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“Who knows?”He shifted his stance, his boots grinding in the gravel.“I just know I don’t want to sell to my father or any of his siblings or my cousins, and I don’t want them to make it hard to sell, period.”
The way he frowned as he said it made me wonder if he wanted to sell at all.He’d been optimistic about the house, but now that Grandma Gin had given him a rough deadline, he hadn’t been as enthused as before.
“Would you sell it to…yourself?”
A moment of longing passed over his features before he shook his head.“I could never afford it.”
“Never?”I prompted, no idea why.He’d been open about his pay and how he could cover his rent, Grandma Gin’s, and not much more.But this was Liam’s childhood home.His kids loved being here.I enjoyed having them here.
“I mean…maybe I could get a loan, but for the house and land?I dunno.”He adjusted the brim of his hat, a move he made when he was frustrated, irritated, or conflicted.
“You’ve thought of it though?”He had, and he didn’t want to admit it.It was written across his tight shoulders and in the set of his jaw.I’d gotten to know Liam better in the last year and a half and could do more than admire his looks.I could read his body language.
He pinned me with his intense hazel stare, the vivid green of his irises captivating me.“What if nothing’s changed?”
I didn’t want to encourage him to stay if he’d be miserable, but selling the place was clearly starting to weigh heavily on him.I didn’t know what was best.“You’ve changed.You don’t have to tolerate being treated like you were.”
“There’s the issue of getting a job.If I start applying to the coal mine or the power plant, my dad might find out and interfere again.”
Damn Cameron and his asshole ways.It probably wasn’t just him, either.After a few family dinners Cameron and his wife, Naomi, had attended, I’d assumed she was just as much of the push behind driving Liam away as Cameron was.Possibly more, since she’d been the humiliated new mom that had been cheated on.“It’s been a few years.Your record of work should speak for itself.”
“I don’t trust people not to listen to my father and stupid rumors.”
Cameron and Naomi were woven into the community.Liam was on the fringes.They thought he was the kid who’d burned down the barn and cost his grandparents their ranch.Grandpa Bob had accidentally set the fire when he’d tried to quickly weld something into place, and Liam had been content to let the rumors fly about him rather than his grandpa.I suspected Cameron had used the story to keep businesses from hiring Liam.
He was a twenty-seven-year-old single father who supported his grandma but got treated like he was seventeen.
Liam grinned, a wicked glint that sent tingles down my spine to my toes.“I could be ornery and let the Grangers know before we officially list it, ask them if they want to make an offer.”
Hearing the Granger name made me want to shudder.Laney Granger had been a blunt-speaking force in our teens.I hadn’t met her parents, but I’d heard she was a milder version of her mom.Milder?Laney could draw blood with her words.I wasn’t a timid high schooler anymore.I was a timid twenty-six-year-old, and I hoped I didn’t cross paths with her now that she was back in town.
Then guilt curled through my lungs, making it hard to breathe.I wasn’t the only one suffering.Laney was home for a reason.Just like Derek’s brother, Evander, was coming home because Derek wasn’t going to be the kid who kept the ranch going after Bruce and Willow were gone.Laney’s brother could no longer take over their ranch.She’d moved back to do it.
“Now that Laney’s home,” Liam continued, “she might want a place of her own.”
Laney living in Liam’s home?The wrongness sank into my bones.No one should be living here but him or Grandma Gin.Another woman?My stomach cramped.It didn’t feel right.
Liam pushed off the truck and walked toward the house.I did the same to keep myself from staring at his swagger as he wandered off.“No matter what, tomorrow I’m fixing the fence.”
“I thought Bruce did it.”
“He did.But I went out last night after I got home.There’s another section that needs repair.If I do it, he can’t take the money away from Grandma Gin.”
“Want help?”I wasn’t terribly productive today.We’d had fun and had gotten supplies.But being out of the house the entire day with people I enjoyed being around was exactly what I’d needed.One day wasn’t enough.Especially if Liam really was moving.
“I don’t want Bruce and Willow to give you another grinding down, but you’re always welcome to help.”
Right.Bruce worked every day, driving here and there and checking on his land and cattle.He might very well see me helping Liam stretch wire.“I don’t want to make trouble for you either.”
Liam opened the door to the house.Voices drifted from the living room.The boys were awake.“One thing I can guarantee, Kenny, is that none of the trouble in my life is caused by you.”
