The only man she’d ever let into her life again would first and foremost be one who’d be a good role model for Charlie and Pip. They deserved that after West had left them without a backward glance. She hadn’t wanted West around, but the boys didn’t understand. She’d told West that she didn’t want his money—her ex was struggling to make ends meet, just like she was, so there was no point—but please, he should come and visit the boys. All she got were crickets.
“Mommy?” a little voice cried through the door.
“Almost done, honey!” Liv pinned the picture to a clothesline and wiped her hands with a sigh. Another moment captured. She’d give this loving scene back to Blaire where it belonged. Her friend would appreciate it now that she and Jeremy were together. She wished Blaire every happiness, but at the same time, something told Liv that she’d never know a love like that. It doesn’t matter. I have other hearts to worry about. Liv pushed open the door, seeing Pip on the other side, staring wordlessly up at her. “What do you have there?”
He chewed on a slab of bacon, not answering. Just four years old, and already he had her brother Grey’s appetite… and his father’s face. Sweet little Philip looked more like West every day with those big blue turquoise eyes and that wild, flyaway blonde hair. Both of her boys were little miniatures of West. Seeing them was a reminder of her past mistakes, though she’d never change her babies for the world.
Liv took Pip’s hand and led him to the rustic oak table in the kitchen. He patted a chair next to his. “I saved a spot for you, Mommy.”
“Thank you, Pip!” She glanced over at her mother who busied herself in the tight work space across the kitchen island. Kris Bridges was “love” in human form, a heavyset woman with the kind of black hair that could only be found in a bottle. Somehow Momma managed to look years younger than her husband in her fuzzy slippers, cat-eye glasses perched on the tip of her nose, and even though it was spring, a Christmas sweater. She slammed the fridge door, seeming stressed.
“You want me to finish breakfast?” Liv asked. She grabbed a rag and scrubbed at the counter.
Momma shook her head briskly then glanced up and froze. “What are you doing in that red dress? You’re going to work in that?”
Liv dropped the rag and picked up the hem and spun, loving the way that it fluttered around her knees. Maybe it was a little over the top for the Harvest Ranch town cleanup, but Lucy Morrowitz, the owner of the Starlight Drive-In Theater, had hired Liv to be the photographer for the fifteen-day event, so Liv could get away with dressing up. “You like it?”
“Too much! Get that thing off. You know that country star is going to be there!” Momma let out a pleased shudder. Just like the other good women of Harvest Ranch, she was properly scandalized that the notoriously “bad” River Mackenzie had been invited to help paint the gazebo at their small-town event. Of course, he was only helping out as a publicity stunt. Momma hadn’t dropped the “shocking” news since she’d found out. She wiped her glasses free of the smoke from the sizzling bacon. “Don’t you let that country star fall in love with you.”
“Momma!” Liv had to laugh at that. Perhaps it was flattering that her mother believed she had that kind of draw. The women in town would be all over a handsome heartthrob like River Mackenzie. She’d be lucky to get a picture of him. “I’m not winning over anybody,” Liv said. “I’m not the Pumpkin Princess anymore.” She easily adopted the name her brother had cruelly dubbed the beauty pageant she’d won back in high school.
“The Harvest Queen,” Momma haughtily corrected. “And I don’t see why that bad boy shouldn’t fall in love with my baby? And I’m telling you now that I don’t approve.”
Oh, not this again. Momma had been glued to the tabloids tattling about River Mackenzie’s shocking past. Who hadn’t? Anyone with half an ear for music loved his songs. And his life was as enthralling as his lyrics. The famous country star had paid for driving under the influence by wrapping around a telephone pole. He’d punctured a lung and almost died, but it sounded like he was cleaning up his life now. River had tried to