The Cowboy's Texas Sky (The Dixons of Legacy Ranch 2)

He stood patiently, waiting, his presence quiet but unrelenting, until Brandon finally caved.

“Fair enough. I have to move schools so much, it’s just not worth trying anymore. That, and the coaches raz me ’cause I screw up their roster, coming and going. They’re not supposed to, but my foster care worker doesn’t listen to me, just thinks I’m a pain in the ass. There, you happy?”

Huh. Brandon’s tiny gift of confidence right now didn’t sit well. If the kid was getting a hard time… Tyler, his big brother, didn’t practice law anymore but was still a brilliant family law attorney. Maybe he’d give the big bro a call and pick his brain…

Travis smiled. “You still like the sport? Don’t lie.”

Brandon shrugged, “Yeah. It just sucks to not get a fair shake. Easier to hate it instead.”

“We’ll see what we can do about that.” Yup, he’d find time to call Ty. Brandon crinkled his brow as if to ask what Travis thought he could possibly do. “Check it out. I was a baseball freak when I was your age. And I collected cards, too. Old ones, new ones. I’d sit at the card shop whenever my family took trips up north to Dallas and drool on the display cases. You know a thing or two about ’em?”

He held out the binder. On a dramatic sigh, as if he’d been told to muck out stalls, Brandon took it and set it on a bench beside the front door with his good arm, then opened the cover. Row after row of pristine cards in display sleeves revealed themselves. He had entire teams from various decades, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth. The surprised expression playing out on Brandon’s face warmed him.

“No way,” Brandon muttered to himself, turning the page to read the backs of the cards.

The horse owners from Fort Stockton were walking out of the barn, shutting up the trailer, and firing up the engine. They pulled around the circular gravel lot and lifted a hand to wave. Travis lifted a finger to wave in return, then turned back down the steps to go to the barn and see what Skylar was up to—

“What do you want me to do with these?” Brandon asked at his back. “There’s gotta be thousands of dollars’ worth of cards here.”

“My family had money.”

“Must’ve been nice,” came the snarky reply.

“It was. And I was too stupid to appreciate it.” Travis shrugged, glancing backward. “You can borrow ’em if you want.”

“You’re just gonna let the screwup borrow them? You’re not worried they’ll grow legs?” The sarcastic tone in his voice harbored fighting words beneath them, veiled, as if Travis was setting him up for failure.

In fact, his mocking tone sounded like he was repeating things that had actually been said to him before. No wonder Brandon was so angry.

Travis furrowed his brow. “They’re not gonna, are they?”

“No.”

“All right, then, what’s the problem?” He turned and faced Brandon from the gravel below, resting his hands on his hips. “What reason could I possibly have to think you’d steal them?”

“That’s what everyone thinks.”

“And?” Travis quirked a brow. “I ain’t everyone. Does Skylar think that?”

He waited, giving him what Sky had always called “the look,” letting the uncomfortable silence get to Brandon so the kid would finally bend and say what was really on his mind.

“No, Skylar thinks I’m some sweet lost soul who would just be all better if I embrace the animals like some Disney princess.”

Travis snorted a laugh. He’d had a similar thought that morning when he’d spied the fox in her photo, far out in the country at her glistening magical water hole, away from the prying eyes of society, or when she’d fled like Cinderella. And yet irritation that Brandon couldn’t see the beauty in what he had here bloomed. The need to defend Skylar burgeoned. Skylar’s place was one of healing if he’d ever seen one. Brandon might not ever be “all better,” but out here, he might just learn how to be “okay.” Did he even know what Skylar had been through growing up? Did he know that someone like her might understand someone like him?

“She’s a lot tougher than you think.”

“Yeah, sure, she has no idea the kind of shit I’ve been through. She lives this sparkly life with her horses. She even leaves out water dishes for the lizards.”

That was kind of cute, he thought.

“She ever tell you about what it was like, growing up with her daddy?”

Travis clamped his jaw to keep from letting his increasingly acerbic feelings roll out.

“No.”

“Ask her sometime.”