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5
Ian
Ian couldn’t decide whether he should be impressed by her logic or wounded with the vastly different lives they’d led. He hadn’t felt like he got any special favors living on the ranch. While his friends got to go out on the weekends, he had to work. From an early age that was how it went. Even today when he’d gone to the diner for dinner, there was a sliver of guilt that wouldn’t quite go away.
The truth was he’d had to learn to live with disappointment too, just not the same kind.
Liz returned with the first aid kit, and Jessica got to her feet so his mother could get a good angle. She examined the wound, her brows pulling together as she let out an irritated huff. Her lips remained pressed in a thin line while she worked on his injury.
He flinched and a muffled groan escaped his lips when she cleaned his wound with alcohol. Then she dressed it and sat back.
“You’re incredibly lucky their aim was terrible. That should heal up within the next week or two. But son, can you please try to steer clear of flying bullets from now on?” She threw a clean shirt at him, the corners of her lips lifting. “Now, go get Jessica settled in one of the guest rooms upstairs.” Her eyes trailed along Jessica’s frame. “I’ve got some clothes from my younger days boxed up somewhere. I’ll see if I can find them for you.”
Liz set to work cleaning up. Jessica hovered nearby. Ian shrugged into his shirt and gingerly buttoned it. Every nerve in his arm pulsed with a dull achiness. But the pain was worth it. He didn’t even want to consider what might have happened to Jessica if he hadn’t been there. Her idiot of a boyfriend brought danger to her doorstep with every bad decision he’d made. She deserved ten times better, and he was determined to help her see that.
He turned around and found Jessica staring at him. Her features were pensive, as if she just realized it was time for bed and she was stuck there. She twirled her finger around a wavy strand of blonde hair.
Ian gestured to the door. “I’ll show you where your room is.”
Liz gave Jessica a reassuring smile. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”
Jessica headed out the kitchen door then stood to the side, allowing Ian to fall in step beside her. “I take it things didn’t go over very well with your brothers.”
He shot her a look out of the corner of his eye. “I told you not to worry about anything they said.”
“True. But this is their home as much as it’s yours. Shouldn’t they have a say?”
She was one hundred percent correct. But it didn’t change the fact that he’d done the right thing. If they had been in his situation, he didn’t doubt they would have done the same. They’d all been raised by the same parents. “Don’t worry about it. Not one of them would have left you to die back there. You’ll see. They’re just bull-headed, that’s all.”
Jessica snickered.
He glanced at her. “What?”
She lifted a shoulder. “From what I understand, you all come by it honestly.”
The corners of his lips lifted into a wry smile. “I suppose you’re right.” He gestured down a hallway. “The stairs are this way.” They wandered down a wide corridor lit with a couple of lamps on a console table. Generations of pictures lined the wall in natural wood frames. The whole collage was something he’d passed every day of his life.
Jessica slowed her pace and eventually stopped in front of the largest canvas picture. His mother and father sat on a fallen log on their property, surrounded by their six sons. She gave him a half-smile and pointed at the only little boy who wasn’t giving the camera a wide smile. “Looks like things haven’t changed too much. How old were you here?”
He scrunched up his face. “I don’t know. I think I was about eight.”
“Even at eight you were a serious kid, huh? Did you ever have fun?”
Ian stared at his younger self. “I had fun.”
“Yeah, like what?”
“Well, maybe not in the traditional sense.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Fun was all a matter of opinion. He’d been content to read quietly under his favorite tree or go horseback riding. He didn’t have many friends. Admittedly he wasn’t like thenormallittle boys who grew up in Copper Creek.
She glanced at him. “And?”
“And what?”
“What did you do as a kid?” She wandered farther down the hall, stopping to peer at a few other photos.
He followed along behind her, rubbing the back of his neck. “You know. Sports and stuff.”
Jessica grinned. “Sure. Okay. For someone who practically kidnapped me, you’d think you’d be more open.” She faced him and folded her arms. “You are probably the most closed-off person I’ve ever met. For the last few months, you have sat in my section at the diner and ordered the same food, but I don’t know anything about you. Some people might think my being here is just as dangerous as staying at the diner.”
