isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to bring back the smile you gave him,” Olivia said. “I love my dad so much, and he is hurting now. Please help me fix his pain.”
She was without a doubt the most amazing person I had ever met.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ryan
I had just pulled up at the ranch when my phone chirped with an incoming message.
Olivia: What time will you be off work tonight?
Olivia had made dinner for us every night this week. Things had gone back to normal between us. Well, as close to normal as they could get.
I had told my brother I would stop by the ranch and help him with the fence that had finally given way. He had put it off far too long, and now there was no longer any time to waste. We’d need the fenced area once Ruby, our Bay Thoroughbred Stallion, had her foal. Which would be any day now. The fenced area was attached to her stall, which would serve as their roaming area.
Olivia and I had discussed the possibility of me being home late this morning, but from the sounds of it she had already forgotten.
Me: At the ranch helping with the fence. May be late.
I waited a few minutes for a response, and when it didn’t come I gathered my boots and climbed from my truck. My dad was just walking out the back door as I rounded the house, both on our way toward the barn.
“How’s Ruby doing? Any baby yet?” I asked.
He smiled and shook his head. “Nothing yet, but Doc is coming in the morning to check her out again. If she don’t go before then.”
“Where’s Ma?” I asked as I sat down on the tree stump just outside the barn. I pulled off my good boots and slipped on those I had just for doing chores on the ranch.
“She and Liv went into town earlier. I haven’t seen her since.” He looked at me like I knew they had plans today.
“Olivia just texted me, wanting to know when I would be home. What do you think the two of them are up to?”
He shrugged and walked off, but the smirk on his lips told me he was hiding something. I quickly finished with my boots and jogged after him.
“What’s going on, ol’ man?” I pushed at his shoulder, and he stumbled to the right, chuckling. “And don’t give me this shit about not knowing.”
“Don’t spoil it for Liv, Pop. That girl will let you have it, and Ma will tan your hide,” Jackson declared as he entered the barn from the other side.
I looked back and forth between the two of them, wondering what in the hell was going on. I had a feeling I was the only one that didn’t know.
“Fine.” I shrugged it off, trying to appear unaffected by their secretive behavior. “But, uh—” I turned my back to them and busied myself stacking the boards to carry out toward the fence. “—did you two ever tell Ma how her favorite vase got broken last week?”
Silence settled in behind me, and I strutted off to get busy, chuckling to myself. Right now they were both playing out their options, I was sure of it. Suffer the wrath of Momma when she found out the two of them were playing football in the house or fill me in on what the hell my daughter was planning to throw at me.
I was out by the fence for at least ten minutes before I heard the shuffle of feet as someone approached from behind.
“So you two jackasses decide to fill me in, or should I call Momma and give her the scoop on your indoor activities while she was gone?”
When I didn’t get an answer, I looked over my shoulder, expecting to find my father or Jackson and was shocked to see Amber instead. I froze mid-swing with the hammer and stared at her in shock.
I visited the bakery this morning, using the excuse of getting coffee when I truly just wanted to see her. It had been over three weeks since I last had, and I missed her more every day. I had every intention of telling her that, but when she looked up at me, I chickened out and bolted without a word. Now here she stood before me, and for a moment I thought for sure I had to be imagining it. But when Olivia walked up next to her, I knew it was real.
I placed the hammer