softening to tender. “I’m going to take Brandon inside. Gran has some great cookies and chocolate milk. I’ll be back.”
Carson watched her go. He guessed if he wanted to keep a wall between himself and Ruby Donovan, this was the way to do it. She wouldn’t want much to do with him as long as her brother was a prime suspect in the robberies. He could do without the complication of getting involved in her family drama.
It was a win-win situation.
Other than the fact that the guy in the backseat was being accused when there wasn’t a bit of evidence against him. This entire situation was getting out of hand. The thefts, people turning against each other. Carson didn’t know how they would stop what felt like a train speeding down the track, about to derail.
He didn’t know how he would steer clear of Ruby Donovan and whatever still lingered between them.
* * *
Ruby stormed through the house, Brandon in tow. The little boy hurried to keep up with her. As she headed into the kitchen, Gran looked up from her seat on the walker that was pushed up to the counter. Frail was something Iva Donovan refused to be. Even after a night in the ER, she was thinking about feeding her family. Her eyes lit on the child Ruby had dragged in with her.
“You trying to pull his arm off, Ruby?”
Ruby stopped, bringing the child to a halt next to her. “No. Oh, Brandon, I’m sorry. Down the hall, buddy. That’s the room you’re looking for. I’ll get your cookies and milk.”
“What’s going on? And isn’t that Jenna’s child?”
“Yes, it is Jenna’s child. Carson is here. He came over to, I don’t know, maybe search the place. Maybe to help put up cameras. I’m not sure. And now Lucy is here because there was another theft last night.”
She poured milk and opened the cookie jar. Brandon came back down the hall. He climbed up on a stool and waited.
“Someone took Uncle Carson’s trophies that were his mom’s,” the child said as he reached for a cookie. His elbow hit the milk and it tumbled, sending liquid spilling across the counter. “Oops.”
Ruby reached for a roll of paper towels and wiped up the mess. “Oops. The nice thing about messes is that they clean up.”
“Yeah, my mom says I’m clumsy and she’s tired of cleaning up after me. I make a lot of messes.”
“Kids do, Brandon.” Ruby shoved off the caseworker ingrained deep within. She no longer had that job. She was here restoring a farm, finding a way to get back to the life she had walked out on years ago.
She’d moved to Oklahoma after college. She’d visited when she could. She’d sent money home to help her grandmother who insisted on keeping the farm.
“Where is Carson?” Iva asked as she peeled carrots.
“Outside with Derek and Lucy. I’m sure they’re going through the barn.”
“Looking for trophies,” Brandon supplied as he munched down on a cookie.
“Oh, yes, trophies.” Ruby drew in a breath. “I’m going to check on the pony. He needs to be unsaddled. Brandon, you stay here with my granny and I’ll be back.”
Brandon grinned. “Because Uncle Carson needs someone to take him down a notch. That’s what my mom always says.”
Iva snickered and tossed a half carrot to the child. “Eat something good for you, little man. If your mouth is full it won’t run quite so much. And Ruby, head on out of here before you blow a gasket.”
Ruby took her grandmother’s advice and headed for the front door, barely noticing the worn furniture, the threadbare rugs and the dust. There was so much to do. She didn’t know when she’d get it all done. The house, the farm, even Derek and Iva were in need of her attention.
As was the bank account that was dwindling to an all-time low.
As she walked down the steps she saw Carson heading her way. Derek walked with him. The two were talking in a way that settled her nerves, because the conversation seemed halfway civil. She waited until they got to her and then she nodded toward the house, sending Derek on his way.
He paused, looking down at her, a reminder that he was no longer a little boy needing her protection. He was a grown man. He could take care of himself.
She had to let go.
But she couldn’t.
Derek started to say something, shook his head and went on inside. That left Ruby facing Carson. She lifted her head, determined to give him a verbal thrashing, but when their gazes clashed, she couldn’t. The words froze and time faded. She was seventeen again, telling him goodbye as he went off to college. She wasn’t strong or brave. She wasn’t able to hold it all together.
That girl was long gone. She took a deep breath and let her gaze drift from his to the few cattle in their field grazing down the grass that wouldn’t get them through the winter.
“He didn’t take the trophies. Why would he do that?”
Carson drew back at the question. “I didn’t...”
She held up her hand. “You can’t talk around a child. They have a tendency to not keep secrets.”
He rubbed a hand over his brow and nodded. “You’re right. And I’m sorry.”
“Are you? Sorry, that is? After all, you appear to think you’re in the right. You brought that little boy over pretending you were going to help out, be neighborly, but what you wanted to do is snoop. And then Lucy showed up. Is that all coincidence?”
“Actually, it is a coincidence that she showed up. But I will admit I did come over to look...” He sighed and even looked a little ashamed.
Good.
“Of course you did. And now that you have seen, you can go.”
He didn’t move. She waited, arms crossed, trying her best to appear brave as she faced him down. She arched an eyebrow for good measure.
Impatient, he jerked off his cowboy hat and brushed a hand through his hair. “Ruby, can we call a truce?”
“Why?”
“Because we’re neighbors. Because we used to be friends.”
She arched an eyebrow once again.
He cleared his throat and jammed his hat down on his head. “Fine, we were more than friends.”
Would a third eyebrow arch be too much? She sighed. “Yes, we were more than friends. But then it was made known to me that I wasn’t quite good enough.”
“You were good enough.” He said it quietly. “More than good enough.”
“Okay, well, let’s not go there, because we have different versions of the story.”
“I guess we do. Someday we’ll have to compare notes.”
She shook her head. “No, I’d rather not. I have a reason for being here, and you’re not included in that. I’m here for my grandmother and brother. I’m here to get this little ranch back in the black. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
“I have to get Brandon,” he reminded her with an amused glint in his eyes.
“Of course you do.” So much for a dramatic exit. “I’ll get him for you.”
“Hey, Ruby, I’d like to enroll him in your riding class. And maybe Derek could teach him to rope.”
She had made it to the steps of the house and his words stopped her. Of all the things he could have said, she wished it hadn’t been that. Not him on this ranch, in her life, in her thoughts. Her heart still ached remembering how it had felt to know he was no longer a part of her world. She couldn’t let him back in knowing