time, which he sorely needed right now.

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, boy,” Eugenia said, pointing a translucent finger at him. “You’re lonely, Caleb. And not just in the way you pretend suits you. You need someone to challenge and soften you. Someone to show you life. Someone to love.”

“I don’t need anyone.” His tone was sharper than intended, but the last thing he wanted was a lecture about emotions. Not from a ghost. “Why don’t you focus on Cody? He’s the one you mentioned at the last family gathering.”

Eugenia tilted her head, her smile widening as if he’d walked right into her trap. “Oh, don’t worry, sweetness. I can work on more than one of my grandsons at a time.”

He groaned, dragging a hand through his hair. “I don’t want or need your help.”

She laughed, the sound bubbling with mischief. “Oh yes, you do. You’re the most challenging of them all. Cody’s just a touch stubborn. You? You’re like an iron gate with a broken hinge.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

After witnessing his parents’ marriage and their final days together, putting a ring on someone’s finger was not something he found compelling. He didn’t need someone to scream and wail at him.

“It wasn’t one,” she said, floating closer until she loomed over his desk. “Mark my words, Caleb Burnett. I won’t get my eternal rest until I see you, your brother, and your cousin Desiree find true love. It’s a matter of pride, you see. My unfinished business, as it were. And I will accomplish my goal.”

He stared at her, exasperation knotting inside him. So now he was on her radar, which couldn’t be good. How did you compel a ghost to leave you alone or return them to their crypt?

“You’re impossible. Sooner or later, you will realize that marriage is not for everyone. Hell will freeze over, melt, and freeze again before I get down on one knee.”

Just the thought made him shiver.

“And you’re afraid,” she countered, her voice softening. “You think if you let someone in, they’ll destroy everything. But love isn’t a hurricane, Caleb. It’s the shelter from the storm. And you deserve shelter, even if you don’t believe it.”

“Love isn’t for everyone,” he said finally, his voice tight. “Some of us are better off alone.”

“And yet, here you are,” Eugenia countered, gesturing at the laptop. “Working yourself to death, trying to control everything because you think it’ll protect you from getting hurt. But control isn’t love, Caleb. It’s just another cage.”

He pushed back his chair, standing abruptly. “Enough. I don’t need a lecture on love from a ghost.”

She arched a delicate brow. “Oh, but you do. And you’ll thank me for it one day.”

“Doubtful.”

The air in the room stilled for a moment, her words sinking deeper than he wanted to admit. But he pushed the feeling aside, shaking his head. “You can play matchmaker all you want, Eugenia, but I’m not interested. Now, I have a business trip to prepare for. And I know how much the Burnett Ranch means to you, so I suggest you leave and let me finish my work.”

She gave him a knowing smile, her form beginning to shimmer and fade. “Get prepared, Caleb, to open your heart. Soon enough, you’re going to meet your woman. Don’t blow your last chance at love.”

With a soft laugh, she vanished, leaving the room eerily still. Caleb stared at the space where she’d stood, a mix of frustration and unease swirling deep inside him.

He returned to his chair, his gaze falling on the half-finished campaign. The words on the screen blurred as his thoughts drifted to the past. Therehadbeen someone once. A girl in college who’d made him believe, however briefly, that love might be worth the risk. But his family had ruined that when he had to come home to keep his parents from killing one another. Only problem, he’d failed.

Life had a way of reminding him that risks came with consequences. His father’s affair had torn his family apart. His mother’s bitterness had poisoned every room she entered. And Caleb had walked away from that girl—Taylor—before he could do to her what his parents had done to each other.

Shaking his head, he focused on the screen again. The campaign wouldn’t write itself, and the Burnett Ranch needed him to stay grounded in the present. Not haunted by the ghosts of his past—literal or figurative.

Still, Eugenia’s parting words lingered like the scent of roses in the air.

You’re about to meet someone who’ll change everything.

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