Love on the Range: A Looking Glass Lake Prequel (17 page)

More than that, she needed to stay here.

Here on the Paycoach ranch.

Here in Looking Glass Lake.

Where she felt like she was family, and where the stars seemed so close she could touch them at night. Where people ate her food until their bellies ached, told her it was the best they’d ever had, and weren’t afraid of gaining a little weight.

And where a dark-eyed cowboy bragged on her around the campfire, showed her how to ride a horse the gentle way, and gave her his heart every evening in a mug of cayenne-laced hot chocolate.

Okay. Maybe that last part about his heart had been her imagination.

Whatever the case, it was over now.

“…and your last check,” he said.

He handed the check to her, and she looked up. His face was drawn tight in weary lines, eyes darker this morning. Heavy.

She drug her gaze away from his and focused on the check.

It was larger than she’d expected.

He poked a finger down his collar. “For working the cattle,” he said.

She raised her brows. That didn’t completely explain the amount. It was far more than she should have received for cooking and working the cattle. “Looks like guilt money to me,” she said.

“Nope.” His nostrils flared, and his eyes flashed. “No guilt here. You came out here and didn’t know our needs had changed. It’s only fair that we pay your travel expenses.”

She shoved the check in the pocket of her jeans and fought a swirl of emotions.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.

Tears pricked and she blinked rapidly to clear them.

He’s the one being conceited, Lord
, she argued silently.

But she knew it wasn’t true.

Jett was right. Silas and Cassie’s deaths had changed the ranch’s needs. Her own needs paled in comparison when she thought of it that way. Maybe he was right to guard the family’s ranch so fiercely.

But that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that he thought her so incompetent, he’d fired her.

Marlee sniffed and hitched up her knife roll.

If she was careful with the money, she might be able to make this last through the next two months while she hunted for another job. She’d have to cut back a lot, but anything was better than having to move back in with Mom and Dad.

Anything was better than once again proving she would always be the baby of the family in need of rescuing.

“Nice ridin’ with you,” she said, her voice flat. Then she picked up her suitcases and lugged them to the door. Her throat burned.

She’d thought they had an understanding. She was proud of everything she’d learned. She was even starting to look forward to the next cattle drive in the spring.

She had started to think that maybe God had brought her here to find not only a job, but also a family and the kind of man she’d thought only existed in her dreams.

Except it had turned into a nightmare.

And the man of her dreams thought she was a failure.

She opened the door, but it knocked a suitcase over. She bent to yank it aside, but stopped when she saw Jett’s boots.

He’d come to take her suitcases.

She almost didn’t let him. But he tugged gently, and she finally let go.

He carried her suitcases out, both handles crammed into one hand.

Outside, Crazy Hoss waited with the truck running. The old man was heading back to the Moose Dimple Pharmacy and Café today, and had volunteered to drive Marlee to the train station.

Jett swung her suitcases in the back of the truck. She ignored him and went to open the truck door, but he stopped her.

His rough hand closed over hers on the handle. She froze, keeping her back rigid.

Maybe he was going to stop her.

Please, God, let him stop me.

Her heart pounded with longing.

Maybe he was right. Maybe she could swallow her pride and check with the Rockspur ranch to see if they’d hire her.

“Marlee—”

She squeezed her eyes shut. All he had to do was say something—anything to let her know he really wanted her to stay in town.

Well…that and maybe he was sorry for humiliating her in front of everyone.

But she sat there, staring at his hand for what felt like forever. His knuckles were chapped. Worn and seasoned from sun and wind and cold.

Apparently, he had only that one word left to say to her, because he didn’t say anything else.

So she tugged on the handle, and hoisted herself up in the truck, keeping her gaze free of his.

Those black eyes could lasso her so easily, and she wasn’t sure he’d be gentle with her heart, since the last time, he’d dashed every hope.

She shut the door firmly.

Crazy Hoss cleared his throat.

“All set?”

Marlee nodded.

As Crazy Hoss pulled away from the ranch, Marlee kept her gaze straight ahead.

Jett was getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror now—a part of her past.

It was time to remind herself that good chefs might serve a variety of dishes, but regret wasn’t one to linger over.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Crazy Hoss unloaded the suitcases on the train station platform. Since the train wasn’t going to arrive for another few hours or so, it didn’t take him long to talk her into going to the Moose Dimple for a complimentary lunch.

At the Moose Dimple, everyone crowded around her.

Fern Aimstock was there, and so was Meg. Even Annie, and Grand-Etta. Grand-Etta had just returned from visiting family in Boise, and she wanted to hear about Marlee’s daring rescue of Jett.

Meg and Annie swooned over the romance of it.

“Usually it’s the man riding to the rescue, but not Marlee Donovan,” Anne beamed.

She dished an extra helping of peach cobbler onto Marlee’s plate.

“I heard about your amazing peach cobbler, so I took a stab at it. What do you think?”

Marlee tested the cobbler. “It’s delicious,” she said.

“It’s good, all right,” Crazy Hoss said. He was on his second helping. “But Marlee’s is a whole world better. Hers is crispy and chewy all in the same bite but in different places.”

Marlee flushed, and snuck a peak at Annie.

Annie grinned, unfazed. “It’s all I’ve heard since you made it,” she said. “So I didn’t really think I could out-do you.”

“I wish you would stay.” Meg sighed. Her gray eyes glowed, her freckled face rapt with love for her animals. “You’d love my horses. I’ve just gentled a new mustang that would be perfect for you if you wanted to ride with me. She’s a deep cinnamon brown, and has a sweet nature with only a tiny dash of feisty. A lot like you,” she said shyly. “I haven’t named her yet, but I think Cobbler has a nice ring to it, don’t you?”

Marlee swallowed a lump. She covered Meg’s hand with hers and smiled.

“Yeah, I wish you’d stay, too,” Annie put in. “You could teach me how to make your amazing cobbler, and we’d put it on special here at the café every year during peach season. You’d be famous, and with a dish like that, I’m sure the resort would hire you in a flash as soon as they open.”

Marlee’s heart lurched. If only she could stay here in Looking Glass Lake.

Crazy Hoss grunted. “I always said cowboys are dumber than bricks when it comes to romance.” He blew out a breath in disgust, stirring his gray whiskers. “But once they get the hay outta their brains, you’d never find a more loyal kind of man.”

“Then Jett just might need our help getting the hay out of his brains,” Fern declared. “Anybody can see Marlee would be a great choice for that ranch, and an even better choice for him to marry up with.”

Marlee pushed away from the table. The train didn’t come in for another forty minutes, but the talk was starting to get a bit uncomfortable for her.

Any more of it, and she was sure the skin on her cheeks would set in a permanent blush.

“Well, I didn’t give him the choice to marry me,” she said crisply. “And as much as I’d love to stay in this little town…” She swallowed. “He’s made his choice, and I have a train to catch.”

It was hard. Almost as hard as watching Jett fade away in the rear view mirror. But she did it. She hugged everyone and said goodbye, and trudged across the dusty street to the train station…even though that meant leaving her heart behind in the Moose Dimple Café to do it.

* * *

Marlee wasn’t a bit surprised when Fern followed her to the station.

“Don’t you worry one little bit,” Fern said. She sank down in the bench next to Marlee.

The two women watched as a bird hopped down, pecking at the ground near their feet.

“I told Crazy Hoss to go and get Jett. If he hurries, he’ll have time to get here before your train arrives.” Fern sat back and folded her hands over her round tummy. She tipped her head back, gazing up at the sky and smiling. “Ah, I do love a clear blue fall afternoon.”

Marlee pressed her lips together. “I wish you wouldn’t have done that,” she said.

Fern gave Marlee an unruffled smile. “When you’ve lived here awhile, you’ll realize what everyone else does.”

“What?”

“It’s hard to stop me when I get a good notion to fix a gal up with her man.”

Marlee rolled her eyes. “He’s not my man.”

Yeah. That was the problem.

He wasn’t her man. She’d started to think of him as…well, as at least a possibility. A possibility for something thrilling. She’d started to imagine maybe long horseback rides and spring and fall roundups where they’d sit around a campfire inside a circle of warmth while wolves howled and crickets sang and stars flickered overhead. Maybe even sleigh rides in winter.

And maybe one day, they’d ride out to the meadow, but this time Jett in a tux and she in a long white gown flowing down the back of her horse.

And then maybe one day they’d have their own ranch. They’d have quiet dinners after a long day working under open skies. There would be a patchwork quilt on their bed, and a big commercial oven in the kitchen.

They’d have a barn cat and two cow dogs.

They’d go to church on Sunday morning and look at seed catalogs and dream together on lazy Sunday afternoons about where to plant the heirloom tomatoes and whether they should build a tack room onto the barn.

But those were romantic notions that belonged in fairytale books.

If fairytale books had cowboys in them.

No, Jett wasn’t her man. She’d gotten way ahead of herself when she started putting Jett in those dreams. He’d never said he wanted to be there. He’d never kissed her. She’d just gotten carried away with the dream.

“You don’t have to claim him to be your man.” Fern chuckled. “It doesn’t work that way. God’s the one who decides.”

Marlee traced the carved leather of her knife roll. She’d chosen that design because the scrolls and roses had reminded her of the west, and she’d been excited about starting a new life out here.

Excited about proving she could make a life for herself, no matter what her father thought.

“Did you forget he fired me?” She scowled and covered the carved leather with her hands. Some things were easier if she didn’t look at them. “He fired me in front of everyone.”

Fern snorted. “Is it so wrong for a man to want to protect the woman he loves?”

“Yes,” Marlee blurted. “When he does it like that.”

“Honey, I hate to tell you this, but if you’re gonna complain when a man like Jett doesn’t love you in a perfect way, you aren’t ever gonna be happy with any man.”

“I’m not going to compromise on—”

“Nobody said compromise,” Fern said. “I’m just saying give him some space to mess up. In case you hadn’t noticed, we all mess up.”

Marlee chewed her lower lip.

Mess up.

That’s what she’d done her whole life. From the very moment she’d come out of the womb, all she’d done was mess up. And her family never let her forget it.

“Pride is a trap, honey.” Fern’s voice was almost as soft as the sun dancing over their heads. “It gets you stuck seeing things only one way.”

Marlee blinked back sudden tears. It was strange but so warming to be understood. It was almost as if Fern had read her mind. All through her life, she’d felt more and more stuck with every failure.

That’s why she loved the west. Because here, no one was breathing down her neck to make sure she was perfect. Out here, she’d started to forget the pride that had ruled her life. Out here there was freedom instead of being stuck all the time.

If only there was another way to look at things. But right now, the train’s mournful whistle sounded around the bend, echoing the heaviness of Marlee’s heart.

Fern put an arm around Marlee’s shoulders and squeezed. “Hey. Life gets messy. We just have to make the most of the mess. Nobody cares if it’s not perfect.”