“Aren’t you worried about them spending so much time together? They’re so young. What if they start—you know?”

“Grace, they’re kids, best friends, and only twelve. When they get to be teenagers, it’ll all change. They won’t want to hang out with each other when they can hang out with a boyfriend or girlfriend.”

T.J. stood outside her parents’ doorway and listened quietly, her breath coming in short puffs.

“I don’t think it’s that simple, Ted. There’s something between them—it’s more than just kid stuff.”

“Well, if you’re right, then at some point we’ll have to put an end to the sleepovers and campouts, but I don’t think it’s time yet.”

“Will you please talk to Rex about it anyway? He needs to have a heart-to-heart with Vaughn, and I’ll check in with T.J. Just to make sure we’re being responsible.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll make sure the boy gets the lecture. He’s a good kid, though, Grace. They both are.”

“I know. I just don’t want my baby to get her heart broken. She’s in love with him and isn’t old enough to realize it.”

T.J. slipped back down the hall to her room and crawled into bed, where she dreamed of horses and sunshine, and a boy who made everything in the world brighter and better.

* * *

T.J.’s phone dinged, and she slowly opened her eyes to bright sunlight and a cat on her chest.

“Randall,” she croaked at the gray Persian. “Can’t you go back to living with Mom and Dad?”

Big gold eyes blinked before sharp claws dug into her skin, and Randall launched himself off her torso and onto the floor.

“Ow! Shit, that hurt!” T.J. howled, rubbing at the skin under her flimsy tank top.

She rolled onto her side and picked up her phone, squinting at the screen.

Good morning. I have to go to San Luis Obispo today, but I’ll be back Tuesday. I’d like to see you.

Drew.

He’d been so understanding about her escape from the dance floor. Then he’d offered to give her a ride home and been a perfect gentleman, walking her to the door, giving her a sweet kiss on the cheek.

And she liked him, she did. He was polite, funny, good-looking. He was what she knew she needed. He just wasn’t Vaughn. And, of course, in Janelle’s view, that was his greatest recommendation.

She sighed, setting the phone back on the nightstand before rolling to her back and staring at the ceiling.

“Theodora Jayne!” A shrill voice came blasting through the quiet of the small house.

“Noooo,” T.J. mumbled as she threw one arm across her face.

“Theodora!” Her mother appeared at the doorway to her bedroom. “What are you doing still in bed?”

God, T.J. really needed to get a house that wasn’t on her parents’ property.

“Mom!” she snapped, sitting up. “You can’t just come barging into my house. What if I hadn’t been alone?”

Her mother’s hair had once been the same color as T.J.’s but was now sprinkled with salt amid the pepper. She kept it long, though, and today it was in its customary braid that hung midway down her back.

“Psshh!” Her mother flapped a hand in T.J.’s direction. “You’re always alone, dear.”

“Mom!”

Her mother looked around the room. “Maybe if you cleaned, you’d have more luck getting someone to come spend the night?”

“Aargh!” T.J. flopped back down and pulled the covers over her head.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Grace said, sitting on the edge of the bed and patting T.J.’s shoulder through the thick comforter. “What’s Vaughn done now?”

“Mmdunwighum.”

“What?”

T.J. pulled the covers off her face. “I said, I’m done with Vaughn.”

Her mother pursed her lips and looked at her sympathetically. “Okay.”

“I am!” T.J. sat up, brushing off her mother’s mothering. “I want a relationship, Mom. A real one, not some permanently stunted adolescent version of friends without any benefits.”

She climbed out of bed and headed to her closet, picking the nearest pair of sweats off the floor and stabbing her feet into the leg holes.

“He’s been through a lot in the last few months, sweetheart. Do you really think now is the time to abandon him?”

T.J.’s face flushed with heat. Her own damn mother. You’d think after everything Vaughn had put her through that her own damn mother would be on her side.

“Really, Mom? Have you forgotten all the tears I’ve cried over that man since I was sixteen?”

Grace stood and walked to face her, taking T.J.’s shoulders in her hands. “No, sweetheart. But I also haven’t forgotten that he’s a young man who’s lost his parents and his leg but has yet to lose his pride. Vaughn Jenkins is a proud young man, and the last person he wants to be vulnerable with is the girl he loves.”

T.J. felt the sting of tears behind her eyes, but she swallowed it back and shook her head. “I can’t anymore, Mom. He’s not ever going to get past it—whatever it is. He’s not going to come back to me. It broke him when they died. He’s double broken now, and I can’t fix him.”

Grace sighed, watching her daughter’s face, making T.J. feel as though she was a bug under a microscope.

“You know there’s no one I’d rather see you with?”

“I know,” T.J. answered softly.

“But you’re right.”

“I am?” T.J.’s heart sped up just a touch, and she stepped back from her mother’s touch.

“Yes,” Grace said, all business now. “You’re absolutely right. It’s time for you to move on. Go out, have fun, meet some other men. I love that boy, but I won’t have my daughter wasting anymore of her precious youth waiting on him.”

“Well, now that you mention it…”

“What? Did you meet someone?” Grace nearly bubbled over with excitement, causing T.J. to roll her eyes.

“Janelle introduced me to a nice guy last night, but don’t go nuts, it was a few dances. We hardly even had a chance to talk.”

“But you’re going to see him again?”

T.J. moved to the adjoining bathroom, leaving the door open as she put her contact lenses in. “He said he’d like to when he’s back in town. He’s a doctor and travels to different health clinics in this part of the state.”

“He sounds lovely, dear,” Grace answered distractedly as she moved around the bedroom, picking up T.J.’s clothes and folding them.

“Mom, don’t pick up after me. Why are you here, anyway?”

Grace stopped for a moment to consider. “Oh! Your father wants you to go out to the west acreage with him. Some of the herd needs to be brought in to the pens so they can get their spring checkups.”

T.J. sighed. It was one of the tasks she and Vaughn used to help her dad with. Vaughn was the son her parents had been missing. Somehow she doubted Dr. Drew knew how to herd cattle. Hell, he probably didn’t even know how to ride.

“Okay. Do I get breakfast out of the deal?”

“Yes, but hurry up. I was about to put it all away.”

T.J. brushed her teeth quickly, threw on a baseball cap over a ponytail, and followed her mother out the door of her little guesthouse. It was the first day of the rest of her life—a life without damaged cowboys who broke a girl’s heart.

* * *

It was a typical Central Coast afternoon—mist hung in the air, and the sun was still weak in the sky as T.J. rode along the fence line of her father’s southern acreage. Saturdays were the day she worked around the ranch, and after helping her father bring in the cattle that needed vaccinations, she’d promised to check out some fencing. Her parents’ spread was much smaller than the Jenkinses’, but they kept a herd of cattle as well as laying hens and horses. Combined with her mother’s trust fund, the ranch had always provided a comfortable living for the Briscos, and T.J. loved the land and helping out.

She’d majored in PT because she liked sports and helping athletes and it was a solid way to earn a living, but when she envisioned her future, it had always been marriage, children, and taking over the ranch when her dad tired of the long days and physical labor. Of course, that fantasy had always included Vaughn in the position of husband and father of her children, as well as her partner running the family business.

She sighed as her horse skipped a step or two around a rock he didn’t like.

“Easy, Cupcake,” she crooned, leaning over his long neck and giving a reassuring pat. Cupcake whinnied and snorted, falling back into a comfortable pace.

T.J. kept her eyes on the fence line, watching for any indications that the wire and wood that ran along the entire southern boundary of her family’s property was in need of repair.

She could see some stragglers from the herd up ahead and started planning how she’d force them back to the main group about half a mile away straight north.

Then she noticed him, a man kneeling next to the fence between her and the cattle. He was obviously working on the fencing, his horse chomping grass nearby. He was wearing a baseball cap, so she couldn’t see what color hair he had, but she knew from the long legs and broad shoulders that it was one of the Jenkins men—and not the one she pined for.

The last thing she wanted was an awkward conversation with one of Vaughn’s brothers, so she pulled Cupcake up short, preparing to turn around and go back the way she came. But as the man stood and waved to her, she realized she was too late. She reluctantly waved back and moved forward, trotting to reach him, even though everything in her wanted to run hard the other way.

Ty took his hat off as she approached, and ran a hand through his mussed hair before he replaced the cap, smiling broadly at her.

“Hey there,” he said, holding up the hammer and wire clippers he held. “One of the guys saw that this section was coming down yesterday, so I thought I’d come take care of it before we had Brisco stock wandering our pristine organic land.”

T.J. rolled her eyes. Ever since the Jenkins brothers had taken their ranch organic, they spent a lot of time side-eyeing non-organic cattle.

Ty grinned. “What brings you out?”

“Just running this section of fence. Obviously, someone needed to.”

“Eh, it’s just this one post. I restrung the wire to hold it up for a few days, and I’ll send out one of my guys to reset the post this week.”

T.J. nodded, watching as Ty bent the wire around itself before he clipped it with the wire cutters and stood, brushing off his denim-covered thighs.

“You want me to go down to the road and come around on your side to help with those stragglers?” he asked, gesturing toward the four cows grazing contentedly a few dozen yards away.

T.J. shook her head. “No, it’s okay, I can get them.”

He nodded, his smile softer and quieter than it was moments ago. She pasted on one of her own in reply and lifted the reins, ready to turn away and take care of her dad’s cows.

“You haven’t been around the last couple of weeks,” he said before she could leave.

She sighed, looking back at him. “Vaughn’s not doing PT anymore.”

“That’s pretty obvious,” he answered.

“He’s got the basics,” she added. “He’s going to be fine.”

Ty watched her before shaking his head slightly. “He doesn’t mean it, you know. The fits of anger, the hurtful words. He doesn’t mean any of it.”

Somehow that didn’t matter to her anymore, because whether you meant it or not, you shouldn’t treat the people you cared about that way.

“I can’t—anymore. With him. I just can’t,” she answered softly.

“He’ll never be okay without you,” Ty pleaded.

“And I’m not sure I’ll ever be okay with him.”

Ty nodded, his eyes sad. “He’s my brother, and I love him, but I love you too. I want you to be happy.”

Her eyes stung, but she gave him the best smile she could while she held back the tears. “Thank you. That’s why I had to do it.” She paused, swallowing the regret that tried to choke her. “I’m trying. I have to at least try.”

Ty smiled at her again. “Good girl. You do what you need to. You deserve the best, you know. Of everything.”

She nodded, then turned and clicked her tongue at Cupcake, who moved toward the cattle at a jog and then a lope. She closed her eyes for just a moment and worked to contain the ache that was like a band across her middle. The ache that never seemed to abate no matter whether Vaughn Jenkins was present in her life or not. Because he was always present in her heart, and she didn’t know how to solve that.