before. But can you blame me? Once you meet her, you can’t help but fall in love with her.” He cleared his throat. “She means everything to me. All I want is for her to be happy.”
Patty left her seat to put her arms around him. “Your momma and daddy would be so proud of you. From the moment I held you, I knew you were someone special. I never minded not bein’ able to have my own, because I already had the best.” She kissed his cheek. “You.”
Almost too choked up to speak, Shea held on to her. “I’m sorry I made you worry that I was sellin’ the ranch. Even if things end up not workin’ out between Jake ’n me, I’m here to stay.”
She gave him one last squeeze. “Don’t speak like that. I’m sure you’ll find a way to get everything you want. The ranch and the two of you.”
He hoped so. It all depended on what Jake had to say, and Shea was as much in the dark as the owl hooting up in the tree. “Thanks.” He finished his food, and before he left the kitchen, put his arms around Patty and held her close. “I know you’ve never wanted me to think like this, but you’ve always been my momma.”
Three hours later, showered and dressed only in a pair of briefs, Shea paced his bedroom. The past two evening video chats he’d had with Jake had been mostly sexy times and talk of seeing each other again, so Shea wondered what had changed. His computer beeped, and he dived onto the bed.
“Hey.” Bare-chested, Jake sat up against his headboard, smiling and waving. “Is it a good time?”
“Always is if it means talkin’ to you.” Shea plumped up two pillows behind him to lean on. “So, how was the first day back to work?”
Jake’s smile faded. “I’ve had better.” He dropped his gaze, and Shea tensed. “The partner who was at the ranch, the tall, gray-haired guy? He died…committed suicide, in fact. Turns out he got one of our new associates pregnant, and now it seems I’m being used as the scapegoat.”
“You? What the hell did you have to do with it?” Shea asked.
“Some bullshit that I was slacking because I let my personal problems override my work and that hurt the company. Long story short, they brought in someone over me. To be my boss.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” No wonder Jake looked upset and weary.
“I wish I were.” Hollow-eyed and defeated, Jake shook his head. “I have to leave. Over ten years I worked there, and it’s like I’ve been kicked in the balls by your horse.”
“So what’re you gonna do?”
The serious expression lifted, and for the first time in the conversation a smile ticked up the edges of Jake’s lips. “Well, see, now here’s where the interesting part comes in. I was angry after talking to the president of the company, so I sent out some emails to headhunters to see what was out there.”
“Oh, and you got some feedback?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I got three calls. Obviously, the most important thing would be my health insurance.”
“Of course. My daddy always made sure to provide it to all the employees on the ranch.”
“Right. So, one of the headhunters said a huge social-media company was looking to revamp their internal structuring and was in the market for a Chief People Officer.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“Oh, I didn’t even get to the interesting part yet.” That full-out, beautiful smile, which Jake rarely showed, burst across his face. “The job would allow me to work from home part of the week, and if I had to come to the office and Terry wasn’t around to watch Stacey, there’s childcare available.”
“Damn. Sounds perfect.”
“It could be, yeah. So I had them forward my CV, and hopefully I’ll hear from them soon.”
“You will.”
“You know what else sounds perfect?” Jake asked, and didn’t wait for Shea to answer. “You here with me. When can we make that happen?”
Now this was more like it. “I told you. I have a job in two weeks.”
“Why wait? Can’t you come earlier?”
“I guess,” he said cautiously, a little unsure what Jake wanted.
“You don’t sound very enthusiastic.” Jake leaned in closer to the computer screen. “But here’s what I’m thinking. You spend time with us, get comfortable around Stacey and she around you, because what I’m hoping…”