Montana Reunion Read Free Page A

choosing to keep her eyes on her dad instead.
    “Pity none of you girls ever took a
fancy to Jack, huh? He’s been helping out around here a lot since your brother
left,” her mom said.
    Maddison refused to look at her sister that time.
She was having a hard enough time swallowing her coffee, let alone engaging
with Charley. “How’s Blake getting on? He’s not so good at keeping in touch.”
Talking about her brother was an easy way to change the subject.
    “He’s fine,” her mom interrupted as
she placed muffins on the table in front of them. “If we could only find him a wife …”
“Mom,” Charley scolded. “Enough with trying to marry us all off to the first
person that comes along.”
    “I’m not trying to marry you off,
Charlotte, but I would have thought that with four grown children I’d have at
least one grandchild by now.” Her mom
held up her hand before anyone could interrupt her again. “It’s not that I
don’t love you all as you are, I’d just like to see you all happy. With your own families. That’s all I’m saying.”
    The silence that
stretched out made Maddison look up from her coffee. Her dad had the paper held up high, sitting in his chair by the window, and her
mom and her sister were staring at her. What had she …
    Oh. “Don’t give me that look.” She didn’t need anyone taking pity on her. She
didn’t mind the pressure to produce a grandchild, that was something she was
more than prepared for, but finding the right man wasn’t something she was
thinking about. Not again. Not yet. Not after her fiancé had… she shoved the
thoughts away, refusing to go there.
    “I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean
to upset you.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not upset,
mom. Seriously, you don’t need to worry about me.” She watched as they looked
at one another. “Unless you keep doing the
look , then you’ll really upset me.”
    She got it. They were feeling sorry
for her. A month ago, she’d been the one thinking about her wedding day,
blissfully engaged, and now she was single and hanging out at home with her
parents. Not to mention she had an ex-fiancé who had made it more than clear
that he’d been using her for years. But
she refused to spare him one more second of her thoughts . Because she might
have a broken heart, but she wasn’t broken .
    At least not completely.
    “He was a jerk,” Charley said,
pulling her seat closer, “so let’s not even go there. He’s out of our family
and out of all our lives, right?”
    Her mom was nodding, like she
didn’t know quite what to say.
    “Jerk would be a nice way to
describe him,” Maddison said with a sigh, standing
with her cup and walking it over to the sink. “But now that I’m back here the
one thing I don’t want to think about
is him, so can we just forget completely about what happened? I’m a successful,
independent woman, and I don’t need him or any other man to make me happy.”
    She grimaced, her stomach churning
like she’d just digested something bad. She loved men and she did want to
believe that one day she’d meet a man
who would treat her better. Who actually wanted her. But right now she was happy to forget about romance entirely.
    Her mom followed her and touched a
hand to her shoulder as Maddison stood beside her,
clearing the rest of the dishes away. “Despite the reasons that brought you
back, we’re just pleased you’re here. It’s so nice having two girls back home
again.”
    “Dad, I’m heading out to check the
weanlings and do the rest of the rounds. You coming?” Charley announced, standing and brushing her palms
against her jeans.
    Maddison watched as her sister rose, grabbed a muffin and headed for the door, pulling
on her work boots and retrieving her hat. Her dad did the same, only a lot
slower and blowing her a kiss on his way out.
    “You were so lucky to meet a man
like dad,” she told her mom, resting her head on her shoulder as they stood
side by side in the