A Cowboy Billionaire Secret Baby

(Brookside Ranch Brothers)

Hanna Hart

Copyright ©2020 by Hanna Hart - All rights reserved.

In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

Chapter One

Bennett

Bennett Brooks was not a suit person—he was happier in cowboy boots than he ever would be in a tux.

He stared into the vertical mirror in his childhood bedroom and examined the black suit with silky lapels that framed his broad shoulders and tall frame.

His mother, Shannon, had set the suit out on his bed like he was a little boy who needed dressing.

He supposed when you have seven kids like his parents did, you never stop parenting them.

At thirty-one, visiting home for Bennett still meant bickering with his siblings and watching his mother make a ridiculously lavish breakfast every morning as if he were a teenager.

Bennett came from a unique family, to say the least.

It all started when his parents bought their first ranch. The Houston, Texas property was called Brookside Ranch, a luxury dude ranch that turned a wild profit.

Many years later, his parents decided to franchise the ranches, buying six that spread across the United States, each under the Brookside banner.

The ranches became a billion-dollar business.

When Bennett’s eldest brother, Jett, turned twenty-one, his parents had him take over one of the ranches.

As the rest of the five boys hit their legal age, each was told they were to move across the country and run a ranch.

When Bennett turned twenty-one, he inherited the Brookside Montana ranch some eighteen-hundred miles from his friends and family.

He was happy to do it. He loved the life of a cowboy, but not all of his brothers were as happy about the idea.

“That’s a sharp suit,” Kennedy said as she leaned against the doorframe of Bennett’s bedroom.

Kennedy was the youngest sibling and only girl in the Brooks clan. She was nineteen years old—twelve years younger than Bennett.

One would think this meant she and Bennett weren’t close, but the truth was all of the Brooks boys had a special place in their heart for their baby sister and she got along with all of them in return—save for their Rockstar brother, Phoenix.

“You do know this is Greg and Amy’s wedding, though, right?” Kennedy snorted as she looked over the ridiculous classy suit her brother wore.

“Hm. Is that why I flew eighteen hundred miles, scanned through a wedding registry, and had a bachelor weekend with Greg last month?” he said with a wink. “I’d plum forgot.”

“Always here to help,” she grinned.

“Yeah, thanks,” he snorted. “What’s that supposed to mean, anyway? About this being their wedding? Are you trying to insinuate that Greg’s poor? `Cause I happen to know this wedding cost them a lot of money.”

“It cost their parents a lot of money,” Kennedy corrected snidely as she picked at a fray in her jean shorts. “What does he do again? Grade school teacher? And what is she...a cashier or something?”

“Who’d have ever thought my baby sister would grow up to be such a snob?” he said with mock-shock.

“I’m not a snob. I could care less about how much money someone has. All I’m saying is you’re gonna stand out like a sore thumb,” she said.

“I’ll take my chances,” he countered. “And what are you up to tonight besides bailing on this wedding?”

“Hey, Greg is your friend, not mine,” she giggled.

“Got any plans?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go out with Catherine,” she told him, though from her tone, he knew it was a lie.

“Uh-huh,” he said absent-mindedly. “That’s the story you’re telling Mom. But what’s the real plan?”

Kennedy grinned and hopped up on Bennett’s bed. She hung her legs off the side and watched him in a childlike manner as he fixed his tie in the mirror.

“I’m going to this party on Catherine’s campus,” she said, watching the door carefully for any signs of their mother lurking about.

“Not too late to go back to school, you know,” he offered.

“Forget it,” she said with a smile. “Why go back when I can reap the social benefits of my friends who are in college? It’s all the partying with none of the responsibility.”

“Don’t let mom hear you say that. She’ll have a heart attack,” he laughed. “What’s the plan, then? Wait until you’re twenty-one and hope Mom and Dad give you a ranch?”

“Please,” she said with a playful eyeroll. “That’s basically my nightmare. I’m not getting sucked into this Brookside sideshow.”

“Think about what you want to do with your life, alright?” he said. “I mean it. I want to see you do something you love.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said, not meaning a single word. “Happy?”

“Deliriously,” he said with wide-eyes.

The two talked for a few more minutes before Kennedy went bounding out of the room to answer her cellphone.

Bennett was back in Houston for his childhood friend’s wedding. Greg had been seeing Amy for years and the two were tying the knot. Bennett was happy for them and took it as a great excuse to get out of Montana for a couple of weeks.

It was a good opportunity to reconnect with his siblings, as well. A few of his brothers would be going to the wedding, and they hadn’t been able to spend much time together this year on account of some family drama.

“Don’t forget your tie,” Bennett’s mother Shannon said as she stepped in his room.

He pointed toward the silky slim fabric around his neck and said, “Got it covered.”

“I don’t think that looks right,” she said, scratching her chin thoughtfully as she examined him.

“I know you’re excited to have us all under the same roof, but that doesn’t mean I need you dressing me,” he teased.

“I love having my boys home again,” she said, fussing with his tie.

“Even Hunter?” he asked with a wry smile.

Like a dog being called, he heard Hunter slide down the hardwood hallway past his room. His brother latched onto the doorjamb as he slid by and pulled himself into the room. “Especially Hunter!” he called out gleefully.

“We are supporting Greg and Amy,” his mother said, noncommittal to answering his question. “A wedding is a time to come together as a family.”

“Is that what you learned at my wedding?” Hunter asked with a childish grin.

“I didn’t learn anything at your wedding because you eloped, remember?” his mother said, not making eye-contact.

“We eloped because nobody supported us,” his brother piped up.

Shannon frowned. “That isn’t true. Family is family is family, no matter what—and you know that!”

Hunter made a silly face at Bennett in the mirror and Shannon immediately stiffened.

“Hunter, please,” she sighed. “I don’t have time for this right now. We have ten minutes before we’re supposed to leave,” she clapped. “Up, up, up!”

With that, his mother left his room to make the rest of her rounds with his siblings.

It didn’t take long for his mother to grow frustrated with Hunter.

It didn’t take anyone very long to get frustrated with Hunter.

In fact, it was the fifth born who had created turmoil in the family over the last year and a half.

Hunter had all of the energy in the world. He was endlessly talkative and loved life at his ranch in Wyoming. He used to be the brother that everybody got along with. He was the family touchstone. But two months earlier, in June, Hunter eloped with his wife.

It wasn’t that the family wasn’t happy that he had found love, but the love he found just so happened to be with their brother Phoenix’s ex-fiancée.

Hunter and Rachel started dating under Phoenix’s nose, it seemed, and not long after they got together, Hunter bought the brothers out and removed his ranch from the Brookside banner.

It caused a definitive rift in the family, with each sibling taking sides.

Bennett took Phoenix’s side. Morally, it seemed wrong for him to date Rachel. But beyond that, removing himself from the Brookside chain felt like a slap in the face. It felt like he was saying he didn’t want to be a part of the family anymore.

Being back at home with Hunter was awkward, to say the least. But his younger brother wouldn’t be ignored. He was too friendly—too gregarious—to be ignored. He wanted Bennett’s forgiveness, and he would talk his head off until he got it.

Tearing Bennett from his thoughts, Hunter tossed his brother a cane with a marble knob handle and a black top hat.

Bennet couldn’t help but smirk at the sheer ridiculousness of it. Did his brother just carry around novelty dress wear?

“And this is for...?” he asked.

Hunter raised a brow and ran a hand across his shaved head. “For Greg being your best friend, you sure don’t know a lot about his wedding. It’s themed, remember?”

“Themed?” Bennett repeated, looking down at the hat. “Seriously?”

“The roaring twenties,” his brother said with an English accent. “So we all have to dress like idiots! I asked Mom if I could wear a monocle and fake mustache to complete my nineteen-twenties façade. Wanna guess how that conversation turned out?”

Bennett laughed, “I’m guessing not good.”

“Nah.”

“Sorry,” Bennett blinked. “Why is it themed?”

Hunted shrugged. “He’s your friend. I guess you didn’t get the memo.”

“Guess I didn’t.”

“Good thing you have your little brother here looking out for you then,” his brother said, throwing his top hat on and tipping it toward Bennett.

“Hm,” he mumbled.

Hunter bit his lip and studied his brother carefully. It was the first time Bennett had seen his happy veneer falter in the week since he’d been home

“What, you’re not still mad, are you?” Hunter asked, raising a curious brow.

“Look, the only reason I’m talking to you again is because Phoenix seems to have forgiven you for some reason.”

“It’s the face,” Hunter grinned, pointing a thumb at himself. “He can’t stay mad at the face. Besides, we’re family.” Then, in his best impression of their mother, he said, “And family is family is family!”

Bennett pressed his lips thin, trying not to laugh.

“Phoenix is with Miranda now,” Hunter said as though it were some sort of peace treaty. “Mom says it’s going well. Plus, he has his tour. Plus, we were friends once, he and I, and we’re doing a pretty good job getting back to that, considering.”

“Feels like some alternative universe where you and Phoenix got along.”

Hunter blew out a breath. “Well, this conversation has been super,” he said, turning to leave. “By the way, you’re welcome for saving you from the shame and embarrassment of showing up at this wedding without your costume on!”

“Saving me embarrassment or causing it?” he winked.

Hunter turned from the doorway.

“It is good to see you, Hunter,” Bennett said and watched his brother noticeably brighten.

“See you downstairs,” Hunter said.

“See you downstairs.”

By the time they got to the wedding, most of the guests had already arrived.

The ceremony went smoothly, with no name mix-ups, no tripping down the aisle, and no long flowery speeches.

That said, the couple did write their own vows.

Bennett usually hated this. His younger brother Colt wrote his own vows and Bennett was beyond uncomfortable hearing that much of his brother’s lovey-dovey side.

Wasn’t that something that should be kept private?

“I, Greg York, promise to you, Amy Bradshaw, before our family and friends, to stand by your side, to share and support your hopes and dreams,” his friend spoke into a microphone.

“I vow to always be there for you,” Amy added. “When you fall, I will catch you. When you cry, I will comfort you.”

Bennett wanted to roll his eyes at the sentiments, but the truth was, it wasn’t so bad after all. It was kind of touching. The way they looked at each other spoke volumes about the affection they had for one another.

“When you laugh,” Amy said with tears in her eyes, “I will share your happiness. No matter what lies ahead of us, I will see it as a journey that can only be completed together. I promise this now and forever.”

“I promise this now and forever,” Greg repeated, and the two began exchanging their rings.

It was moving to see two people love each other so purely.

Bennett’s parents had been married for some forty years, and he supposed that counted for something, but his own experience with relationships hadn’t precisely been picture perfect.

There was also the debacle with his brothers and Rachel.

“You did it, man!” Bennett cheered as he met Greg in one of the dressing rooms after the ceremony. He threw his arm around his friend’s shoulder and cheered, “Congratulations!”

“Did you ever think we’d see this day?” Greg laughed. “Me, married? I can’t even comprehend it!”

“Ah, sure, I could see it once you met Amy. I knew you were a goner!”

“She’s amazing,” Greg grinned. “You know what this means, right?”

“What?”

Greg nudged him. “You’re next.” Bennett laughed and his friend continued, “Jeffery has Alissa, Tom is with Nadia, and now there’s Amy and me. You’re the only one left from the old group who’s riding solo.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Bennett laughed.

“Still haven’t heard from Yasmin?” Greg asked.

Bennett offered a one-shouldered shrug. “Nah,” he said, trying to let the pain roll off of him. “That’s over with. I’m happy not to have the headache of it. But this day isn’t about me!”

“Hey, it isn’t about me, either,” Greg said. “This is Amy’s thing.”

“Alright, alright,” Bennett said quickly. “Let’s get you back out there before she blames me for throwing your day off schedule.”

Chapter Two

June

If June could do anything in the world, she would be spending time with her daughter instead of going to work.

But, alas, somebody had to pay the bills, and it wasn’t going to be five-year-old Ember.

June Harman was thirty-one years old, freshly separated from her husband—not by her choosing—and had started a job as a server-bartender with her best friend Danielle less than a month ago.

She worked at The Lipkin, a lavish wedding venue in Houston, Texas. It had old wooden pillars and a brown and beige marble checkerboard floor.

More than any night since her ex-husband had left her, all June wanted to do was curl up on the couch with Ember, watch movies, and eat popcorn by the handful.

But if she had to work, this was the night to do it.

The Lipkin’s timeless interior made it the perfect venue for formal affairs and rustic events alike, but she had never seen a wedding reception like the one that was currently storming their doors.

Every woman who walked through the door sported a curly updo or trendy bob cut. They wore headbands with feathers and beaded jangly flapper dresses.

The men who accompanied them were dressed head to toe in full fitted suits, white gloves, and top hats.

“It’s themed!” Danielle shouted with excitement as she watched the guests pour in.

“I have genuinely never seen anything like this before,” June marveled. She wasn’t someone who wanted to come off as girly or shallow, but she was a big lover of fashion and all things vintage.

A live band played vintage jazz music that was so infectious, the moment they started playing, June and Danielle couldn’t help but tap their toes and shimmy their shoulders. It was the type of music that made you want to dance.

“What are we doing today?” June asked.

“Serving!” she said.

June nodded and tried not to look disappointed. She was fine serving for the evening, but the wedding was so much fun to look at that she wouldn’t have minded being one of the bartenders.

“Isn’t this beautiful?” Danielle asked, gesturing toward the women entering the venue in their beaded dresses.

“Mm-hmm,” June agreed.

“This one is especially pretty,” her friend said with excitement. “It feels special somehow. They have all these girls coming in wearing these beaded flapper dresses. I feel like I’m on the Titanic or something!”

“I love how you equate beaded dresses with nineteen-twelve,” June said with a laugh.

“Ah, it’s all basically the same, isn’t it? Long, old, fancy dresses?”

“Flapper dresses weren’t long. Not really. And you’re not even in the right decade,” she teased, bumping her friend with her hip. “The style on the Titanic would have been more inspired by Japanese fashion. Lots of kimono-style dresses, lots of lace and beading.”

Danielle rolled her eyes playfully. “Uh-huh.”

“Flapper style was all about beads, fringe, sequins, and drop waist dresses that showed off your ankle,” June added.

Danielle let out a mocking gasp, throwing a hand up to her mouth and exclaiming, “How scandalous!”

“Mind you, those types of dresses were for women who had money,” June added, but she could see Danielle had already checked-out of their conversation.

“Now that I’ve had my nightly fashion update, how are you doing?” her friend asked as she began throwing her hair up into a ponytail. “What’s Ember up to tonight?”

“Staying with my sister. She’s the best babysitter ever,” June said. “I swear, Ember likes her more than she likes me.”

“Impossible. I wish we worked opposite shifts; then I could watch her!” Danielle gushed. “But then I wouldn’t get to work with you, and how could my life possibly go on without you?”

“I know someone who didn’t see a problem letting their life go on without me,” June said tersely, reflecting on the messy situation she had gotten into with her ex, Lincoln

“Speaking of which, has Ember talked much about it?”

June shook her head. “No. Not since he left. So basically, she’s devastated, which means I’m devastated. I’ve told her a million times it’s okay to be sad and that if she ever needs to talk to me...I don’t know what to say to her. I don’t want to badmouth him in front of her.”

“I would!” Danielle scoffed. “You’re letting him off way too easily!”

“Nah. I can’t do that. She loves Lincoln. I don’t want to ruin their relationship. He was done with me, not her. You know?”

Danielle shrugged with a reluctant agreement.

It had been hard not to let Ember hear anything bad about her father. It was all anybody wanted to talk about—it was all June wanted to talk about. But then she would think about all of the times she’d heard her parents fighting growing up. She thought about the things she’d heard her mother say about her dad when they were going through a rough patch. Her mother’s words tainted June’s opinion of her father for a long time.

“She heard me crying the other night,” June said quietly.

“Oh no,” Danielle winced as she began loading pitchers of water with fresh ice. “June, that’s awful!”

“I know. I feel like I’m doing everything wrong,” she said.

Lincoln had been her rock for all of these years, and suddenly having him out of her life left her feeling stranded. She’d never been a single parent, and to lose the daily help was crushing. She hadn’t realized how much she’d taken for granted the simple things Lincoln would do, like watching Ember so that June could take a bath or do laundry. She missed cooking dinner with him and watching him and Ember play together.

She knew Ember missed him, too.

As much as June missed him, there was also a growing part of her that was happy to be done with the marriage.

She and Lincoln were very different people, and there was only one particular circumstance that could ever have allowed them to end up together: Ember.

Once the reality of parenthood sunk in, the two grew further and further apart.

June was happy not to go through the daily arguments, to deal with in-laws, or to have to worry about what Lincoln was getting up to when she wasn’t around.

“Stop it,” Danielle said, pulling June away from her thoughts. “You’re doing everything right and I won’t even listen to you say otherwise! You do everything for that girl and Lincoln is a total jerk. Now, let’s not spoil our fantastic flapper night with talk of him. Deal?”

June laughed. “Deal.”

The girls continued setting up in the back room until the whole room had filled with guests and the bride and groom had made their grand entrance.

The venue lit up with glittering gold, and they played instrumental jazz.

After the bride and groom shared their first dance, the evening moved on to cheers and toasts which last nearly an hour.

Once the well-wishers were finished, it was time to eat.

The flapper girls and their gentlemen took their seats and June made her way out to supply the hungry guests with a much-needed appetizer.

She brought the rolling rack over to her first table and began setting the dishes down in front of the reception guests.

“And here we have filo tarts with a spinach salad with roasted summer squash and pine nuts,” she explained. June always wanted to do the best job she could and so rehearsed the menu several times the night before to make sure she didn’t forget.

Even though she hadn’t been working at the venue long, she was already so used to her work that she did it without thinking twice. She smiled politely and the guests didn’t pay her any mind unless they were requesting something extra. But today, she could distinctly feel eyes on her as she moved around her table.

June looked up at the man she was serving and recognized him immediately. It was Bennett Brooks.

Thoughts flooded through her mind like crashing waves. She remembered blue and red flashing lights, whispers under covers, and the most passionate kisses she had ever known.

She swallowed nervously and made eye-contact with him. He narrowed his brows at her, recognition in his face, and then quickly looked away.

June’s heart was beating so hard, she felt like it was trying to knock something loose.

“Oh my gosh,” June said in a panic as she came back into the kitchen.

Danielle bumped into her as she entered, nearly spilling her tray of water onto the ground.

June pressed herself thin against the wall to dodge her friend, but she’d already caught Danielle’s attention. The girl set her tray on a nearby countertop and rushed up to June.

“What?” she friend asked. “What is it?”

“There,” June said, peeking out the circular window on the flapping kitchen doors. She pointed as she explained, “Table Seven. The guy there!”

Danielle squinted and stared out the window. Upon catching sight of him, she yelped, “Cute!”

“Yes, cute,” June repeated in a panic. “Also, my ex!”

Their whispers had alerted one of the other waitresses, Paris, who then joined them at the window. When she saw Bennett, she added, “Are you kidding me right now? That’s Bennett Brooks.”

June’s stomach dropped at the mention of his name and backed away from the door. “How do you know that?”

“What do you mean, how do I know that?” Paris laughed. “Everybody knows that!” She then pointed back out the window toward Bennett’s table and added, “That whole table is worth a couple billion dollars.”

“What?” Danielle repeated in shock. “You dated a billionaire?”

June frowned. “No, of course not!” She turned to Paris and asked, “Are you sure you have the right family?”

Paris nodded absent-mindedly and pulled out her phone. She began typing and scrolling until she pulled up an article from two years prior. She showed June the screen that read: ‘Billionaire Montana ranch owner Bennett Brooks in top 30 businessmen under 30’ right next to a picture of Bennett.

“I think one of his other brothers made the list, too,” Paris added with a shrug. “They run the Brookside Ranch franchise, right?”

June was stunned. “Yeah,” she nodded. “They do. I had no idea he’d been so successful at it.”

She hadn’t seen Bennett since they were both twenty-five years old. By that point, he’d only been running the ranch for a couple of years.

Only he, his elder brother, and his parents owned ranches, but as she kept scrolling through the article, she realized that the Brookside brand had become a multi-billion-dollar chain with one run by nearly every member of the family.

“He is sexy,” Danielle gushed, staring through the window.

“Yeah,” June sighed. “He is.”

“Did he see you?” Danielle asked.

“Unfortunately,” she said.

Paris asked, “Did he say anything?”

“No, he was polite enough to avert his eyes and pretend he didn’t win,” June said, jutting the phone back toward Paris bitterly.

Paris set her teeth together awkwardly and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

“Win?” Danielle repeated.

“Oh, come on,” June said, tossing a hand into the air. “We broke up and I’m a single mother serving him a salad, and he’s like, this hot, successful billionaire who has his whole life together!”

“Shush!” Danielle said, waving her off. “You are raising a beautiful, charming, and sweet little girl, and you’re strong enough to do it on your own. You’re doing whatever it takes to put food on the table. That doesn’t sound like a loss to me! Does it, Paris?”

Paris shook her head. “No, you’re a freaking champ. Now, tell us! How long did you go out for?”

“We met when we were nineteen. Broke up. Ran into each other again when we were twenty-four and dated for another year before calling it quits for good,” she said, not exactly wanting to relive the years she’d wasted with the wealthy Brooks.

“Wow, so you guys, like, really broke up,” Danielle said, her eyes going wide as saucers.

The three girls stood talking for some time longer before all of the other servers began returning to the kitchen with cleared salad plates. This meant that June was going to have to go back out there and serve up the next course.

“Guys, what am I supposed to do?” she asked in a panic. “I’m supposed to be delivering soups to that table in like two minutes!”

“Just go over there and be cool,” Danielle said, nudging her playfully. “Act like he’s the last thing on your mind!”

“Please, somebody take the table for me,” she begged.

“I’ve never seen you so rattled before!” Danielle laughed.

June’s brows narrowed hard enough to cause a crease to form. She turned desperately to Paris and said, “Put me out of my misery; come on, Paris?”

“Pass!” the girl laughed, turning away from her and getting her serving cart ready for round two.

“Danielle?” June asked.

Danielle shook her head and marched June over to her serving cart. “And miss the opportunity to see your beautiful reunion? No way! Now get out there and go say hi!”

June assumed her friend was trying to be cutesy, but she was not in the mood for cutesy. She didn’t want to run into Bennett again—especially not as his waitress.

Any time she envisioned bumping into Bennett, she imagined she had her hair curled and looking especially thick, with perfectly arched brows and a cute summer wrap dress. Not carrying plates of fancy food with her hair up in a sweaty ponytail and wearing an ill-fitted servers’ uniform.

June took a minute to collect herself in the backroom before heading back out into the lion’s den. She approached the table and recognized more familiar faces. There was Jett, the eldest brother, Shannon and Roger, the parents, and Hunter, who was several years younger than she was.

She cringed inwardly as she began serving up the dishes, but tried to stay cool. She wouldn’t be the one to make the first move. If they were going to pretend like they didn’t know her, she would happily do the same.

“We have here a cucumber and green grape gazpacho with a fresh pico de gallo topping,” she said as she passed the plates around the table, circling the family slowly.

As she reached Bennett, she couldn’t help but look at him. He was handsome. Beyond handsome: he was hot. Bennett had always had a masculinity about him, but it only seemed to enhance with age and add to his rugged appeal.

“June?” he said, and his voice was so shockingly familiar that she fumbled with the porcelain bowl and proceeded to spill the green soup all over his lap.

He jumped as the cold liquid hit his pants and made a startled noise.

June’s eyes went wide. She didn’t know if she was going to laugh or cry.

“I am so sorry!” she exclaimed. “Oh, my goodness. I’ll-uh-I’ll get you a...” she stammered, horrified. “I’ll get you a napkin.”

Chapter Three

Bennett

Bennett looked down in his lap at the splattered green spill and couldn’t help but smirk.

“Was that June?” his father asked, trying to get a better look at the spill.

“Yes, it was,” he laughed as he began wiping in vain at the soup that covered his legs.

“Being her graceful self, as usual,” Jett chuckled. “I think you startled her.”

While Bennet and the other Brooks men found the situation to be quite humorous, the matriarch of the family was hardly laughing.

“Oh, no, I’m so embarrassed,” Shannon said, leaning a hand against her forehead. “Let me get my phone. I can see if someone can fetch you a clean pair of pants. Have somebody bring it over!”

“It’s fine,” Bennett protested, holding a hand up to his mother as he stood.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Shannon asked, horrified at the liquid that was now seeping down his pants and onto the marble floors.

“To find June,” he said.

“What about your pants?”

“It’s just soup, Ma,” he said with a wink.

“Oh, this is such a shame. This is such a nice wedding. I don’t want to embarrass poor Greg or Amy,” she fretted, causing Bennett and Jett to exchange a brief but playful eyeroll.

Bennett made his way into the bathroom to clean up as best as he could before he wandered toward the kitchen where he’d seen the wait-staff disappearing to.

“Sorry, this is staff only,” a tall waiter said uncomfortably.

“Sorry. I had a bit of a...” he stammered before gesturing down towards down his pants. “Do you mind if I get back there to talk to my waitress?”

A woman with a nametag reading “Danielle” approached the two of them and offered a gentle smile. “Yeah, it’s cool. You can let him in.”

“Thank you,” he said, stepping back into the immense stainless-steel kitchen.

“I’m Danielle. I’m so sorry about what happened back there,” she said as she handed him a clean, wet hand towel.

“It’s okay. I hear green goo is the newest trend so, I guess I’m sporting a popular look.”

Danielle let out an amused giggle. “Ah, but was it popular for the nineteen twenties?” she said, gesturing out the swinging doors toward the roaring wedding theme.

“I don’t think so,” he winked. “Guess I’m breaking the illusion, huh?”

“I’m really sorry about that,” she said again.

“It’s okay, I, uh, I know the waitress, so...”

She raised her brows playfully and teased, “So, you’re used to her spilling soup on you?”

“Would it be weird if I said yes?”

The woman snorted with amusement. “I’m going to assume you came back here to see our little June for yourself?”

“I was, uh, well, yeah. I was hoping to apologize. I didn’t mean to startle her,” he said.

Danielle pointed toward a room at the far end of the kitchen and said, “She’s in there. And hey? Try to go easy on her.”

“Will do,” he said and made his way toward the staff room. When he entered, he saw June sitting at what could only be described as a stainless-steel picnic-table. She sat with her head in her hands and peeked out momentarily to glance up at him before making letting out an embarrassed, “Ugh!”

He sat next to her with each of his legs on either side of the bench seat.

“Couldn’t you have done the gentlemanly thing and pretended like that didn’t just happen?” she said.

“Couldn’t you have done the lady-like thing and not thrown soup at me?”

“I didn’t throw it at you,” she said, looking up at him shyly. “I spilled it. Big difference.”

“Not to my pants,” he grinned.

“I’m sorry. I just...” she swallowed nervously, and he watched her cheeks turn an impossible shade of pink. “You surprised me.”

“Must have been my ridiculous hat,” he said, grabbing the brim of his swanky, embarrassing top hat and setting it down beside him.

“Obviously,” she teased, then slapped his arm playfully. “You know what I mean. It was awkward. I didn’t know if we were just going to ignore each other or if I was supposed to say hi or...you caught me by surprise.”

“Yeah, I figured,” he smirked. “I guess we were never destined to have a meet-cute.”

“Hey, our first meeting was cute,” she said, and he gave her a curious stare. “Well, it was memorable, anyway!”

“Yep. We made the papers the next morning, as I recall,” he said thoughtfully.

“See? We were famous by the end of our first date!”

Even dressed down in her black-and-white uniform, June looked as beautiful as she did the first time he saw her. He was nineteen years old then and working as a ranch hand at the first-ever Brookside Ranch—his parent’s starter ranch in Houston.

He’d gone to cash a check at the local bank when he saw her at the first counter working as a bank teller. He knew then he had to talk to her. She had high cheekbones and ginger and gold hair that was fixed to the side of her face in an intricate braid, and the brightest eyes he’d ever seen. She had eyes so gray-blue they almost looked translucent.

Bennett knew he had to talk to her, so he let others in line at the bank go ahead of him so that he could time his banking needs to when June was done with her customers.

When she called out, “I can help you here!” he’d walked up to her so full of nerves that he didn’t know what to say.

“I just need to deposit this,” he said, sliding his check across the countertop.

June picked up the thin strip of paper and flipped around before sliding it back toward him. “Can you sign the back, please?”

“Oh, right,” he said quickly. “Sure.”

Bennett signed the paper and handed it back to her. He felt like an absolute idiot as he tried to make awkward conversation with her about working at the bank and the summer weather. He’d never been so taken by a girl before—especially one he had hardly spoken to.

She must have realized how nervous he was, because at one point, she frowned, lifted a carefully plucked brow, and asked, “Are you okay?”

Bennett swallowed and then exhaled a loud breath, cursing his inability to flirt with the girl.

She excused herself to deposit the check, and while she was gone, fearing he was going to further blow his chance to ask her out, Bennett pulled out a strip of receipt paper and wrote her a note.

When June came back, he slid the paper over to her with a shaking hand and she stared down at it curiously. If she had opened the note, she would have seen it said, “Do you want to have dinner sometime?”

But June didn’t read the note. Instead, she craned her neck toward the teller next to her and called, “Stephanie?” in a loud voice.

Stephanie, Bennett would later learn, was the code word at the bank for “We’re being robbed!”

June was so sketched out by Bennett’s nervous behavior and the questions he’d asked her about working at that stupid bank that when he slid her the note, she thought he was trying to rob her.

The silent alarm was pressed by another well-meaning teller and the police promptly showed up and put Bennet in handcuffs.

“I was just trying to ask her out!” he shouted with a laugh, nodding toward the paper slid across the counter.

The police didn’t listen and brought him outside. They frisked him for weapons and repeatedly asked what he was doing in the bank before putting him in the back of their cruiser. After explaining to them for the third time that he was just trying to ask the beautiful teller out, a Latino officer let out a small hint of a smirk.

“One sec,” he said, throwing a finger into the air. The officer, Moyer, walked back into the back and emerged not two minutes later with June at his side.

Officer Moyer nudged June toward the car and gave her the okay to open up the door to the backseat.

“You’re free to go, kid,” Moyer said exasperatedly, if not a bit sheepish.

Bennett stepped out of the car and wiped down his pants before meeting June’s eyes. Her face was apple red, a full flush of embarrassment.

“I’m sorry I almost got you arrested,” she said, staring down at her feet.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” he smirked. “Clearly, talking to girls isn’t my strong suit.”

“I uh,” she stammered. “I thought you seemed kind of shifty and I got spooked. It’s only my first week here and I guess there was a robbery last week. But then after they escorted you out, I opened your note and, well,” she shrugged. “Sure.”

“Sure...what?” he asked curiously.

June played with the note, holding it open with her thumbs. “Well, uh,” she handed it to him. “The note. If you—I mean, you were trying to ask me to dinner and if you’re still interested then, sure. I would love to go.”

The two stood in front of the small city bank next to the police cruiser. He looked down at the quickly scribbled note and then back up at June. The sun hit her ginger hair with its warm, dry heat and she seemed to light up like an angel.

As people walked out of the bank, they eyed Bennett suspiciously, but he couldn’t care less because at that moment, he had already fallen impossibly in love.

He took June out that very night, and they became inseparable for the next two years.

They broke up when Shannon and Roger Brooks signed him up to run the Brookside Ranch they had just bought in Montana.

The pair met three years later when he’d come back to Houston while his ranch was undergoing a renovation.

June was outside a pharmacy having a heated argument with her sister, Megan. He watched from down the road as they yelled at each other. When Megan stormed off, Bennett took it as his opportunity to reconnect.

He walked up beside her and casually said, “You look like you could use some ice cream.”

June pretended not to be surprised to see him, but he saw the flicker of her eyes begin to widen when she first looked at him.

“You’re buying,” she said with a coy smile.

And just like that, she looped her arm through his and they were back in each other’s lives. Only this time around, they had learned to flirt like pros.

Seeing her again after six years felt surreal, but not entirely unwelcomed.

“I guess we’re just carrying on our tradition of awesome reunions,” June said bashfully, looking down at her hands as she fiddled with a stack of hold cloth napkins on the countertop.

“You know what that means, right?” he said suggestively, nudging her arm.

“We’re going to fall hopelessly in love?” she snorted. “Don’t count on it.”

He winced. “Not on your life!”

“So, what does it mean?” she grinned.

“It means I have to take you out to dinner,” he said matter-of-factly.

If this had been any other ex-girlfriend, Bennett would have run in the opposite direction. But the thought of getting a meal with this ex didn’t fill him with dread.

She laughed and shook her head. “That’s sweet, but I can’t.”

“Aw, come on. I’m in town for a couple of weeks visiting the parents,” he said. “Spice up my homecoming!”

“Ah...” she muttered. It seemed like she was going to say something but thought better of it. She bit her lip nervously as he encouraged her to come out with him, then said, “I don’t know, Bennett. I’ll be lucky if I don’t get fired tonight for this. My bosses are pretty particular about not letting guests leave with dinner displayed all over their suits and dresses.”

“Talk about picky.”

She laughed, and Bennett continued, “If that happens, I’ll take you out to commiserate about you losing your job.”

“And if I don’t get fired?” she asked.

“Then I’ll take you out to celebrate.”

He extended his hand to her for a shake, and she stared down at it hesitantly.

“Come on,” he said, “it’ll be fun, I promise. And if it isn’t, you can throw a drink on me.”

June let out an amused breath and, against her better judgment, shook his hand and said, “I’m free Monday.”

Chapter Four

June

June and Bennett spent the rest of the wedding reception talking and reconnecting. June was surprised at how easy it was to pick up where they’d left off. It was so easy that it made her nervous.

But not nervous enough to turn him down when he asked her to see him again.

“Be careful, and don’t talk to strangers!” her daughter Ember cautioned in her cute little munchkin voice. It was the same loving advice June gave to Ember whenever she would drop her off for a playdate.

Tonight, Ember was being watched by Megan.

Megan was happy to do it. She had a little girl a year younger than Ember and it gave the girls someone to play with.

To June’s relief, her sister didn’t ask about the impromptu Monday-night babysitting. If she did, she would likely have been horrified to hear that June was meeting up with Bennett again.

Megan had always liked Bennett, but she was beyond opinionated about their breakups. After their second failed attempt at romance left June heartbroken, Megan vowed never to let her sister get mixed up with “that cowboy d-bag!” ever again.

As far as June was concerned, she was just catching up with an old friend over dinner, but she knew her sister wouldn’t see it that way.

June met Bennett at The Haiku, a great Asian fusion restaurant they used to go to all of the time back when he lived in Houston.

The handsome brunette flagged her down as soon as she walked inside the restaurant.

He wore blue jeans, cowboy boots, and an old band-tee that she remembered him wearing back when they were together. So basically, his wardrobe hadn’t changed one bit.

June wore a pale peach floral slip dress that fluted at her calves with an oversized jean jacket over top. August in Houston was a balmy ninety-one degrees, so the coat was purely ornamental, but she loved the clashing look of the gentle silk and brash jean.

“You look…” he began, but his words tapered off into a flirtatious smile.

“Go ahead and say it,” she dared, grinning as he led her through the restaurant to their favorite table by the window.

The restaurant was beyond trendy. The tables were in Japanese style and low to the ground. But instead of sitting on pillows, you slipped down into the seating area. What looked like the floor was actually a circular seating area carved right into the ground to hide your legs.

“You look hot,” he said, looking satisfied. “You haven’t changed one bit.”

She blushed, but the compliment wasn’t unwelcome. It had been forever since her husband had made mention of her looks, except to say it looked like the sun had given her more freckles last summer and that she should get them checked.

“Well, thank you for meeting me here,” he said. “I took the liberty of ordering a couple matchas, two sakes, and some gyoza,” he said.

“Mm. I love pot stickers,” she said, her stomach already rumbling at the thought of them.

Bennett helped her down into the lowered seating and joined her at the table. He lifted the sake into the air and gestured for her to do the same.

June gave a small frown to the nutty, caramelly alcohol. She wasn’t a big drinker, but she didn’t want to be rude, so she raised her glass and downed the liquid quickly.

“So,” she began unsurely, not knowing where to begin with her old flame. “You know the couple who got married?”

“Greg and Amy, yeah,” he nodded. “I used to be friends with Greg way back when. We still keep in touch. I’m surprised you don’t remember that at all?”

“What did he do?” she asked as she adjusted in her seat.

“He’s a math teacher at St. Mary’s,” he explained, and she began to nod.

“Oh! Yeah, I do remember him! He had an affinity for whiskey, if I recall.”

“Well, he wasn’t a drunk or anything,” he said, and the two of them laughed.

“No, I didn’t mean that,” she said. “I just meant I’d never heard somebody talk about notes in whiskey before. Then again, I think it’s weird when people describe the alleged notes in wine, too. They say something tastes like vanilla or,” she paused, then in her best aristocratic accent she mocked, “‘A mild, crisp Gala apple finish’ and I’m just like...dude, it all just tastes like sour grapes to me!”

“Still not a drinker, huh?”

“Well, I’m no Greg,” she winked. “What do you know about the happy couple? How did they meet?”

“Ah,” he waved his hand in the air. “It’s a pretty cute story. St. Mary’s was having a clothing drive for charity and Amy brought in a bag of clothes. She handed it off to Greg, and the two had this chemistry, so they say,” he explained. “Anyway, I guess Amy didn’t know how to ask him out.”

“Sounds familiar,” she interjected.

Bennett smirked and she couldn’t help the thrill that washed through the pit of her stomach at seeing him smile.

“So,” he continued, “She just kept going through her closet and bringing in old bags of clothes. Finally, I guess Greg caught on and he was like, ‘How many clothes do you own, exactly?’ And I guess it made her laugh.”

“And the rest is history,” she added.

“Basically. What about you? How long have you been working at the Lipkin?”

“About a month,” she said, trying to calculate the days in her head. “Yeah, I was sort of, well, I was in-between jobs for a while, and my friend works there and got me a job.”

“You like it?” he asked.

June shrugged. “It’s pretty good.”

“Surrounded by love all day long. Can you even stand it?”

She smiled at the comment and met his eyes as she began removing the heavy jacket from around her shoulders. “What makes you think I’m not basking in it? I could be in love right now.”

Bennett scoffed. “You’re not. I’d bet you aren’t even seeing anybody.”

“What?” she said, pretend-offended. “Why would you guess that?”

“Because if you were, you wouldn’t be here with me,” he said, leaning toward her.

“This isn’t a date, Bennett,” she said, and he gave her a testing look. “But you’re right. I’m not seeing anyone. I’m pretty fresh out of a relationship. A marriage, actually.”

“Ah, that sucks,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

She didn’t know why she said it. Maybe it was a defense mechanism. Something to tell him not to take this dinner as anything more than a friendly gesture.

The waitress came then, and the two of them looked up at her awkwardly.

“Do you need more time?” he asked, raising his brows toward her.

She shook her head, happy to momentarily escape from the topic of her failed marriage. “No, I’m ready.”

The two of them didn’t need time to search the extensive menu since they always ordered the same thing: yakisoba and endless tempura vegetables.

The waitress left them, and Bennett sat with both of his elbows on the table. He looked at June with a renewed, surprised expression and said, “So, you got married?”

June nodded, and he said, “I hadn’t heard.”

“There isn’t much to hear, evidently. It didn’t last,” she said, looking down at the pale line on her ring finger where a rose gold band used to sit. It was simple, without diamonds, but it was lovely.

“We met pretty much right after you and I broke up,” she added.

“Rebound,” he teased.

“A five-year rebound.”

“Wow. That’s long,” he said.

“Very, very long.”

“Then you must hate your job—having to see all of the happy couples exchanging vows and doing the first dance and the whole routine,” he reiterated.

“No,” she shook her head. “It’s nice. I get to work with my best friend, and it pays pretty well, so…” she shook her head, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

The truth was, when Danielle said she could get June a job, June hadn’t been expecting to make a living out of watching couples exchange their vows of forever before serving them drinks. When she first learned that she would be working at a wedding venue, she distinctly remembered asking Danielle if she was trying to kill her.

“What about you?” she said, changing the subject. “How’s the ranch? How’s the family?”

“Family is...you know,” he shrugged. “Complicated. Phoenix’s off touring the world. His wife left him for Hunter. Kennedy dropped out of school and is doing who knows what.”

“So, same ole, same ole,” she laughed. “Gosh, when we first met, Kennedy was only a couple months old! And what was Hunter?”

“Fifteen,” he said.

“Wow!”

“I know,” he mused. “It’s crazy how fast time goes by. Makes you feel old, doesn’t it?”

“Definitely. And how’s Mama Brooks?”

“As I said, some things never change,” he said, and they both shared a chuckle.

Mama Brooks was notoriously welcoming and kind, but in the same breath, she could also be overbearing and difficult to please. Though June had no idea what it must have been like to raise five headstrong boys as Shannon had. Maybe that was the attitude one needed to take to make sure everything stayed in order.

“So, I touched on my sob story,” June said. “What about you? Are you seeing anybody back in Montana?”

“Whoa! She went there!” Bennett exclaimed.

“Hey, you asked!”

“No, no,” he shook his head. “I’m not seeing anyone. I don’t have the heart for it anymore. But that frees me up for all that precious family time I’m spending here at the ranch.”

“And how’s the ranch?”

“It’s good,” he said. “Really good, actually. We’re still overlooking the mountains, and we have all of these activities for winter and summer. You know, stuff like snowshoeing, dog sledding, we do this Yellowstone tour, horseback riding, there’s a pool, spa, we do caving—”

“Caving?” she repeated, surprised. “I don’t remember you guys doing caving back when I was there. It’s not exactly an activity I expect to do at a luxury ranch.”

Bennet ran a hand through his dark hair. “Yeah, well, we have this amazing cave on site, and the tourists seem to love it. It makes them feel like they’re searching for gold or something, right?”

“Sounds fun.”

“Yeah, and we have all of these activities for kids, too!” he added.

June smiled politely, but inside she was cringing. She took a long pull at her matcha, giving herself a moment to think. She figured now would be a good time to tell him that not only had she been married, but she also had a daughter.

No matter how many times she tried to rephrase the statement in her mind, she couldn’t seem to force the words out of her mouth.

Did he really need to know she had a kid?

How much time would she be spending with him that she should let him into her life like that?

Besides, she reasoned, Ember didn’t need people coming in and out of her life after what happened with Lincoln. She needed stability, and Bennett was certainly not good at that.

“What kind of kid stuff?” she asked.

“Recreational activities,” he said easily. He had probably given this spiel to hundreds of people in the past: dates, investors, guests at his ranch.

“Horseback riding, skiing, take them on a tour to go see the animals. Stuff like that. You know, get them out on the road and off their phones.”

“Those dang kids!” she teased.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m a grandpa in the body of a thirty-one-year-old. I’m not ashamed to admit it!”

“Admitting your problem is the first step to recovery,” she said.

The longer the evening went on, the easier it was to find things to talk about with Bennett. It truly was just like catching up with an old friend. The two talked about old friends in high school, divulged family drama—of which Bennett had plenty—and reminisced about past inside jokes from their relationship.

And strangely, it wasn’t awkward at all.

When the meal wrapped up, Bennett walked June out to her car. He leaned against the driver’s side door and bit his lip, looking entirely too thoughtful and way too attractive.

“Look, I know we didn’t exactly end things on a great note,” he said slowly, carefully.

“No, we didn’t,” she agreed.

“But I hope that doesn’t get in the way of us hanging out again because, to be honest, I’d like that.”

She set her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side as she said, “Oh yeah?”

“I can’t think of anybody better to spend my time with while I’m in Houston,” he declared. “We can do a Bennett and June reunion tour!”

“And what would that consist of?” she asked with a laugh.

He thought about it for a moment. “Our favorite places and biggest moments. Come on. Greatest hits!”

“And misses,” she snorted.

“And misses,” he agreed. “What do you say? I can’t do the tour alone; it would be biased. I need my co-host to put me in my place when I start rewriting history.”

June thought about it. She wanted to say no and stamp out the chemistry between them before it got out of hand, but she couldn’t help herself.

“I must be insane,” she said.

“Because you’re going to say yes?”

She craned her head back and stared up at the sun as it set over the wide Houston sky. “I should run screaming in the opposite direction!” she laughed.

“That’s a yes!” he cheered.

And he was right. It was a yes. She couldn’t help herself—she wanted to see him again.

Chapter Five

Bennett

While Bennett was at home for the next couple of weeks, he was making it his mission to spend more time with his sister Kennedy.

At first, this was mostly at the request of his mother, who had been shopping Kennedy around to move in with one of her brothers. Shannon said the youngest Brooks was going down a bad path and she was worried about her wellbeing.

Bennett brushed it off as his mother’s usual overprotectiveness, but the more time he spent talking with Kennedy, the more he started to wonder if there was some merit to Shannon’s worry.

Kennedy must have taken a shine to the attention because that morning, she’d invited Bennett to accompany her and her friends for a beach day roughly an hour’s drive away.

Before heading to pick up her friends, Bennett and Kennedy headed out to a local grocery store that had all of the best organic snacks that his sister was obsessed with.

The plan was to stock up on healthy junk food and grab lunches for the afternoon at the beach.

Bennett asked about her life and her plans, but Kennedy somehow managed to angle the conversation away from her personal life and into Bennett’s.

“So, you just…” Kennedy stalled, cocking her head on an angle as they walked down the cereal aisle of the grocery store together. “Had dinner together?”

“I’m telling you, it was like…BAM!” he said, clapping his hands together to emphasize his point.

“What’s bam?” she laughed. “Is that supposed to be the embodiment of magic?”

“Yes,” he snapped his fingers. “Magic. I don’t know, being around her just made me feel...something.”

“Something as in you like-like her?” she said as if she were a grade-schooler pressing a friend for information about their crush.

“I don’t know,” he said bashfully. “Something like that.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re insane! I can’t imagine pining after someone after like ten years. That’s crazy if you ask me,” she scoffed, throwing her long dark hair behind her shoulders. “You’re cracked!”

“Yeah,” he said, drawing out his vowels. “Get back to me when you’ve dated more than two guys in high school and let me know how it feels to run into someone you used to be crazy about.”

“I thought you were off love after everything happened with Yasmin?”

“Geez, I’m not in love with June,” he said with mild defense. “It was more like bittersweet excitement.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Phoenix,” she said, and they both laughed.

Their country music star brother was notorious for over-thinking his every sentence. A speech from Phoenix was like hearing someone read poetry. Really, really annoying poetry.

Kennedy knocked a box of fruity marshmallow cereal into the cart and thought about the story he had just told her about his reunion with June the night before.

He could hear his sister’s flip-flops crack against the ground with every step she took. The shoes were so loud, it was almost laughable.

“Wasn’t it weird seeing her again?” she asked curiously. “What do you even talk about after all that time?”

“That’s the thing—it wasn’t weird at all. It felt completely natural.”

“If I ran into my ex, I’d want to rip his face off,” she snorted. “You’re lucky she only threw soup in your lap. Cold soup, too!”

“She didn’t do it on purpose,” he said.

Kennedy rolled heavily made-up brown eyes at him and teased, “I have my suspicions.”

“How did your night go, anyway? We haven’t talked much since the wedding.”

“Ah,” she said with a breath. “Sucky.”

“How come?”

“This guy I like just started seeing someone else,” she explained.

“Ah, I’m sorry. That is sucky.”

Kennedy shrugged, and they changed aisles. They were now in their prime-target area: chips, drinks, and weird snacks, like sugar-free candy, dried salt and vinegar snap peas, and organic baked chips, which Bennett was positive contained roughly the same amount of fat and calories as the fried ones.

“I sort of thought we had a thing going on,” his sister continued as she loaded the cart with chips. “I told him I liked him, he said he liked me, and now it just feels like he’s jerking me around.”

“I would say him dating someone else is probably a clear sign of his intentions,” he snorted.

“Oh, yeah?” Kennedy spun on her heel and set her hand on the end of the cart, stopping him from driving it any further. “If Dereck doesn’t like me, then why did he kiss me last night?”

“What? He kissed you?” he snapped, frowning deeply. “Where was his girlfriend?”

Kennedy offered a mischievous grin that he never again wanted to see from his sister. With a shrug and a high pitch, she said, “Somewhere else!”

“You shouldn’t do that.”

“Thanks for the advice, birdbrain,” she said smoothly. “But he kissed me, not the other way around!”

“He has a girlfriend. Don’t let him take advantage of you, okay? I know what guys want, and he doesn’t want to be your boyfriend, I can tell you that right now.”

In her best impression of their father, Kennedy mocked, “Men only want one thing!”

Bennett set his jaw. He didn’t want to be cynical, but he also didn’t want Kennedy to get used by this jerk.

“At your age?” he mused aloud. “Yeah. Guys only want one thing, and they’re not getting it from my little sister.”

Kennedy went to say something as they turned into the next aisle, but both were taken by surprise as a little girl nearly came face to face with the front of the cart.

Startled, the little redhead tossed an enormous glass jar of peaches into the air. The peaches smashed on the ground with an clash and Bennett instinctively lunched forward and scooped the girl up off the floor.

“You okay?” he asked quickly. “You didn’t cut yourself, did you?”

“Oops!” came the high-pitched squeal from the little girl.

“Careful, little lady,” he said as she fussed in his arms. He walked to the end of the aisle and set her down carefully. “Don’t want you to step on any of the glass.”

The little girl was small-framed and only looked to be about four or five years old. She had wavy reddish-brown hair and wide brown eyes with impossibly dark lashes.

“My peaches!” the girl enunciated adorably.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t see you there,” he said bashfully.

“You should be more careful,” the girl lectured, and Kennedy began to laugh.

Kennedy knelt to meet the girl’s eyes. He nodded and intertwined his fingers in prayer form. “Yes, I should.”

“Well, good,” the little girl said. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“No, I’m okay,” he chuckled.

The girl offered Bennett a bright smile. She raised both brows and flung her pointer finger into the air as she announced, “Mama carries Band-Aids with her so, it’s okay if you’re hurt. She can help you. Mama!”

“No, it’s okay,” he said, wincing and waving his hands in decline. The last thing he needed was for some girl’s angry mother to come and yell at him for almost steamrolling her daughter.

“CLEANUP IN AISLE TWO!” came the loud voice over the overhead speakers.

“Mama!” the girl called out again.

Bennett heard a cart turning the corner quickly and was startled to see June standing behind it, looking down at the little girl. “Yes, baby?”

“Hey,” he said, his voice full of surprise.

June pulled the little girl up onto her hip and looked at Bennett with the same deer-in-the-headlights look he was probably giving her.

“Oh, hey!” she stammered awkwardly.

“We spilled the peaches,” the little girl said, leaning her head on June’s arm.

“Did we?” she repeated playfully.

“We had a little run-in,” Bennett said.

“Somebody wasn’t looking where they were going,” the little girl said, smiling as she pointed at Bennett.

June laughed and counseled, “Ember!”

Bennett’s smile faded as he watched June interact with the little girl, Ember. He exchanged eye-contact with Kennedy, who raised her brows and offered a confused shrug. It took him a minute to catch on, but as he watched June and Ember talking, he finally clued in.

June was Ember’s mother.

Even though the girl had called for her mother, he was initially under the impression that Ember must be Megan’s daughter and that June was her aunt. But, no.

Throwing his hands up into the air, Bennett approached the little girl and said, “Guilty as charged, ma’am! I am the destroyer of the peaches.”

“It’s okay,” the girl said with a sheepish smile.

“Are you going to call the police? Have them take me away for life?”

“No!” Ember said. Her tone indicated just how silly she thought Bennett was being. “Just don’t hurt any more peaches!”

He extended a hand to the girl and laughed, “You have my word. This will be my last negative peach encounter. Scout’s honor!”

“You know,” Kennedy piped up, jutting out a hip as she said, “if you had fresh peaches, you wouldn’t have had to worry about them smashing everywhere.”

“Yeah, they’re okay,” the girl said in a tired, almost bored tone. “But I like ‘em slimy!”

June drew her brows together with amusement and explained, “She has a texture thing. It’s weird. She loves slimy peaches, really mushy peas, stuff like that.”

Kennedy laughed. “She’ll make a fantastic ninety-year-old!”

June was amused by the comment. She looked his little sister over and said, “Wow, Kennedy! You look amazing! I feel like the last time I saw you, you were just a little kid. Oh, listen to me, now I sound like your grandma or something.”

“Nah, it’s cool. So last time I saw you, you definitely didn’t have a kid,” Kennedy—Miss. Captain Obvious—said. “Good job with the procreating.”

“Yeah,” June let out a nervous chuckle.

“So, she’s yours?” Bennett confirmed once more.

“Yeah. Yep,” she nodded.

“Oh,” he nodded awkwardly. “Just, you didn’t mention it the other day.”

“It’s a weird thing to slip into conversation. But yeah, this is Ember,” she said proudly, adjusting the little girl on her hip.

“So, you like interesting foods, huh? Like what are some of your favorites?” Kennedy asked, squatting down to get a better look at the girl.

“Um. Pomegranate!”

“Wow, mine too!” Kennedy said excitedly. “All of the little pink seeds are super fun to eat!”

“Or play with,” Ember added.

Kennedy looked up at June and said, “Hey, I like her style!”

“What about avocado?” Bennett asked, pulling one out of his cart and setting it in the girl’s hand. “Do you like this?”

“Ick! No!” Ember said.

“Aww, why not?” Kennedy pushed her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout. “It’s so fun to eat. You can have it kind of hard in block form or all squishy and smashed on toast.”

Ember looked up at her mother in delighted confusion and asked, “She eats avocado on...toast?”

“Kennedy eats avocado on everything,” Bennett added.

“Yeah! It’s delicious. You can have it on toast, or in a taco. Do you like tacos?” Kennedy asked and Ember nodded. “`Atta girl! Oh, you know what else I love? Avocado in my pasta!”

“You eat it with spaghetti?” Ember giggled. “You’re weird.”

“No way! It’s so good,” his sister said.

“Plus, then your pasta gets all green and it’s really cool looking,” Bennett added.

The little girl’s eyes lit up with interest and she pulled at her mother’s arm, exclaiming, “Cool! Mama, can we try that?”

“Absolutely we can!” June said.

Kennedy stood back up and ran a hand through her hair. It was in moments like this that Bennett was glad to have his little sister around. She was a natural talker, just like Hunter. They could take to anyone regardless of age, interest, or gender and make the other person feel completely comfortable. Plus, she was big on kids.

“Hey,” Kennedy nodded toward June, “what are you guys up to after this?”

“Oh, um. Nothing, really,” she shrugged. “We were just gonna go to the park and make some lunch.”

“Me and my friends are headed down to the beach and my mom’s tasked this guy to tag along and make sure I stay out of trouble like I’m a kid or something,” Kennedy snorted, jutting a thumb out toward Bennett. “Did you guys want to come along? Catch what’s left of the summer?”

“We’re having a picnic. Thus, the ridiculous number of snacks in our cart right now,” Bennett added. “It’ll be fun.”

“Plus, you’ll give him someone to talk to since he couldn’t care less about my friends,” Kennedy said.

Not about to protest, Bennett made eyes at June and joked, “She isn’t wrong.”

“I don’t know,” June said tentatively. “What do you think, sweetheart? You feel like going for a swim?”

“Yes!” Ember cheered.

“Yes!” Kennedy repeated excitedly. “Awesome! We’re headed down to Decatur Beach in, like, forty minutes? You need a ride?”

“No, no. We can meet you there,” June said. “We’re gonna finish up here and go home to grab our swimsuits.” She paused, then added, “Are you sure we aren’t interrupting?”

“Not a chance,” Bennett said. “You’re saving the day.”

After a few more moments of chit-chat, Bennett and Kennedy checked out at the front of the store. He had never realized how expensive it was to rot your teeth out until he paid for Kennedy’s grocery bill.

“Well, that was awesome!” Kennedy squealed as she jumped into his topless red range rover. “That kid is so cute, I could cry!”

“She was really cute,” Bennett agreed, still feeling a bit stunned. “Kinda weird that she didn’t say anything about her before.”

“Somebody’s not feeling the BAM anymore?” his sister mocked with an enthusiastic grin.

“No, I am,” he said, trying to sound neutral.

Kennedy turned in her seat to face him as he drove. Her expression was one of disbelief as she said, “It doesn’t bother you that she has a child?”

He gave the question real thought but kept coming back to the same answer. No, it didn’t.

“Not at all,” he confirmed. “She’s had her own life since we’ve been apart. She was married, she had other things going on. Just a little strange that she didn’t mention it earlier, that’s all.”

“Well, she probably didn’t expect to keep running into you,” his sister shrugged. “Besides, it probably isn’t fun to be like, ‘Oh yeah, since we last met, I had a kid, got a divorce, and lost my job.’ It’s not exactly something you want to rave to your ex about.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed.

“Doesn’t matter now,” she said playfully. “Secret’s out!”

Chapter Six

June

June’s heart was beating a mile a minute as she drove back to her apartment.

She couldn’t believe she’d run into Bennett again; she couldn’t believe he knew she had a daughter; she definitely couldn’t believe she was about to go swimming with him and his sister.

The Brooks were an inviting clan, so she wasn’t surprised that Kennedy had invited her to come along, but she was taken aback by how quickly the siblings took a shine to Ember.

“The beach! The beach!” her daughter sang as they climbed the cast-iron staircase up to her apartment in the tiny fourplex.

“Nobody’s robbing you!” Megan shouted from down the hallway as June entered her home. “Just returning the dress I borrowed and stealing another one!”

“Sounds good,” June called back.

She knelt to Ember’s height and told her to go pick out her favorite swimsuit as she talked to auntie Megan, then winced as she made her way into her bedroom.

Megan was pulling hangers in the closet from side to side, looking for the perfect summer dress for her date night with her husband, Nate.

June wished she had the luxury of waiting until Megan left to start planning for her outing, but the beach was an hour’s drive, and she was going to be late enough as it was.

Without hesitation, she dug into one of her top drawers and pulled out an army green, backless one-piece with braided straps and walked into the bathroom to put it on. When she came back into her bedroom, Megan was watching her curiously.

June slipped her shorts and t-shirt back on overtop the swimsuit and grabbed her purse off the bed.

“You guys going swimming for the day?” her sister asked.

“Yep,” she nodded.

“Fun!” Megan cheered. “With who?”

June clenched her teeth. She wasn’t about to lie to her sister, but she wasn’t dying to get into the topic, either.

“With, uh,” she began slowly. “With Bennett.”

“The beach! The beach!” Ember called again from the hallway before bursting into the bedroom with her plastic shovel and pale.

“You’re taking her to the beach with Bennett?” Megan said under her breath. She narrowed her eyes at June and whispered, “I can’t believe you!”

“Can I bring my duck?” Ember asked as she ran up to June’s legs.

“Yes, of course! She’s in the bottom of your closet. You want to go get her for me and I’ll blow it up?” June said excitedly.

“Yes!” her daughter exclaimed before running down the hall toward her bedroom.

“Look at how excited she is, Megan. She’s going to have a blast.”

“Yeah,” Megan scoffed. “It’s not the swimming, sand-castle building part that I’m worried about.”

“Don’t,” June said quietly as she threw some sunblock into her beach bag.

Megan bit her lip, and June could tell she was quite literally trying to bite back her words. She stood in the middle of the room, midi-dress in hand, staring at June incredulously.

“This guy completely shattered your heart,” she finally snapped, tossing the dress down onto her vanity stool. “You can’t blame me for being worried.”

“I totally get it,” June agreed. She had been a wreck after breaking up with Bennett. She spent nights afterward crying to Megan, asking why Bennett couldn’t wait for her and why they couldn’t seem to work things out between them.

If the situation were reversed and Megan was inviting some jerk from her past back into her life, June probably wouldn’t be too thrilled, either.

“His sister happened to invite us, and it would have been rude to say no,” June said.

“And the dinner the other night?” Megan said, and June immediately bristled.

“Can I please take my daughter to the beach without getting the third degree from you?” she said with an annoyed laugh.

“Can you please be careful?” Megan said, grabbing June’s hand. “I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

“It’s just the beach,” she said with a reassuring smile.

“It’s never ‘just’ anything with you and Bennett. Every time you run into this guy, you seem to get sucked back into seeing him, and it never, ever, ever works out.”

“I’m not trying to date him,” she sighed. “Being in a relationship is the last thing I want right now. You know that. I’m still recovering from the tornado of…” June paused and checked the door to see if Ember was nearby. Seeing the coast was clear, she lowered her tone to a whisper and continued, “Of the divorce and everything. Besides, Bennett isn’t staying in Texas.”

“And he never will,” Megan said firmly.

“So, there isn’t anything to worry about,” she grinned and leaned up to kiss her sister on the cheek. “But thank you for looking out for me.”

“You know where I am if you need me,” Megan said.

“Always,” June nodded.

She understood what it must look like. She and Bennett were like magnets that were undeniably drawn to one another. Even now, after all this time, she couldn’t seem to say no to him. Not to dinner and not to the beach.

He was just so likable.

Both at the dinner and the awkward meeting at The Lipkin, she immediately remembered all the things that she liked about him. He was warm and funny and attractive. He had a certain charisma that she’d never been able to find again since they broke up.

Megan had a right to be worried.

But June wasn’t in her twenties anymore. She had a daughter to think about and a heart to protect.

The closest beach to Houston was just a little less than an hour south in Galveston.

The beach was gorgeous, and a favorite of hers both as a teenager and an adult. It had a pavilion, a boardwalk, and a stage for entertainment where live music was hosted.

That day the beach was hosting its annual sandcastle competition.

There were crowds of people gathered to watch the talented artists sculpt their works of art. People who entered went all out, building replicas of the Taj Mahal, ancient cities, wild animals, and other famous monuments.

Ember was mesmerized by the sculptors and was determined to join their ranks, pulling out her plastic buckets and packing them with muddy sand.

She texted Bennett when they arrived, and it wasn’t long before he found her amidst the crowd.

“So glad you could join us!” Kennedy said as she began guiding Ember and June toward her little beach camp.

She’d clearly staked out a good spot. She had various umbrellas, a fort’s worth of blankets, and coolers as far as the eye could see full of drinks and snacks.

“Was the drive okay?” Bennett asked.

“A little busier than I expected, probably because of all this,” June said, gesturing to the throngs of people watching the sculptors. “I haven’t been here for the competition in forever!”

“The talent here is insane,” Bennett said as he took a spot on one of the soft blankets.

“Makes you wish they were actually doing something with their talent, right?” Kennedy snorted as she lay back in her sun chair.

“Says the girl who plans on spending all day tanning on the beach and doing nothing else,” Bennett scoffed.

“Blah, blah, blah,” Kennedy laughed. “Where’s your little cutie off to?”

June watched as Ember took a seat near the edge of their blanket village, just a few feet away from where they were sitting.

“She’s joining the masses,” June giggled and pointed to the sandcastle already in progress in Ember’s bucket.

“Hey, Ember, what are you building?” Bennett asked the little girl.

“I’m going to build a big castle with a mote. And I’m going to have towers and even a prince!” Ember said excitedly.

“Ambitious!” Kennedy laughed.

“What about the princess?” Bennett asked, studying the already growing structure. “Where’s she at?”

“Oh, well,” Ember looked up at him. She gave it a good think before concluding, “She’s out.”

Bennett looked up at June and grinned. “Out doing what?”

“She’s buying puppies,” her daughter responded.

“Puppies! Oh, okay, wow. That’s a pretty big responsibility,” Bennett played along. “And what’s the prince doing? He’s just excited for her to bring their new dogs home?”

“Yeah, he wants a Great Dane and,” she took a breath, “and a poodle!”

“What a pair!” Bennett said.

June saddled up next to where Bennett and Ember sat. She poured out some of the water from her bottle into the sand to make it more pliable for her daughter.

“Those are her two favorite dogs,” she explained. “She watches videos about them all the time, so I apologize in advance for the fun facts you are going to get throughout the day.”

“Did you know that there was a Great Dane who joined the...the navy?” Ember piped up.

June smiled with amusement at Bennett and said, “Like that one!”

“I did not know that,” he said.

“An-an-and a poodle’s fur never stops growing!”

He nodded. “Because it’s more like human hair than dog hair, right?”

Ember’s mouth went agape, and she looked at her mother in surprise. “Yeah! That’s right!”

“See? I know some things too,” he said proudly. “Hey, Ember, do you mind if I help you build your castle?”

“You can do the mote!” she instructed.

June watched as the two of them talked and played the afternoon away building castles and animals made of sand. She watched the careful way Bennett helped her craft intricate details into the castle walls. At first, she assumed her ex-boyfriend was just being nice by building with her, but she soon realized that Bennett was completely into it.

He must have been an amazing uncle because he didn’t seem one bit phased by Ember’s endless questions and silly jokes.

She always knew Bennett was a kid person, but she hadn’t realized exactly how sweet and lighthearted he could be.

The two played for hours, stopping only to eat lunch. Eventually, Kennedy marched up with her two girlfriends and asked if Ember could come to play in the water with them.

“Only in the shallows,” June said. “Where I can see her.”

“We have this big unicorn floatie. It’s like, boat sized. Can we go out in the water with her in it?” one of Kennedy’s friends asked.

June scrunched her face, unsure if she should be letting her daughter go out in the water with these girls.

“Oh, please, Mom! Please!” Ember begged.

“We won’t take her out far,” Kennedy reassured her. “We’ll just splash around a bit.”

She pursed her lips thoughtfully before turning to Kennedy. “Okay,” she said, “but she has to wear a life jacket.”

“Yay!” Kennedy cheered. She helped Ember into her little pink and yellow lifejacket before scooping her up in her arms and walking toward the water with her friends. “We’ll be back soon!” she called.

June watched the hesitantly and set her teeth together. She looked at Bennett and asked, “Did I just make a huge mistake?”

“Maybe,” he teased.

June stared off in the direction Kennedy had disappeared with her daughter, and Bennett started to laugh.

“Come on,” he said, taking her hand and walking her down to where the water met the sand. “You’re just going to worry if you can’t see her. We may as well go for a dip with them.”

She followed him down into the water and immediately felt better when she saw the unicorn floatie and heard her daughter’s giggles.

“She’s awesome,” Bennett said as he waded out into the water with June, pulling her deeper until they were chest-high in the warm tide.

“I think so, but I’m pretty biased.”

“You could have told me about her, you know,” he offered casually. “It wouldn’t have made a difference to me.”

June nodded as he spoke, but she sincerely doubted his words.

“I just didn’t know what to say,” she offered lamely. “I didn’t know if I would see you again or, you know, if it was worth it to get into the whole thing.”

“Right,” he mumbled, then repeated, “Right.”

Bennett watched her daughter as she joked around with his sister and her friends. Then he turned to June and said, “She can make friends with anyone!”

“She gets that from her dad,” she said. “Definitely not from me.”

“Hey, you’re friendly,” he defended, and June rolled her eyes.

“Is he still in the picture?” Bennett asked, nodding towards her daughter. “If you don’t mind my asking?”

“Lincoln?” she asked, and he nodded.

When she didn’t respond right away, Bennett pulled his hands up out of the water and said, “Don’t let me pry.”

“No, it’s fine,” she said softly. “We didn’t really plan for her, and we actually didn’t know if we were going to stay together once she was born, but he said as soon as he saw her, he, you know, wanted to make it work. Which, obviously, it didn’t work out.”

“He’s a good dad, though?” he asked.

“A great dad. Ember meant the world to him. She’s probably why we stayed together as long as we did. But you can only do that for so long.”

“That’s tough,” he sympathized.

“Especially for her. It’s hard enough going through a breakup, right? You’re with someone all the time, you have your routine, you rely on them, and then...”

Bennett watched her carefully, his eyes flicking back and forth from hers. “Right,” he said with a slow nod.

Then she realized that, of course, Bennett knew what she meant—they had each taken turns breaking up with the other with equally painful outcomes.

“I mean, it’s one thing when you’re dating someone and it doesn’t work out. That’s what dating is for,” she backtracked. “But when you’re married, you expect stability. You expect to fix whatever isn’t working between you.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what that’s like. I mean, I know breakups,” he said, gesturing toward her, “and as you know, I don’t handle them very well.”

“Does anyone?” she said with humor.

“You know my friend’s wedding the other day?” he recalled. “I was supposed to have a date that night.”

“Oh, no,” she winced.

“I had been dating a girl for a while,” he said.

“How long?”

“Eight months,” he said. “I know that doesn’t seem like a long time, but it felt like more. It was that kind of connection, you know? I thought she was the one.”

She pressed her lips thin. She knew that feeling all too well. “What happened?”

“I proposed, and she said no,” he laughed.

“Ouch,” she said. “Do you think it was just too soon for her?”

“I wondered that,” he said, rolling his shoulders. “She told me I was just getting serious faster than she was. She said she didn’t think we were exclusive.”

“After eight months?”

“Yep,” he said. “She said she’d been bored and was already seeing a couple of other guys.”

“A couple?” she repeated in surprise. “Oh, my goodness, talk about awful. Who needs her?”

“Ah, she was alright,” he shrugged. “What about your guy? What kind of lunatic leaves his wife and child like that?”

Her eyes went wide. He was opening a can of worms, asking a question like that.

“Let me put it this way,” she began quietly, making sure Ember was far enough away to get into it. “Most people get married because they want to settle down, right? That’s what I wanted. I wanted to buy a house, have more kids, and spend my life raising them. But for Lincoln, it was the opposite. He married me and seemed to get more unstable as the years went on. He wanted to go out and live his life. He wanted to party and gamble and stay out until two in the morning.”

“Yeesh!”

June nodded. “We didn’t get along near the end. We fought all the time, which wasn’t good for Ember. We tried not to bicker around her but sometimes it seeps in. And, you know, there was always this part of him that I could tell didn’t trust me.”

“I can’t imagine that,” he said sweetly.

The two of them continued talking about life and love and goals. They talked about music and shows they were watching and recalled old memories, but June couldn’t get that last sentiment about Lincoln out of her mind.

Lincoln didn’t trust her, and although she wouldn’t say it out loud, she knew Bennett shouldn’t trust her either.

Chapter Seven

Bennett

It had been two weeks since June and Ember had entered into Bennett’s life.

At first, he had been thrown to learn she had a daughter, but as soon as he spent time with Ember, he was immediately sold on the idea of June being a package deal.

He had also been sold on only seeing June to catch up. He had told anyone who would listen that he had no underlying intentions for his former flame, but the more time went by, the less he believed it.

Being around June felt as it always had—it felt right.

He couldn’t help the easy way he seemed to flirt with her or the comfort he felt having her around. Even seeing Ember filled him with life. She was so easy to talk to and play with.

It was no surprise that, after weeks of spending time together, Shannon Brooks insisted that Bennett invite June and Ember over to the house for a meal.

It was a rare Sunday off for June, and she had agreed to come to the Brooks’ household.

She was a brave, brave girl.

Shannon made a giant brunch for everyone to share. It had everything: bacon, two kinds of sausage, grits, French toast, fruit salad, and a huge pan of fluffy scrambled eggs showered in cheese and pepper.

Kennedy was supposed to be in attendance at the family meal, but after a big fight with Mama Brooks, she had taken off for two days without letting anyone know where she was.

“I just don’t know what to do with that girl,” Shannon said after a long lament about her daughter. “I wish she had friends like you, June.”

“Mom,” Jaxon, Bennett’s youngest brother, said, rolling his eyes.

Jaxon still lived at home with his parents. He had just turned twenty-one and hadn’t yet been sent off to run a ranch.

In retrospect, Bennett realized this was a precious time in Jaxon’s life. He still had the freedom to study, to be with his friends, and to live in Texas.

“Well, look at her!” his mother continued. “She has her head on straight, and do you know why? June has always known that the most important thing in life...”

“Is family,” June finished. It was Mama Brooks’ oldest saying.

His mother looked elated. She gestured to Roger, who smiled, and exclaimed, “That’s exactly right! There is nothing more important in this life than your kids and the home you make. The boys grew up not knowing what kind of money we had, you know? I mean, we were okay.”

“We didn’t have to worry. We never went without, you know?” Roger clarified.

“Exactly,” Shannon added. “But the more successful the ranches got, the less control we had over her. I don’t know where we went wrong, but that girl wouldn’t work a day in her life if she didn’t have to. The boys, well,” she scoffed.

“They had the ranches to run. They didn’t get anything handed to them in life,” Roger said.

“Except for the ranches,” Jaxon laughed.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t a free ticket, was it?” Roger asked, nodding toward Bennett.

“Not a chance,” Bennett laughed.

“I’m worried about her,” his mother said, running a finger through one of her little gray pigtails.

“Well, it’s normal for girls in their early twenties to rebel,” June said before taking a heaping gulp of her creamy coffee.

“You didn’t,” Roger said.

“That’s because my mother would have killed me,” June said, and the table laughed.

“Oh, June, you bring such a life to this house. You and your precious little girl,” Shannon said, gesturing out in the living room at Ember, who had asked if she could go play when she had finished her French toast.

“She is just the sweetest little thing I ever did see,” his mother said, practically gushing. “I think, and I don’t say this about anyone, that she is one of the cutest little ones I have ever seen.”

“That’s true. She doesn’t say to flatter anyone. Unless they are her grandbabies, she won’t make a peep,” his father confirmed with amusement.

“Ember is the cutest little girl I have seen since Colt had his babies!”

“Colt has kids?” June asked, wide-eyed. “Oh, my goodness, now I definitely feel old!”

“Isaiah, Eleanor, and Wyatt. You’ve never seen them?” Roger asked.

June shook her head, and his father sprung to action. He took out his cellphone and pulled up his gallery. The man took his time finding the right picture of his grandkids to show her.

“They’re coming down next weekend,” Shannon said. “You should come by for dinner, let the kids play together. They’re probably about Ember’s age.”

“And there’s new baby Wyatt. He’s just a few months old,” Roger added.

“They are so cute!” June exclaimed. She turned the photo toward Bennett and leaned in to say, “Doesn’t Wyatt look exactly like Colt? He’s just a little boy Colt; it’s crazy!”

“He’s a clone for sure,” Bennett laughed. “Great kids, too. You really should come by and meet him and his wife.”

“We’re making a big dinner,” Shannon added.

“Don’t make the offer unless you mean it,” June said sweetly. “I will eat you out of house and home!”

“And what about you, sweet-pea?” Shannon called over to Ember in the living room. “What’s your favorite dish?”

“Peach pie!” Ember said as she rushed back into the kitchen.

“Oh, a peach pie! I love peach pie,” his mother said. “Do you want to help me make a big ole pie next week?”

“Yes! Oh yes! Mama, can I?”

June nodded. “Of course!”

“And what else is your favorite? I’ll fix you anything you like,” his mother offered, and her kindness made Bennett smiled.

Many of his siblings thought his mother was too much, and perhaps she could be at times, especially when her children were having problems, but she was one of the most genuinely thoughtful people Bennett had ever known.

“Green bean casserole,” Ember enunciated happily.

Shannon gave a charmed frown and put a hand over her heart. She turned to Bennett and said, “This is a little girl after my own heart.”

“She’s all about those textures,” Bennett teased.

“Yes,” June added. “She loves canned peaches over fresh, she loves broccoli, fresh pasta, mashed potatoes.”

“So basically, the opposite of Bennett growin’ up,” Roger said with a hearty laugh. “We couldn’t get him to eat fruits or vegetables for the life of us. I swear, he grew up on chocolate cereals and cookies.”

“And happily grew out of my sugar phase, thank you very much,” Bennett said.

“I noticed Jaxon doesn’t get a say in any awesome food we’ll be having next week,” his little brother piped up with amusement.

“Oh, Jax, you have the run of this house nearly every day,” his mother chided, and the rest of the table laughed.

It felt good to have June back at the Brooks house, though strangely, it made Bennett feel like he was a kid again.

After brunch, Bennett took Ember and June outside to the stable on his parent’s property to show the little girl their prized horses.

“Have you ever been on a horse before?” he asked as he put Ember up on his shoulders so she could get a better look at the black and brown mare out running in the field.

“No way!”

“No way?” he repeated. “Then you don’t know what you’re missin’!”

“Bennett, no,” June said, setting a chiding hand on his arm.

“Ah, it’s not gonna hurt her,” he said.

She blinked in surprise and turned him to face her. “Haven’t you seen what happens in Gone with the Wind?”

“Yes, I remember you making me watch it with you. Hours and hours of agonizing torture,” he said over-emphatically. “Vivian Leigh was a cutie, though, if I remember correctly,” he winked.

June rolled her eyes. “Well, that movie has basically scarred me for life about letting my little girl on the back of a horse, so you can forget it!”

“Well, how about if I let her pet one?” he tested.

“Yes!” Ember cheered.

Bennett let out a loud whistle and a gray spotted horse came galloping over to the fence. She whinnied and then seemed to settle as Ember’s hand came gently down on her nose.

“This one here, her name is Twinkles. She was named by my little nephew a few years back,” he explained. “Say, if you had a horse, what would you name it?”

“Mm. Bert!” Ember said with a giggle.

“Bert. Bert and Twinkles,” he said, testing the words out. “Sounds like a comedy duo.”

“Bert is the funny one,” Ember said.

“At my ranch, we have lots of horses,” he said, making careful eye contact with June as he did so. “We have little ponies, too.”

“Do you have any dogs there?” the little girl asked.

“We do! We have two German shepherds, and we even have one...” he said, taking a purposeful long pause.

“A Great Dane!” Ember shouted, practically jumping out of his arms with excitement.

“Nope,” he teased, tickling her sides. “A poodle! Her name is Apricot. She was a stray that kept coming around the ranch. I saw our German shepherds going after her and they, well, you know, they are there to make sure nothing happens to the rest of the animals.”

“Like a guard dog,” June simplified.

“Right,” he said. “So, I was worried maybe they were going to get protective and be mean to the poodle, but you know what?”

Ember’s eyes went wide, and she pressed her hands against her chubby, freckled cheeks in anticipation. “What?” she whispered. “What did they do?”

“They started playing together right away!”

“Really?” Ember asked, likely expecting the story to end in some kind of fight. “They knew they were supposed to be friends!”

“Yeah, I guess they did,” he grinned. “Now she thinks she’s one of the guard dogs.”

The threesome spent the day out with the horses, talking and laughing together until Ember was completely spent. She fell asleep in her mother’s arms and eventually, June brought her up to Bennett’s old bedroom to nap.

“Thanks for spending time with her today,” she said as she lay her daughter in the bed and pulled up the covers.

“Looks like I tuckered her out,” he whispered.

“Maybe a little bit. But you’ve been so sweet about her,” she said.

He looked over the slumbering princess and then back at June. “It’s kind of impossible not to. Have you met her?” he teased.

“Once or twice,” she smiled. “But seriously. Your family has been so kind to me, and I’ve…” she paused, looking down at Ember and then up at him with unexpected emotion in her eyes. “I’ve enjoyed being a part of the family again, even if only for a little while.”

Chapter Eight

June

“What do you mean you’re not coming?” June whispered into her phone as she walked into the kitchen.

Ember was set up on the living room couch watching a show about wildlife, facts from which she would likely recite for the rest of the weekend, and June was on the phone with Lincoln.

The arrangement was that every weekend, Lincoln would take Ember while June worked. This had worked perfectly for the first two months they were separated, but now at month three, things had started to disintegrate.

“You promised you would be here,” she said quietly.

“I have a lot going on right now,” Lincoln said. He sounded rushed, which immediately put June on edge. “I’m the one dealing with the house. I’m the one who is throwing money your way for Ember.”

“You’re the one dealing with the house because you kicked me out, remember?” she snapped.

“I have to work, June,” he said with the verbal equivalent of a shrug.

“I know that,” she said through clenched teeth. “But I thought we agreed that we were going to try to put Ember first in all of this. We didn’t want to be that couple, remember?”

“The pressure I’m under right now is unreal, okay?” he said, his words clipped.

“Uh-huh,” she said.

Lincoln pulled in a breath, and within an instant, she knew he was going to be mean. “Look, I get it. You’re mad,” he complained. “We’ll work out a schedule, all right? But it isn’t going to be tonight!”

“What?” she scoffed with humor. “Do you have a date or something?”

The line fell silent, and June suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

“I really can’t be doing this right now with you, June,” he said. “I seriously can’t handle another argument.”

“Oh my gosh,” she said as she exhaled. “You have a date.”

“It had to happen sometime.”

“How long has this been going on? Since we were together?” she asked in disbelief. “I am so stupid for believing you when you said there was nobody else! Why do I ever trust you? Who just breaks up because they don’t get along?”

“We did,” he said firmly.

“No!” she shouted. “People only break up when they have someone else lined up for their next relationship. I am such an idiot!”

“I just met her, June. I didn’t cheat on you. You know that!”

“I only know what you want me to know when you want me to know it. I was a stranger in our relationship! I didn’t even get a say in how it ended!

She could hear the frustration in Lincoln’s voice when he spoke, and it only infuriated her more.

“June, relax,” he snapped, but it was too late, she was already crying.

Three months and he was already seeing someone new. Their divorce wasn’t even finalized yet.

Lincoln waited for a break between her sobs to say, “We shouldn’t talk on the phone anymore. This is too fresh still. When it comes to Ember, we should just text. Otherwise, we’ll argue.”

“Sure. Whatever,” she cried. “That’s just code for you’re phasing us out. You’re going to go off and start this relationship, and in a couple of months, Ember will never see you because you’ll be too busy following your little fling around!”

“You’re jumping the gun,” he said. “I just met this girl, and so what if I like her? So what if I want to spend time with her? You’re not my wife anymore!”

She felt her face go hot as she spat, “You’re choosing to spend the night with some floozie you just met over spending time with your daughter!”

“She isn’t even my daughter!”

Even though they weren’t in the same room, June could feel the hateful sting of his words. They hung in the air like a poison that seeped into every inch of the atmosphere.

June pulled in an audible gasp, and Lincoln cursed under his breath.

“Ah,” he whispered. “You know I didn’t mean that.”

“You are the only father she has ever known,” she said, her voice shaking from fury and sadness as she pushed her words through her tears. “She loves you, and she misses you, and she doesn’t understand what’s going on. All she knows is that you aren’t here!”

“June, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

She cut him off and snapped, “Enjoy your date,” before ending the call.

June threw the phone down, and it clattered against the kitchen counter.

She stood by the sliding doors in the kitchen and tried to catch her reflection. She wiped the mascara from underneath her eyes and took a steadying breath.

Now came the hardest part: telling Ember.

June walked out into the living room of their small apartment and sat down next to her daughter on the couch. The two of them watched the animals on the screen in silence, and somehow, June got the feeling that Ember already knew he wasn’t coming.

June took her time letting the words come out. She knew how disappointed Ember had been the week before when Lincoln canceled their daddy-daughter weekend and wasn’t thrilled about delivering the news again.

She ran a hand through her daughter’s auburn hair, combing through it like the way she did when she was trying to get Ember to fall asleep.

“Honey,” she said softly, not making eye-contact with the girl. “Your daddy is...well, he has to work tonight.”

“Okay,” Ember said, not thinking twice. “When is he come over?”

“Well, that’s the thing. He can’t make it tonight.”

“Oh,” her daughter said, hanging her head.

“I’m sorry, sweetie.”

Ember stuck her bottom lip out and leaned her head back against the couch cushions. She looked up at June with big brown eyes and whined, “But I didn’t get to see him last time, either.”

“I know. Daddy’s just very busy with work.”

“Doesn’t he know it’s our day together?” she asked.

June’s heart sank. “Yes, and he feels very bad about it. But he’ll see you next Friday, okay?”

Ember looked at her for a long time, sizing her up, probably wondering if her words were true. Finally, her daughter said, “‘Kay,” she looked back at the television screen.

June hated herself for lying. This was the last time she was going to protect Lincoln. She didn’t want to make false promises to her daughter or pretend like Lincoln was working when he wasn’t. Ember deserved better than that.

“I’m sorry, baby. But you and Aunt Megan can play tonight, okay?”

“Where are you going?” Ember asked.

“I have to work, too.”

Ember brightened, looking back up at her mother as she asked, “Can I go play at Bennett’s house?”

“I don’t know...” she said with hesitation. “It’s Friday night. I think Bennett might have plans, sweetheart. But Aunt Megan has lots of games ready for you guys to play, okay? You’ll have fun, I promise. Then tomorrow we can make pancakes before mommy has to go back to work. Okay?”

“Okay,” Ember said, but she didn’t sound enthused.

Work dragged that night.

June and Danielle piled up dirty dishes in the back room and began spraying them and loading them into the commercial dishwasher. They had just cleared the last of the plates from the wedding guests that night and had to get them cleaned and steamed before the morning.

While June and Danielle were primarily servers, they sometimes took on other jobs if they were short-staffed, such as plating or cleanup.

Unlike her co-worker, June didn’t mind being a jack of all trades at work. To her, it was great training to work her way up in the company. If she knew how to do each job, that meant she would know how to manage each job.

“I’m sorry,” Danielle said after hearing the quiet retelling of Lincoln’s disappointment. “I can’t believe he bailed.”

“Again,” June scoffed.

“Again!”

“Yeah, this repetition is becoming a little bit predictable,” June said.

“I just don’t get it,” Danielle said, jutting a hip out against the stainless-steel kitchen cabinet beside her. There is nothing about this that seems like Lincoln to me. He was the most attentive father ever. You guys were his entire world.”

“Yeah,” June tossed a wet rag onto the countertop in frustration and mumbled, “Until we weren’t.”

“I’m sorry,” her friend repeated. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No,” June said quietly.

Danielle had been an amazing friend during the breakup. She had known June for years and had been friends with Lincoln, too. She knew what a good dad he was—or used to be.

June wasn’t impressed with Lincoln’s behavior. He had been so loving and attentive to Ember her whole life. He was the only father she had ever known, and for him to say something so hurtful…

“She isn’t mine.”

He wasn’t wrong, nor was he ever under the impression that he had gotten June pregnant.

Ember was not Lincoln’s biological child.

Ember was Bennett’s—a fact that she had never told anyone, except for Lincoln.

When she first met Lincoln, she was already three months pregnant. She wasn’t showing yet, but she was upfront with him about her situation.

The two had met back when she was still dating Bennett and Lincoln had been head over heels for her, so when they decided to start seeing each other, Lincoln told her she could tell people the baby was his.

June agreed to the lie because it made sense at the time.

She and Lincoln worked as a couple. There was no drama, and even though it was early, she could already see herself with him for the long haul. He wanted a family, he loved her, and he promised he would treat the child as if she were his flesh and blood.

And he did. There was never a time that he acted hostile or jealous about who her father was because it didn’t matter. Lincoln was Ember’s dad, the one who raised her and the one she loved.

Ember still believed that Lincoln was her biological father, and June had no intention of correcting her.

In retrospect, June believed that Lincoln cared more for her at the beginning of the relationship than she did for him. He was just the rebound that wouldn’t end.

That wasn’t to say she was unhappy with him. They had been very happy for a time.

But the way he was behaving now gave her pause. Ember deserved more than someone who was going to abandon her. She needed someone who would put her first.

Every time she thought about his words, she felt sicker and sicker.

The truth about Ember’s father was something June had worked hard not to think about. But now that it was out there, she couldn’t stop replaying her last fight with Bennett all of those years ago.

She and Bennett broke up when she was twenty-one years old.

When they got back together three years later, everything was great between them. They had the uncanny ability to pick up exactly where they had left off. After all, it wasn’t as if they stopped loving each other, she just hadn’t been ready to commit to moving out to Montana. She’d grown up in Texas. It was her home.

The ranch underwent renovations for nearly six months, meaning Bennett was back in Texas. It was the best six months of her life. But when her boyfriend went back to Montana, their relationship got significantly more difficult.

Bennett would fly her out to the ranch twice a month, and she would stay a couple of days with him here and there between classes, but there was never a sense of contentment because she was always on the move.

After six months of doing long-distance, things began to crumble.

They used to talk to each other every morning and every night before bed. But one night, Bennett didn’t call.

When she talked to him the next morning, he said he’d worked late at the ranch and had fallen asleep. But he didn’t call the next night either, and soon she found herself avoiding the times when he did.

In one of their last conversations, things got heated between them when Bennett had mentioned, not for the first time, spending time with a girl named Naomi—a curvy brunette with a bobbed haircut and sexuality that exuded from her every pore.

“Who is this girl again?” she asked, trying to sound playful. “I feel like I hear about her every time we talk these days.”

“She’s just a girl who works at the ranch,” he said, sounding equally casual.

“Right.”

“She’s friends with Martin and Dodger,” he explained.

“Right,” she repeated.

Bennett laughed and sounded genuinely amused as he asked, “You’re not jealous, are you?”

“I trust you,” she said, her voice pitching.

“But?”

She shrugged. “I don’t trust her.”

“That’s just a loophole for saying you don’t trust me,” he said.

“I guess I’m just not used to you bringing up other girls the way you bring Naomi up,” she said. “It sounds like you like her or something.”

Bennett went quiet, and her pulse quickened. She waited a beat for him to answer but he stayed silent. June could feel her hands start to sweat as she said, “Bennett?”

“I like you, remember?” he chuckled. “You’re my girlfriend. Besides, she has a boyfriend. She’s seeing Dodger,” he said, speaking of his best friend. “That’s why I always bring them up together.”

“Right,” she licked her lips. “But if you didn’t have a girlfriend and she didn’t have a boyfriend, is she someone you would consider dating?”

“I don’t know,” he said more casually than she expected. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” she repeated incredulously. She felt justified in her jealousy and heartbroken all at the same time.

“I don’t know why it matters. She’s with somebody, and so am I.”

June was stunned. “If it doesn’t matter, then why have you considered the possibility of you guys being together?”

“Well, I don’t know, babe,” he said, firm and frustrated, “I guess the months and months of being alone might have something to do with it.”

“So, because I don’t live with you, you’ve just taken to fantasizing about being with other women?”

“June, stop. Listen to me. I like you. I love you, in fact. But I have to say, it’s getting a little tiresome doing this dance with you.”

“What is that supposed to mean—what dance?” she snapped.

“How many times have I asked you to come out here?” he said, growing frustrated. “Look, I love you, but you seem to be making it pretty clear that you don’t want to move forward with me.”

“And I said I would,” she said firmly.

“Yeah?” He laughed, but there was nothing humorous about their conversation. “When?”

“Bennett,” she warned. “I’m lonely, too, okay?”

“You can’t just have it both ways! You tell me that you’re lonely in Texas. Well, guess what? I’m lonely in Montana, and it’s getting harder and harder not to end this thing if you’re not willing to move forward. I’m tired of being alone. I’m tired of having you here for two days at a time. I want the real deal with you, June. I always have. “

“I told you I wasn’t ready,” she pushed back.

“If you’re not ready now, then you’re never going to be ready.”

She swallowed. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“I think it is true,” he said carefully.

They swam in the silence for moments upon moments before Bennett spoke again.

“I can’t move, June. Like it or not, I’m in Montana for the rest of my life. And if your life is in Texas, then you need to tell me now because I can’t keep doing this with you.”

“I need more time,” she said.

“What are we waiting for?” he said. “For what? What’s going to change? This is who I am. I am not going to change.”

“This isn’t about you, for once.”

“No, this isn’t about you for once,” he said with venom. “Why don’t you think about someone besides yourself?”

The argument continued to spiral out of control. It went from them missing each other so much that it was causing them pain, to accusing the other of being selfish, short-sighted, and unfaithful.

She had expected him to call the next day, but no phone call ever came. Days later, they still hadn’t talked.

When they finally spoke again, the conversations always ended the same—arguing about her moving.

The end came one morning when Bennett called and told her he couldn’t wait anymore. He had asked someone out.

Two weeks later, she found out she was pregnant.

Chapter Nine

Bennett

Bennett had been spending more and more time at June’s apartment in the city. It was a different vibe than the endless string of ranch-style properties he spent his time at.

He’d spent the morning outside soaking up the hot September weather with Ember, playing on the outdoor playset in their communal backyard.

He enjoyed spending time with the girl, and the fact that it gave him brownie points with June didn’t hurt, either.

Ember was an easy kid to get along with. She didn’t throw temper tantrums and more often than not, knew how to make Bennett laugh.

“Wanna know a secret?” he whispered as he helped her climb across the monkey bars.

“What?” she whispered back.

“I’m gonna ask your mom if she wants to bring you up to my ranch in Montana,” he said with a smirk. “That would be cool, wouldn’t it?”

“Can we see the horses?” she asked.

“You can see the horses and the mountains, and if you stay long enough, you can even see snow,” he said cheerfully. “You ever seen snow before?”

“Only on TV!”

“It’s so cool,” he explained. “You know how we made sandcastles at the beach? Well, you can do that with the snow back at my house. You can build big snowmen and a castle, and we even have igloos on the ranch. They’re cool.”

Ember pressed her eyes closed and wrinkled her forehead. “Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope she says yes,” she whispered.

“Me too,” he laughed.

He watched as Ember reached the landing platform at the top of the slide. She slid down the yellow plastic in a half-loop and he met her at the bottom. She reached up to grab his hand and chimed in, “I’ll pray for you.”

Bennett cocked his head to the side. He was incredibly charmed by her sentiment and also oddly touched.

“You mind if I take your mama out tonight?” Bennett asked quietly.

Ember sized him up, then smiled. It was a subtle exchange that somehow reminded him of his little sister; the faux suspicion followed by a bright, genuine smile.

“It’s okay,” she said cutely, then warned, “But you got to promise to take me out one day, too!”

He knelt in front of her and grabbed her little hands in his. “Well, you got yourself a deal there, little lady. Me and you, this Friday. How about it?”

“Oh,” she said, turning her head to the side shyly.

“That’s when her dad is supposed to come and get her,” June piped up from behind them, her voice sounding as even as possible.

Bennett nodded and felt a knot forming in his stomach. He recognized the feeling. It was jealousy, though he couldn’t pinpoint whether he was envious that Lincoln got to spend a whole weekend with Ember or if it was the thought of Lincoln in June’s life that had him rattled.

Bennett wasn’t a naturally jealous person. For the most part, he understood that everyone had a past, but it was Lincoln’s proximity to his relationship with June that unsettled him.

He knew she’d been loosely associated with Lincoln while they were still together all those years ago, and the fact that she’d jumped right into a relationship and started a family with him reinforced two facts.

June likely had a thing for Lincoln while they were still together

June was very, very, very over him after their breakup

Bennett tried not to think about it. Lincoln was the father of her child, and that meant that he would always be in June’s life in some capacity. So, if Bennett also wanted to be in June’s life, he would have to get over any hard feelings he had against Ember’s dad.

“Tell you what,” he said to the girl, “When you come back from your weekend with your dad, we’ll do something awesome.”

“Cool!” Ember exclaimed.

“Cool,” he smiled.

He and June had been making good use of their time together, going through a montage of their favorite Houston hotspots from back when they were dating. They’d already been to the downtown aquarium, the museum district, had coffee overlooking the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir temple, and visited the old beer can house, and today they were heading thirty miles southeast to a sixty-acre Texas Gulf Coast theme park.

June had always loved the old-school vibe of the vintage boardwalk. It was down by the water with rides, games, and the best corndogs they had ever eaten.

And they had eaten a lot of corndogs in their time together.

The two talked about old times they’d spent on the boardwalk and the ridiculous games of truth or dare they had played.

After playing a couple of rounds of one of the carnival games, Bennett won a yellow teddy bear for June. After haggling with the woman running the booth, he managed to have her switch the generic-looking bear out for a cartoony looking stuffed poodle.

“That’s for Ember,” he said proudly.

“You’re so good with her,” June said.

“Hey, she makes it easy. You’re really lucky.”

“I know,” she smiled, resting her head on his shoulder as they walked. He could feel the chemistry sparking between them, but he wasn’t quite sure where he wanted things to go yet.

“I’m serious,” he insisted. “I love my niece and nephews, but there is something really special about Ember. She’s so likable, it’s hard to say no to her. She’s fun to talk to, you know? Which is saying a lot because she’s five.”

“She’s pretty amazing,” she said as she tilted her face up to catch his eyes.

“If all kids could be like that, I’d consider having one.”

“Have you ever thought about it?” she asked.

“Fatherhood? Sure. Of course,” he said easily. Coming from a big family, you either had one of two outlooks. You either wanted to get as far away from having a big family as possible or you wanted to recreate the magic and chaos by having your own brood. Bennett was the latter. “With you,” he offered stupidly. “Then again with Yasmin. But it just wasn’t the right time.”

“No,” she sighed. “We never have good timing.”

“Never say never,” he said with a wink.

The pair spent the rest of the evening going on the rides. June was fond of the fast rides like the swinging pendulum ride or the free fall, but Bennett wanted to cap their evening off with a classic—the Ferris wheel.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the past lately,” he said as they reached the peak of the wheel, looking out over the boardwalk. They could hear the waves splashing against the shore, saw the carnival light up as the sun set over the seaside town.

“What about it?” she asked.

“I was stupid. Really, really stupid for doing what I did.”

June shifted and turned to face him, rocking their little cart in the air. “What did you do?” she asked, drawing out the words like a tease.

“You’re gonna make me say it, huh?” he smirked. “I was stupid for pushing you all those years ago. The only reason I came on so strong is, well, I missed you so much, and then I got it in my head that you were done with me. I guess it made me aggressive about us, about wanting you to move to be with me.”

“Wait,” she said, throwing a finger up curiously. “You thought I was done with you?”

“I thought that’s why you didn’t want to move to Montana.”

“I didn’t want to move to Montana because I was scared, not because I didn’t love you,” she said firmly.

He exhaled, suddenly feeling a weight fall off of his shoulders. “You don’t have to say that, you know.”

“I’m not,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I thought you were done with me.”

“I didn’t like how we left things. I wanted to make things right with you, but I kept thinking...‘She doesn’t want to be with you, man. Stop embarrassing yourself.’”

June swallowed audibly, and he could feel the sexual tension rise between them. “Then, I guess we were both wrong,” she said thoughtfully.

“I feel like I missed out on a lot with you. I felt like I had our whole future mapped out in front of me. Once you were out of my life, everything completely shattered, you know?” He hoped he was making sense. Sometimes he felt like all he ever did was ramble a stream of consciousness at the poor girl when he talked about his life. “I didn’t know what to do with myself anymore, so I just threw my life into the ranch.”

“We both went through a lot,” she said quietly.

“I missed you, June. I still miss you.”

“I missed you, too,” she said. “I thought about calling you so many times. You have no idea.”

Silence hung in the air. He ran his hand along her thumb and brushed it gently back and forth.

The air was warm, but the cool breeze coming off of the water felt refreshing.

“But,” he reasoned sweetly, “if we had stayed together, you never would have had Ember. And she’s pretty great.”

June exhaled. She looked down over the water, and with no real interest, she nodded and said, “Right.”

“But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a second shot at this, you know?”

Her eyes snapped to his. “What do you mean?”

“We’re like a boomerang,” he said nervously. “We keep coming back together.”

“I guess we’ve just never have the good sense to ignore each other.”

“I can’t ignore you,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “Could you ignore me?”

June didn’t respond, just smiled and shrugged helplessly as her eyes flicked back and forth from his.

“I couldn’t do it six years ago, and I can’t do it now,” he continued.

“I guess we’ve both been suckered in,” she said quietly.

“Maybe we’re not suckers. Maybe the universe is trying to tell us something.”

“What’s it trying to tell us?” she whispered.

“I know what it’s telling me,” he said and brushed a curl of ginger hair out of her face. “It’s telling me that no matter how hard I try to fight it, my life seems to always come back to you, June. When I’m around you, I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be. And I know that you have a lot going on with Ember and your ex and everything, but I’d really like it if we could...keep hanging out.”

“As friends,” she added.

“No,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “As us.”

“Bennett…” she said with trepidation.

“Don’t leave me hanging,” he laughed. “Just tell me now. Am I standing out on this ledge alone or…?”

June stayed terrifyingly quiet. She had woven her fingers through his and kept moving them around as if their hands were doing a dance. She took a moment to collect her thoughts and it felt like the longest sixty seconds of Bennett’s whole life.

He didn’t know if he was ruining everything by bringing up his feelings for her, but he couldn’t go back to Montana without knowing if she felt the same way. He needed to know if there was still a chance between them.

“If you’re asking if I like you, it’s never been a question of that,” she finally said.

Bennett finally exhaled as the relief washed over him. “No?” he asked.

“I’ve always liked you, Bennett,” she smiled. “When we’re together, it’s like…”

“Fireworks.”

“But it’s never been about our chemistry,” she shrugged. “It’s that no matter what we do, nothing between us changes. What makes you think our problems are going to be any different this time?”

“Third time’s the charm,” he teased, but he meant every word of it.

“Bennett, I’m serious. I have Ember now, and that ties me down even more than before.”

“I know that,” he said. “Believe me, I know. Take a chance on us. It’ll be different this time.”

“I have exactly zero reasons to believe that,” she laughed, but there was nothing funny about it. “Past behavior is the biggest predictor of future behavior, and our past behavior says that we’ll never work. We just…we just don’t work.”

“I think we can. We just haven’t had the right circumstances before,” he said. “Don’t you want it to work?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “You must know that I do.”

Bennett didn’t know if it was the warmth of her hand in his or the way she was looking at him with her big doe eyes, but he had to kiss her then. He ran a hand up the side of her face, cupping her cheek in his palm and leaned down, rocking their cabin as he pressed his lips against hers.

June’s whole body stiffened then seemed to sink into his as her mouth moved in perfect time with his kisses.

The humid, summer kiss was the perfect reunion.

When their lips parted, June opened her eyes and gave him a sleepy, satisfied stare. “Don’t make me regret this,” she said, then smiled.

“I won’t,” he said. “I promise.”

Chapter Ten

June

Isn’t life better together?

This had become Bennett Brooks’ mantra ever since he and June had rekindled their romance.

If there were a beautiful summer rain, he’d say, “Isn’t life better together?”

When they ordered pizza and the chef accidentally added double cheese—"Isn’t life better together?”

And this day, when June was getting ready for work and he pressed her up against her closet door and started attacking her with kisses, he pulled back from her mouth, moved his lips close to her ear, and whispered, “Isn’t life better together?”

“I plead the fifth,” she said before leaning back in to get another taste of his mouth.

She said this as a tease, but June’s answer was inevitably always yes. Life was better now that Bennett was back in her life.

“Mm, Bennett,” she breathed, pulling away from him. She set a hand on his chest and cooed, “I have to go to work.”

“Don’t go,” he said, slipping a hand down her side.

“I have to go,” she giggled.

“Stay,” he said, leaning in for another kiss.

“Bennett,” June said. She set a finger on his mouth and shook her head.

“I don’t want to miss a moment of you here,” he said, and his words filled her body with warmth.

“I can’t call in sick. Danielle will kill me,” she said, pulling away from him.

“Okay, okay,” he said and reluctantly let her go. He sat on her bed and watched as she fixed her hair in her vanity with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“I was thinking about something.”

“What were you thinking?” she said, catching his gaze in her mirror.

“I was thinking maybe you and Ember would come back to the ranch with me for a couple of weeks.”

“No. I don’t think so,” she said quickly. “She just started school. I can’t pull her out a week later.”

September and October were June’s favorite months in Texas. The weather was still hot, but they had all of the benefits of the beautiful fall leaves beginning to change.

But September also meant Ember had started the first grade.

June hadn’t meant to be one of those mothers who cried dropping her daughter off at school or reminiscing about how only yesterday, Ember was just a baby in her arms—but she did all of those very stereotypical things and more on Ember’s first day of school.

Her daughter had spent the summer nervously anticipating the beginning of school and worrying about making friends, but as it turned out, she fit right in.

June never had any doubts. After all, June took right after her Bennett—friendly, likable, social.

“Come on, please?” Bennett pleaded, drawing his words out like a child. “She’d love it, and I would love it, too. I want to show you guys around. If you’re worried about school, I could get her a tutor while she’s in Montana. She won’t miss a thing, I promise.”

“You must really want me to come with you,” she snorted.

“I want you both,” he corrected.

“Maybe,” she said.

“That’s a yes!”

“It’s a maybe!” she laughed.

Bennett jumped off the bed and came up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her softly on the cheek.

“Okay, okay,” she relented. “It’s a yes.”

As soon as she said the words, she felt a bubble of nerves boil up in her stomach. Was she making the right decision?

She couldn’t believe she was agreeing to set foot back in Montana after everything that happened between them.

She couldn’t deny the lovestruck feeling she got whenever she was in the same room with him, but there was a small part of her that wondered what in the world she thought she was doing dredging up the past with him—especially with Ember.

Before, she was so angry with Bennett and so done with the stress of their relationship that when she found out she was pregnant, she decided not to tell him. He didn’t want to be in her life, and she didn’t want him to get back together with her out of pity after he found out she was pregnant.

Then she started seeing Lincoln, and he was more than happy to play the role of a happy young family with her.

But now there was no real reason to lie to Bennett, especially if they were both serious about being together.

And if they were serious about each other, how were they supposed to manage living in two different states?

No doubt, he wanted her to come back to the Montana ranch, in part, to try and sell her on the idea of coming out there.

The physical distance had always been an issue between them, and June didn’t know what she possibly hoped would change this time. If anything, she had more standing in her way of leaving than ever before. She had Ember and her new school, plus help from her sister for babysitting. Then there was Lincoln to consider. Biological or not, he was the father that Ember knew and as far as the law was concerned, he was her legal parent and had rights to her.

But if the relationship seemed like it was in vain, why couldn’t June stop thinking about Montana?

She pictured what life would be like with Bennett. She had already looked up good schools for Ember and went on the Brookside Ranch website countless times, trying to remember what it was like to live wild.

Bennett had a big house there in the country, not far from the ranch property. She remembered it had its own game room that they would spend countless hours playing pool and listening to music. He had a pool, which Ember would love, and a big yard she could run around and play in.

She thought about Ember at the ranch and how much fun she would have with the wildlife, how she would grow up with a wide variety of social experiences.

Of course, there was also the money to think about.

June didn’t want to be shallow. She would never be with someone strictly for their status or income, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that Bennett was part of a billion-dollar company. He wouldn’t have to worry about money for the rest of his life, which meant Ember would never have to worry about where to go to school or how she was going to get by.

And most important of all, June couldn’t help the rush of emotion she felt for Bennett. Every time she was near him, she could feel a rush of excitement in her lower stomach. It was a physical feeling, like having butterflies. She felt as though she had somehow swallowed the embodiment of love itself and it was buried in her body, only ignited when she was in his presence.

As smitten as June was with Bennett, she sensed that Ember was just as enamored. The girl lit up a room when he was around. She had endless things to say, facts to share, and games to play with Bennett.

June had a rule about Ember making friends. She had to meet the friends and their parents first before Ember was allowed to go over and play. Adorably, Ember had recently asked June if she needed to go to Bennett’s parents’ house to “meet his mommy and daddy.”

That weekend, June worked double shifts since they had two morning and two evening weddings, meaning by Sunday morning before work, she was beyond exhausted.

“Can I play with Bennett today?” Ember asked as she scooped her cereal into her mouth.

“I think Bennett has work to do. You’re gonna stay here and play with Aunt Megan and your cousin, okay?”

Ember hung her head in the sad way kids do and blew out a winded, “O-kaaay.”

“But I am glad you like Bennett. You do like him, right?” June asked.

“He’s fun! He plays with horses and knows all about every dog ever.”

“Every dog ever? Wow! He knows a lot!” June giggled.

“Yeah, he’s cool.”

“Good, good,” she said with a nod. June bit her lip and twisted her fingers together nervously. “You know, Bennett used to be close with mommy back before she had you.”

“Did you guys kiss?” Ember asked in a sing-song voice.

“Ember!”

“Don’t lie!” Ember dared.

June’s eyes went skyward, and she could feel the blush crossing her cheeks as she said, “We were very close friends.”

“You kissed!”

June laughed and shook her head, ignoring the comment. “And now that he’s back in Texas, we’re gonna be spending more time together. Is that okay, do you think?”

“Yeah. We should go to adventure land!”

“I think that can be arranged,” June smiled.

“Is he going to move in?”

“No,” she said. “What gives you that idea, sweetie?”

“He’s just here all the time, so maybe he can just move in,” Ember said with a shrug. “I will make room for his stuffed animals if he wants. He can have my drawer.”

“That is very sweet,” June giggled. “I will make sure he knows he can bring as many stuffed animals over as he wants. But no, he won’t be moving in.”

“I hope he stays here forever!”

June nodded. “So do I, babe. So do I.”

But Bennett wouldn’t stay. It was a fact she thought about during her nine-hour work shift that evening. She thought about Bennett and his smile, she thought about his body and the familiar way he held her. She always felt like when he looked at her, he looked at her. His eyes were completely captured by her.

She spent her shift mixing drinks with Danielle and, in between guests, raving about how well things were going with Bennett. She felt like a teenager again, looking for ways to drop his name into the conversation—and Danielle couldn’t get enough.

“Girl, I have never seen you this happy before,” Danielle said radiantly.

And then it occurred to June that no, she had never been this happy before. Not with Lincoln and not even in her two prior tries with Bennett. Everything felt right now. And if everything felt right, then she owed it to herself and her future to do everything she could to make their relationship a success this time.

“How was your visit?” June asked Megan as she relieved her from her babysitting duties later that night.

“Great!” Megan smiled. “She was full of energy tonight.”

“Oh, no, I hope she didn’t give you too much trouble.”

“Nah,” her sister waved her off. “No matter how hyper that kid is, she’s always out like a light by nine.”

“Thank you so much for watching her,” June said.

She often tried to pay her sister for babysitting, but Megan would never take the money. “I love spending time with my niece,” she would say.

“So,” Megan began hesitantly while she slipped into her flip-flops at the front door.

“So?” June repeated in the same tone.

“Is there anything you want to tell me?” her sister said.

“Your new hair looks adorable?” June said cutely, gesturing toward her sister’s fresh blonde hair.

Megan raised her brows. “Anything about Bennett Brooks?”

“Why?”

“Why?” Megan laughed. “Because Ember can’t stop talking about him, that’s why. She talks about him more than she talks about puppies, and June? That is a lot.”

June smiled unsurely. “Well, they’ve hit it off.”

“They’ve hit it off, or you have hit it off?”

There was that ball of nerves again. June straightened and held her hand on the door frame. “Me and Bennett always hit it off.”

“And it always ends in heartbreak. Why are you doing this to yourself?” Megan said and picked her sleeping daughter, Zendra, up off of the couch. “You are seeing him again, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know,” June said, rolling her shoulder in an obvious lie. “We’re just hanging out, seeing where it goes.”

“Seeing where it goes?” Megan whispered aggressively. “You know where it goes. We’ve been through this. Stop the reruns. Stop the madness!”

Both of them let out an amused breath, then Megan’s face tensed. “I’m serious. Where do you see this going?”

June swallowed nervously. She’d spent the entire weekend thinking about that very question, and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to say the answer out loud.

“I see it going to Montana, honestly,” she said, testing the words out.

Megan’s face fell. She blinked in surprise and said, “You’re kidding?”

“If things get serious and I want a future with him, I know what has to happen. I have to be the one to change this time. He can’t leave Montana, and I can leave Texas.”

“Is that right? You think you can leave me behind?” Megan teased. “What about Ember? What about school?”

“I heard this crazy rumor that there are schools in Montana, too,” she said with a wink.

“You just met reunited, and now you’re talking about moving across the country for him? Don’t leave me,” her sister whined playfully.

Her sister hoisted Zendra up into her arms and studied June’s face carefully. Her lighthearted expression suddenly fell, and she gave a knowing smile.

“Oh no,” Megan said.

“What?”

“You’re in love with him!”

June blushed. She could hardly deny it.

“It’s only been a couple of weeks!” her sister said with quiet surprise.

“I know. But I feel like all of these feelings I had for him are rushing back to the surface. I feel so much love coursing through me, it’s overwhelming.”

“You sound like a teenage girl,” Megan snorted.

“I sound like the girl I was when I first met Bennett,” she paused. “That’s how I know it’s love.”

Chapter Eleven

Bennett

“You’re about to be really happy,” June said, grinning as she pulled Bennett’s hand into hers.

The two of them went out for a late movie, a sci-fi thriller that was far too cheesy for their liking. But it wasn’t a complete waste. The two got to eat popcorn and mock the film for an hour and a half, which was arguably more fun than if they had enjoyed the film.

They were now sitting in the parking lot of the theater in Bennett’s car.

“What am I going to be happy about?” he asked excitedly.

“I took a month off work and Ember’s officially out of school,” she stated matter-of-factly, then burst into giggles as she said, “So, long as you promise she’s going to have a tutor when we get there, then we’re coming to Montana!”

“For a whole month!” he cheered. “Then it’s all really happening.”

“Just imagine with me, if you will,” she said, extending her hand out toward the dashboard. “You and I wake up at your place, I go down and fix you a nice, strong coffee. I come up and crawl into your bed. Your parents aren’t there. We don’t have to sneak around in your car to kiss. In fact, we don’t have to worry about anything except what adventure we’re going to have that day.”

He reached across the center console and ran a hand up the side of her face. “You’re reading my mind,” he whispered and then met her lips, pulling her into a deep kiss.

“I can’t wait,” she said.

“We’re lucky, you know.”

She perked up. “Why’s that?”

“It’s not every day you get to rewrite the wrongs of the past, is it? We have a chance to start over and make this what it was supposed to be.”

“It’s just one visit,” she laughed.

“A long visit. And one of many, I hope,” he whispered, kissing her again.

“I’m kind of nervous,” she admitted bashfully.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I have this tingling throughout my whole body

“You should see somebody about that,” he teased, and she bat her hand lightly against his chest.

“I’m serious,” she played. “There have only been a couple of moments in my life where I’ve felt like this, and it’s always before something really big happens. Once, when my sister beat cancer, then again when I found out I was pregnant. When I had Ember and then again when I saw you at the Lipkin.”

“How did you find out you were pregnant?” he asked, suddenly realizing that despite all of their long talks, he’d never heard the story before.

“I peed on a stick,” she grinned.

“Ha-ha,” he said flatly. “Were you surprised?”

“You could have knocked me over with a feather,” she said, then swallowed nervously. “I was, you know,” she widened her eyes pointedly, “late. I thought it was stress, but then I took a test and it was definitely not stress.”

“It was Ember,” he concluded.

“Yep,” she nodded. “She was ready to make her way into the world.”

“Did you tell Lincoln right away?”

June licked her lips. “Pretty much, yeah. He was supportive. I uh, I wanted to call you, actually.”

“Me?” he asked curiously. “Why?”

June’s demeanor seemed to shift. It was subtle, but he could feel it. She turned to face him and visibly straightened. She was playing with her fingers nervously as she began, “Well, the thing is, we had just broken up and everything was so new still and—”

Bennett’s phone rang through the speakers of his car, picking up through the Bluetooth. He stared at the widescreen dashboard. Upon seeing it was his mother, he dismissed the call.

“I really missed you and I wasn’t sure if…” June started up again unsurely. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that when I found out—”

His phone began ringing again—his mother. June laughed nervously and said, “You may as well pick it up or she’s just going to keep calling.”

“Probably wants to know what time I’m going to be home,” he said with a playful roll of his eyes. “It’s like I’m a kid with a curfew again. Living at her house is like jumping in a time machine and not in the cool sci-fi way.”

With that, Bennett leaned forward and answered the call. “Ma?” he said, louder than he would of if he’d had the phone to his ear.

“Bennett, where are you?” she said quickly.

“I’m just leaving the movies. What’s up?”

“It’s your sister,” she said, and he instantly recognized the panic in her voice. “How close are you to the Lynnwood Campus?”

“About fifteen minutes,” he said. “Why? What happened?”

“She called me. She’s an absolute mess. She was at a party, some…” Shannon said, sounding distracted or distressed, he couldn’t tell which. “Some campus party?”

He watched June’s eyes go wide, and she threw a hand over her mouth. Clearly, she was picking up on something he wasn’t.

“What happened?” he asked. “Is she okay?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” his mother said quickly. “She wouldn’t tell me, but something happened. I think she was in a fight.” Shannon took a shaky breath and stammered, “This is why I don’t want her going out with these people! Her friends are not good associations. I need you to pick her up and call me as soon as you’re with her.”

She went on to explain that being out in the country, she and his father were farther away from the campus than Bennett was. She gave him the address of the party—it was in some student rental not far from the college—and said she would be there as soon as she could.

“Okay, I’m on my way,” he said and ended the call.

He and June rode to the campus in a discomforting silence. When he finally asked, “What do you think happened?” June didn’t answer. She knew what happened, he thought. Somehow, she just knew.

When they reached the house, they could see clear evidence of a party happening. Heavy bass and music thumped down the road and either side of the neighborhood was lined with cars.

June texted Kennedy to say they were out front, but his sister either chose to ignore them or she didn’t get the message.

After a few minutes of waiting, Bennett got out of the car, slamming the door firmly behind him.

At first, he thought this was just going to be a case of Kennedy being drunk and that he’d find her on the side of the road losing her lunch somewhere, but when he got inside the house party, he had an unsettling flood of nerves overwhelm him.

What if she was hurt?

What if something serious happened to her?

Out of the corner of his eye, Bennett spotted Kennedy’s friend Brit. He walked up to her, and she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Her eyes went as wide as saucers and she pressed her lips thin.

“Where is she?” he asked when he walked up to her.

She didn’t answer. The closer he got, the more he could see the stress on her face.

“Brit, where is she?” he repeated.

Brit didn’t say a word. She just stood there shaking. The girl pulled in a ragged breath and looked skyward, wiping stray tears away. Brit was a crier, he’d heard, but something about the expression on her face told Bennett this wasn’t a juvenile “we got caught drinking by mom and dad and now I’m scared” type of fear.

“Take me to her,” Bennett insisted, urging the girl.

Brit tried to calm down and nodded her head toward the back yard. “This way,” she said.

The three of them walked into the backyard of the property. It was lit up with string lights that hung over a small in-ground pool. There were no teens in the yard, but he could hear the thumping music from within the house.

On one of the plastic pool chairs sat Kennedy, nursing an ice cube against her split lip.

Her expression was hard until she caught sight of Bennett—then she turned into a mess of tears.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” June said quickly, rushing to Kennedy’s side.

“What happened?” he asked.

Bennett walked closer to her and grabbed her chin. Her head was tilted up toward the light, allowing him a better look at her.

“Can we just go?” Kennedy said impatiently. “I want to go.”

He examined her face and saw the bottom half her mouth was red and swollen with a bloody crack creasing down the right side. He couldn’t be entirely certain, but it looked like she’d been slapped or hit in the face.

The thought that someone landed a hand on his little sister sent a rush of adrenaline through his body—an unrested fury he couldn’t seem to quell.

His sister refused to talk, so he turned his profile to her friend and said, “Brit, what happened?”

Both girls remained silent and Bennett pulled in a panicked breath. “Somebody better start talking, NOW.”

“I was upstairs with Dereck and his friends,” Kennedy said after heaping in a steadying breath.

Bennett swallowed nervously. “And?”

“And he was trying to do stuff with me, and I told him I didn’t want to do that anymore if he still had a girlfriend,” she said, her voice shaky as she tried to control her tears.

“His friend came up and was trying stuff with her,” Brit added.

“And I pulled away and I was trying to get down the stairs,” his sister continued, avoiding his eyes.

He set his jaw impatiently. “Who hit you?”

Kennedy wouldn’t say and outright refused to look at him, but her friend wasn’t so shy.

“It was Dereck,” Brit said.

“Call the cops, Brit. Tell them we have an assault, college party; drinking, possibly drugs. Tell them everything,” he instructed, and Brit immediately pulled her phone out and started dialing.

“The kid hosting the party,” Kennedy protested, “his parents are gonna kill him when they find out!”

“Too bad for him,” Bennett snarled.

“He isn’t even the one who did this!” his sister said.

Brit extended her arm, pointing to the side door of the house at a guy coming out with a yellow beanie on. She kept pointing as she said, “There. That’s the guy!”

“That’s Dereck?” Bennett said swiftly, jumping up from where he had knelt beside his sister.

“Yeah, that’s him,” her friend confirmed.

“Bennett, don’t. Please!” Kennedy insisted, but it was too late. Bennett was already running.

He picked up speed, and the kid must have known Bennett was coming for him because he started running in the opposite direction.

Bennett pushed Dereck. The kid charged him, but Bennett grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt.

Dereck took a swing at Bennett and the two stumbled back further into the yard.

“Bennett!” June yelled.

“You touched my sister?” he yelled, pushing the kid backward.

He could feel June come up to him as she called out, “Bennett, the cops are here; come on!”

The two men continued to struggle. Dereck had both of his hands firmly clasped to Bennett’s shoulders. It took everything he had not to beat the living daylights out of the kid. Instead, he gripped his fingers into the kid’s arms so hard he knew they would leave bruises and he pushed him back into the pool.

He couldn’t beat the daylights out of the loser, but hopefully, he managed to ruin his cellphone.

The events that played out afterward seemed like a blur. Kennedy, Brit, June, and Bennett all gave statements to the police, as did a few other kids from the party. Dereck was apprehended and put in the back of a cop car.

Bennett knew his parents had all the money in the world to take the kid to court. They would bury him in legal fees, and no doubt, Dereck would be charged with assault.

But it wasn’t Dereck Bennett was worried about. It was his sister.

She was checked out by the ambulance that had arrived, who suggested she come to the hospital to get x-rays and make sure she didn’t have a concussion.

The drive to the hospital was long.

Very long.

Bennett had never had a real crisis in his family—not like this. Save for Jett’s broken leg when they were teenagers and a few scrapes here and there from horsing around, he’d never seen one of his siblings in trouble like this before.

They waited in the emergency room for hours until Kennedy was finally called in.

June slept in one of the plush hospital chairs while Bennett followed Kennedy to see the doctor.

The two were brought to a smaller, slightly more private area. He sat in a new chair next to his sister hunched over with his head between his legs.

He thought about the night, turning small moments over in his mind. He was angry and exhausted and couldn’t stop thinking about how his mother would feel after he told her what had transpired.

Bennett’s thoughts twisted to June and Ember. He wondered, as a mother, how June felt about seeing Kennedy in trouble like that. Did it strike a chord with her? He thought how terrifying it must be to have kids—to bring them in the world, giving them all you have, hoping for the best, and then seeing them get hurt.

His mother had to see plenty in her time raising children.

She saw her son skyrocket to superstardom and then crash under the weight of his fame.

Shannon also saw her third eldest child, Colt, lose his wife in death and raise their two children all alone.

She saw defiance from Hunter and Jaxon and now saw Kennedy following in the same path.

But she also got to experience the good things with her children. She watched them fall in love, get married, start families, and launch careers that she gifted to them.

It must be terrifying having kids.

Bennett was still hunched over as he looked up at Kennedy. He gave a tired blink and said, “You gotta stop doin’ this.”

Kennedy didn’t protest. Her eyes searched his, then she stared upward and pushed her bottom lip out. “I know,” she said quietly.

“I don’t want to parent you, Kennedy. I can’t tell you what to do and I don’t want to. I don’t want to be the older brother who harps on your friends and your education and keeps telling you to do something with your life, but I’ve had enough,” he said, his voice betraying how upset he was. “Look at you. You’re my sister. You deserve better than to be treated like somebody’s secret—somebody’s punching bag.”

He felt his whole body seize with anger, then snapped, “He’s lucky I let him go.”

“I know,” she said.

Bennett watched her for a moment, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. He couldn’t imagine what she must be feeling like right now.

Stretching his arm around her shoulder, he said, “You’re not worthless.”

Kennedy’s brow shot up, and she gave him a curious stare. “I know that,” she said with mild indignance.

“Do you?” he asked. “Because that’s not how you’re acting. I look at you and I see this great, fun, sweet girl with so much to offer. What do you see?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“Try.”

“I see someone who’s...” she trailed off, shrugging. “Lost, I guess. I feel like I don’t belong anywhere.”

He could sympathize. He may have been much older than his sister, but he still remembered what it felt like to be in his teenage years and wonder what the future held.

“I know we don’t get to spend a lot of time together, but I like you, Kennedy,” he said.

She smirked, but there was no life behind it. “Bull,” she said quietly.

“It’s the truth,” he insisted. “I love you, kid. I know there’s always a lot going on at home. Trust me, I see the good in our parents, but I see the bad, too.”

He knew Kennedy would need no explanation for his statement. It was fun to be in a big family. There was certainly always something to do and someone to lean on, but being part of a larger family also meant reduced quality time with their parents.

Each child strived to be bigger and better than the last, looking for new and unique ways to be noticed—to make their parents proud—but somewhere in the mix, Kennedy had gotten left behind.

“You’re self-destructing, and I don’t know why,” he said, rubbing her back with his hand. “But I want to help. Will you let me help?”

“How?”

“I want you to come back to Montana with me,” he offered.

Kennedy frowned. “To do what? Work at the ranch?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “And to be with me. Get away from Mom and Dad, get away from your trust-fund friends, and make a real-life for yourself.”

She scoffed, “In Montana?”

“Three months. That’s all I want from you. Give me three months to show you what life on the ranch could mean for you, and if you don’t like it, I’ll have you back in Texas by December.”

Kennedy’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Okay,” she said, sounding resigned to the idea. She hadn’t even hesitated to answer him, which was how he knew she was in deep trouble.

“Yeah?” he asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” she reiterated.

Bennett felt a wave of relief wash over him. “When we get home tonight, I want you to pack, okay? We’re leaving Wednesday.”

“That soon?” she blinked. “And who is ‘we?’”

“Me, you, June, and Ember,” he said, and Kennedy seemed to brighten.

“Okay,” she said, sounding more confident then. “You’ve got three months.”

Chapter Twelve

June

Bennett booked a first-class flight for the journey from Texas to Montana, and June had butterflies in her stomach just thinking about it. The last time she’d come to see him in Montana, she insisted on buying her own flight and it was on a budget airline. She appreciated the affordable prices, but her legs ached and cramped by the time she landed from the lack of space.

June had never taken a first-class flight before, and considering she would be in the air for nearly six hours with an easily bored five-year-old, she more than appreciated the extra space.

The cabin was luxurious, to say the least. It was more like a mini-apartment with forty-five feet of living space. It had a plush couch that folded down into the softest bed she had ever been on, two reclining chairs, a flat-screen television, a private bathroom, a personal attendant, and a menu that was allegedly cooked “to order.”

June didn’t know how they did this. Wasn’t all airplane food pre-packaged and heated in some kind of microwave in the back cabin?

She ordered a bowl of fruit, chickpea salad, and mashed potatoes for her and Ember to split for lunch.

Bennett and Kennedy were in another cabin, but they often swapped roommates to keep the flight interesting.

June was excited to see the ranch. She’d only seen it a handful of times since he’d done the renovations on it all those years ago, and she was looking forward to seeing where he spent all of his time. She wanted to continue their stroll down memory lane and see the animals, eat at their favorite Montana restaurants, go do the ranch-related experiences. More than anything, she was excited to show Ember where her daddy was from.

June had spent years pushing the thoughts of June’s biological father to the back of her mind. She had downright tried to pretend those memories didn’t exist. But as she watched Ember sleeping in Bennett’s lap, reclined and comfortable in her little cabin, she couldn’t help but be struck

Apparently, the flight attendant couldn’t, either.

Bringing in a hot blanket, the cheery attendant leaned down to Bennett and whispered, “Your daughter is adorable.”

“Thanks,” he said, wrapping the blanket around himself and Ember. When the flight attended exited the cabin, he looked at June and winked.

June’s heart fluttered. It wasn’t the first time somebody had mistaken them for a family, but it was the first time she let it sink in. She studied the shape of Ember’s dark eyes, her broad build, and her perfect little nose, and was overcome by how much she looked like Bennett. It seemed with every year that passed, Ember was becoming his little clone.

These were the thoughts that made her nervous, because of course, if all went well between June and Bennett this week, she would have to tell him.

Would he hate her for it? That was her biggest fear. He’d say she robbed him of the pregnancy and five years of Ember’s life. He never got a say in her name, her school, her health. He had been excluded all because she was too hurt and too proud to tell him she was pregnant.

Beyond Bennett’s reaction, what would she tell Ember?

Her little girl was growing up so fast, she knew Ember would understand the concept of Bennett being her bio-parent, but how would that make her feel? She would no doubt feel betrayed, and what would that do to Ember in the long run? Would she hate June? Would she come to resent Bennett or Lincoln? Would she question what was real and what wasn’t in her life?

Maybe June was giving Ember too much credit. Perhaps she would just shrug and smile in her adorable way and say, “Okay, Mama!” and continue playing with her toys.

It was the unknown that was so frightening. Things were going so well now, and June didn’t want to put a damper on the love that was growing between her and Bennett, yet the guilt weighed in her stomach like an anchor.

By two that afternoon, the plane had landed, and June, Ember, Bennett, and Kennedy embarked on a forty-minute drive back to the ranch.

It was more beautiful than she remembered, and based on the giant gasp Ember let out as they pulled up to the gates, she thought so, too.

They dropped Kennedy off at Blackbear Lodge, the main hub of the ranch. This was where guests checked in. It also housed the gym, spa, and sauna on the property.

“I’m sorry I’m ruining your big reunion weekend,” Kennedy pouted as June walked her into the lodge.

Kennedy wasn’t going to be staying on the ranch property like June was, but Bennett thought it was important to get her situated and signed up for work as soon as they landed. He wanted her in a routine, he’d said.

“You’re not ruining anything. I’m happy to have you here, and I know Ember is, too.”

Ember smiled. “Yeah, she was giving me a pep-talk the whole way up here. ‘You can do it!’ and ‘You’re going to be the best horse-tamer ever!’ I mean, clearly she has no idea why I’m here but it’s cute nonetheless!”

“That sounds like her,” June giggled. “And what about you? Are you excited to be here?”

Kennedy shrugged. Her eyes searched the extravagant vaulted ceiling of the main lodge before finding June’s again. “I don’t know.”

“It’ll certainly be different to what you were doing back in Texas,” June empathized.

“I just wish I didn’t have to be here.”

“Hey, you’re preaching to the choir. I was so dead set on this ranch years ago, I swore as soon as we broke up, I would never come back,” June said.

The youngest Brooks child looked at her curiously and asked, “So, what’s changed?”

“Everything. My circumstances, my relationship with your brother, my...willingness to change.”

“Change sucks,” Kennedy said quietly.

“It doesn’t have to,” June smiled. “You’re a friendly girl, Kennedy. I have no doubt you could be in Texas or the North Pole and you would find a new group of people to hang out with.”

Kennedy smirked and shook her head. “I sure hope so.”

After getting settled in, Bennett continued his tour of the ranch with June and Ember. The property was so immense, it was almost overwhelming, but the chic, vintage-inspired map she picked up at the front desk helped her regain her bearings.

Because June didn’t want to stay at Bennett’s house, he set her up with a two-bedroom cabin on the property, but there were others available. There were also one-bedroom units, adjoining cabins, and spacious lodges that looked more like mini cottage mansions than rustic forest homes.

The guest houses took up the left side of the property. They started south and went up to the northernmost point in a zig-zag that followed a winding river stream. The properties were staggered and private so that all of the guests felt they were getting their own slice of rustic paradise.

The cottages were all named after things found in the wild. Thistle Cottage, Beaver Creek Lodge, and June’s cottage—the Yellowbell—was named after the brag-worthy beautiful Montana wildflower. The tiny flower was yellow with a distinct reddish-purple ring at the base of the flower. It was delicate like a buttercup and hung on its stem like a little bell pepper.

“This is gorgeous!” June marveled.

“Look, Mama!” Ember pointed. There’s a front porch!”

“Are you sure it’s okay if we stay here?” she asked, wide-eyed at the luxury of it.

“Don’t be silly. You guys are my guests. Come on, let me show you around!” he insisted as he carried her bags into the cottage.

The cabin was gorgeous. It had an expansive front porch with three handcrafted wooden chairs on it, a wood stove, tastefully decorated living room, log-cabin style walls, a master bedroom with a king bed and ensuite bathroom, an oversized tub, and a separate bed and bathroom for Ember.

Kennedy got to work right away. Bennet was going to have her cross-trained in a couple of different areas of the ranch—working with horses, hosting an experience, working at the spa, and doing front desk. With so many options, he figured she would have to find something she loved.

The rest of them went on a long walk around the ranch. They visited the communal fire pit once it grew dark and listened to one of the experience hosts talk about striking gold in the mountain. It was a great folk-tale, complete with marshmallow roasting and campfire music. Ember loved it. But it had been a long day, and soon, Ember was asleep in June’s arms.

Bennett grabbed a Jeep to drive them back to their cottage, where June was able to put Ember to bed.

Once her daughter was settled in, June sat on the couch with Bennett and curled into him in front of the crackling fire.

“Did you tell Lincoln you were coming this way?” he asked after some time.

“Yes. But I probably didn’t have to. He had already texted me, canceling his weekend with Ember. Again,” she said quietly, trying not to scoff with annoyance.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” he said, rubbing her arm. “That must really bum her out. I mean, I give my parents heck for a lot of stupid things they say and do, but I’ll give them this: my parents were always reliable. They were always there if I needed them for anything.”

“I hate that this is the life I’m giving her, you know?”

“Shh,” he cooed, “You’re doing great.”

“I just worry what this is going to do to her in the long run. Is she going to have daddy issues? Is she going to act out at a young age? I’ve read the statistics on fatherless girls, and I have to say, they’re pretty grim. Behavioral problems, more likely to end up addicted to something,” she said.

“Hey, she’s five,” he chuckled. “Not exactly ready to start a debilitating drug habit.”

June smiled at this, but her expression darkened.

“I want to give her the best life possible,” she said. “I thought that’s what Lincoln and I both wanted.”

“I’m sure he wants the best for her,” he offered, but June wasn’t so sure anymore.

“He wants the best for himself,” she said.

Lincoln had always been on the same page with her about Ember, but since the separation, it seemed like Ember was the last thing on his mind. It’s like something suddenly clicked in him that said, “Hey wait, this kid isn’t even mine. Why am I putting in all this effort?”

Bennett watched the fire, and June studied the way the flames reflected in his dark eyes. The two were silent for a moment before he said, “I know it’s not the same, but she’ll always have me.”

“Is that right?”

“I know I can’t be her dad,” he said, and her heart lilted with nerves. “But there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for that little girl.”

Chapter Thirteen

Bennett

In the weeks that June and Ember, Bennett had aspired to show them everything. He signed them up for nearly all of the activities, especially the ones for kids.

The only thing that June wouldn't allow was horseback riding. No matter how safe he tried to convince her it was, or how slow he would go in teaching Ember how to ride, June outright refused.

He liked to tease her about it, calling her a helicopter mom, but he was happy to find other activities for them to do.

Every day with the three of them was a new adventure. One night he signed them up for a painting course, which Ember absolutely loved.

The next day, he took the girls to the spa and treated Ember to her first pedicure. She raved about it for the rest of the day.

“You’re spoiling her,” June whispered as she nuzzled into him.

“So long as she’s at my ranch, she’s getting treated like a little princess,” he said.

“Which I guess makes me the queen,” she winked.

He laughed. “We’ll see.”

Bennett had always felt at home at his ranch, but having June there with him had invigorated his love for Brookside. Every day he woke up energized and ready for another adventure.

The little family had taken a helicopter day trip into Yellowstone, gone rafting, and had been to many bonfires on the property, but Ember’s favorite activity couldn’t have been simpler—playing with the dogs.

“Apricot is so cute!” Ember said of the farm poodle as she reached her hands up into the dog’s curly fur.

“Isn't she?” he agreed. “And you've been giving her lots of love lately, so I know she's been feeling pretty special.”

He watched her play with the dog for a moment longer before asking, “Hey, Em. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Ember took her time answering the question. She pressed her lips thin and looked at Apricot, thinking hard. “I want to be...a dog doctor!”

“A dog doctor?” he repeated with a laugh.

“I want to take care of dogs. And horses! And a moose!” she continued to chant, causing June to giggle behind her.

“A moose?” he repeated. “Just one moose?”

“Yes,” Ember grinned, turning her head shyly.

Bennett loved to pepper Ember silly this-or-that questions, and she seemed to enjoy it, too. “Would you rather live in a treehouse or an igloo?” he asked.

“A treehouse,” she said.

“That one's easy,” June added. “Who wants to live in the cold?”

“If you could write a book, what would it be about?” he asked.

Ember tapped her finger against her mouth before concluding, “It would be about a dog who goes to outer space.”

“Okay, how about this one,” he began. “If you had to change your name, what would it be?”

“I would be...hmm. Bennett!” Ember announced, jumping as she made her reveal.

He grinned at her answer and walked up to June. Throwing an arm around her, he said, “I approve of your daughter's choice.”

June blushed and cuddled into him. “You're her new favorite person, you know that? I'm starting to feel a little jealous. I've been replaced!”

“Impossible,” he teased.

“I can ask you a million questions, too,” he said, pulling her closer. “What's the weirdest way you've become friends with someone?”

She shook her head. “I don't need your pity questions.”

“I'm serious,” he insisted. “Any wacky encounters?”

This was one of his favorite things about being back with June. The two of them could just talk. They could speak about life, the ranch her aspirations, Ember, and the nothing in-between.

“I don't think I've had any weird experiences,” she shrugged. “Not really. But I mean, Danielle is always meeting all these weird people who want to tell her their life story after about five minutes of knowing her, and I'm like, how do you keep meeting these people?”

“She just has one of those trusting faces, makes people want to divulge everything,” he said. “Jett is like that, too. For some reason, people always want to share their weird stories with him.”

“You're not kidding,” she laughed. “What about you? Any wild encounters?”

“I mean, at the ranch, everything is sort of a weird experience. It's not common to meet people while you're throwing axes or shifting through a tight squeeze in a cave,” he winked.

A shiver washed over June's body, and she began shaking her head as she said, “I could never, ever, ever do that. Me and Megan once watched this 'try not to cringe' video challenge and they had this section about spelunkers who were basically turning into contortionists trying to get through these narrow passages.”

He could imagine June curled up in a chair, watching videos with her sister. She was a big fan of compilation videos, and they spent a lot of their spare time watching online challenges: try not to laugh, try not to cry, try not to sing along.

“Oh, I bet you just loved that,” he said.

“It made me lose my breath. I get anxiety just watching it. I don't know how those people don't just scream!” she grinned.

“Ah, come on. You could do it!”

“Maybe for like a second,” she said, her eyes going wide at the thought of it. “But as soon as I got far enough in that there was no turning back, I'd be paralyzed. They would literally have to dig me out of there.”

Bennett laughed. “I hope that's not a reflection of how things are going to go when I take you down into our own little Lamplight Cave.”

“Oh no!” she said, putting up a hand and drawing out her vowel. “I am not going down there with you.”

“It's not like those videos, I swear,” he said with a laugh. He already had their big caving day planned out and knew she was going to love it. “And if you get scared, I'll be right there protecting you.”

“You promise?” she asked, looking up at him so sweetly, he just had to kiss her.

“I promise.”

Chapter Fourteen

June

As prim and proper as June imagined she would be with Bennett, the truth was she’d spent half of her time at the cabin at the ranch and half of her time at his mini-mansion overlooking the mountains.

Tonight, though, she was taking a break from the ranch and the friends she’d made there to spend some quality time with her daughter.

June and Ember spent the night playing board games and sipping freshly brewed iced tea that she’d bought from The Cider Mill—a little market on the ranch property. The tea was amazing. It was just cold tea and lemon as opposed to the store-brand sweet tea that was loaded with sugars.

When night fell over the Yellowbell cottage, June grabbed a cuddly flannel blanket and led Ember outside onto the porch.

The two sat in one of the rocking chairs and listened to the sounds of the night at the lodge. They heard crickets and buzzing insects, and a faint horse’s bray in the distance. Set against the backdrop of the rushing river by the cottage property and Brookside Ranch had created the perfect outdoor ambiance.

“I love it here, Mama,” Ember said as they rocked. Her tone was sleepy and content, and it filled June’s heart to hear.

“I love it here too, baby,” she said quietly. “Can you believe we’ve almost been here for a whole month?”

The weeks at the ranch had sailed by faster than June had time to catch it.

“Can I just…” Ember began before drifting into a satisfying yawn. “Can I just live with the puppy?”

“You’d rather go live with a farm dog than cuddle with your mommy?” June giggled.

Ember pretended to think about it, then she threw her hands around June’s neck and nuzzled into her. Her daughter’s little fingers were cold as they pressed against her neck, causing June to pull the thick blanket up.

“What if I said you could have both the little puppy and me?” June asked quietly.

Ember craned her neck, offering her mother wide eyes. She certainly looked awake now.

“We’re getting a puppy?” Ember said excitedly.

“Well, no, not necessarily,” June smiled. She’d put her foot in her mouth this time. No doubt, Ember would be begging for a puppy after this. “I meant, what if I told you we wouldn’t have to leave the ranch if you don’t want to?”

Ember gasped. She didn’t lift her head off of June’s shoulder as she looked up at her in wonder.

“You like Bennett, right?” June asked.

“He’s the best! He’s the coolest ever!”

“Mommy likes him, too,” June said. “Actually, I love him, and he loves me too, and I was thinking maybe sometime we would move to Montana. What would you think of that?”

“Yay!” Ember cheered without giving it a second thought.

“Really? You know that means you’d have to change schools and you wouldn’t get to see Aunt Megan or either of your grandparents as much?”

Ember quieted, considering this. She bit her lip in thought before asking, “Would I still get to see them?”

“Oh, of course. Just, maybe once a month. Do you know what that means?”

“I think so,” Ember said.

“And what would you think of that? Do you think that’s something you’d like?”

“I think...yes!” Ember said decidedly, cheering tiredly into her mother’s ear.

June wanted to laugh or cry. She didn’t know which. With Ember’s enthusiastic seal of approval, she could start living her life the way it was meant to be lived.

The two sat outside on the porch for just a little while longer before Ember fell asleep.

June picked her up and took her back inside to bed.

She would ask Ember again in the morning whether she was okay with moving to Montana. If she still said yes, then June would tell Bennett the happy news.

June couldn’t believe how deeply she’d already fallen for Bennett. In a way, it felt like he had always been there with her, and as she looked down at Ember asleep in her bed, she supposed he had been.

She cuddled in bed with her daughter, drifting in and out of sleep for some time before she rolled over and grabbed her phone off of the nightstand.

If they stayed, then she had to tell Bennett. She’d been trying to tell him for the last three weeks, but no time ever seemed good enough.

She knew she couldn’t protect Ember from the truth, either, and struggled daily with what the repercussions of telling her might be.

Which was better? Telling her at eighteen and having her feel like all eighteen years of her life had been a lie or telling her now and risking messing her up with the sheer gravity of the truth?

How could she tell her daughter that the father she’d known her whole life was just…some guy?

Then again, Lincoln abandoning Ember was something she couldn’t change. She couldn’t take it back or undo it, but she could give Ember a new hope—a relationship with Bennett.

Unable to dwell on the subject any longer, she texted Lincoln from her bed.

“How are you?” she asked.

They had been communicating exclusively through text the past two months, as per his request, and it was so hard to understand his tone through the short, written statements. It was odd, considering she used to be able to read him like a book.

“Fine,” he said.

She exhaled slowly. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Ember and her dad. We’ve reconnected lately.”

“Huh? You and Ember?”

“No,” she wrote. “Me and Bennett.”

She had conveniently left that part out when she had told Lincoln that she was taking Ember on vacation for a month. She’d also left out the part where they were going to Montana.

“The whole thing has been weighing on my mind and I was thinking that I might tell her the truth about her biological father,” she wrote, then hovered her thumb over the send button.

June erased and re-wrote the sentence three times, but it all came out sounding the same. Awful and surreal. Finally, she just sent him the message.

She held her breath, waiting for him to respond. She wondered if he would be hurt or outraged at the thought of Ember finding out he wasn’t really her father. She wondered if he would call and she would be up half of the night explaining her reasoning to him.

What he finally wrote was lackluster at best.

“She’s a little young, don’t you think?”

“I wondered that, too,” she replied, trying to get any dialogue going with him. “I don’t know, Linc. I was hoping you would have some insight on what I should do?”

“Do whatever you think is best. You are her mother.”

“And you’re her dad,” she sent.

“Apparently, you don’t want her to think that anymore, so whatever.”

“Well you’re not acting like a dad these days,” she wrote and hated herself for starting an argument with him, but the truth was she had been hoping he would react a little stronger to the news. She wanted him to care about Ember. “I certainly wouldn’t try and punish you for it,” she continued. “I don’t want to hurt you or confuse her; I just can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Then you’ve already made your mind up,” he wrote.

She exhaled in frustration, her fingers going a mile a minute as she typed, “I’m trying to have a conversation with you. What do you think? I’m thinking I should do it. Would you prefer to be there when I do?”

“Tell her. Don’t tell her. I don’t really care, June.”

Telling Ember didn’t mean only rocking Bennett, Lincoln, and her daughter’s worlds.

Since her pregnancy, she’d also been lying to her family about who Ember’s real father was. She had never told a soul, except for Lincoln, and she knew he hadn’t spilled the truth to anyone. Though she wouldn’t be surprised if he told his new girlfriend. After all, it was easier to date when you didn’t have a child pulling for your attention and this would be a convenient truth for him to share.

Her parents wouldn’t react well, and neither would Megan or Danielle. They would all ask the same thing: why didn’t you trust me enough to tell me the truth?

June was a private person. She was shy and liked things orderly. Her life plan was supposed to be going to college and one day marrying Bennett.

When they broke up, her world shattered, and she found out she was pregnant. None of those things fit in her world. But along came Lincoln, and suddenly, everything made sense again. She reorganized her world and built herself back up.

June spent the rest of the afternoon pouring over message boards and mother’s groups of moms in similar situations all asking the same question: should I tell my child the man they’ve come to love and trust isn’t really their father?

The boards didn’t help. The answers seemed entirely split. Some said to wait until the child is older. Others said, “You’ll know when it’s right!” while others revealed horror stories of how they felt to find out their father growing up was not their biological parent. They spoke of ulcers caused by stress and parent-child relationships ruined by lies.

Maybe the middle group was right. Maybe June should just trust her mother’s intuition. It was this instinctive knowledge that had carried her through motherhood so far, telling her when Ember was sick even when nobody else saw the signs and understanding when she was stressed out or upset.

And right now, June’s intuition wanted her to tell the truth.

But before she could tell Ember, she would have to tell Bennett.

Chapter Fifteen

Bennett

Things were going great with Kennedy. True to Brooks form, her natural charm had already earned her a host of new friends at the ranch—not one of which his mother would disapprove of.

In the month his little sister had been recuperating at the ranch, she had taken to working with the horses and was training for the kids’ camp, teaching little ones to ride. She had also been out almost every night with her new friends. They’d gone out on a boat, had dinner in town, and he even heard rumblings of her going to a country dance hosted at a local barn.

Having Kennedy at the ranch also allowed Bennett to get closer to her. He was trying to build her confidence, and as far as he was concerned, it seemed to be working.

Kennedy also adored Ember, which made having dates with June a lot easier than he thought it was going to be.

That wasn’t to say they didn’t take Ember with them eight times out of ten, but he appreciated being able to connect with June on a different level when they were alone.

Today, he’d taken her down into the ranch’s local cave. It wasn’t a scary cave. Nobody had to be harnessed or dropped down into a narrow pit. It was hardly anxiety-inducing, but it sure was beautiful.

Bennett helped June down the stairs into the well-lit cave, flashlight in hand. He’d taken her late that night to ensure nobody else would be there.

The cave was big enough that they’d been able to put lights down there, which had helped make it a family friendly tour without any real danger of guests stumbling or falling into the unknown.

Bennett had been inside the Lamplight Cave more times than he could count, but he never got tired of seeing its natural beauty. The stalactite calcium cylinders hung from the roof of the limestone cave as though it were nature’s jaw, biting down to try and set its teeth against the stalagmite molars.

June marveled at the sparkling rocks that projected upward from the floor.

“This is amazing,” she said.

“Watch your head here,” he cautioned the deeper they got into the cave.

“I wonder how long this place has been here,” she mused.

“I don’t know. It’s weird to think about, right? Like, who was the first guy who wanted to rappel down into a pit of blackness?”

June giggled as they walked into the next room—Bennett’s favorite. It was a large clearing called the Queen’s Throne Room. There was a giant, throne-shaped stalactite jutting up from the ground that had been covered in the crystal that seemed to shimmer in the light. Ponds of impossibly turquoise water surrounded the throne and made the whole room sparkle.

“Isn’t this amazing?” he asked, practically breathless at the sight.

“It’s great,” she said with less enthusiasm than he had expected.

He thought June would have been more taken with the sight. He watched the ringlets of light bounce off the ceiling and against June’s face and down her red hair.

Something had been off about her all day. She was preoccupied, and even when they were engaged in conversation, she still seemed to be somewhere else.

“You okay?” he asked.

June shrugged. “Just a little distracted. Sorry.”

“Being fifty feet underground probably isn’t the place to get distracted,” he said with a wink.

“Luckily, I have a big strong cowboy here to rescue me,” she flirted.

Bennett put his hands around her waist and dipped her backward, kissing her Old-Hollywood style. She reciprocated with the softest, kindest kiss he had ever felt.

They continued exploring the room before moving into the next section of the cave, and June remained quiet.

“Anything you want to talk about?” he finally asked.

“I was texting Lincoln last night about Ember and…” she petered off. It seemed like she was ready to delve into a full-blown story, but eventually, she waved her hand and simplified, “Well, we got into a fight.”

“Does Ember know?”

“No,” she sighed, twirling in a circle as she looked up at the crystal ceiling of the next room. “All she knows is he isn’t there. He doesn’t want to be there anymore, and there’s nothing I can do or say to change his mind or make it better for her.” She shrugged helplessly. “She’s so little and she has to deal with all of these adult problems, whether she understands that now or not, and one day she’ll know what happened, and how do you tell your kid that their dad didn’t want to be around?”

Bennett nodded. “She’s a tough kid. Smart, too. She’ll be alright. You know why? Because she’s got a strong mom who would do anything for her. She’s lucky to have you, and she knows it.”

June smiled, but she hardly seemed convinced. She tilted her head to the side as if trying to decide something, then exhaled and spun around again.

“It’s so beautiful here,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in the world.”

“And no tight squeezes,” he said.

June snapped her fingers playfully and agreed, “That also helps.”

“I told you I wouldn’t make you do anything scary,” he said, remembering her hesitation about going spelunking with him.

The walked around another water basin in the cave and took a moment to stare down into the many shades of blue. He grabbed her hand and ran his thumb over it gently.

“Things are different this time,” he said.

“Really different,” she agreed.

“I told you they would be.”

“Why do you think that is?” she asked.

“I think we needed those extra years to grow up. I needed to stop being so selfish,” he admitted. “And you? Well, you were pretty much perfect already, but now you have Ember, and she’s turned you into this patient, loving, risk-taking—”

June interrupted him with a laugh, throwing both of her hands up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Risk-taking? Do you think I’m a risk-taker?”

“You came out here with me, didn’t you?” he smiled. “You never would have done that before. I always knew I never wanted to be without you, but this time around just feels right. There’s me, there’s you, there’s Ember—”

Before he could finish his sentence, June began to cry. He flinched at the sudden show of emotion. He reached out for her hand, but she backed away.

“What? What’s wrong?” he asked.

She shook her head and covered her face with her hands, letting out a small sob. “I’m just scared,” she managed to say.

“Of...” he said, then paused and looked around the cave. She couldn’t possibly have been afraid of being underground. He walked back up to her and put a hand on her arm, rubbing it comfortingly. “Of you and me?”

“No,” she said.

He swallowed nervously, unsure why she was so upset. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

June took a steadying breath and stared down at her feet. He could see she was clenching her jaw, willing herself to stop crying. When she looked up at him, tears fell from her glassy eyes.

“I love you,” she said.

He brightened. “I love you, too.”

“No, Bennett,” she said, as though his words hadn’t counted. “I mean, I want to be with you. I want to wake up next to you. I want to come to Montana—no, not just come here. I want to move to Montana. I’m ready this time. I was so young before; I was so stupid. You believe me, right?”

“You...stupid?” he scoffed, pulling her into the safety of his arms. “I would never say that. I would say we both had a lot to figure out back then.”

She stiffened against him, rolling her eyes despite herself and sadly scoffing, “I was an idiot.”

Her tone unsettled him in a way he couldn’t describe. She didn’t sound like she was hypothetically afraid of their future together; she sounded like she had done something wrong.

“What’s going on?” he asked, tense.

“I see a future with you, Bennett. I know it’s fast, but I want to be with you. I want this to be my life, here on the ranch.”

He nodded, desperately wishing she would get to the part that was going to hurt him.

“I want that, too,” he said.

“Do you? Really? Because the fantasy of it is a lot different than reality. You’ve always wanted me to come here, but what if it doesn’t live up to your imagination? Plus, I have Ember now.”

He nodded. “June, that’s the best part,” he said. She blinked in surprise, taken aback by his words. “I love that kid; you know that, right? Me, you, Ember. We fit.”

“Stop,” she said, putting up a hand.

“What? I only meant that—”

June sighed and pressed her eyes closed. “Look, there’s something I have to tell you, and I don’t know how to tell you, but if I don’t do it soon, I feel like I’m going to explode.”

Bennett felt his body cascade with sharp, painful tingles. He racked his brain with thoughts of what it could be and briefly wondered if she wanted to reconcile with Lincoln, but no. She had just said Lincoln was out of the picture—that they fought recently.

When he saw the expression on her face, he knew it was serious. It was the same look he’d seen before when they first broke up. The look of nervous heartbreak just teetering on the edge of a precipice.

“The last place I wanted to have this conversation with you was in a cave,” she said, drawing her confession out in the most painful way possible.

“What?” he snapped. “Just tell me.”

“When we broke up before, I was really angry,” she said, her words slow and deliberate. “I was too proud to admit I’d blown it with you. I hated you for seeing someone else; I hated that you didn’t wait for me; I hated that you made me feel like it was all or nothing.”

He drew his brows together, unsure why she was choosing now of all times to start attacking him for who he was six years ago.

“It wasn’t working,” he said plainly. “You knew that.”

“I was proud,” she said firmly. “I didn’t want anything from you. I didn’t want closure. I didn’t want a second chance. The only way I could move on from you was to put everything behind me and make a clean break.”

“I get that. I did the same thing, June.”

The redhead pressed her eyes shut, hard, and blurted out, “Bennett, I was already pregnant.”

He froze. His mind went completely blank. He could tell June was waiting for him to react—to say something—but he wouldn’t dare respond until she met his eyes.

“When we broke up,” she repeated, as though he hadn’t heard what she had said, “I was already pregnant.”

She opened her eyes, shadows of gray boring into his soul. He clenched his jaw.

“Bennett, say something.”

“I’m...having a little bit of trouble processing this right now,” he said, forcing the words out. “You’re saying Ember is mine?”

She nodded, suddenly void of tears. “She’s yours.”

“What about Lincoln?”

He didn’t know why he asked it. He understood her perfectly—she was already pregnant when they broke up. Without a doubt, Ember was his child.

“He…” she stammered, unsure what to say. “He loved me enough to play house.”

“He knew?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Of course,” she said. “I never lied to him.”

No, Bennett thought. June didn’t lie to Lincoln, she lied to Bennett—the father.

“Who else knows?” he asked.

“Nobody,” she said softly. “Not my sister, not my parents—”

“Ember?” he interrupted.

“No,” she said, her tone firm.

“June, what the…” he tensed, his whole body filled with deep, overwhelming anger. He kicked at the rocks beneath his feet, cursing under his breath, then spun on his heel and turned back to June. “What were you thinking?” he demanded, suddenly inconceivably angry. “Why would you do this?”

“I tried to explain it. I was proud,” she said, shaking her head.

“You took her from me,” he said sharply.

Ember was his daughter, and she had taken that experience from him. Watching her come into the world, watching her grow up, picking her name. He hadn’t been a part of it, and though it was no fault of his own. He felt a pang of drowning guilt well up inside of him.

Tears fell from June’s eyes, landing on her cheeks like clear freckles. “I knew if you knew you’d...”

“What?” he snapped. “Make your move?”

“I knew you’d take me back, and I didn’t want your pity!” she shouted.

“It’s not pity; it’s my kid!” he yelled back.

“I know!” she cried. “I’m so sorry, Bennett.”

“You had no right to do that! I don’t care how much you hated me or what our life was like that the time; that was my little girl. I could have been there for her, June. I missed everything. What did you think? Did you think I would have bailed on you like your ex? No way. I wouldn’t have done that.”

“I was a kid,” she said.

He couldn’t believe she was trying to defend herself.

“You were twenty-five,” he enunciated. She was hardly a kid.

“I can’t go back and change the past,” she said firmly. “All I can do is beg for your forgiveness and hope that you want to know her because she loves you.”

He stared at her, and for the briefest moment, he considered whether what she was telling him was true. She had been saying earlier that Lincoln wasn’t interested in resuming his role in Ember’s life, so it would be convenient for Ember to have a new father enter the picture.

But June would never do that. She would never tell him this unless it was true.

Looking back, it made sense. The affection his mother had for Ember should have spoken volumes—she was extremely particular about the children she let into her inner circle.

He thought back to all of the instances that reminded him of Kennedy—the Brooks smile, the way she laughed—and then cursed himself for being so blind.

“Who does she think I am?” he asked.

“She thinks you’re...Bennett,” she shrugged helplessly. “You’re her friend.”

“And Lincoln is her dad,” he said bitterly.

“He was there for her all that time,” she said meekly.

“Because you took her from me!” he yelled. “I didn’t even get a chance! This is typical. Guys get no say in this stuff. You just wrote me off, and you had no right!”

“I’m sorry, Bennett. You have no idea how sorry I am, but I did what I thought was right for me at the time.”

“And now you’re telling me at the last possible moment.” He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger, squeezing in frustration. “You had a month,” he said, his words clipped with annoyance.

“I know.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow,” he said, sullen.

“I know that,” she pushed back. “I’m sorry. You can’t imagine how scary this is for me. Please, try to understand my side of this.”

“You know what, June? I don’t understand your side. I don’t understand you at all. I knew you were mad at me back then. I know you felt like I pushed you, but I would never in a million years believe you could ever do something like this. Ever.”

With that, he turned around and began walking the long road back to the surface.

Chapter Sixteen

June

When they emerged from the damp cave, Bennett had nothing to say to June.

He was quiet, and she could tell he was hurting. It killed her to have caused him such pain, but she didn’t know what else to do or say to make things better.

She was trying to do the right thing, not break his heart.

He was angry, and she could tell he was holding back as he spoke through clenched teeth. “I need time.”

“We leave at five tomorrow,” she said, and he gave her a pointed stare.

“I know that,” he snapped.

“Will I see you before then?”

“I just need some time to think, alright, June? Can I get five minutes to digest this?”

“Please,” she urged him, setting a hand on his arm. “Don’t waste this last night. Let’s talk about this before we do something we regret.”

Bennett looked at her hands, then back at her. His eyes were cold—changed, somehow. There wasn’t the love there she had felt there just an hour earlier.

“You dropped a bomb on me,” he said coldly. “And now I’m supposed to just be okay with it? Just act like nothing is different and I can still trust you?”

Her heart sank, sending a painful reverberation through her middle.

“Okay, go,” she said, hoping it didn’t sound like she thought she needed to permit him to leave.

Bennett left without a word. As she watched him walk away, she had an agonizing feeling that it would be the last time she saw him.

She hoped he would come to her later that night, but Bennett remained scarce from Brookside Ranch.

She hardly slept that night. She had been so restless that she’d woken Ember up with her wandering.

“Are you okay, Mama?” Ember asked, rubbing an eye sleepily.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, picking her daughter up and bringing her back to bed. “I’m just having trouble sleeping.”

“I can sing to you, if you want,” Ember said, and June couldn’t help but smile.

“Okay,” June agreed, crawling into bed with the girl and snuggling close to her.

She listened as Ember started singing all of her favorite lullabies. Her small voice carried through the room, soft and sweet until June found herself closing her eyes.

As soon as she felt the ghost of sleep wash over her, her eyes shot open.

Ember was sleeping, and June couldn’t help but trace the curve of her face with her fingertips. She looked so much like him. This little girl’s life was about to change so much, and she didn’t even know it yet.

June wished she could be that oblivious. She wished she could go back in time just a few hours and remember what it was like when everything was fine. She wished she was with Bennett and that he was looking at her with affection.

She spent the next morning packing up and cleaning the room before taking Ember to the ranch restaurant for breakfast.

The food was buffet style but cooked to order. She took Ember up to the pancake counter and her daughter ordered a short stack of buttermilk blueberry and honey pancakes. They watched as the chef flipped the golden discs on the griddle and stacked them expertly on a square plate for Ember.

Next, June went to the omelet station. She got a mix of bell peppers, onions, and bacon, but couldn’t bring herself to eat once they finally got to the table.

She thought Bennett would come that morning, but he never showed.

It wasn’t until four that evening that he set foot on the cottage porch.

She opened the door to him and hoped to see the love in his eyes, but they were dark. He looked past her into the entryway, his eyes darting toward the stack of bags by the front door.

“You’re still leaving?” he asked with mild surprise.

She didn’t know why he thought she would have done differently. He was the one who booked the tickets, and she didn’t exactly have the money to get a different flight.

“I’m not sure what else to do,” she said unsurely. “I think you need time to process.”

“Did you tell her?” he asked, and she shook her head. “Are you going to?”

“I won’t if you don’t want me to, but I think she has a right to know,” she said, trying to sound kind but diplomatic.

“Hm,” he mumbled, looking down.

“I was hoping we could do it together when you’re feeling...up to it. Maybe when you’re not so angry.”

An irritated smirk crossed the left side of his mouth and he challenged her, “How do you want me to be?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know how I would feel. I guess I would be upset; maybe I would feel betrayed, hurt, regretful,” she listed off.

“That pretty much hits the nail on the head.”

She turned to make sure Ember wasn’t nearby, then looked back at Bennett and whispered, “Don’t you think I feel the same way, Bennett? It hasn’t been easy for me all these years.”

“No?” he asked, not bothering to whisper. “You just got someone else to slip into my spot, isn’t that right? Did you even love Lincoln or what?”

June stepped forward, forcing Bennett out onto the porch and out of earshot of their daughter.

“I did. Eventually,” she said.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “If you didn’t love him at first, then why didn’t you come back to me? Do you know how different our lives would be if you have just been honest with me?”

She crossed her arms. “Here’s how it would have went: I tell you; you freak out and take me back out of pity or duty or honor or whatever it is; then I move to Montana and resent you for it for years and years and you resent me for dragging you back into our failing relationship.”

He winced. “That’s how you saw our life together?”

June shrugged.

“Or maybe you would have told me and we both would have stopped being so childish,” he argued. “Maybe we would have seen that there was a bigger picture to the story of us and I would have told you that nothing in the world mattered to me anymore except for having a life with you.”

“That’s a fairy-tale line, Bennett,” she said helplessly. “But it’s not what would have happened. You love this ranch. It’s who you are.”

“No,” he said firmly. “It’s what I do.”

“Well, I guess we’ll never know,” she said.

“No, I guess we won’t,” he snapped.

The two stood there, silent in their standoff, before Ember came running toward the screen door.

“Bennett!” she yelped in delight.

Bennett locked eyes with June. She knew he was furious, but he was ever the gentleman as he asked her permission to play with Ember for the last hour they would be at the ranch.

She agreed and went with them out into the stables where June was met by Apricot.

Ember had been obsessed with her since they had come to the ranch. She insisted on visiting her every day, and Bennett had made sure to make it happen.

The two played with the dog, tossing a ball for her and telling silly stories while June just watched.

Her heart exploded with love as she studied them together.

She had seen them interact so many times in the past, but seeing Bennett talk to her now that he knew the truth was a whole different experience.

Ember was his, and she could already see him take pride in that.

But when he looked at June, he was sullen.

When it came time for them to leave, Bennett called a car to take them to the airport. The driver loaded their bags into the trunk and Ember took that moment to run up to Bennett.

He picked her up and she threw her arms around his neck. “Promise not to forget me!” she said.

“Oh, I don’t think that’s possible,” Bennett smiled, squeezing her tight. “You’re my favorite person, ever. My new little buddy, and friends don’t forget friends, right?”

“Right!”

“Okay, kiddo, take care, alright?” he said, his voice thick with emotion.

“I hope we can come back soon,” her daughter said, and June could already tell that the little girl was going to start crying.

“Me too,” Bennett said, and Ember erupted in tears.

“Pet Apricot for me,” she sobbed into his shoulder.

“Aww, I’ll give her a cuddle every day.”

“You promise?” Ember asked.

“I swear. And you know what?” he said, and the girl looked up at him. “I’m gonna see you real soon. I’m gonna come back to Houston next month, and then you can come out to my ranch any time you want, okay?”

Ember nodded and wiped her eyes with her arm.

“Anytime you want,” he reiterated. “Alright, kiddo. I’ll see you soon.”

Bennett set the girl down, and she went running to June. She watched him swallow hard as he walked up and hugged June. It was light, but there was hope in it.

“Text me when you land to let me know you got home safe,” he said.

“I will,” she said.

Suddenly, she was overcome with memories of past goodbyes. She remembered dozens of airport visits between Texas and Montana—drawn out, tearful, kiss-filled farewells with Bennett and the heartbreak she felt as soon as he was out of her sight.

It hurt just the same now as it ever did.

Chapter Seventeen

Bennett

“Watch it!” Bennett called as he watched his sister try to mount Silvana, an older horse, down at the stables.

Kennedy had been training with the horses for the past month, getting ready for her first day hosting one of the children’s activities.

For a girl who grew up around horses, Kennedy was as graceless as possible as she mounted the animal, kicking one leg out and nearly booting Bennett in the face as she did so.

“I did! I was being careful,” his sister argued back.

“Do you want to hurt someone, Kennedy? Because if you do, then keep doing what you’re doing right now.”

Kennedy laughed as she adjusted herself on the saddle. “Relax,” she teased.

If this were a real class, Kennedy very well could have kicked one of her young students in the face as she attempted to teach them, but of course, she didn’t care to take it seriously.

“Of course, you don’t care,” he said with irritation, circling the horse. “You don’t care what happens to anyone else—our guests. You only care about yourself.”

Kennedy’s smile dropped and she searched his face to see if he was being serious or not. When she saw he was, she immediately turned defensive.

“Hey, I came to this stupid ranch trying to better myself, just like you said. That has to count for something,” she snipped.

“You can’t be stupid about this. This is serious,” he said firmly, crossing his arms and judging her riding stance as the horse trotted around the stables.

“What’s going on with you lately?” Kennedy said, pulling the reins and steering her horse toward him. “You’ve been absolutely miserable for a week. What, did you and June break up for the billionth time?”

Bennett clenched his teeth and gave his sister a hard stare.

Kennedy wasn’t wrong. He hadn’t exactly been in good spirits since June left the ranch over a week ago.

He’d been in regular contact with Ember, talking to her over video chat and maintaining a connection. He wanted a relationship with her, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t let go of the anger he felt toward June.

She deceived him, and even though he understood why, he couldn’t rid himself of the lightning strike of sickness that hummed through his stomach whenever he thought about the wasted years between him and Ember—at June’s hands.

“Oh no, you didn’t really break up, did you?” Kennedy said, concern settling on her features.

“No,” he said curtly.

“Then what?”

He shrugged, defensive. “What, what?”

“I know when you’re hiding something, Bennett. You get the same look on your face that Dad does.”

“What look?” he asked, and Kennedy rolled her eyes.

“The look that screams ‘I’m lying about something!’”

Bennett searched his mouth with his tongue, tracing the tip over his teeth as he looked out over the stables. He walked up to the horse and pat her on the side for a moment.

He thought about how to tell Kennedy what transpired between him and June, but no words were coming to him.

Finally, lamely, he said, “Ember is mine.”

“Is your...?” Kennedy began unsurely, then burst into an unexpected laugh. “No way, seriously?”

“June found out she was pregnant right after we broke up. Two months pregnant,” he explained.

“And you never noticed?”

Bennett narrowed his brows with annoyance and looked up at her. “How could I?” he complained. “She lived in Texas! She never gave me a chance to notice.”

Kennedy’s smile faded, and she went uncharacteristically silent. She pulled back on the reins once more to stop the horse from impatiently moving around.

Bennett sighed and shook his head. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Hey, no. You didn’t know,” she tried to comfort him.

“I should have—” he began, but Kennedy interrupted him.

“Don’t do that. Don’t do the woulda-coulda-shoulda. You both could have done things a million times different, but you didn’t. It is what it is at this point.” She shrugged her shoulders and watched him carefully as she said, “But I’m sorry.”

“Don’t try to empathize with me, Kennedy. There is no way to explain to you what this feels like.”

“That’s true,” she agreed, her voice pitching up. “Nobody pops on a girl’s doorstep with a baby and goes, ‘By the way, this is yours and you never knew it!’”

Bennett laughed, despite himself. He softened then and asked, “What am I supposed to do with this information?”

“I mean, what’s the problem?”

Her words took him aback. He stared curiously at her, waiting for elaboration.

“Okay, okay! The lying,” she said pointedly, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. “That’s a huge problem. Years and years of lies and opportunities to come clean is not the best foundation for a relationship. But, I mean, you’re together now, right? And you’re crazy about Ember. She’s the best, and—oh my gosh, I just realized that makes her my niece! I officially have the coolest niece ever!”

“Don’t try and butter me up,” he said.

“Dude, I’m not. She is legit the coolest kid I have ever met, and now I know why—she’s part Brooks!”

Bennett smirked. Ember was a blessing, and while he had no part in raising her up to now, it was a privilege to say she was a part of him.

“You love her, don’t you?” Kennedy asked, then shook her head. “You don’t even have to answer that. You’re crazy about her; we can all see it. Plus, you were going to be with June anyway, right? So, what’s the difference?”

“The difference is she lied,” he insisted. “A monumental lie that made me miss out on five years of my daughter’s life. She doesn’t even know I’m her father, and now it’s too late.”

“Too late?” Kennedy said with humor. “Bennett, she’s five! You have years and years left to embarrass her by being her dad,” she chided, then went serious as she said, “Or to teach her how to fish or how to ride a horse. Protect her from her first jerk of a boyfriend the way you protected me from mine. You’re a great brother, Bennett. That’s how I know you’ll be an amazing dad.”

He swallowed. “You really think so?

“I really do. What about you? You think you’re up for it?”

He stared into his sister’s brown eyes and took a moment to think about it. He wanted to be Ember’s father; there was no question about that. He wanted to have an active role in her life. He wanted to teach her and play games and bring her out to the ranch. He could think of nothing better.

But June was a different story. He was hurt by her lie, but could he get over it?

It would be hard, the first few visits to see her again or to spend time with Ember and know that he could have been doing that for years.

“Let me put it this way,” Kennedy began. “What if you only got to love one person your whole life? What if this was all the love you ever got—would you quit on that love when things got hard?”

Bennett raised his brows, considering it.

“Of course, you wouldn’t!” Kennedy insisted. “You’d try as hard as you could to make it work. You wouldn’t just toss her aside because there was a bump in the road. Face it, Bennett. There’s a reason why you and June keep coming back together. You were meant to be together, and the fact that you are now officially a family proves that.”

He smiled. She was young, but she certainly had a point.

“I love June,” he said. “You know I love her.”

It was the truth. No matter how angry he was with her, he couldn’t rid himself of the love that had resurfaced over the last couple of months. She ran through him like blood—she was a part of him.

“Do you think you can forgive her?” his sister asked.

“Yes,” he nodded.

“And do you want to be with her forever?”

He didn’t hesitate this time. “Yes,” he said. “I do.”

“Good.” Kennedy gave a broad smile. She raised both brows and cocked her head to the side as she said, “Then the only question left is...what the heck are you still doing here?”

Chapter Eighteen

June

Life without Bennett was long. It hadn't been more than a couple of days since she left the ranch, and yet her heart was aching.

He called Ember often, but his interactions with June were nothing more than cordial. There were several occasions when she wanted to ask him what was going on between them or how he was feeling, but she didn’t want to push him the way he’d pushed her all of those years ago.

The most she said was, “I’m here to talk when you’re ready,” to which he politely thanked her.

June wasn’t the only one who missed Bennett. Despite receiving calls from him regularly, Ember lamented her desire to go back to the ranch.

“Mama, I'm bored,” Ember said, twisting her body on the sofa at an awkward angle.

“I know, honey. But you're going to be at your Aunt Megan's soon. Mommy has to work tonight,” she said quietly.

“When do we get to see Bennett?” her daughter asked, posing curious eyes at her.

“I'm sure he'll be calling you soon,” June said primly, not wanting to expand on the subject. It was times like these that she was grateful for Ember’s age. She was old enough to understand concepts and feelings, but young enough not to notice when two people weren’t getting along.

“I love him,” Ember said in a childish way that broke June’s heart.

“I love him too,” June said as she snuggled in next to her daughter on the couch.

Ember crossed her arms petulantly. “Where is he, then?”

“He has a ranch to run, sweetheart. It keeps him busy.”

“Not too busy for me!”

“No, of course not,” she smiled.

“Then he shouldn't be too busy for you, either, Mama,” Ember said.

June closed her eyes. She didn’t want Ember to see her upset so she took a long pull of breath before exhaling slowly, calming herself down.

While Ember heard from Bennett regularly, she hadn’t heard from Lincoln since before they left for Montana. June texted him when she was back in Texas in case he wanted to visit or resume his weekends with the girl he had helped raise, but she heard no response.

“Well, I know Aunt Megan has a lot of exciting plans for you guys tonight. You always have fun with her, right?”

Ember shrugged and announced, “I just miss the ranch so, so, so much!” in an over-dramatic fashion.

“I think somebody just misses not having to be in school every day,” June teased.

“No,” Ember said, giving her mother the side-eye.

June reached her hands down and began tickling her daughter’s sides, eliciting a long, squealing laugh from the girl. “No?” June asked, and Ember continued to laugh.

As she tickled her, the doorbell rang, chiming in two places through their tiny apartment.

“That's your aunt!” June announced, trying to sound chipper.

“No,” Ember whined, flopping backward on the couch.

“Yes! And you'd better be a good girl tonight, alright?”

“I want to stay home with you,” Ember pleaded, but the truth was June couldn’t afford to skip any more work. She had gone to Bennett’s with the idea that she probably wouldn’t be coming back to Texas long-term, so her job stability hadn’t mattered much to her then, but it mattered to her now.

“I'm not staying home; I'm going to work. But you and I can do something really fun tomorrow morning, okay?” she bargained.

“Okay,” Ember sighed.

“Now, go get your backpack,” she instructed as she opened the front door.

June jumped, startled to see not her sister, but Bennett, standing in front of her. “Hey,” she said, surprised.

“Hey,” he said hurriedly. “Sorry I didn't call.”

“No, no call necessary,” she said, stepping out onto the front landing.

“Can I talk to you? Do you have a minute?” he asked.

June looked inside the house and then back at Bennett nervously. “I'm just on my way out to work,” she explained. She knew she couldn’t afford to take any more time off of work, but she desperately wanted to ditch her shift and hear what Bennett had to say.

The look of disappointment was clear across Bennett’s face as he shifted awkwardly and said, “Oh, okay. Well...”

“No, forget it,” she said quickly. “I can be late. Let’s talk, please.”

June’s adrenaline was through the roof. She didn’t know whether to be happy or sad or scared or excited, but her whole body was buzzing with anticipation.

Before Bennett had the chance to tell her whatever it was he came all this way to say, Megan pulled up in front of the apartment complex.

Bennett turned around to look at the gray car and they both watched as Megan parked and got out of the driver’s seat. She gave them a curious look as she came up the driveway.

June hadn’t been entirely forthcoming with Megan about her time at the ranch, namely her unsettling conversation with Bennett, but she suspected Megan had wondered if the two were on the rocks.

“Hey, guys,” her sister said as she came up the walkway. She nodded toward Bennett as she greeted, “Bennett, didn't know you were in town.”

“Yeah, I'm back for a little while,” he said casually, and June’s heart leaped. “How’ve you been?”

“Good,” Megan said quickly. “Just here to pick up my little partner in crime.”

At hearing her aunt’s voice, Ember pushed the screen door open and looked down the staircase. She made a b-line for Megan but was startled to see Bennett on their small landing. He knelt to her level and the two hugged as if they were two magnets snapping into place.

“Bennett!” Ember squealed. “You came back!”

“Aw, I couldn’t stay away from you! I told you I'd be back, kiddo. How's school? What's the news?” he said excitedly.

“Schools okay,” she shrugged. “But it's boring here without you.”

He looked up at June and smiled. “Funny,” he said, still meeting June’s eyes. “I was thinking the same thing.”

June’s heart began to race. She smiled back at him and desperately wanted to be alone so that they would talk.

“Mama, can I stay with Bennett tonight?”

“Hello,” Megan said, raising her hand comically, “I guess my name is chopped liver!”

The adults laughed, but June was feeling sick to her stomach. “Mommy just has to talk to Bennett for a minute. Do you think you can go sit with Aunt Megan for a bit?”

“Aw, okay,” Ember said.

“Okay, thank you,” June said.

Megan took Ember’s hand and walked her back into the house. She gave June a look that asked, “are you okay?” and June nodded.

Once they were out of sight, June descended her apartment staircase with Bennett, who immediately slipped his hand into hers—his way of telling her that everything was going to be okay.

The two of them walked around the apartment complex, circling the flower garden out back.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I missed you,” he confirmed, and her heart lilted.

“I missed you too,” she said, relief flooding her voice.

Bennett looked her over and nodded slowly as he admitted, “I needed time to think, and I appreciate you giving me that time.”

“And I appreciate that you didn't forget about Ember while you did,” she said and couldn’t have been more grateful.

Even when he was upset with June, he still made Ember his priority. He wanted to be the best father he could to her, even if she didn’t know the truth about who he was—yet.

He called her every day, sometimes multiple times, to show her Apricot and ask her how school was or wish her a good day. He was always cordial with June and more than friendly with their child. It was hardly a small gesture—it was huge.

Lincoln had been a part of Ember’s life since she was still in the womb, and the moment that he left their lives, he didn’t look back. He hadn’t been moved by fatherly affection for Ember once he left. He was just gone, and she didn’t want that for her daughter. Ember deserved more. She deserved Bennett.

“I could never forget about Ember,” he said with a smile. “She's...part of me. You're part of me, too, June. No matter where my life takes me, it always seems to lead back to you.”

“Is this a long-winded way of telling me that you've forgiven me?” she asked brightly.

Bennett looked down at their clasped hands. He furrowed his brows briefly, seeming lost in thought as he said, “It's a hard pill to swallow—knowing I could have been in her life all this time. I'm not gonna lie, it hurts, June.”

“I know,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“But you know what? It doesn't hurt as much as being without you does. I wish things had been different,” he said helplessly. “But maybe you’re right. Maybe if you had told me back then, we wouldn’t have lasted. Maybe we would never have had a real chance at being together, and if our lives had to take us on separate paths to lead us to where we are now, then...I guess I have to be okay with that.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears as he spoke. She wiped at them with her free hand, willing herself not to burst into appreciative sobs.

“I love you, June,” he said. “I lost you twice before, and I don’t think my heart could take it if I lost you again.”

She nodded. “I love you too, Bennett. I want to come home.”

He posed curious eyes at her, then smiled warmly as she confirmed, “To Montana.”

“Montana wants you home, too,” he smiled. “Say the word, and I'll book a flight. If you ask nicely, I may even help you pack.”

“You're sure you’re okay?” she asked. “That we’re okay?”

“I'm better than okay,” he said. “I have you, and I have Ember. I have a family, and I can't wait to start our lives together.”

Epilogue

Bennett

“Are you ready?” June asked, wrapping her arms around Bennett’s neck and pulling him into a hug.

He could feel her heart racing against her chest, and he wondered if she could feel his, too.

June and Ember had been at the ranch for three months, and things were going well. Perfect, actually, or as close to it as was humanly possible. Bennett couldn’t believe the love he felt for June and their little girl.

They had all been living at his mini-mansion in the country, and things had gotten serious between them. So serious that Bennett was going to ask June to marry him—but not until they told Ember the truth about her paternity.

“I'm ready,” he said nervously, squeezing June in his arms.

“This is going to be a really big...surprise to her,” June said quietly.

“And I have a surprise for you after if it all goes well,” he teased.

June raised a brow and leaned up to kiss him. “Is that right?”

“I was talking to Ember earlier today and I told her that if she's happy with what we have to tell her later to give you your surprise,” he smiled.

“So, my present is riding on whether or not Ember approves of what we have to tell her?” she asked, and he offered her a playful shrug.

“Pretty much, yeah,” he said.

June shook her head. She smiled, then went somber and looked up at him with concern. “Bennett, I am so nervous.”

“It's going to be okay. I'm pretty sure I've won her over,” he said, rubbing her arms. “We’ve got nothing to worry about. We love her, and that’s all that matters.”

More than winning her over, it was important for Bennett to build a reputation with Ember. He wanted to be a consistent part of her life. He wanted her to know that no matter what happened, he would always be there for her and have her best interest at heart.

The two walked over to the living room where Ember was sitting. Bennett took a seat next to her on the couch, and June sat in the chair across from them.

June wrung her hands nervously as she spoke, “So, honey, we wanted to talk to you about something, and it's important.”

“We're not moving again, are we?” Ember asked adorably.

June laughed. “No, baby.”

“Oh, good,” Ember said with an exaggerated, ‘whew!’, then asked, “Are we getting a dog?”

Bennett couldn’t help but chuckle at the comment. With Ember, it always came back to dogs. “We'll talk about that one after, kiddo,” he said.

“It's about your dad,” June began.

They had talked for weeks about when they were going to tell Ember—after they had settled into life at the ranch—and how to break the news.

They decided that they wanted it to be good news, so when they told her, they would be all smiles. After all, it was good news. How many children could say they had three parents who absolutely adored them?

“Is he okay?” June asked curiously.

“Yes,” Bennett said, rubbing the little girl’s back. “Yes, of course, he’s okay.”

“Maybe that's why I don't see him anymore, because he's sick or something,” Ember tried to reason, but June shook her head.

“No, sweetie, he's okay. You see, there are two kinds of daddies,” she said sweetly. “One that put you in mommy's belly and one who took care of you.”

This language made Bennett want to cringe, but it was what all of the websites and counselors said to do. Use age-appropriate terms to show a difference between a biological father and an emotional one.

“Which one do you think Daddy Lincoln is?” June asked.

“He put me in your belly!” the little girl said excitedly.

June locked eyes with Bennett. He could tell she was nervous, but she was all smiles as she said, “Actually, no. See, Daddy loves you very much, but we never made a baby together.”

“Oh,” his daughter said curiously, slumping in her seat.

“And you know what's really awesome?” Bennett said reassuringly.

“What?”

“I'm the one who made a baby with your mommy. And that makes me your biological daddy,” he said and watched the information process across Ember’s cute little face. “See, I and your mom were very much in love, but we had to be apart for a while, and Lincoln loved you so much that he promised to take care of you while I was away.”

“But now you're back for good, right?” Ember asked.

“Yes, of course,” he said.

Ember nodded but wasn’t entirely clear on the subject at hand. “So...who is my real dad?”

“I am,” he said. “Your mom and I made a baby together, and that baby was you!”

He could see his daughter understood then. She leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling. He wondered if she might cry, but to his surprise, she brightened.

“Really?” she said excitedly. “What do I call you?”

“You can call me Dad or you can call me Bennett,” he shrugged. “It's really up to you, kiddo.”

“Then I think I'll call you...Dad,” she said decidedly.

“I think I would really like that,” he said, pulling her into a half hug. “And you know, you can see your other daddy any time you want.”

Ember nodded, but she didn’t seem all that bothered with Lincoln. Since coming to the ranch, June said she hadn’t asked about him at all.

Children were resilient. This was what the therapist they’d spoken to had said. Tell them young, and they’re more likely to comprehend and accept it. Then, as she grows, fill in the blank spots with age-appropriate explanations.

“And if you ever have any questions, you can ask us at any time,” June chimed in. “All you have to do is say, ‘Mommy, I have a question about Daddy,’ and I will drop everything, and you will have my full attention, okay?”

Ember nodded and the three of them continued talking for a while. Ember had a couple more questions, but mostly she was just excited to be related to Bennett.

When speaking to the therapist, June and Bennett were told that Ember would likely want to have this conversation over and over again. He understood this would be a process, but it was one he was more than happy to be a part of.

“How are you feeling, honey?” June asked at the end of their conversation. “Tell Mommy. I know this is a bit surprising.”

“It makes me really happy,” Ember said. She started to cry, wrapping her arms around Bennett’s midsection as she finished, “to have a daddy who loves me and isn’t going to leave.”

Bennett’s heart filled with emotion as he hugged his little girl.

When June joined them on the couch, it seemed to stir something in Ember. Her tears subsided and she wiped her nose with her sleeve and looked up at Bennett curiously. “Can I give Mommy her present now?”

“Yeah, of course, you can,” he chuckled.

Ember fished through the pocket of her dress and pulled out a gray velvet box and handed it to June. “Daddy wants me to give you this,” she said cheerfully, seemingly forgetting that she had ever been crying.

June’s eyes went wide as she looked at the box and then up to Bennett.

“Yes,” she said.

“You didn’t even let me ask the question!” he laughed.

“Yes!” she said again, her eyes brimming with tears.

“At least look at the ring and tell me if you like it,” he teased, but she shook her head and pulled him in for a kiss.

June opened the box, and her eyes lit up as she saw the delicate emerald-shaped diamond ring within. She slid it onto her finger with satisfaction before turning back to landing kisses on Bennett’s lips and cheeks.

“June,” he said, meeting her eyes. “Will you make me the happiest cowboy in the world and be my wife?”

“Yes,” she said emphatically. “A million times, yes!”

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About the Author

Hanna Hart is a passionate sweet clean contemporary romance author who has found the love for writing since the age of 6.

Hanna lives in the beautiful Santa Cruz California with her loving husband, two children and dog Milo. Other then dreaming up of extremely sweet & romantic stories, Hanna enjoys spending time with her family, going to the beach, cooking great food, traveling the world, and getting a lot of exercise.

Hanna’s purpose is to delivery very sweet romantic stories to her readers that will touch their hearts in a very meaningful taking them to another place that will positively impact their life.

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