Back In The Saddle

Dorelle wagged her head. “Lord, how are you my daughter?”

A few minutes later, Mallory and Josh had worked out the details regarding the horse, who’d stay on the ranch until they had a chance to get Mallory’s apparently neglected stable in order, and the women left. Watching the SUV disappear down the Vista’s drive, Zach heard his brother chuckle behind him. He turned, feeling his forehead pinch.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. Except you’ve got one helluva weird look on your face.”

Zach opened his mouth, only to clamp it shut again. Because his brother was probably right. Not that he was about to give Josh the satisfaction. Especially since he wasn’t sure he could explain what was going on inside his head.

So all he did was mutter, “You’re nuts,” before calling over his sons and dog and herding them toward, then inside, his truck.

But it was true, his head was buzzing. Even more than usual with the kids yammering behind him. And it kept buzzing for the rest of the afternoon and on into the night, even until after the boys were asleep and Zach was sitting out on his tiny back porch in the chilled night air, listening to the wind rustle the dying leaves and the dog snoring on the porch floor beside him.

The thing was, while Zach wasn’t a people person like Josh or his mother—both of whom he swore fed off other humans like vampires sucked blood—he generally liked them well enough. Enough, at least, to deal with them on a daily basis in his practice. But he could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times he’d found somebody interesting enough to actually think about once he no longer had to interact with them. The one exception to that, of course, had been Heidi. Because, well, she’d been Heidi.

That he couldn’t get Mallory Keyes out of his head now... What the hell? They’d barely even had what you could call a real conversation. Certainly nothing to provoke this crazy reaction.

This crazy attraction.

The thought made Zach actually jump. Oh, sure, she was pretty and all, but him noticing that wasn’t unusual, even for him. He hadn’t lost his ability to appreciate a good-looking woman, even if he no longer had any inclination to act on it.

And that was it, in a nutshell: because there’d never again be anyone like Heidi, someone who got him in a way nobody else ever had. The moment they’d met in school, even, the click had been almost audible. That kind of connection—what were the odds of that happening twice in one lifetime? Hell, even once? That his once had been ripped away from him like that...

His eyes stinging, Zach scrubbed a palm over his face. Sometimes he wondered if he’d ever stop missing her. Or at least if it would ever stop hurting so damn much. Not that he talked about it to anyone. What would be the point? Wasn’t as if that would change anything, or bring her back, or make the hurting stop. And God knew he didn’t need to dump his pain on anyone else. Especially his boys.

What Mallory’d said, about finding a new normal, especially for her son? Much to admire in that, actually. Just as there was a lot to admire in the woman. A lot. Come to think of it, maybe her strength was what he found so appealing. Well, that and her sense of humor. Had to admit, he was a sucker for a woman who could laugh at herself, who didn’t take life too seriously—

Like Heidi.

Zach sighed so loudly he made the dog jump. Absolutely, he wanted nothing more than for his kids to have a normal life. To be happy, for God’s sake, as kids are supposed to be. To have the kind of childhood he and his brothers had. As much as his boys could, anyway, with only one parent. But for him, normal died with his wife. That was just the way it was, nothing he could do to change it.

Just as he knew he’d never fall in love again. Because his once was over.

And not being able to get Mallory Keyes out of his head wasn’t going to change that, either.

* * *

“Honey,” Mama called from the other room, “have you seen my sunglasses?”

Wrapped up in a fluffy throw on a wicker couch—she refused to spend all her waking hours in the frickin’ wheelchair—out in the glassed-in porch, Mallory called back, “Sorry, no.”

“Shoot,” Mama said, her ballet flats slapping against the brick pavers when she joined Mallory. “I know I had ’em when we drove out to the ranch, I must’ve left ’em in the powder room. And is there some reason you’re sitting out here in the dark?”

Mallory felt a tight smile tug at her mouth. “Just thinkin’.”

“About?” Enough light spilled through the great room’s double door to see Edgar cradled against her mother’s chest as she balanced a mug of something in her other hand.

She could, she supposed, refuse to answer. Or lie. Knowing her mother, both choices would be pointless. “How sad that poor man is.”

Mama lowered herself into the padded rocker across from the couch. “I take it you’re referring to our friendly neighborhood vet?”

Mallory smirked. “You know what’s strange? Ever since this—” she gestured toward her lap “—I have a much harder time seeing other people unhappy. Almost like...”

“You can feel their pain?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s hardly surprising,” Mama said, rearranging the spoiled rotten dog in her lap before reaching over to turn on a small lamp on the table next to her. Mallory winced. “Considering how hard you’ve worked to regain your own equilibrium, it’s no wonder you’re more empathetic. Now maybe you understand why I wanted the two of you to meet each other.”

“Oh, I know why you wanted us to meet—”

“No, I don’t think you do.”

Mallory crossed her arms. “You’re honestly gonna sit there and tell me you weren’t trying to fix me up?”

“Not in the conventional sense, no. I’m serious,” she said at Mallory’s smirk. “Yes, I’d love for you to find a man who’ll love you the way you deserve to be loved. I’m not gonna apologize for that. But even now that I know Zach Talbot is single, I’m not all that sure he’s that man.”

This was a shocker. “Really?”

“Really. Well, not now, anyway. Because when his brother and I were up at the house, he filled me in a little more about what Zach’s been through.”

“Oh, Lord, Mama—”

“I did not ask him, I swear. But Josh is clearly worried about him. So’s the rest of his family, I gather. Zach’s the oldest of the four boys—the second one’s off finding himself or whatever, and then there’s Josh and his twin brother Levi—”

“There’s two of them?” With his dark good looks, Josh could put most of the Hollyhood hotties to shame. “Damn.”

“You said it. But Josh and Levi are fraternal twins, Josh said. Anyway...” She waved one hand. “Zach was always the quiet one, but since his wife’s death, Josh says, it’s like Zach’s buried himself in his sorrow. Not that he ever was the life of the party or anything. More the serious type, you know? But for more than two years, it’s like he’s been in a fog. And the more Josh and I talked, the more it occurred to me you might be able to help him find his way out of that fog. As a friend, Mallory Ann. Only as a friend.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that?”

“I do not understand why you always think I have ulterior motives.”

“Um, because I’ve known you for nearly forty years? But even accepting your premise...why do you think I’d be able to help him?”

“Because you’ve been where he is. Not losing a spouse, no, but having your world turned on its head. And you yourself said it hurts you to see others in pain—”

“That doesn’t exactly make me an expert in helping them move past it. And anyway, I would think your situation is more similar to his than mine is.”

Mama stroked the sleeping dog’s head for a moment. “On the surface, that makes sense. But...”

“But what?”

Her mother’s eyes met hers. “Your father and I...we weren’t exactly what you’d call soul mates. Oh, we liked each other well enough, and we got along fine. Shoot, I can count on the fingers of one hand the times we argued. And I truly grieved him when he died. I mean that. Jimmy was a good man. But I remember the day—it was right after your tenth birthday, as I recall—when it suddenly dawned on me I wasn’t in love with him. Never had been. I loved him, of course. Respected him, absolutely. And God knows I wanted more...” She shook her head. “It just never happened.”

Frankly, Mallory wasn’t nearly as shocked as she probably should’ve been. Mama was absolutely right about Daddy being a good man, and Mallory had loved him to pieces. And he, her. But her parents had had separate bedrooms for as long as she could remember. True, there’d been shared laughter, but it’d been more the laughter of friends, not lovers.

“And you’re telling me this now, why?”