Free Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Jess Bryant Page A

staying silent for what
felt like days.
    The next thing he’d known he came to not
knowing how much time had past but feeling the weight of the
responsibility on his shoulders. His college scholarship was
forgotten. He got his diploma and got on the tractor. He made sure
his mother remembered to eat and his brothers did their homework.
He’d gone to bed a kid and woke up an adult.
    Now he was thirty-six years old and his
brothers were adults too. They wanted to take control. They wanted
to call the shots for once. He wasn’t sure he knew how to let
them.
    For the first time since he was that eighteen
year old kid he felt lost. He hated that feeling, hated feeling
weak and useless. He needed a purpose, a distraction.
    So he’d done the only thing he could do. He
tore apart his house and set about fixing it. He could control the
construction, the demolition and the rebuilding. It gave him
something to do with his hands and a way to turn his brain off for
a few hours. He enjoyed it but that didn’t mean he was turning his
back on the ranch or his family.
    Still, the idea of leaving behind the
rancher’s world did have its appeal. He didn’t have to leave for
good. Fate was his home, the ranch was his home. But if Devin and
Riley wanted to take over the day to day operations maybe that
wasn’t such a terrible thing.
    Zach was good at taking care of people. He
was good at making sure things got done. Maybe it was time to take
a step back and see if he was good at anything else.
     
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    “You may kiss your bride.”
    Blue watched Molly’s new husband bend her
over his arm and lay a big smacking kiss on her. Something
tightened in her chest. Not jealousy, just a small twitch of
envy.
    Someday she’d like to stand in front of a
minister and a room full of gossipy people that’d known her since
she was born and promise to love a good man forever and ever.
Watching the newly married Molly flush and giggle and beam was just
a reminder of how far she was from her own happily ever after. She
painted her best fake smile across her face and followed the happy
couple back down the aisle.
    She’d been using her fake smile all day but
nobody seemed to notice. Today wasn’t about her and despite the
occasional whispering she’d noticed as Woody led her down the aisle
to stand at the front of the First Baptist Church, she’d mostly
gone invisible. For that much she was thankful.
    She’d felt eyes on her the entire time she
stood at the altar but she’d managed to keep her chin up and her
attention on the happy couple. It helped that Molly’s younger
sister Maddie had been crying her eyes out. She kept sniffling and
muttering something about happily ever after. Blue tried to console
the girl but she’d insisted they were tears of joy, whatever that
meant. As it was she took some of the spotlight off Blue and for
that she liked the girl.
    The tangerine disaster of a dress was
hideous. She was tucked into it the best her strapless bra would
allow but even still her cleavage was on full display. She’d never
considered herself well-endowed. She had a decent set that matched
her frame but she rarely hung out of clothing and despite pulling
the top up repeatedly she was definitely hanging out.
    It was a small victory that the other
bridesmaids seemed to be having the same problem. The prom dress
from hell didn’t look good on the voluptuous cousins or the
stick-thin sister either. If she hadn’t known Molly was the least
vindictive person on the planet she’d have thought the dress was
some sort of payback for kissing Todd Lovett in the eighth grade
knowing full well Molly had liked him.
    “Ready for the party?” Woody asked as they
cleared the back of the church.
    “Oh yeah.” She nodded and kept her fake smile
firmly in place.
    She could use a glass of wine. That was the
only part of the party she was looking forward to. The rest of her
wanted to race to the back room where her purse was waiting,