He looked at her, one dark brow raised.
“Really?”
“I don’t know any Texans,” she said, testing him, daring him, because why would he remember one ranch hand who had passed through the area thirteen years ago? They had any number of ranch hands.
The truck pulled up to the house, and she could see a tall, rangy figure behind the steering wheel, big cowboy hat on his head.
And she knew a moment of total deflation, because that was not Micah.
Did you really think it was?
The truck opened, and said rangy figure, who looked like a teenager, stepped out. And she couldn’t deny that he looked... Well, it might not be Micah, but he looked like him. Enough to be...
Well, enough to be his son.
“Howdy,” he said. “I’m Daniel Stone. I was here to see if you might be hiring.”
CHAPTER THREE
MICAH HADN’T CURSED so many times in a single sentence since... Well, last Saturday. At least. He didn’t claim to be a saint. But Daniel was gone, he was fucking gone, and his ex-fucking-wife hadn’t noticed. Just hadn’t noticed for days. And that was why the hell he didn’t like Daniel going to Dallas to visit that woman.
Because she didn’t pay attention to him.
And every damned time he went there was some kind of trauma for Micah to undo.
Daniel should’ve stayed out on the ranch with Micah. Maybe they would’ve butted heads about it, but they always got over it. It was Lacey that always did something to fuck everything up. And this was just one example of that.
“How many days has it been, Lacey?” he asked, about to lose his patience completely.
“I was gone for a couple of days, darlin’, so I don’t know.”
“Our son was in Dallas to visit you and you left for a couple of days,” he said.
“He’s practically a man, Micah, settle down.”
“He’s thirteen years old,” Micah said. “And he might be six feet tall, but he’s still a kid. He doesn’t weigh a buck ten soaking wet.”
“He probably doesn’t want us interfering right now. I mean, what kind of shenanigans were you up to at thirteen?”
“It doesn’t bear thinking about. I don’t want him up to those same shenanigans. And neither should you.”
“I’m not like you. I don’t worry about every little thing.”
No. The problem was, Lacey didn’t worry about a damn thing but herself. And that was their central problem. Always had been.
She’d been a sweet girl back when they were young. The problem was, she’d stayed that same girl. She’d just never grown up.
They’d dated in high school and split up for years, then met up again when they were twenty-nine and had given it a try for nostalgia.
But she’d been the Lacey she’d been in high school, and that hadn’t worked. Because he didn’t want drama and screaming fights, and she seemed fueled by it.
They’d ended it and he’d gone out to Oregon, looking for something new.
Then she’d called him out of the blue to let him know that she was eight months pregnant and it was his baby.
He wasn’t an idiot.
He’d gotten a DNA test.
Daniel was his kid. And even if there had ever been any doubt when he was a baby, there couldn’t have been any doubt thereafter.
He was the spitting image of Micah, down to getting all of his height and none of his muscle by age thirteen. Also, none of the brains either.
Micah was well familiar. And also with the dangers of looking a little too old and having no smarts to back it up. It scared the hell out of him. Because he knew exactly what kind of trouble his kid could be getting into, because he’d gotten in all that trouble. But the point of actually being a good dad was to try to spare him from that.
Micah hadn’t had primary custody of Daniel since he was five. His and Lacey’s marriage hadn’t lasted long. Micah got Daniel in the summer, and the kid always thrived. Then he went back home to Lacey and things degraded. And this time...well, this time they’d clearly degraded in a uniquely awful way.
“He was looking at some old pictures on his phone,” she said. “Talking on and on about some ranch you were at forever ago.”
Four Corners.
He knew. He’d talked to Daniel about it a bunch of times. Four Corners was where he’d been when he’d found out Lacey was pregnant, and he’d had to leave and...
For some reason, a vision of Arizona King flashed through his head. Arizona King as she’d been then, of course.
She’d been so pretty.
He’d felt like a dick every time he’d looked at her and thought so. She’d been far too young, and she’d been enamored with him. It had felt good, even if it shouldn’t have. She was beautiful and it was nice to have someone look at him like he was a hero. He just hadn’t counted on feeling anything for her in return. But she was sharp and funny along with her beauty, and he’d found himself developing something of a crush on her. He’d kissed her. And it had lit his whole world on fire and...
And that had nothing to do with this.
Four Corners.
Daniel had been talking about Four Corners.
“Oh right, I forgot to tell you,” Lacey said, her tone telling him she hadn’t forgot, she just didn’t care enough to be detail oriented. “The old beater truck is gone.”
“The what?”
“That truck that I took when I left you. It’s been parked in the driveway this whole time. The guys use it whenever they need to.”
The guys he assumed were the men that she brought home on occasion.
“That thing still works?”
“Yes.”
“You’re telling me that our thirteen-year-old son stole my old truck, a truck that is twenty years old, and is possibly driving across the country.”
“Sounds as possible as anything else.”
“Fucking hell.”
There was no other option.
For the first time in thirteen years, he was headed to Oregon.
And when he thought of Oregon the only thing he could picture...
Was her.
CHAPTER FOUR
ARIZONA LOOKED CLOSELY at the kid standing in front of her. He was tall and had a mature look about him, but he favored his father, which meant he wasn’t anywhere near as old as he looked.