Part Time Cowboy (Copper Ridge Book 1) Read Free Page B

negated the fresh clean air aspect of it all.
    It struck her then that she was within walking distance of the place. That if she wanted to, she could leave her half-unpacked boxes and see the haven she’d gone to with her friends all those years ago.
    A strange ache filled her chest, a feeling of longing and homesickness that was unfamiliar to her. There was weight in that clearing. Roots. And, she strongly suspected, a high probability of ghosts of bad decisions past.
    She and her friends had been nothing more than children then, angry at life. Determined to do whatever they could to take back some control. Which had taken the form of drugs, alcohol and sex. Because those little rebellions felt like an achievement.
    But she was an adult now. And she had the control. The life she made here would be hers. More than just a reaction to what was happening in her family home.
    She didn’t need to see the clearing. And there were no ghosts.
    With that final thought, she picked up Toby’s pet carrier and strode up the front porch and lifted the lid on the mail slot by the door. Connor had said he’d put a key in there for her. She had the impression he intended to interact with her as little as possible.
    Which suited her just fine. She had the money she needed to do the remodeling on the house, and she was sort of looking forward to spending a few weeks in relative solitude handling all of it before she got things up and running.
    Maybe then she’d look up her old friends. Or not. That would be...well, it would be too close to revisiting times that hadn’t been fun for anyone. Maybe she would meet a guy. Go on a date.
    Lately she’d been out of the habit of both dating and making friends.
    The moves made it hard. And if she was honest, starting fresh was her preference. She didn’t like bringing old places with her into the new ones. Not that there weren’t friends and boyfriends she had cared for. She had cared. She did. It was just that she liked them as happy memories. She didn’t like letting a relationship stretch on to the point it started to show wear and tear.
    She pulled the brass key out of the box and put it in the matching lock, turning it hard before it gave. “All right, Toby,” she said. “Welcome home, whether we like it or not, because we can’t back out of the lease, and after I remodel this place, we’ll officially be broke.”
    She walked them both inside and looked around. It was dark, but it was clean. The wood floors were definitely in need of polishing, but nothing was seriously wrong with them. There were some threadbare rugs that needed replacing, light fixtures that needed updating. But it didn’t smell like mold or anything, so that was a bonus.
    “It really does have to work out,” she said, setting Toby’s carrier up on the kitchen table. “Because otherwise you’ll be reduced to standing on a street corner and offering kitty head scritches for money. And none of us want to see you stoop that low.”
    She opened up his cage and he wandered out, looking around and sniffing the air, his tail twitching. She ran her hand over his gray striped fur, then scratched him behind his ears. “Really, though, you could charge for this service,” she said. “You give me instant Zen.”
    Toby just looked at her, as though to say he would be much more Zen if they were back in their bright, white apartment in sunny San Diego.
    But then, Toby was used to following her around at this point, so she knew his indignation would be brief.
    First order of business was to get Toby’s litter box out of the car. The second was to start making this place habitable.
    Like it or not, ready or not, she’d made a five-year commitment, and she had to see it through.
    “All right, Toby,” she said. “It’s time to do this thing.”
    * * *
     
    “T HERE WAS A CAR over at the Catalog House. I saw it when I pulled in,” Eli said.
    “Yeah.”
    Eli glanced at his brother, who was at the kitchen table looking