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  Luke

  Peacock Ridge Cowboys Book 3

  Brynn Hale

  Copyright © 2020 by Brynn Hale

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contact Brynn at [email protected] for more information.

  Acknowledgment

  Thank you to authors Tarin Lex, Mazzy King, Kali Hart, Kate Tilney, Krysta Fox, and Lana Dash (and so many more :-)) for making this story and this adventure amazing and inspiring. <3 Brynn

  Contents

  LUKE

  GRACE

  LUKE

  LUKE

  GRACE

  LUKE

  GRACE

  GRACE

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  LUKE

  Is it her?

  I drive by a woman bundled in a green winter coat and a scarf wrapped around her face.

  It could be her…

  My heart gallops through my chest into my throat. I’m not sure whether it’s trying to strangle me and put my out of my misery and run off to find her.

  It isn’t her.

  It’s never her.

  Grace. Grace Angela Quinn. That was her name. Gracie to me and sometimes my family.

  I’d say Grace is the one who got away, but she’s more the one who ran away.

  And she’s not coming back.

  I have to stop looking.

  I drive on and see Ursula, our classmate from high school. She was one of Grace’s best friends.

  I pull up alongside of her as she walks along. “Hey, Urs, how you doing? Want a ride?”

  She leans against the truck door, her hands gripping the open window. “I’m good, just getting some fresh air, thanks though. Hey, we’re going to the new Featherbone place tonight. You wanna join me and Darren?”

  “Got poker tonight, but thanks for the invite. Maybe after the first of the year. I think this snowstorm that’s coming is going to have us hunkering down for a few days.”

  “Hope that the animals and humans stay safe. I’ll see you at the ball tomorrow night.”

  “That you will. Thanks. Enjoy your walk.”

  And that’s how it is in Peacock Ridge. We say hello. We invite each other along for the ride of life. And we always look out for each other.

  I sigh. It’s been 363 days since she left. And it isn’t long enough to be over Grace. She and I always looked out for each other. I’d invited her along for the ride of life, and she left me alone. I want to wake up one day soon and not have her vision be the first thing I think of. But every day it’s still the same.

  Sure, I’d tried to contact Grace. Hell, I’d sent up smoke signals, paid for sky writing, and sent out a pigeon with a note attached to its leg. Okay, I didn’t really do all those things, but I had done a lot. I’d begged her friends to tell me, but Ursula didn’t know where she’d gone. Her parents protected her wishes to not tell me and part of me respected them for it, but I just didn’t know what I’d done wrong. I’d emailed, private messaged, texted…and finally after nothing else worked, I wrote her a letter and sent it to her parents’ house. Hoping, just praying, they’d forward it on to her.

  I drive by the combination middle and high school. Memories flood back.

  We’d started dating the second day of seventh grade and I knew from that moment on she would be the one I’d spend my life with.

  I thought so, at least.

  I drive downtown in Peacock Ridge. We’ve been able to keep many of the smaller local businesses going—Peacock Ridge Bank, Ursula’s Hair Hut, Jensen’s Hardware, Tractor Supply, and there is the Five & Dime. But if you really want something, it’s best to go into Heraldsville about fifteen minutes away. Denver isn’t far, two hours, but I rarely make it into the big city. I’m a country boy, through and through. My truck always has a coating of dust and mud on the wheels from driving the backroads. My cowboy hat sits softly on my head, better than a knit cap, even in the blistering cold winds. And my Wranglers are purchased at the Tractor Supply. Two pairs for fifty dollars. I don’t need a fancy pair of jeans. I just need comfort and classics.

  Maybe that was the problem. I like things the way they are, just going with the flow. She obviously needed something else. I just wish she’d told me what it was.

  I drive past the Featherbone BBQ—a new name for a place that seems like a revolving door of restaurants. I could remember a traditional 6 a.m.-2 p.m. café, an Italian and American fusion eatery, a bistro, a Greek place, and a Southern, down-home stick-to-your-ribs place in the last twenty-five years. But this is different. The name says BBQ, but I’d heard they do all kinds of meals, with breakfast served all day. My favorite meal of the day.

  I consider stopping, but I’ve already eaten at home while working on a proposal for adding a few more activities in the spring—but I came up with nothing. Either my ideas are tapped out, or I need some new inspiration.

  Maybe a vacation would do me good. I have a little money saved. I could just hit the road. Head south to some place warm and sit outside, read, and drink a craft beer or two. But that isn’t me. I’m Mr. Dependable. I’m the one who aches to make the Peacock Ridge Bed and Breakfast the success my father envisioned.

  He and my mother did the lion’s share of work in the late 80s when ranching was hurting, and they needed to supplement the incoming money as they started a family. My brother Cole arrived at the very end of the eighties, Breck two years later, and me three years after. They stopped because Mom was told another baby wasn’t a smart idea. She was heartbroken as I father told us over a great bottle of whiskey one night. She would’ve filled all the bedrooms with children, if she could’ve. But her diabetes declared it had won and then one day, the diabetes really won and took her from us in just days. Now when I looked in a mirror, I see the same look on my face that my father had the days after Mom was gone.

  Grace isn’t dead, but I didn’t know if she’s living.

  My parents created a ranch house and lodge that could house fourteen people, usually singles, in seven extra rooms separate from the main house. But then they’d added six cabins and those seemed to attract people who wanted to get away from their hectic lives and decompress. They each had room for four people, but most of the time only a couple or single rented them. We’d added the breakfast portion to the bed and breakfast about twenty years ago, my mother a natural at serving others and passing along the desire to all of us boys to make family out of strangers.

  Well, kind of.

  My brother Cole is less than thrilled with the intrusion that the guests make on his life, but he puts on a smile and provides a good conversation when I insist. Breck likes performing for the guests on his guitar and that seems to satisfy his requirement for interaction. I like getting to know the couples, but lately the single women have been…quite insistent. In fact, there are three staying with us that I’m actively hiding from.

  I slow as I pass the Featherbone. My stomach dips. A familiar black Ford Fusion grabs my attention. One with a sticker in the back window that says, “Cowboy Butts Drive Me Nuts.”

  Either she’s back or she’s sold her car to someone in Peacock Ridge and I doubt the second. That was her baby. She’d paid for it all by herself and the pride that beamed from her when she had that car title in her hands was everything to me.

  “Hey!” a voice calls out.

  I slam on my brakes and Nolan Church has his hands up with a grumpy look on his face. But he has that face ninety-nine percent of the time, so I don’t take total offense. I wouldn’t want to hit him but considering he’s been a pain in my
brother’s side for the last couple of years, if I accidentally bumped him to the ground, I wouldn’t be too upset either.

  I roll down the window. “Hey, Nolan, sorry.” I chin jut to him.

  “You better be careful or I’ll be owning your ranch, Reeves.”

  My jaw tightens. The Churches think they own everything anyway, not necessary to disagree with him. Best to keep moving, but I can’t. I want to back up. I want to go inside of the Featherbone and see if she’s in there.

  A horn honks behind me and I jolt to reality. I step on the gas and take off like a bullet.

  If she hasn’t contacted me, she doesn’t want to.

  It’s time I move on.

  GRACE

  “Grace?” Her voice has the same twinge of concern that everyone has had since I showed my face back in Peacock Ridge.

  I turn to find a familiar face beaming at me as I hold an order pad in my hand inside of the Featherbone BBQ. My latest and greatest achievement, not that anyone knows or would care.

  “Oh, my God! Ellie!” I hug Dr. Ellie Roberts, veterinarian, like I’ve been in witness protection. “I missed you so much.”

  It was true. I missed lots of people in this town. One more than others, but I pushed away the thought.

  “Um… where have you been?”

  I sink into Ellie and push a brown tendril of hair from her eyes. “Finding myself and losing my mind.”

  She laughs but becomes serious quickly. “And did you do the first and hopefully not the latter?”

  I back away, raising and lowering my shoulders quickly. “Well, I’m back here, so I guess I found out that I need to come…” I purse my lips knowing I’ve already said too much.

  “Home?” she asks, rubbing her hands up and down my arms and I remember days when my friends were people I could depend on.

  I nod without saying anything.

  Ellie clears her throat and I see the question coming from a mile away. “Have you seen—”

  “Not yet.” I cut her off. It’s the question I’ve been avoiding.

  I slide back and collect myself. “I know he’s going to come in here and I’m going to crumble.” I can’t help to tell her the fear that digs into me. She’s just one of those people who genuinely cares and you can tell almost anything to.

  People thought the guy I left here and I were going to be together forever. So did I. But then he got down on one knee in front of his family, happiness beaming from his smile, and I couldn’t say that one word he wanted to hear. I now know why I couldn’t say it.

  I left, did some soul searching, and I came back both the same Grace and in some ways I’ve changed. That’s not important. The fact that I’m here is.

  “You haven’t even texted him?” she asks, sitting back down and eyeing up the menu. The tone isn’t mean, it’s more concerned.

  A hunched-over elderly man shuffles his way inside.

  “Hi, Mr. Witka. Your regular?” I give a wave when he looks my way and he harrumphs in answer, his attitude the dependable thing about him.

  I slide backwards, and honestly, out of the conversation conveniently with Ellie. “Sorry, duty calls.”

  I take his order and put the ticket on the spinning wheel for my cook, Samson, to see.

  I return with a pot of coffee to Ellie and fill the cup she’s flipped over. Rancher coffee—I swear it’s a substitute for oil. In so many ways, this town doesn’t and hasn’t changed.

  “You going to the Snow Ball tomorrow night?” Ellie asks.

  My stomach jumps into my neck at the thought. Peacock Ridge’s public holiday dance at the local VFW hall. It brings everyone out, dressed up and ready to party. The chance to see him is just too high.

  “Nah, I’m not really in the ball mood.”

  “Because Luke will be there?”

  I jut out a hip, nice and sassy. “And you had to go and say his name.”

  I stop the quiver of my lip. I can’t even think his name. I know what I did doesn’t make sense to many, but I had to do it. I loved him…too much. I loved him more than I loved myself. And I realized that was wrong.

  Ellie reaches across the counter and grabs my hand that’s tightly gripping the hot coffeepot handle. “Hey, put it down, Grace. We don’t need you getting a burn.” She holds onto my hand.

  “Do you think I should go?” I ask, hoping she’ll give me her wise insight that I always loved in high school. There are others like her. Ursula Evans for one. I’d kept in contact with her. She promised she wouldn’t tell anyone, and I know she didn’t. I’d have to stop by her place soon and tell her how much I appreciate it.

  Ellie inhales deeply like she’s going to go on a diatribe and I’m not sure I’m ready for it. “Cole Reeves asked me to go with him…” Her creamy complexion flushes.

  I giggle. “You make it sound like we’re in high school.” Like those two young girls talking about guys behind the bleachers at a basketball game.

  A big smile settles across her face, happiness. “You’re right! Am I a teenager or a grown woman?” She squeezes my hand. “I can’t tell you how much I love having you back here.”

  “And you being back here, too. I never thought I’d be back.”

  “Ditto.”

  I walk to the order window when the bell rings and pile three plates on my arm. “Are you going to go with Cole?”

  “I… I’ll take the biscuits and gravy, please,” she answers.

  I shake my head and roll my eyes. “Nice diversion.” I deliver plates of food and fill a couple glasses of tea in the small but cozy thirty seat restaurant that is my dream come true.

  My face gets stern. I’ve got to play devil’s advocate here just to make sure she’s all in. “Ellie, this is Cole Reeves. Cole the football captain. Cole the prom king. Cole the guy who married your best friend.”

  “And then divorced him. I think the first was meant to hurt me and the second to hurt him.” I can see the want in her eyes. I know she’s always loved him. It was always in her eyes.

  “Shana’s always been a miserable person. We both know this.” I grab the plate of biscuits and gravy and set them in front of her. “But do you deserve to be miserable, too? Just because they were husband and wife, doesn’t make him any less available now that they’re divorced. He’s not broken goods, he’s just probably rough around the edges. So…what’re you gonna do?”

  And with that, I feel like I’m asking myself the same question.

  What am I gonna do?

  LUKE

  “I see your two dollars and raise you two dollars.”

  I throw in my cards. Too rich for my blood. I have a limit and I’ve already lost it. “Guys, I’m out.”

  Nolan Church pulls the cigar to his mouth. “It’s really good you can admit the real you, Reeves.”

  I give him a long stare and wonder if prison is really that bad. Probably.

  I slide my rolling, leather, club chair back. “I’m not gay, Church, just done playing. And now I kinda wish I’d actually hit you with my truck.” I shrug. “I guess I’ll have to wish for better luck next time on both fronts.”

  The other four guys at the table laugh.

  Nolan’s presence was a surprise to me. My buddy Jeph thought we’d buried our differences. There was no burying anything, it was always alive. But I wonder how bad his home life has to be to want to pick a fight at a poker game.

  “And I’ll be over to get that calf as soon as it’s weaned,” he says, puffing smoke in my face as I pass. “After all, that semen was worth a hundred bucks a straw and your heifer got the whole bust-a-nut worth, so about seven thousand dollars’ worth of prime calf making jizz. That calf is mine.”

  He’s completely disgusting, but he’s not lying. I’d heard that one of our cows was pregnant with his prize-winning bull’s calf. Due to his lack of concern for other’s animals, allowing his bull to break through our fence and impregnant a cow out of season. It wasn’t smart to have a calf born during the dead of winter. In fact, it was
asking for trouble.

  “I’ll talk to Cole and see what we can work out, but you’d better pray that heifer doesn’t die in birth cause I’ve heard it’s going to be a big calf.”

  “It’s a sixty grand award-winning bull that you got for free. That calf is mine.”

  “Nolan, you allowed that bull into our pasture. I guess he sweet talked his way into that heifer’s life. Seems like he takes after his owner.”

  Church and my oldest brother’s ex-wife were married now. They’d started their tryst before Cole and Shana were finished. It wasn’t cool and I wasn’t going to let him forget it.

  Nolan chuckles. “Well, if the Reeves men can’t keep track of their females, sometimes there’s a bigger and better stud to steal them away. Maybe that’s what Grace needed.”

  I jump for him ready to clock him and my friend Jeph slides between us, grabbing my arm as I raise it.

  “Luke. Come on.” He leans toward me. “He’s not worth it.”

  Just once. Just once I want to give him a black eye. After all, he’s a black eye on humanity.

  Jeph walks me out. “Luke…”

  I shake my head. “Don’t, Jeph. I’m done. If he’s going to be joining the group. I’m not coming back.”

  “I promise, he’s just here to fill in. Next week, he’ll be back home where he belongs.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.”

  He brushes a hand through his hair. “Hey, Sammy went to the Featherbone yesterday. Did you know that—”

  “Later, Jeph.” I know what he’s going to say and I don’t want to hear it. My heart pounds fast in my chest. I can’t hear it.

  On my way home, I drove by Grace’s parents’ house, but her car isn’t out front.

  Maybe she’s moved on.

  After having a couple of Oreos with my brothers and avoiding waking the coven of guests on the other side of the house, I go to bed.