Free The Cowboy's Girl Next Door: A BWWM Cowboy Romance by Monica Castle Page B

caught up in things he shouldn’t. Hard drinking, some drugs. He always said my mom saved him from that.”
     
    She took another drink, finishing the bottle. “They met at a church social, and she saw something in him: something real, grounded, even with all the fake stuff he was spouting to fit in.” She leaned back against the tree and pulled her knees to her chest. “He lived a long life, longer than he would have if she hadn’t met him. I’m thankful for that, and Heart’s Home.”
     
    Jess was puzzled. “Did he buy the ranch?”
     
    Claire shook her head. “Yes and no. He wasn’t rich, but he was smart with money, well, once he stopped drinking. He and my mom worked hard for everything they had, and he always put a little aside for me. He cleaned offices at night at an investment firm, got to know the brokers who worked late, asked for their advice about growing his money. Made sure my mom would be comfortable after he died and left the rest to me.”
     
    She turned her eyes toward the sky, marveling at the patches of blue peeking through the leaves on the tree. “That’s how I could buy Heart’s Home outright. Would’ve taken me years otherwise.”
     
    Jess took another bottle from the cooler and offered it to her. She accepted and drank deep, then rummaged through one of the bags to pull out a handful of berries. She extended her hand to Jess. A shiver ran up her arm when he took the fruit, his fingertips lightly brushing her palm. She smiled at the handsome rancher.
     
    “What about you? Your mom?”
     
    Jess looked down and cleared his throat. “Cancer. I was ten, and it happened so fast. She just got real sick, and they wanted to do chemo, but she refused, saying she’d rather not spend her last days hairless and puking her guts up.”
     
    He moved to sit next to Claire against the tree, almost close enough for their arms to touch, seeking some small comfort in just being near someone. “I understand it now, but back then, I thought she should have held on, just for a little while longer.” His voice broke as he finished. Instinctively, Claire took his hand in hers.
     
    He kept talking, the urge to share his history too strong to shake off. “My dad was around a lot longer, though. He was devastated after she died, but we Hardys, we carry on, he’d say, and that’s what he did. Raised me and Lacey the way she’d have wanted, never went back on a promise to her about how things should be done on the ranch. He was a stubborn man, though, and that’s what killed him in the end.”
     
    He squeezed Claire’s hand for strength, and was grateful for the strong squeeze she gave him back. “Everybody told him that horse couldn’t be broken, but he wouldn’t have it. Almost did it, too, but he tried to ride him too soon, and the horse threw him right into a post.”
     
    Jess was crying now, tears streaming down his cheeks. He never talked to anyone about that day, about what it had meant to watch his strong father so weak in the hospital, life ebbing from his body. That was the day, he’d always thought, the day when he’d become the man he needed to be, to carry on the family legacy.
     
    Claire continued to hold tight to his hand while she fished a small white handkerchief from her back pocket. She shifted to face him and gently wiped the tears from his face, her eyes never leaving his. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
     
    He lifted his hand to hers and held it against his cheek. “Thank you,” he said, his voice gruff from the tears. He gave her palm a gentle kiss, then released both her hands. “We’d better get back. It’s getting late.”
     
    He rode with her as far as the gate separating the ranches and thanked her for the afternoon ride. “Come for supper tomorrow,” he added, “and bring your Mom. Lacey’s cobbler is to die for!”
     
    “Will do,” she said, “and thanks to you, too, for sharing your orchard with me.”
     
    “My pleasure, my lady.” He