Page 35 of A Reckless Memory

After that kiss... avoiding each other left me restless. Pissy. Cuddling kittens in the barn while brooding for way too long.

I washed up. I’d go back out after I ate breakfast, but before I ate, I had one thing to get out of the way.

I called Dad.

“Hey, Ansen. Everything okay?”

He was always the one calling me. Failure should be a familiar feeling by now, but maybe I’d gotten worse at ignoring it. “It’s fine. I just wanted to tell you I’m working in North Dakota.”

“With Archer?” He sounded both confused and delighted.

“No, not with Archer, but I’ve had supper with him. Met the family.” That sounded less like the accident it was. Happy I could give Dad a positive emotional experience with me for once, I continued. “I’m going there tonight.” Where I couldn’t disrupt the visit in order to cockblock Aggie.

“That’s nice to hear. What work are you doing?”

“Before I tell you, I’ve gotta explain some things.” This was the reason I’d waited all week. I didn’t want to add to Dad’s worry, and even though Aggie and I were in the past—recent smoldering kiss notwithstanding—I also didn’t want to flake out on telling him the truth. Talking with Archer again only showed what my resistance to telling them what was going on in my life cost me. I told him about Barnaby Knight and Aggie. The ten years after took a lot less time to describe, including the last six months.

“I didn’t believe any of that nonsense.”

Relief was a cool breeze in the middle of a Texas heatwave. I’d been spending time with the wrong people. Aggie, Archer, and my dad were in my corner. And for the last decade, I’d been avoiding all of them. “I was bought off by Barns.”

He chuffed. “I would’ve married this Barnaby Knight for that much money, Ansen. Am I disappointed? Yes. But I get it. I wasted just as much money while my wife and kids witnessed. We all make mistakes.”

I let my eyelids drift shut, soaking in his quick acceptance. Dad and Archer were both more forgiving with me than I’d been with them. That money... I’d had big dreams of starting my own business. Of growing so fucking successful, I earned my own millions, and then I could buy the old ranch. The place where my whole family was happy—before Dad lost the property and Mama died. A dream I wasn’t meant to have, apparently.

“A rescue, huh?” he asked.

“I like it. No entitled owners telling me how to do my job. No bosses overriding my common sense. Aggie isn’t a micromanager. She remembers everything even though she hasn’t been around horses for years. You should see her out there. She’s not the one working with them, but they love her. She got this place up and running on her own, and if she hadn’t hired me, I know she’d be out there fixing fence until dark. Her chickens lay the best eggs—it’s like they’re pre-buttered—and when a cat with kittens showed up, she didn’t bat an eye. Took them in too.”

“Sounds like a special girl.”

“She is.” So fucking special. Regret could be a hard bitch. “I fucked that up.”

“Second chances don’t happen every day.” His chuckle was wry. “Hell, I think it was my third or fourth chance when I got this job. Learn a little quicker than me, will ya?”

“Sure, Dad.”

When the call ended, I drifted back to the picture window. The hurt and lonely kid in me had been hard on Dad. If I hadn’t landed on my ass with nothing, would I have ever given Dad another chance? Archer? I hated to think I’d have let my ignorant pride push them away.

I caught a glimpse of Aggie’s red, form-hugging coat. She was back in leggings today and a sweater dress like the one I’d admired her ass in last time. I was too far away to see her breath puff out, but she had her hands shoved in her pockets. She looked good. Sexy, but then she’d had an understated sexiness before that only a smart man bothered seeing. I liked this coat more than the old beat-up one she used to wear because of the way the new one showed off the flare in her hips. It made a guy thirst for the curves.

I was the guy.

Kittens barreled out of the barn to greet her, and the mama cat twined around her ankles. Fancy was filling out now that she’d been dewormed and was getting regular food, but she was an indoor cat tossed outside. Super friendly and dependent on us. Hopefully, she still had the instinct to teach six kittens to hunt. The barn had plenty of mice.

Several minutes of scratching and two kittens trying to scale her leggings later, she tossed treats into the barn so she could walk the path back to her house and leave for work.

Like a damn stalker, I watched until she was out of view.

I was used to running from place to place when complications arose, or I was angry enough at management. I wasn’t used to second chances. Aggie gave me one with my career. I had written us off, but the longer I was around her, the more erasing of that notion I was doing.

Now I wanted a second chance with her, but her reaction after our kiss was a warning. She was still hurt, and it was my job to make it better. Yet her drunken decision to hire me was a sign. We weren’t done yet.

* * *

Aggie

Walking to my pickup in the parking lot, I waved to a coworker as he drove off.

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