Montana Wrangler Read Free Page B

talk.” Grabbing his hat on the way, Jay went out the back door. The screen slammed behind him.
    She exhaled. Someone really needed to fix that door.
    Turning to her grandfather, Paige shook her head. “Why on earth did Krissy want me to raise her son? She and I have never been close. I hardly know Bryan, or even his likes and dislikes. It seems to me you should be Bryan’s guardian. You and Grandma took care of him from the time he was born.” More so than Krissy ever had, Paige suspected.
    â€œMe and Krissy talked a lot about what to do if something happened to her. Since your folks were gone, we are the only blood relatives around.”
    Paige had been stunned when her parents had sold the hardware store and moved to Arizona. Competition from big-box stores had finally driven them out of business. It turned out that decision, followed by a high-speed car crash, had been a fatal one.
    â€œThing is, I’m getting old,” Grandpa continued. “I don’t have many years left. We both figured I might not be around long enough to see the boy through to being a man.”
    Her heart lurched. “Are you ill?”
    â€œNo, child, not that I know about anyway. And the truth is, Krissy loved you more than you might’ve realized.” He took her hand, and she felt him tremble.
    â€œI love... loved Krissy, too, Grandpa. We’re sisters.” An ache rose in her chest. “But I didn’t really know her. How could I? We haven’t lived under the same roof for more than a dozen years.”
    â€œI know this isn’t something you expected. ’Course, Krissy didn’t exactly expect to die young either, I don’t suppose. But she was clear about her wishes. I told her she ought to talk to you. See if raising her boy the rest of the way would be all right with you.”
    â€œThat would have at least given me some warning.” Talk about being blindsided. This was as bad as a thousand good ol’ boys in funny hats showing up at the hotel registration desk for a Shriners’ convention that wasn’t on her calendar.
    If Krissy had asked, Paige would have told her right off that she wasn’t prepared to be any child’s parent. Certainly not a boy on the cusp of adolescence.
    â€œI reckon she was afraid you’d say no,” Grandpa said.
    â€œI would have, Grandpa.” That admission brought the heat of guilt to her cheeks. What kind of a rotten aunt did that make her? “What do I know about raising a boy? A boy who’s about to be a teenager? I can’t even imagine how I’d manage. And he sure wasn’t keen on the idea. You saw that.”
    He sipped his coffee, then took a bite of a chocolate-chip cookie. “He’ll adjust to the idea, given enough time.”
    â€œThe way he acted, we’ll both be old and decrepit before he’s thrilled with the idea of me being his guardian. I’m practically a stranger to him.” Granted, she should have tried harder to get to know him. But given her life, her goals, she’d have to make huge adjustments in order to do a decent job of raising him. And Bryan would have to leave everything and everyone who was familiar to him. What in the world had Krissy been thinking?
    â€œIn those papers I gave you, there’s a letter from Krissy. There’s probably no law that says you have to take on the boy. But maybe there’s something in there that’ll make you change your mind.”
    Paige sincerely doubted it. But could she actually walk away from her responsibility to Bryan, her only nephew, however ill-advised Krissy’s wishes might be?
    * * *
    Finding Bryan right where he’d expected, Jay leaned over the railing of Bright Star’s stall. A palomino gelding with a blaze on his forehead, the horse had been Bryan’s personal mount and his responsibility since the boy’s ninth birthday.
    Archie, a border collie mix that hung around the