Sunshine secretly agreed. Wedding photos of Claire and Jamie hung in the living room. In them Claire looked far more severe. Back then her hair had been cut in a blunt bob and she’d been thin enough her cheekbones stood out. She was softer now.
“Jamie must be doing something right.” Sunshine spun in a slow circle, taking in the living room. “This is beautiful. It’s obvious you’re an interior designer. How on earth do you keep things so clean when you have a toddler? And what have you done with your daughter?” The log house was decorated in a distinctly western style with authentic weavings on the walls and a color palette of burnt reds, sienna browns and mustard yellows. A tree in one corner of the room was decorated with western themed ornaments. Tiny hand-crafted saddles, boots, and horses hung from its boughs.
“It’s never this clean normally,” Claire confessed with a laugh. “I hired a service to come in and help for once because we’ve got company coming. Between my work and caring for Lynn, the house is usually a disaster. Lynn’s in daycare today because I wanted to show you something. We’ll pick her up on our way home.”
“Our way home from where?”
“You’ll see.”
Chapter 3
“So Ethan tells me your horse breeding business is going gangbusters,” Cole said to Jamie when they met up in the stables on the Cruz ranch. “You got a horse to sell me?”
“You got a place to put it?” Jamie cocked back his hat. He had a wiry build and dark hair, and the countenance of a man who spent his days outdoors. “Business is going well. But I’ve been working with horses in these parts since I could stand up. People know exactly who they’re dealing with when they buy from me.”
Cole was glad Jamie didn’t seem to expect an answer to his question about a place to put a horse. He wasn’t ready to talk about buying a ranch until he knew if he could afford one.
“From what I hear, this isn’t the time to try to get into raising cattle.”
Jamie led the way down the row to a stall where an Appaloosa stuck his head over the door curiously. “This is Achilles.”
“Something wrong with his heel?”
“Nope.” Jamie grinned. “He’s strong. Great work horse. As for cattle…” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Would you recommend horse breeding?”
Jamie shook his head again. “And not because I’m afraid of the competition. It’s just there’s already too many men in the game. I’ll be all right because I’m established, but three other outfits opened up just this past year. That’s too many.”
“Hell, maybe I should just be a farmer instead.”
He expected Jamie to protest. Instead, Jamie turned thoughtful. “Since we’ve got company coming tomorrow, I called around to find you another place to go. Rob’s got a room. You should talk to him; he and Morgan have started a vineyard, you know. They’re a few years off from making wine, but they’re putting it all together.”
“A vineyard.” Cole was impressed. “I guess I will talk to him.”
“How about a ride?”
“Hell, yeah. It’s been far too long.”
Cole helped Jamie to saddle up and soon they were picking their way down a snowy trail. It felt damn good to have a horse beneath him. Cole could make sense of the world perched up here.
“You should see my daughter ride,” Jamie called back over his shoulder.
“Your daughter? She can’t be old enough for that!”
“Nineteen months. I ride with her, but she’s not scared at all. She loves it. I swear she talks to the horses and they talk back to her.”
“Jamie Lassiter, a family man. Who would have thought it?”
“I love it. I want more, but Claire says we have to space them out.”
Cole directed his horse to follow Jamie’s lead. Once again he felt a twinge of jealousy. Would his ranch—should he manage to buy one—ever ring with children’s voices?
He sure hoped so.
“What do you think? About the horse?” Jamie asked.
“I’ll take him. Just as soon as I have a home to bring him to.”
“What is it?” Sunshine asked, looking around the small, empty building Claire had brought her to. It fronted on Main Street, but whatever purpose it once had, it had been stripped clean. She’d called Autumn to tell her she’d be out with Claire for a while. They were still slated to meet and take a look at the ranch later.
“A restaurant!” Claire spun around. “Look at the place. It’s perfect! Central location. Great layout. I thought you’d be able to see the possibilities. Granted, there was another space that was much better, but it got snapped up a week or so ago, unfortunately. Still, I think this one has a lot of potential.”
“I thought you were an interior designer, not a realtor.”
“I am, but I’ve got friends in the business, and one of them mentioned it the other day. When I heard you were coming, I knew you had to see it. It’s a very reasonable price.” She named a figure.
Claire was right; compared to a restaurant in Chicago, it was very reasonable, but after putting a hefty deposit on a ranch, she couldn’t afford a place like this. “The renovations would be expensive.”
Claire rattled off another number. “I priced out appliances and tables and chairs. Everything. Top of the line, of course.”
“Of course.” Sunshine shook her head. “I’m sorry, Claire. It was really thoughtful of you to go through all the trouble, but I don’t have that kind of money.”
“Really? I thought you had a sizable inheritance.”
“I did, but I spent it.” Despite herself, she walked around the space, running her hand over the counter where the hostess station would be, and doing a quick mental calculation of the number of patrons she could seat. In truth, the restaurant was kind of small. She’d always hoped to run a larger establishment, but this was Chance Creek, after all. Maybe this was as big as she could get.
“On your trip?”
“No—on a ranch.” She explained what she’d done. “It’s Cole’s Christmas present. I hope he likes it.”
“Your trip must have changed you.” Claire followed her around the room. “From what I heard I never thought you’d settle down in Chance Creek. I expected you to run away again the first chance you got.”
“But you showed me a restaurant?”
“You need something to keep you here.”
That seemed to be the general consensus, Sunshine thought. “I was a city girl,” she said slowly. “Maybe I’ll always be, but you learn things about yourself when you travel.”
“Well, too bad you can’t buy this place. I think it’s got real possibilities.”
Claire was right. She could make something special out of it, but first things first—they needed a home. Someday she’d get a real restaurant.
Maybe.
After watching how hard Autumn had to work to balance her job with raising her daughter—and the way Claire had to pay for childcare to get her job done—she wasn’t sure about anything anymore. Maybe she’d have to shelve her dreams until the baby grew up.