Stay with Me (Cowboys of Crested Butte 4)

That sounded too sweet for Bree’s taste. When Red ordered corned beef hash, she did too.

“I know it’s well past breakfast,” he said, “but it’s about the best I’ve ever had.”

She nodded and finished every last morsel on her plate.

Jace’s days settled into a routine of physical therapy followed by a ride around the ranch. There wasn’t much he was up to doing, but it gave him the chance to make a list of the things that needed to be done when he recovered enough to start tackling them. As he learned the land, he tried not to let his mind wander.

He had no idea what to do about Tucker. His brother had every right to be angry, every right to hate him. Which was why Jace was hesitant to pursue a reconciliation. What he’d done was unforgivable. How could he ask it of Tucker when he couldn’t forgive himself?

He spent as much time thinking about Bree Fox as he did his brother. The harder he tried not to think about her, the more he did.

Other than at the funeral, there had only been two times Jace witnessed her break down over the death of her husband. Both times, he’d been the one who gave her comfort. He wondered who gave her comfort now. He hoped someone was.

He wanted to call her, but the last time they’d spoken, she accused him of using her to intervene with Tucker on his behalf.

“You can’t blame me for wondering about your motives,” she’d said the day he told her about the accident. How could he explain that his motives were about her? As much as he wished Tucker could forgive him, he needed Bree’s forgiveness too.

“How about a break for lunch?” his mother asked, riding up next to him.

“Mama, if you keep this up, I’m gonna weigh three hundred pounds before my leg heals.”

“Nonsense. You’re still as active as you were before you got hurt. If anything, you’re losing weight.”

She was right, and that was why she insisted on bringing him meals. He didn’t have much of an appetite, so if she didn’t, he wouldn’t eat.

“Your daddy doesn’t want to ask,” she began as she laid out a picnic lunch for them.

“Ask what?”

“There’s a bull he’s interested in, in Idaho. The folks at a place called Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch contacted him about a bucker they were given.” She told him th

ey’d sent his father a video, and based on what Hank had seen, he thought the bull would be worth taking a look at. The ranch wasn’t interested in getting into the rough stock business, so they were looking to sell him.

“He has to stay here and oversee the stuff you aren’t able to yet, but he wants to get a look at this bull before someone else makes a bid on him.”

It was a six-hour drive from their place outside Helena, Montana, to Stanley, Idaho, where the ranch was. If he stopped every hour and stretched his leg, he could probably handle it. It was the least he could do, since his father had been picking up so much of his slack.

“Sure, I can do it. I’ll talk it over with him when we get back to the house.”

“Good. He’ll appreciate the offer.”

Each time he tried to ask his dad about the bull, Hank changed the subject. When Jace asked to see the video, he grumbled. “You don’t make a decision about a bull by watching a video,” he muttered, and glared at Carol across the dinner table.

Jace couldn’t figure it out. Maybe his father was irritated at his mom for asking him to go. When he offered to let him go instead, his dad waved him off.

“You go,” he said.

Jace set out the next morning, just after dawn. He’d be in Stanley by mid-afternoon. When he asked his dad whom he should ask for when he got there, he told him to ask his mother. As if the whole thing could get any stranger.

“Ask for Red,” she told him before he got in the truck and drove away.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said the ranch manager when Jace asked him about the bull. “But that doesn’t mean much. Red doesn’t tell us everything he’s got a hand in.”

“Could you ask him?” Jace ran his hand through his hair. His leg ached, and more than anything, he wanted to get this over with so he could get back home and rest it.

“He won’t be back today. He’s in Salmon, at a fishin’ tournament. I think he said he’d be back sometime tomorrow.”

Jace didn’t know what to do. According to this guy, there wasn’t any way to get in touch with Red. But if his daddy really wanted this bull, Jace knew it only made sense to wait until tomorrow when he got back.