C2 CHAPTER TWO

Don’t get taken or anything.” Sam cursed. “We should have chipped her.”

Ma bristled. She knew he meant it.

“We should have,” Mark agreed. “It’s a crazy world.”

“

No, you shouldn’t have chipped me,” she said, scoffing. Sam was always paranoid. “I’m not a dog, and I choose what I do with my life, so don’t even try to contact me. My phone is turning off. Locator turned off. I’m off grid.”

“I know a guy we could fly out there to do it,” Daniel chimed in. “He could keep tabs on her.”

“Great idea,” Sam agreed.

They still weren’t kidding. Ma growled, “You’d better not, or you’ll pay. Love you all. Goodbye.”

“Wait!” her father called out. “May, you make sure to take your pepper spray with you if you don’t have your phone.”

“Okay, okay.” Despite herself, she felt a surge of warmth fill her. Even though her dad and brothers annoyed her to no end, she loved them so much. “Goodbye again. And . . . I love you all. And yes, Daddy, that includes you!”

They laughed as she pressed END on the call. She put the phone down and then turned it off, all the way off. She would make good on her promise to disconnect this week.

Putting it down on the dresser, she abruptly didn’t know what to do. The thought brought a rush of excitement—she wouldn’t be chained to her phone all week, wouldn’t be pestered by its interruptions. Head space. Yes, that’s what she’d been yearning for.

With a sigh, she turned and let herself fall onto the hotel’s king-sized bed, the pillows fluffing around her. She longed for good food, too. Extraordinary food. She wondered what good restaurants there were in Casper, Wyoming. It wasn’t New York, but it had to have something amazing, right?

She closed her eyes, deciding she’d take a nap first. After that, she’d take a taxi out to the Charm property and go for a hike. Might as well get the work part of her trip out of the way. Then it would be time to completely relax.

The sunrise almost made up for the fact that Rossi had to get up at the crack of dawn every morning to get a jump on feeding the animals and moving sprinkler pipes before he met at the high school for drama camp this week.

Being a high school acting teacher was a good gig, and he wouldn’t deny that it worked with his love of ranching and farming. He didn’t have a huge farm; basically, he just raised feed for the cattle. Too bad he hadn’t realized how hard it would be to make ends meet some years, even with the combined income of teaching and ranching.

These days, it was harder than ever, as he’d been paying off medical bills since everything had happened.

His wife’s face flashed across his mind, and he paused, putting a hand on the center of his chest. The thing about losing someone, he’d realized, was that no matter how much time had gone by, sometimes a memory would just hit you by surprise and take the wind out of you. He sucked in a breath, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand and not dwell on everything he’d lost. He couldn’t go down that path today.

He hopped out of his Ford pickup and kicked the door shut behind him. He’d already taken care of the animals. Now he was out by the north end of his property, checking the pipe. Even though he had technology hooked up to move the pipe to water his alfalfa during the day, he always had to make sure it was working. Rushing over to the pipe, he quickly checked the digital equipment. Yep. Like clockwork, the sprinkler shot on.

He was proud of himself. It was a feat to keep up with all the changing tech with farming and ranching and stay in business. Leaning back on his heels, he surveyed the budding crops and the perfect way the sprinkler moved. Yes, it was all working out.

Rossi thought about the letter from the bank that lay on his desk. He and his brother, Tory, co-owner of the ranch, were trying to figure out how to deliver on the back payments. Rossi had put everything into curing his wife, even paid out huge amounts of money for nontraditional treatments, all to no avail.

He sighed and tried to think about something good, but the effort was fruitless. Thoughts of her always lurked in the back of his mind. It’d been two years since the cancer had taken her, but sometimes it still felt like yesterday. He focused on his breathing, trying to calm his heart rate. He hadn’t been sleeping well lately, his mind spinning about how to pay back the huge debts he owed between the ranch and the alternative care they’d tried. His hand clenched into a fist; he hated that his brother wanted to help him. It shouldn’t be Tory ’s responsibility, but Tory wouldn’t stop trying to help.

The two brothers had inherited the land from their parents when they’d passed suddenly five years ago in a car accident. At that point, Rossi had taken over and managed everything, but now Tory had come home. Tory was a doctor and still had a lot of student loans, but Ross was still grateful Tory was here.

A text showed up from his sister-in-law, Katy. Thanks for doing extra chores for us while we’re gone. We fly out at ten tomorrow morning.

He smiled. Tory and Katy and their son were finally going on a family vacation, which Kathy had won on the radio. He texted Katy back. So no problem.