Page 11 of One Summer Day (Prosperity Ranch 1)

“He’s around the back, by the practice arena,” Rex said.

Macie nodded, then continued through the barn and exited through the wide back doors. She stepped out into the sun again and immediately saw Holt. He was kneeling in the dirt, hammering something against a fence. The fence was part of a full-sized arena. Macie hadn’t realized how large this property was, and in every direction it seemed to extend for miles.

She headed toward the pounding, and as she neared, Holt looked up.

“Lemonade?” Macie asked. “Your mom made it.”

Holt straightened and took the glass she held out. “Thank you.” Then he drank the entire thing down without stopping to breathe.

“Can I get you some more?” Macie tried not to smirk, taking the glass back.

“No, that was perfect.” He took his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair, which made it a tumbled mess.

Standing this close to him made Macie only more aware of his size, and the fact that she could see the perspiration on his tanned neck above his open collar. She averted her eyes and swallowed. “Um, can I talk to you for a minute? Privately?”

He leaned against the fence he’d been working on. “Doesn’t get much more private than this. Not even the horses are paying attention.”

She glanced to the other side of the arena that was in partial shade from the barn, where two unsaddled horsed seemed to be half asleep. “What are they doing?”

“They were dropped off yesterday by one of our rodeo guys,” Holt said. “Their owner’s stopping by the ranch today to talk price. Both horses have been skittish, and they want me to retrain them.”

“You’re riding rodeo now?” she asked.

Holt’s blue gaze on her didn’t move. “Training’s not the same thing as riding in a competition.”

“Right.” She looked away again, because when Holt gazed at her, she felt like he was reading way more into her thoughts than she was prepared to share. “So you pretty much do everything here? From mending fences to training horses?”

“I’m the manager,” Holt said. “Jerry—the ranch hand—is out with surgery. So right now, you could say I do everything.”

Including picking her up from the airport and calming down three-year-old kids. And apparently, dealing with a mom who had cancer. “What kind of cancer does your mom have?”

Holt exhaled. “She told you?”

“No,” Macie said. “I went into the bathroom with the blue rug and saw the prescriptions.”

Holt’s jaw flexed.

“I didn’t snoop, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she said. “The cabinet was open, and I know those medications.”

His brows pulled together. “How?”

She exhaled. Knox knew her mom died of cancer, but he’d never asked any details, or much of anything about her life. “My mom had breast cancer my senior year in high school. It went into remission, then came back a year later.”

Holt stared at her.

“It was just me and my mom,” she said, “so I helped her through everything. Like I said, I know those medications your mom’s taking.”

“What about your dad or other family?”

“My dad left my mom when I was about two years old.” She met his gaze. “I don’t even think he knows she passed away. What’s going on with your mother?”

“Wait, your mom died?” Holt asked. “And how soon after that did you go on that trip with your girlfriends and end up in Prosper?”

“About a month.” Macie felt reluctant to rehash the past. But in truth, maybe it would help Holt understand that she hadn’t always been irresponsible. “My friend Gilly thought it would cheer me up—you know, change of scenery and everything. Gilly has a cousin in San Antonio, and we drove out to hang with them. Heard about the rodeo in Prosper and stopped here first.”

Holt lowered his head and exhaled. “Unbelievable,” he muttered.

Macie was about to ask him what he was talking about when Holt lifted his head. “Mom’s got stage two breast cancer. They think they caught it early enough, but they’re still being aggressive. She finished her last round of chemo a few weeks ago.”

“I shouldn’t have come.” Macie felt numb again. “I mean, she’s in there making dinner right now, and she probably washed bedding, and—”

“Stop.” Holt grasped her arm. “A few hours ago, I might have agreed with you, but when I saw Ruby hug her, and that smile on her face . . .” His voice faded away. “I hope you’ll stay.”

The sincerity in his voice only made her wince. Because she was totally intruding into a family that no longer fully belonged to her. She was divorced from their son. She’d caused enough heartache already, and Heidi was hurting in more ways than one. Maybe Macie should have waited a few years, when Ruby was old enough to come on her own.

And now Holt was being nice to her. It was almost too much to take. Was he hoping she’d reconcile with Knox? Repair the broken mess she’d made of the Prosper family? She wished she could confess the truth of her divorce. She wanted someone on her side, someone who knew the real story about her marriage. But looking into Holt’s blue eyes told her that telling him the truth would only bring back the pain. And the Prosper family already had their fair share of that.

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