AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Five
Spencer knocked on the front door of Ginger’s and Nate’s house, then opened it. “Ginger?” he called.
“In the kitchen,” she said, and she sounded stressed. Spencer didn’t want to add to that, but he had to talk to her today. After he’d left Clarissa at the shoppe two days ago, he’d called Wayne to confirm that he’d actually gotten the job.
With that confirmed, Spencer had set the first day he could start at Sweet Water Falls Ranch, and now…now he just had to talk to Ginger.
She’d need to replace him, and he hated the situation more than anything as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him to seal out the Texas summer heat.
“Hey, Spence.” She smiled at him as she wiped her hands on a dishtowel. Behind her in the kitchen, Connor stood on a stood at the counter, mixing something in bowl. “We’re making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Come sit down.”
He had to get back out to the stables in an hour to start getting the horses ready for their first round of riding lessons, which he’d assist with until eight o’clock that night.
He reached up and removed his hat, turned to set it on top of the upright piano next to the door, and then joined her and the kids in the kitchen.
“Uncle Spence, look,” Connor said, always so excited about everything. Spencer also liked how he called all the cowboys at Hope Eternal Ranch “uncle.”
“What am I lookin’ at, bud?”
“I made this all by myself. Cracked the eggs and everything.”
“That’s great,” Spencer said, smiling at the boy. He’d be turning nine this fall, and Spencer hoped he’d get an invite to the boy’s birthday party. His chest pinched, and he sighed.
“What’s goin’ on?” Ginger drawled, and Spencer looked away from the dough. “Con, you use the scoop now, remember?” She pointed to it on the counter and swung her two-year-old up onto her hip. She set Ward on the kitchen counter and added, “Just watch, baby. Conny’s gonna make the cookies.”
“Can I give him some dough?” Connor asked, looking at Ginger.
“Yep,” she said. “I want some too.” She held out her palm, and Spencer added his to the fray as well. Connor grinned as he used the scoop to deliver perfect little cookie dough balls to Ginger and Spencer.
Ginger took a bite of hers, a moan coming out of her mouth. “Mm, this is great.”
Spencer put his whole cookie dough ball into his mouth, the cinnamon and sugar a beautiful combination with the oats and chocolate. “So good,” he said around the mouthful of dough.
He really wanted this life Ginger had. She’d come so far while he’d been standing still. “Where’s Nate this afternoon?”
“He, Ted, and Dallas went to the house in White Lake.” She met Spencer’s gaze, a whole conversation happening between them. Connor’s father had lived in White Lake and worked as a ranch auditor. There’d been an accident a few years ago that had taken Ward from this earth, and he’d left Connor to Nate’s care.
Nathaniel Mulbury had been in prison at the time, and he’d been released into the Residential Reentry program, of which Hope Eternal Ranch was a certified center. Ginger had fallen in love with him, and they’d named their first child together after Nate’s brother—Ward.
From time to time, Nate took his buddies from prison—all of whom now lived at the ranch or in nearby Sweet Water Falls—up to the house in White Lake to check on things. Nate would sell a few things, check the buildings, make sure the land was being taken care of properly, all of it.
He’d asked Spencer to go with him a few times, and Spencer had. He liked Nate a whole lot, because the man didn’t say anything that didn’t need to be said. That would be Ted, another man from the prison that had come to the ranch after his sentence had ended. He was a big bear of a man, with the darkest hair and eyes of any human being Spencer had ever met.
“Jess is bringing her kids for cookies and ice cream while she does the lessons.”
“Right,” Spencer said, taking the hint that he better get talking. “Listen, Ginger, I hate to do this. I really do, but I’ve found another job at another ranch, and I’m going to take it.”
Her eyes widened, and Spencer should’ve anticipated that. The words had seared his throat, and he couldn’t say anything else.
“Why?” she gasped out. She looked at the boys and moved away from them, indicating that Spencer should too. “Did we do something wrong here?”
“No,” Spencer said, his throat so dry and scratchy. “Nothing like that. I just—” He didn’t want to have to explain it all in such detail. “Remember when I started here?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “I’d just decided to make this my full-time career too, and my daddy told me I had to train you.” She smiled at him, but the happiness didn’t reach all the way to her eyes.
Spencer grinned at her. “We both worked really hard that first few months.”
“We did,” she said, her smile fading. “Spencer, you can’t leave.”
