Ever Loving Page 8

  He climbed over the fence separating the horse pasture from the ranch yard and strode across the packed dirt, swinging his keys on his index finger.

  And then he came to a stop.

  Mia’s van was still parked on the yard. She was supposed to have been gone by now. He knew she was going to town to see the insurance adjuster. Denny had told him last night, as if Nate needed to be kept apprised of Mia’s comings and goings.

  So he had stalled until she was supposed to be gone.

  But she was obviously still here.

  But the hood was up, the sliding door open. And he could hear one of the girls crying. Obviously, something was wrong.

  Denny was still working and Evangeline’s car was gone, as well, so it was up to him to find out what.

  Tamping down his own misgivings, Nate hurried over. From this point all he could see were Mia’s legs in the front of the van, the rest of her bent over the engine.

  “Nate. You are here,” he heard Josh call out from the inside of the van.

  Mia pulled back so abruptly she banged her head on the hood. She cried out and grabbed her head, then grimaced as she looked at Nate.

  “You okay?”

  Mia winced, then rubbed her head. “Yeah. I’m fine. But something’s wrong with the van. When I started it the oil light came on. Which doesn’t make sense because I just got an oil change on it before...before the fire.”

  “Did you turn it off right away?” Nate asked, pulling the dipstick out.

  “Yeah. I didn’t dare let it run.”

  “Smart girl,” he said, wiping the dipstick off on the lower edge of his pant leg. He slipped the dipstick back in, pulled it out again, but nothing registered. Strange.

  He bent down to look under the van and then he saw a greasy spot of oil on the dirt. He crouched down and looked up into the engine. “I see the problem. There’s no oil plug in the line. All the oil has drained out.”

  “But I drove it to the therapist the other day.”

  “The plug was probably not put in properly and jiggled loose on the road back into the ranch,” Nate guessed. “Good thing it didn’t happen sooner or you would have seized up the engine and been stranded halfway between here and Calgary.”

  Mia pulled her hand over her face, releasing another sigh. “This is not good.”

  “You needed to see the insurance guy today, didn’t you?”

  “He’s leaving tomorrow and won’t be back in the office for a week. I need to get my claim started as soon as possible. I can’t keep staying here at the ranch.”

  “I’m sure Denny and Evangeline don’t mind having you here,” Nate said, tightening the dipstick and closing the hood of the van, the clang of it reverberating over the yard with a sense of finality.

  “I know they don’t,” she said, releasing a sigh. “But they have Ella, and Evangeline does enough running around back and forth to town every night. As well as having her own stuff to deal with from the fire, they’re planning their wedding. Me and my four extra blessings definitely complicate things for them.”

  “But your kids are such cute blessings.” As soon as the words left his mouth he felt like doing a facepalm.

  Not the way to keep your distance, Lyster.

  But it earned him a smile from Mia. “I think so too but then I’m prejudiced.” And then she looked at her kids and in spite of all the stuff that life had thrown at her, Nate saw a gentle smile curve her lips.

  She was a single mom but she didn’t resent the presence of these kids in her life one iota. Not a jot.

  He wiped his hands again and looked at the kids, then at his truck parked by his stock trailer across the yard. It was a double cab and if they squeezed, they could put the car seats and one of the kids in the back. The console in the front flipped up, which meant Josh could sit there.

  “I have to go into town,” Nate said. “I could take you.”

  Mia’s shake of her head was automatic. Nate knew that by now. “No. It’s okay. I’ll just go next week.”

  “You need to get things started as soon as possible,” Nate said. “I’m going, anyway. Give me a few more minutes and we can get the kids moved around.”

  Mia was about to shake her head again and then he saw her pull in a deep breath of resignation. She shot him a look of sheer gratitude, but still seemed to feel the need to add one more token protest. “Are you sure?”

  Nate didn’t even bother replying. He pulled the van door open and asked Nico and Josh to come out. “You take out Grace’s car seat, I’ll catch Jennifer’s,” he said to Mia, looking down at Jennifer, who was grinning a drooly smile. He grinned back at her. She waved her hands and giggled and he felt a curious hitch in his heart.

  Again. Enough. Don’t get attached.

  He unbuckled her car seat and carried her, seat and all, back to his truck.

  Fifteen minutes later the kids were all buckled in and they were on their way. Five minutes into the trip the twins fell asleep and Nico sat quietly, playing with the old Nintendo.

  “This is a great day,” Josh said, sitting up straight, his eyes glued to the road as if he had never seen it before. “I got to ride a horse again and I get to sit in the front of Nate’s truck.”

  “Mr. Lyster,” Mia gently corrected.

  “I don’t care if he calls me by my first name,” Nate said, waving off her protest. “Mr. Lyster sounds like a character from a kid’s book.”

  “Why do I have to call him Mr. Lyster when you and Mr. Denny and Miss Evangeline call him Nate?” Josh pressed.

  “Because it’s polite, that’s why,” she explained in a patient voice.

  “Now I feel old,” Nate joked.

  “You’re hardly old,” Mia returned. “I’m sure you still buy green bananas.”

  Nate chuckled at that. “The few times I go grocery shopping.”

  “I understand you don’t have your own place?”

  He tried not to see that as an accusation. She had simply asked a question.

  “I mostly rent when I need to stay in one place for a while to work with the horses. I think the last place I called home was the Norquest ranch.”

  “How long were you there?”

  “I moved onto the ranch when I was twelve. Stayed there until Denny got married and then got divorced and Denny had to sell the ranch.”

  “Is that when you started working with cutting horses?”

  “I started before that. Before I got to the ranch.”

  “Did the Norquests raise cutting horses?”

  “You seem awfully interested in my life.” Her questions didn’t bother him at all, but it was a curious situation to have someone ask him questions. In the past couple of years most of his interactions with people were pretty superficial. If they weren’t talking horses and cutting competitions and bloodlines, then it was trucks and the travails of traveling.

  “Just trying to make conversation,” she said.

  Nate acknowledged her comment with a nod then leaned back, his wrist resting on the top of the steering wheel as he slipped back to the past again. “As for cutting horses, I learned most of what I know from Karl. My stepfather.”

  Mia was quiet a moment, frowning as if digesting this information. As if trying to figure out the convoluted path Nate’s life had taken to end up at the Norquests’. He wasn’t about to tell her.

  “So what does a cutting horse do?” she asked, thankfully veering away from that topic.

  “You got ten hours?” he asked, slanting her a grin.

  “Twenty-four minutes,” she returned.

  He just laughed, surprised how easy she was to be around. “It’s not that interesting.”

  “I’m interested,” Mia put in. “Tell me.”

  “You do realize this is not only my bread and butter, this is a passion of mine.”

  “So I heard,” she said, adding a gentle smile. “Denny has let me know about your desire to raise quality cutting horses.”

  “I know I’m starting small,
but I have big dreams.”

  “That’s good. Dreams are what keep us going. Is that how you got started in the flower business?”

  Mia shrugged, glancing back at the kids in the back seat. They were all sleeping. Josh was leaning against her shoulder, his eyes going droopy as well.

  “Running a flower shop wasn’t really a life-long dream, to tell you the truth. I needed a way to make a living and Candace was selling her flower shop. The bonus was the living quarters above it. She taught me everything I needed to know and I found I really enjoyed it and had a knack for it.” Another shrug and a smile. “So that’s how I ended up there. And now, I don’t know. We’ll see.”

  “It will all come together again,” Nate said, wishing he could be positive of that.

  “I hope so. We’ll see how sympathetic and helpful the insurance company is.” She blinked a couple of times and once again Nate felt a rush of sympathy for her.

  He wanted to reach across Josh, squeeze her shoulder, assure her it would be fine. But that wouldn’t be appropriate. Not with all her kids sitting in the truck with them.

  “So tell me more about cutting horses.”

  He acknowledged her return to a safer topic with a slow nod.

  “Basically a cutting horse is used to cut cows out of the herd when they’re out on pasture. If you have a calf you want to vaccinate, or a cow you want to check, a cutting horse can separate them and get them where you want them. It’s how animals were handled out on the open range and still are on the larger spreads where you don’t have access to corrals and holding pens. Mind you, even in the holding pens it’s good to have a solid cutting horse. Over the years it turned into a competition. That’s what I do. Compete.”

  “And how do you do that?”

  “Well, that’s where the ten hours of explanation comes in.”

  “Mommy, I’m tired,” Josh said with a yawn.

  “Just lay your head on my lap, honey.”

  “Told you it wasn’t interesting,” Nate said.

  “Busy morning for him.” Mia stroked his hair out of his eyes. “By the way, thanks again for working with the boys. That’s all Josh talks about these days. How he wants to be a cowboy. Like you.”

  “No problem,” he said. “They’re good boys. You’ve done well with them.” He shot a quick glance back at Nico, who looked intent on the Nintendo, but Nate sensed he was listening to every word.

  “It’s never enough. I love my kids and I’d like to be the ideal mother, but I’m too busy raising them.”

  “That covers a lot, in my books,” Nate said with a wry note in his voice. “And I think you’re doing okay. No. That’s wrong. Considering your circumstances, you’re doing amazing.”

  Mia gave him a quick smile, then looked ahead, but Nate saw a faint flush reddening her cheeks as she fingered Josh’s hair away from his face. Was she embarrassed?

  “That’s sweet of you to say so.”

  That was him. Sweet as candy floss. And as long lasting.

  Nate forced his attention back to his driving. Being around Mia seemed so easy in one way and yet complicated in another. He shot a quick look at Josh, then his eyes flicked up to Mia.

  Only to find her looking at him.

  He quickly tore his gaze away the same time she averted her eyes, as well.

  Silence sprawled between them, filling the space in the cab. And the rest of the way to town, though Nate kept his eyes on the road, his attention was split between his driving and Mia’s light movements of her hand on Josh’s head.

  “Where do I need to drop you off?” Nate asked finally as he turned off the highway and into the town.

  “On Gladstone Avenue, just off Main,” Mia said, gently shaking Josh to wake him.

  He nodded but then, as he turned onto Main Street, he felt a clench of dismay as he saw the blackened hulk of what was once Mia’s flower shop and home. Though he had seen it before, now, with Mia, he was looking at it through her eyes.

  Menacing sheets of dark soot stained the brick front and the windows stared like vacant eyes, their glass broken and shattered. The front door was boarded up, creating a sense of finality.

  “Oh, dear,” Mia whispered beside him as they drove past. “Every time I see it, it looks worse.”

  “Are you allowed to go in yet?”

  “Jeff Deptuck called me yesterday. Said it was safe to look through the main floor today if I want, but that the upstairs was off-limits. I was hoping to see if anything was left...” Her voice faltered and she drew in a shaky breath.

  “Are you sure you want to?”

  “No, but I feel I should.”

  “We can go after you see the insurance guy. I’ll come with you.”

  Mia gave him a grateful look. “That would be nice. I’ll see if Evangeline can watch all the kids then. I don’t want them to see their old home like this.”

  Nate acknowledged that with a quick nod as he turned onto Gladstone Avenue and parked the truck.

  “I’ll get the stroller,” he said. “You take care of the kids.”

  And before Mia could protest, he was out of the truck and pulling the collapsed stroller out of the box. He tried to unfold it but the various latches and hooks confounded him.

  “Having trouble?” Mia asked, a note of humor in her voice as she came beside him.

  “I’m sure a woman invented this thing just to tick men off,” he grumbled.

  Mia chuckled, took it from him and with a nudge of her toe, a flick of her thumb and a quick shake, it unfolded, neat as can be. “Nothing to it,” she said.

  “I guess.” He sighed. “And here I was hoping I could help you.”

  She patted him on the back like she would one of her kids. “I appreciated the thought.” She went to get the girls, but this time Nate was one step ahead of her. He carefully unbuckled Grace, who, surprisingly, still slept, and lifted the warm bundle of little girl out of the seat. She scrunched up her face, twisted in his arms, and then, when he set her in the stroller, sighed and fell back asleep again. He paused a moment, looking down at her, surprised at the feeling of protection this small creature raised in him. Surprised at how he wanted to hold her close. He had never thought of himself as a kid person, but these little ones had niggled themselves into his life.

  “Amazing how these girls can sleep,” Nate said in admiration as he laid her in the stroller and carefully threaded her small arms through the straps.

  “It’s been a blessing, that’s for sure.” Mia set Jennifer in the stroller beside Grace, quickly snapped her in then tossed the diaper bag into the bottom basket. “Okay, boys, we should go.”

  “Do we have to?” Josh asked, his shoulders drooping. “I don’t want to go and sit and wait and wait and wait.”

  Nate imagined those poor boys sitting in a stuffy office while Mia dealt with the insurance agent. Nico looked as dismayed as Josh sounded.

  He felt sorry for them.

  Then, before he could change his mind said, “Why don’t I take them with me?”

  “No. You have your own things to do.”

  “I just need to pick up some parts from the hardware store.”

  Nate knew from the way she wrinkled her nose she was going to protest again.

  So he crouched down in front of Josh and Nico, pushing his hat back on his head as he preempted her. “So, boys, do you want to come with me and see some fun stuff or do you want to go with your mommy and listen to an insurance agent talk for hours about liabilities, appraisals and comprehensive insurance coverage?”

  “Huh? We want to come with you,” Josh said. “Right, Nico?”

  Nico added an enthusiastic head nod.

  Nate shot Mia a triumphant glance as he straightened. “Guess the hardware store trumps the insurance office. Who woulda thunk?”

  He could see her formulating another protest, then she shook her head as if giving in. “Okay. I guess. But as soon as they misbehave—”

  “I’ll take them to Rockyview River and dunk th
em in. Headfirst,” Nate said, grabbing Nico as if he would do so right now.

  Nico grinned and his shoulders shook and for a moment, just for a bright and shining moment, Nate thought he would laugh out loud.

  But he didn’t.

  Then Mia bit her lip, blinking again and he wanted to put his arm around her and console her. Yet common sense prevailed and instead, he set Nico down on the sidewalk.

  “C’mon, boys. Wave goodbye to your mom. We got to get going.” He looked over at Mia again. “Text me when you’re done.”

  “Thanks so much,” she said quietly. “I’ll meet you at Evangeline’s.”

  Their gazes meshed and Nate felt that flicker of appeal again. That curling in his gut that made him want to be closer to her. So he stepped back, gave her a curt nod, took the boys’ hands and left.

  The hardware store wasn’t busy and Dan, the owner of the store, was helpful and knowledgeable. The boys were happy to wander up and down the aisles and Nate let them while he found what he was looking for.

  “Those Mia Verbeeks’s kids?” Dan asked as he bagged Nate’s purchases.

  “Yeah. I’m watching them while she gets her insurance stuff figured out.”

  “Too bad about what happened. I hear the boys barely got out with the clothes on their backs.”

  Nate glanced down at Nico and Josh, noticing Josh’s too-short pants and how the oversize T-shirt hung on Nico’s narrow shoulders and thought of their running shoes they wore riding. “Is there a place I can get some kids’ clothes?” he asked as he took the bag from Dan.

  “Family Fashions, just down the street, is your best bet.”

  “Thanks. I’ll check it out.”

  He called the boys and together they walked down the street and into the store Dan had pointed out to them.

  He pulled open the door, then stood inside the doorway looking around, not sure where to start.

  A young woman, medium height, her blond hair pulled back in a bouncy ponytail, approached him with a friendly smile. She wore a pink T-shirt and white flowy skirt. The type of skirt Evangeline liked to wear. “Good afternoon. My name is Lacy,” she said, her eyes flicking from Nate to the boys and back again. “Hey, Nico. Josh. What can I do for you all?”