Love Inspired June 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: The Cowboy's HomecomingThe Amish Widow's SecretSafe in the Fireman's Arms Read online

  All he remembered of that night was dropping his keys on the way out of the party.

  The very next memory was of coming to behind the wheel of his truck, which had plowed into a tree, and a police officer asking him if he knew his name.

  He suppressed a shudder at the flashbacks that always followed. Being taken away in the cruiser. Finding out that his truck had struck Abby’s father before it hit the tree. His parents coming to see him in the jail. The horror and the regret and the twisting guilt. Dealings with the lawyers and the subsequent prison sentence. He relived that night of the party every day for the first year after it happened, wishing he could turn back time.

  Part of him wanted to ask Abby why she broke up with him before the party, but given the events that had fragmented their lives, it seemed petty.

  “Looks like you’re still taking pictures,” he remarked, trying to fill the oppressive silence between them. At one time he had cared about her and thought she cared about him. Maybe, in spite of what happened, they could find some point of connection.

  “I’m working as a photographer and writer,” Abby said after a moment of silence. “Mostly travel pieces for the magazine I work for.”

  “You enjoy it?” he asked, glancing over at her, then down at her camera.

  “It pays the bills,” she replied, turning her camera off and slipping it back in her camera bag. She folded her arms over the bag and then winced.

  “Do you want anything for the pain?” he asked. “I’ve got some painkillers in the first-aid kit too.”

  She shook her head, turning to look out the side window.

  Guess the conversation’s over. He stared ahead at the road, the thump of the frost heaves, the hum of the tires, the clinking of his key chain against the steering column the only sounds in the truck. Ten more uncomfortable and silent minutes later, they rounded a corner and saw an automobile parked by the side of the road.

  “That’s my car,” Abby said. The vehicle listed to one side and Lee could see that one tire was flat.

  A tall, lanky girl lay on the hood of the car. She lifted her head as Lee parked the truck and then she languorously raised herself off the car when he got out. Lee was surprised as he rounded the hood of his truck. This was Louisa? He remembered a rather plump girl who never made any apology for telling him that Abby was too good for him.

  She would be pleased to know she was right.

  Abby was already out of the cab and slipping her knapsack over her arm, ignoring him as he offered her his assistance. She hopped, using the truck to balance herself as she made her way to the car.

  “What happened to you, girl?” Louisa called out, hurrying to help her friend. “Can’t leave you alone a minute before you get into trouble—” Then her voice faded away as a smile curved her lips.

  “Hello,” she said to him, her smile warm and friendly.

  Obviously she didn’t recognize him either, Lee noted, thinking of that brief moment when he and Abby were almost flirting with each other at the lookout point.

  “Louisa, this is Lee...Bannister,” Abby said, looking pointedly at her friend. Louisa’s smile fled and her features hardened as she caught Abby by the arm, helping her to the car.

  “How did you end up with him?” Louisa hissed, loud enough for Lee to hear.

  Him. How quickly he had been dismissed. He shouldn’t have expected anything different, though. Louisa had made no secret of what she thought of him in high school, and he didn’t imagine the events following the prom had enhanced his standing with Abby’s friend.

  “I cut my ankle and Lee helped me out,” Abby said, her voice strained. Lee felt sorry for her. She sounded as though the pain was getting worse.

  “How did you cut your ankle, girlfriend?”

  Abby waved off Louisa’s questions. “Just help me to the car so I can sit while we wait for the guy to come.”

  “What guy?” Lee asked.

  “Someone from Alan’s garage,” Louisa said in a dismissive tone. “He’s going to change the tire.”

  “I can do that,” Lee offered.

  Louisa and Abby both shot him a surprised look.

  “I’m not completely helpless,” Lee muttered, walking to the back of the car to check on the tire. It was well and truly flat. “Where’s the spare?”

  “You don’t need to—”

  “Alan can do it—”

  Abby and Louisa spoke at the same time. Lee almost felt insulted, but he guessed neither of them wanted to spend any more time with him than they had to.

  “There’s no way I’m leaving you two here stranded,” he said, ignoring their protests. “So, where’s the spare tire?”

  He saw Abby give Louisa another quick look, as if to verify what she should do. “It’s in the trunk. Under the carpet. There’s a toolbox there, as well.” Abby hit the key fob, he heard a click and he opened the trunk.

  “I’ll help you,” she said, hobbling over to his side.

  “Go sit on the side of the road,” he said. “I don’t want you falling again.”

  The “again” slipped out. The grimace on Abby’s face indicated he’d hit a sensitive spot. He imagined that, after first falling out of a tree, then stumbling and getting cut while trying to avoid him, she’d had her share of humiliation. He didn’t need to rub it in.

  Lee sighed wearily. He clearly wasn’t gaining ground with her, so he turned his attention to changing the tire. This he was halfway competent with. He found the spare tire, jack and tools he needed.

  While he jacked and loosened nuts, Abby and Louisa had both taken his advice and sat on the side of the road, talking quietly.

  Fifteen minutes later he dumped the flat tire in the back of the car and slammed the trunk shut. “It’s ready to go,” he said, brushing his hands on his jeans.

  Louisa stood, helping Abby to her feet. “What do we owe you?” Louisa asked.

  “Nothing. Just being neighborly.”

  “I prefer to pay you,” Abby said, digging in her backpack.

  “I prefer you don’t.” Lee took a step toward his truck. “You’ll want to bring that tire in to Alan’s to get it fixed. He can swap it for the spare. And, as I mentioned before, you should get that ankle looked at.”

  “I’ll do that.” Abby clutched her backpack. “And thanks again for your help and...the ride.”

  “Okay.” Another uncomfortable pause followed. There was nothing more to say or do, so he gave her a tense smile, then walked back to the truck.

  As he drove away, he glanced in the rearview mirror, surprised to feel his heart banging against his rib cage.

  It was just reaction, he told himself as he sucked in a breath and looked ahead. He wasn’t sure if he’d see Abby again, and it didn’t matter. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him, and he didn’t blame her.

  That much hadn’t changed.

  * * *

  “You going to tell your mom that you met up with Lee?”

  Abby looked up from her camera, glancing ahead at the road as Louisa turned the car around, headed back to Saddlebank. “It’s not like I snuck out to see him,” she said, wishing she didn’t sound so defensive. “It was a rotten coincidence that we both ended up at the same place at the same time.”

  “Must have been hard for you.”

  Abby let the sentence settle, contemplating the intricate ebb and flow of feelings that Lee Bannister stirred in her.

  It bothered her that she found him even more attractive than she had in high school. She should despise him. He had not only injured her father, but had humiliated her. So, for all intents and purposes, she should feel nothing but contempt for him.

  And yet, as she looked down at her camera again, she was annoyed to feel a prickle of tears. It had been nine years since her father’s accident. Surely seeing Lee shouldn’t bring all this up again. She blamed her wavering emotions on embarrassment. On the fatigue that had dogged her for the past four years, travelling around the world doing pieces on resorts f
or the travel magazine she worked for. It was a dream job and had paid her enough to set a bunch of money aside. But a weariness and a soul-deep dissatisfaction she couldn’t explain seemed to vex her every time she booked another airplane ticket. Every time she checked into a motel.

  So she took a month off and, when she still felt the same, asked for an extension. It had taken a lot of wrangling with her editor, but Abby wanted to come home. She hadn’t been back in Saddlebank for years. Still, she should have timed her visit better, she realized, and returned after the Bannister anniversary and wedding.

  “I knew he was coming back,” Abby said finally. “I thought I could avoid him but it seems God has an ironic sense of humor.”

  “I wouldn’t call seeing that rat fink unexpectedly funny,” Louisa scoffed.

  “You might have if you had seen the array of my various falls in front of him. I would have gotten at least an 8.6 for artistic impression.”

  “And a ten for pain and suffering.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Abby said, glancing down at the large bandage Lee had put on her cut.

  “Well, that will certainly put a wrinkle in your hiking plans.”

  Abby had hoped to head up into the high country and take some photos while she was here. Lately she’d been doing some freelance work, selling some of the pictures she took between jobs. She hoped to supplement her income doing her own work and slowly wean herself from the travel pieces she had been doing. “I’ll manage.”

  Louisa was quiet a moment, then turned to her, eyebrows lifted. “So, was it hard to see Lee again?”

  “Wasn’t easy. The guy has taken up too much space in my brain in the past few years.” Abby thought she had erased the shadow he cast on her life. But one look at him and all the tangled emotions twisted her inside out again. “Truth is, I just hate how much influence he’s had in my life,” she continued. “I feel like I’ve invested way too much energy in this nonrelationship. And I hope Mom doesn’t want to talk about it like she does each time I call her.”

  “That’s probably part of your problem, as well,” Louisa said. “She keeps rehashing the same old stuff. Every time I speak with her, it’s also all she can talk about. She needs to get past it too.”

  “It was a hard time for her. Watching Dad suffer and then become this completely different person, then their divorce...” Abby eased out a sigh and shook her head. “It changed our lives.”

  “I know. I’m not going to lie—seeing Lee was a shock to me too. I’m still ticked at him for what he did to you at the prom. Taking you out on a bet from those louses he hung around with.”

  “That was even longer ago,” Abby said with a snicker.

  “Maybe, but I think that was almost as hard for you as the accident.” Louisa grew pensive, staring at the road ahead, her fingers tapping the steering wheel.

  Abby was about to reply to that when she heard the muffled trill of her cell phone. She grabbed her backpack, recognizing the ring tone she had assigned to her editor. What could Maddie possibly want now?

  “Let it ring,” Louisa snorted. “You’re on holiday.”

  But Abby had never been able to let a phone ring; the insistent tone always created an urgency she couldn’t ignore. Besides, she was fully aware of how much she owed her editor right now. Abby had turned down two assignments so that she could extend her vacation.

  “Hey, Maddie. What can I do for you?” she said, setting her camera aside.

  “You in Montana? Close to home like you said you’d be?”

  “Yeah. I’m coming up to Saddlebank in a couple of minutes.”

  “Awesome. So listen up...I need your help. Badly. I need you to do me a favor.”

  A knot settled in the pit of her stomach. It was never simply a favor with Maddie. On the contrary, it was always a huge, huge favor.

  “Burt Templeton was supposed to do that Montana piece, but he’s stuck in Bangkok,” Maddie was saying. “Got some kind of weird tropical virus. He’s getting transferred to a hospital in Portland tomorrow, but he’s officially out of commission for another couple of weeks.” She huffed out a breath. “Which leaves me royally stuck. It’s not far from your hometown, and won’t take a lot of time. Four days, maybe five or six max. It’s a puff piece, Abby. Pictures. Some interviews. Please help me out?”

  Abby was already shaking her head no. She was fairly sure she knew which piece Maddie was talking about.

  “I hate to do this, but I’m desperate,” Maddie insisted. “So I’m calling in my favor...” And there it was. The favor her editor kept threatening to use when Abby had asked for all this time off. Abby knew she owed Maddie a lot, especially the past few months. When Abby first started, she hadn’t been completely straight up with Maddie, letting the editor think she knew more about feature writing than she did, but thankfully Maddie saw her potential. She’d been a patient and encouraging editor, pushing Abby to see situations differently. To think outside the box. To go beyond clichés, not only in her writing but her photography, as well. And during the past half year, as Abby felt the burnout of the work, she’d also extended a number of deadlines for Abby.

  “Is it that piece on the Bannister ranch?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Yeah, it is. The one you turned down.”

  And for a good reason, Abby thought, her heart dropping like a stone.

  “Sorry, Maddie. I couldn’t do it then...and I can’t do it now.”

  “You can’t back out on me, missy. You know you owe me.” Maddie built on her advantage. “I wouldn’t play this card if I didn’t have a reason, and right now I’m stuck.”

  “And there’s no one else?” Abby asked, clinging to her last shred of hope.

  “No. And I’m asking you because you know Montana. You’ll see things no one else would notice. You’ll have a unique take on the story.”

  And wasn’t that the truth?

  Abby pressed a finger to her temple as the too-familiar ache began making itself known. She wanted to say no. Wanted to protest that she couldn’t do this, but she had already said yes. And she owed her editor.

  “Okay. Send me the particulars, and I’ll see what I can come up with.”

  “Great. Consider it done. Email me an outline ASAP and we’ll take it from there.”

  Abby ended the call, trying to calm her pounding heart.

  “You look like someone just punched you in the stomach,” Louisa said as she slowed to make the turn into town. “You get fired?”

  “No. I just got a job.”

  “That’s good, I guess. Though you are technically on holiday.” She glanced over at her. “So, what’s the piece?”

  “It’s on Refuge Ranch’s hundred and fiftieth anniversary.”

  “You can’t be serious!” Louisa’s exclamation of dismay eerily echoed Abby’s own feelings. “Say no. You’ve got to say no.”

  Abby squeezed her now-trembling hands between her knees to steady them. “I can’t. I owe my editor more than I can ever repay. Besides, it’s just a job.”

  “It’s more than that and you know it. What will your mother think?”

  “That I shouldn’t do this.” Abby laid her head back on the headrest, the weariness clinging to her the past few months growing stronger. She felt unsatisfied, unfulfilled. It seemed every day was a struggle to get through, and her extended hiatus hadn’t eased that feeling away. If anything, it had become worse.

  “I don’t know. Maybe I should do this,” she said softly. “Like I said before, this whole thing with Lee and my dad has taken up too much of my thoughts. I think it’s because, before today, I hadn’t seen Lee since the sentencing, let alone talk with him. Maybe if I spend some time with him, on his ranch, it will help put things in perspective.”

  “Can’t see how that’s a good idea,” Louisa warned. “I doubt your mother would appreciate you working with the enemy, so to speak.”

  “She might not, but I don’t think I have much choice.” Abby sorted through her thoughts, trying to find
the right motivation for what she had just agreed to. “For the past year I’ve been praying to find a way to get some closure on everything that happened. This might be my chance.”

  “Maybe, but I hope this doesn’t make things worse for you,” Louisa replied.

  Abby shrugged as the familiar buildings of the town she had grown up in slipped past the window, each one bringing back a myriad of memories. Some good. Some not.

  She sincerely hoped taking on this assignment would help her finally put Lee Bannister and all that he had done in her life behind her.

  Chapter Three

  “I’m so blessed. All my children home at one time,” Ellen Bannister said, folding her hands, looking over at Lee, who was already sitting down at the dinner table. “And soon Tanner will be a part of this family.” She beamed at Tanner, Keira’s fiancé, and Heather and her fiancé, John, who were also seated with them.

  As Lee caught her loving glance, he couldn’t help but agree. Though he’d been back to the ranch a few times since he left, either Heather or Keira had been gone when he’d been here and vice versa. Now, for the first time in years, they were all gathered together at once.

  “The family is growing,” Lee mused.

  “We’re doing our part,” Heather said, the rich scent of a roast beef wafting through the dining room as she set a large steaming platter of sliced meat on the table beside the salads.

  “You need to catch up, mister,” John quipped, giving Heather a wink as she sat down beside him.

  “I don’t know about that,” Lee said. “You guys are a tough act to follow.”

  John with his blond hair and chiseled features was the perfect match for his sister, Heather, a stunning former model who was always looking picture-perfect.

  “I know you’ll have a hard time finding someone as glamorous as my future wife,” John returned with a laugh as he let his arm rest across Heather’s shoulders. “But I have faith in you. You never seemed to have any trouble in high school getting the girls.”

  Unbidden came a picture of Abby with her pretty auburn hair and her sprinkling of freckles.

  He shook his head as if to rid himself of the notion, getting up to take one of the bowls his sister Keira was carrying into the dining room. He sniffed as he put it on the table. “Ginger-glazed carrots. You read my mind. These from the garden?”