This wasn’t the first time some type of anniversary with her had brought him low, but it was the first that he had imagined her. Could’ve sworn she had been there. He knew the difference between seeing her in his dreams and in real life. And last night seemed so real.
Jace turned the wheel, heading in the opposite direction of his therapist and pulled out of the parking lot. He took roads he hadn’t been on since she’d left. Jace found himself driving past her house. It was a two-story and had once been nice, but time and uncaring owners had let it deteriorate badly.
He remembered the first time he had visited her there. Her father had met him on the front porch with a rifle cradled in his arms. Phil Hillman had had nothing but hate in his eyes for Jace that day, but that hadn’t deterred Jace. Her father had told him in no uncertain terms that he didn’t want his daughter around cowboys.
Jace pulled over to the side of the road and looked at the house, recalling that occurrence and several after where Phil had continued to do his best to stop Jace from seeing Taryn. All he knew was that Taryn took his breath away, and he wanted to be with her.
Phil never stopped trying to break them up, though. And it seemed Phil finally got his wish when the family left. Based on the brief text Taryn had sent, they were starting over in a new town with no ties to anything in Clearview. Since Jace had thought he and Taryn had something real, the kind of love that lasted lifetimes, he was blindsided.
Jace called, he texted, but Taryn never answered. He even went so far as to contact her sister, brother, and father, but none of them answered him either. That’s when Jace turned to Danny Oldman. As the local sheriff, he had been able to dig deeper than Jace could. All Danny had found was that someone had cut off the Hillman family’s cell phones. Danny had done his bit, as had Ryan, but since Jace was the only one making a fuss, and there was nothing else to go on, they’d had to set aside the case.
All these years later, Jace still carried that hurt around as if it had just happened. He blew out a breath and pulled back onto the road to turn his truck around to head home. He knew that what he and Taryn had was real love. There was no doubt in his mind. But no matter how certain he was, he couldn’t explain how the family had disappeared in one night. Even more disturbing was the fact that they had left a lot behind. For a family wanting to start over, they hadn’t taken much with them.
His thoughts remained in turmoil as he continued driving. He decided not to visit his therapist because he was still sorting through everything. Jace wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone but driving with a distracted mind wasn’t smart either. He headed to his parents’ house and parked at the stables.
Thankfully, he didn’t see anyone when he walked inside. He let out a whistle, and his horse stuck her head over the gate and nickered in response. Jace smiled when he reached the blue roan mare and rubbed the animal’s head. He had been at the ranch for Cinder’s birth, and he, along with Caleb, had trained the mare. She was by far the best horse he’d ever owned.
Jace took her out of the stall and tied her to a post so he could begin saddling her. He didn’t breathe easy until he was riding Cinder into the pasture. He loved everything about his parents’ home. It had been a great place for him and Cooper to get into trouble. His father, however, had quickly taken the two of them and put them to work. His father had taught Cooper how to ride.
Jace’s family was from a long line of professional steer wrestlers, and his father had given up on the rodeo circuit when he met Jace’s mom. The two of them had started the ranch, which had been a good decision since people from all over the state came to learn steer wrestling from a family known for the trade.
Over a year ago, Jace had taken over the training duties from his father. Jace loved nothing more than being on a horse. The fact that he got paid to teach the very thing he loved to do still boggled his mind.
“Come on, girl,” he whispered to the mare.
Cinder easily moved from a walk to a lope. But that wasn’t enough for either of them. The mare wanted to run, and Jace wasn’t about to hold her back. He gave Cinder her head and leaned low as she increased her speed until the ground was a blur beneath her hooves. For the next hour, Jace rode the mare around the property before returning to brush her down and put the tack back. Riding had been exactly what he needed.
He glanced at his parents’ house as he stood by his truck, but he still wasn’t ready to talk to anyone. After climbing into his vehicle, he started the engine and drove away. On the way back to his house, he pulled up to an intersection to await the light.
Jace happened to look over when a car pulled up next to him. He was gut-punched when he saw none other than Taryn. There was no time for him to comprehend what he saw before she drove away when the light turned green.
He jumped when someone honked behind him. Jace realized that he had been sitting through the green light. He knew he had to follow Taryn, so he punched the accelerator and managed to get through right as the light turned yellow. As he sped down the road, he searched for the newer model silver Camry that he’d seen, but he couldn’t find it anywhere. There were several places it could’ve turned off, and with all the traffic, she could’ve gone anywhere.
Finally, he gave up and started for home again. On the way, he convinced himself that it hadn’t been Taryn in the car. Just as she hadn’t been in his house the night before. It was only his memories, making him see her everywhere.
Though he wasn’t sure if that was any better.
Chapter 4
Her hands were clammy. Taryn was nearly hyperventilating by the time she pulled up in Big Pete’s drive. It didn’t matter how much money he brought in, or how much he remodeled the old home he lived in, there was no getting around the fact that he was white trash. She had detested him from the moment she saw him. And she had made no bones about letting him know it, either.
Taryn couldn’t stop the shudder that ran down her back. She didn’t want to be here, nor did she want to talk to Pete. But she had already decided that she wouldn’t involve anyone else. This was the path she had chosen. On the way there, she had decided not to call. Showing up was better because there was less chance that he would turn her away.
She drew in a deep breath and opened the door before she changed her mind. The minute she stepped out of her car, two men appeared seemingly out of nowhere to stand at the red front door. While they didn’t brandish any weapons, she knew they had them on their person. This wasn’t the first time she had been to Pete’s or encountered his muscle. If only it were.
She raised her hands by her head to show she was unarmed. “I need to see Big Pete.”
“You have an appointment?” the man on the left asked.
His and his partner’s penchant for steroids to help build their insanely large muscles made them brutes for sure—and not anyone she wanted to mess with. Taryn was certain that most people felt the same.
“I don’t. Please tell him Taryn Hillman wants to see him,” she called out, not wanting to get closer until she had to.
The guy on the right turned and opened the front door to step inside. It closed behind him, leaving her with the other one. Taryn wasn’t much for small talk, much less with someone she didn’t like. She lowered her arms when they began to hurt and looked anywhere but at the muscle staring at her. She took in the overgrown flower beds running along the house’s perimeter, the tree branches hanging too near the house that caused green mildew to grow on the white siding, and the immaculate, bright blue Corvette sitting in the driveway.