Page 46 of A Reckless Memory

“I didn’t think I’d enjoy being back.” He wandered past the pens and along the fence line. The horses nickered, their heads swiveling to watch him.

Archer came to a stop beside me. “He even asked me to let Uncle Cameron know he was in town in case he wanted to meet up.”

“Shit, seriously?” I vaguely remembered Dad’s rants about his brother, but Archer would recall them better.

“Time makes a lot fade.”

Dad had gone forty years without talking to his brother. Ten years hadn’t wiped out Aggie’s fear of me. I couldn’t wait another thirty. Each day since she’d come on my hand, I’d only grown more determined to win her over. And each day, I was also stuck with her parting words in my head. I didn’t want to control her, but I had nothing to offer her. Nothing.

Well... I had something to give back to her, but I wasn’t sure when the time was perfect for it.

Right now, all I had was my growing obsession with all things her, and before I acted on my feelings, I needed to separate what went on years ago between us from how I felt now.

Hurting her again wasn’t an option.

Nine

AGGIE

I stepped back from hugging Daddy’s frail shoulders.

“Love ya, Birdie,” he said gruffly. “Don’t worry. Ansen will treat you right.”

Hurt helped me refrain from rolling my eyes. “Sure, Daddy.” He hadn’t quit gushing about Ansen all day, excited my ex was back in the family no matter what I said. I gave him a kiss on his wispy hair. “Love you too, Daddy.”

Thanksgiving night, after a tense but brief meal, I’d silently cried myself to sleep. Ten years of ignoring Daddy and I was no longer certain it’d been the right thing to do, but it was too late. The time was gone.

I walked through the house and stopped by my room. I remembered looking in the mirror on my wedding day, admiring my boots with Meg and Sutton in the room. How things had changed. Daddy never did make it into an office. The space was the same. Bed. Dresser lined with 4-H ribbons. I brushed my gaze over the empty shelf on the bookcase.

Eliot came in through the laundry room door.

“Whatever happened to Mama’s old books that Tex tore up?” I asked. I’d wondered all weekend, but on Thursday, I’d been reeling from seeing and talking to Daddy after so long. Friday, I’d spent with my niece and nephew at Cody’s while he worked. Saturday, Sutton and I caught up, and I managed to get in a visit with Wilder when he stopped for dinner during his shift. And today, I’d roamed through our land and marveled at how I felt like a square peg and the ranch was a round hole. I no longer fit here, and maybe I never had.

I liked where I was at now. It was mine. Thanks to Mama.

“I have no clue where those went.” He leaned against the wall by the laundry room. His hair had more copper than mine, but he had Daddy’s height and build. “That day was pure chaos. Barns never let anyone do more to your room than dust and run a Swiffer through.”

My heart constricted. “I should’ve come back.” I prepared myself for his barrage of accusations. I should’ve returned more often. I shouldn’t have hired Ansen. How couldn’t I know better?

“Consider it a gift to yourself.” He shuttered his expression, but his voice was rough. “Watching him deteriorate has been...” He smothered a sarcastic laugh. “He made a shit patient, and once he couldn’t get it up for the nurse, he gave up. I thought I’d enjoy watching him suffer a little, but...” He shook his head.

I should’ve thought of how hard this was on him. I stayed away because of Daddy, but I should’ve been around to help Eliot more—if he would’ve let me. “You’ve been here dealing with all of it.”

His expression stayed even. “No one else was here to do it. Story of my damn life.”

He meant more than Daddy’s lung cancer. Cody had gone to business school. Wilder—the police academy. Austen joined the military. I’d run. Had we all assumed Eliot was grateful he didn’t have to fight us to be the heir? Now we were all on our own tracks. “Daddy said Mama resented this place. That she never wanted to run it.”

“Some days, I can’t blame her. And I blame her for a lot.” He pushed off the wall. “I loaded your luggage. I also tossed in a box of meat.”

My taste buds were already watering. This spoiled ranch girl had a hard time with store-bought beef, and I hadn’t stayed in one place to make connections with locals who sold their own meat. “Thank you.”

He walked past me and turned, putting his back to where Daddy would be in his chair. “Look, when Ansen’s old boss tracked me down, I didn’t mean to reveal that he was working with you. I was shocked, but I would’ve never sicced an old prick like that on you.”

I’d like to think he was looking out for me instead of thinking I wasn’t capable of facing a guy like Gustafson. “He was a blustering dick, but I handled him.”

“Don’t get dragged into Ansen’s shit again. I know he knows what he’s doing with horses. I’m better at my job because of the time he was here—and I fucking hated that the dickhead knew more than me about training when we were the same age.”

“You were a little cockier then.”

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