“Nothing is wrong with you. You just need to give yourself a break and stop feeling sorry for yourself.” Amy leaned over the table. “Look honey, life sucks sometimes but there is always—and I mean always—something to be grateful for. Life is too short for us to be miserable all the time. You have more than most. Dust off the misery and the bad breaks and get on with your life and actually enjoy it. “
“You're right,” Rosemarie sniffed. “And you made the right decision not to get married.”
“I'm in love with Lance, honey,” Amy said with a slight smile. “And am working up the courage to propose to him.”
“What?” Rosemarie stared at her friend in surprise.
Amy shrugged. “I've never met anyone like him. It's so funny, I've known the guy all my life and it took me going back there to make me realize that it was him all along.” She smiled as she sipped her water. “I think deep down I always had that yearning for a family.”
“Maybe that's your mother dragging you away from your dad. Maybe it's you trying to find the ‘perfect’ family.” She made air quotes with her fingers. “You do know that there's no such thing, right? My dad has been married to Mother for forty years and they each have their own separate affairs. On the surface it's a perfect union, they attend functions together and he always comes home at night but it's definitely a façade and maybe that's why I am so screwed up. I keep telling myself that I'll never be them and then I pick the wrong guys,” she added bitterly.
“And just maybe you're trying too hard.” Amy reached over and covered her friend’s hand. “My mother has been married three times, but I never had the thought that I would end up like her. I'm my own person and I intend to make my own way. You should think about doing the same.”
“I'm not strong—”
“Stop!” Amy said sharply. “You are a strong black woman who is at the top of her career. Don’t allow a man to let you think otherwise.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “You're going through something. A man you thought you loved and thought he loved you too betrayed you. Life is like that. It's not all roses and crap. We go through stuff and as long as we're alive, we'll go through stuff. You just have to rise above it.” Suddenly an idea hit her. “How about you come back to Shadow Point with me and stay a week or two? It'll probably be that something to get you out of the funk you're in.”
“I have cases—”
“Assign them to someone else. I know you can do that.” She leaned forward and caught the woman’s eyes. “You need a break from all the drama Rosie, and I think coming to Shadow Point will be very good for you. There are tons of rooms at the ranch and horses to ride and there's even a giant mall with trendy restaurants and a theatre!”
“Are you sure your man won’t mind?”
Amy smiled at that. “He is, isn’t he? My man?” She shook her head. “I'm positive he won't mind. Let me call and ask him right now.”
“You don’t have to—” She broke off as Amy started dialing.
“Hey.”
“Hi. You're back already?”
“We're still at the restaurant. This living arrangement that we have going on, does it include me inviting a friend to stay at the ranch?”
“Depends on the sex. Male or female?”
“You're a funny guy,” she said with a smile. “It’s my friend Rosemarie. I asked her to come back with me.”
“We have plenty of rooms.”
“I just told her that. Okay honey, talk later.” She hung up and stared at her friend. “It’s settled.” She looked up to see her friend staring at her strangely. “What?”
“You really are in love with him.”
“I already told you that I am. So, it's settled. Pack your bags, honey, we're going to Shadow Point!”
*****
“Are you going to be moping around the place until she gets here?” Sal asked him roughly as he passed the mug of coffee to him. They were hunkered down for the night, gathered around the blazing fire and prepared to spend the night in the barn or around it. They'd been troubled by several critters that had managed to cut through the strong fence and made a mess of several of the cattle, even spooking one of the horses and causing it to stumble and break a leg. Fortunately, the break had been clean and the vet had managed to patch him up. The fences had been repaired but they were taking no chances. Several of the cattle were foaling as well and because of the storm earlier in the day, the vet had been unable to come out to the ranch. Lance and several of the other men who had experience in the birthing process were standing by to help.
“Who's moping?” Lance growled as he curled his finger around the coffee cup. He'd been busy since she'd left two weeks ago, getting someone to come in and redecorate the place, going in each night to make sure that things would be to her liking.
“You are.” Sal gave him a considering look. “You really have it bad, son.”
“And not afraid to admit it.” Lance told him wryly as he sipped the scalding coffee. “She's bringing a friend.”
“Oh?”
Lance nodded. “She called and asked if she could and of course I said yes.”
“Just what we need,” Sal muttered. “Another of those city types who'll be asking some fool questions about the ranch life.”
“Amy isn't like that,” Lance said defensively.
“I wasn't talking about Amy and you're mighty quick to jump to her defense. That lady of yours can fight her own battles and that's what I like about her. Reminds me so much of her papa. He was made of strong and durable stuff.” He shoved some more wood into the fire and watched it blaze higher. “Are you going to grow some balls and propose to her?”
“I already have the ring picked out,” Lance told him with a grin.
“Is that so?”
Lance nodded and stared into the fire. “I've never been more nervous in my life! I keep asking myself what if she says no? What do I do next?”
“She isn't going to say no.” They both looked up as Jimmy came to the barn door.
“We have problems, boss. The calf is breech.”
“Oh Christ!” Sal got to his feet just as Lance lurched to his! “We can't afford to lose another one.”
*****
Lance dragged his fingers through his hair wearily as he bowed his head beneath the hot needles of the shower. It was almost two am.. and he knew that he was going to have to get up again in another two hours. He'd come inside to see several missed calls from Amy and had figured it was too late to call her back. He really needed her with him after what he'd been through tonight. He blinked the water out of his eyes and watched as the blood and dirt disappeared down the drain. They'd lost both mother and newborn—one of their prized Angus, which made three in the past two weeks. It seemed that trouble was plaguing the ranch for the past couple of weeks and it was getting on his nerves. Not to mention the fact that the renovation to the community center had been delayed because of the weather and the delivery of the wrong type of material. And to top it all off, Abigail was still hanging around and making sure that she came by the ranch on some pretext or another. That was the main reason he had for buying the ring for Amy. He had every intention of making a point and that point was that he was no longer available.