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Nic sat down so they’d be eye to eye. “I understand you’ve become aStonewallfan on the sly.”
Mom sighed. “Your father’s been complaining?”
“Not really complaining, just . . . mentioning.”
“Look, I know you don’t like the show, and the way it’s done, and I see your point.”
“My only point is saying it’s Texas doesn’t make it so.”
“I know that. But I enjoy it for the story, not the trappings. For the people.”
“Including the star?”
She nearly laughed when she saw the faint tinge of pink rise in her mother’s cheeks. “Well, even you can’t deny he’s an amazing-looking man. But that’s not why I like him. Did you know that after his wife was killed, he went back to the hospital that tried to save her and spent a lot of time personally thanking the staff? And the other person who was killed that night, the man in the car that was stolen? He set up a trust fund for his two children and never said a word about it until the man’s widow spoke up, months later.”
Nic was staring at her mother now, a little stunned.
“And then he came back to the hospital several times, going around and talking to patients, and their families, whoever was there. Brought attention to the needs of the hospital, which brought in donations. Along with what he gave them himself.”
She stared at her mother. “I... no, I didn’t know any of that.”
“One of the people in my online group met him that way while she was in the same hospital. He told her it was the only thing that helped, seeing people still fighting. And he came back several times to the children’s ward. With his little boy, hoping it would help him too.”
This was yet another puncture in her balloon of dislike, and it took her a moment to make herself focus on the reason she’d come in to see her mother. “Well, in that case, I have a surprise for you. He’s coming here.”
“To Texas?” Mom asked. “I’m not surprised he’s coming again.”
That interrupted Nic’s train of thought once more. “Again?”
“Well, yes, he’s been here a few times, I’ve read, to get the feel, he said. And his best friend, his stuntman, is from Fort Worth. He says he relies on him a lot.”
She was shaking her head with amusement now. “Any more star gossip you’d like to spill before I clarify what I meant?”
“Clarify?”
“He’s cominghere, Mom. To the ranch.”
Her mother stared at her. “What?”
She drew in a breath and told the whole story again. And she saw the moment when her mother’s reaction changed from one of shock to one of sweet concern. “Oh, that poor child. That was a good thing you did, Nicky. I know you don’t like the man.”
Instead of repeating that it wasn’t the man, it was the misrepresenting of this state she so loved that she didn’t like, she repeated what she’d said to her father. “It’s Jeremy who matters, not who his father is.”
“And that’s the daughter I love,” her mother said with a warm smile.
And as she leaned over to hug her mother, all she could think of was the little boy who no longer could.
Chapter Eight
Jackson knew thatsome people disliking him without even knowing him came with the territory. And it happened often enough that he’d grown able to recognize the signs. He’d known from the moment Ms. Baylor had looked away from him there on the main street of Last Stand that she was one of them. Whether it was his success—it had come so fast a lot of people thought he didn’t deserve it—or his profession in general, he didn’t know. And frankly, didn’t care. All he cared about was the look of gentle, kind compassion that had come into those ocean-colored eyes when she looked at Jeremy.
And the fact that now his son was peering out the car window with every evidence of excitement. You’d think they were on their way to a major amusement park or something. Back when such things had been able to excite the boy.
He slowed down, glancing at the map on Tris’s car’s display. They should be there, or very close, but he didn’t see a house or anything that—
“Dad! Is that her?”
He looked in the direction Jeremy was pointing. Saw a horse and rider. The horse was a reddish brown with a light-colored mane and tail, almost the shade of the hair of his rider. Because yes, there was no doubt in his mind that was Nicole Baylor. She sat a horse with the same ease as Tucker. The ease that came from riding since childhood. He himself was a pretty decent rider, thanks to Tuck, although he always felt like he needed to get better. But he flat-out loved horses and hoped that made up a bit for what he might lack.
