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“You really should have a legal agreement in place to make sure you get to see her.”
“Don’t start. Shelby’s never denied me access to Eliza unless I didn’t deserve it.”
His dad’s nod made it clear he understood that Shelby had reason in the past to keep him away from his daughter.
“You’ll do better this time,” his dad encouraged him.
“That’s my plan, because Eliza is the most important thing in my life. I won’t lose her again.” Two months in rehab away from her had felt like forever, even longer than the time he’d been away in the army.
“Then you’ll start next week.” His dad nodded like it was all decided.
Chase guessed it was because he needed a job. Maybe going back to the ranch would mend fences with Max, who’d kept their calls and correspondence to ranch business and not much else. While Hunt made it plain how he felt about Chase and how he’d helped their mother, Max’s feelings were harder to read.
Chase didn’t want to be at odds with either of his brothers.
All he wanted to do was put his life back together. He just wished it wasn’t so damn hard.
He glanced at his dad watching him and answered the question he hadn’t asked. “I’ll start next week.”
His dad placed his hands over Chase’s ears, leaned down, and kissed him on top of the head. He hadn’t done that since Chase was a very small boy. “Good to have you home, son.” His dad walked down the porch steps, climbed into his truck, and left.
Chase stared out at the misty morning, wondering if he was still dreaming, because nothing that happened this morning seemed real.
Except for the envelope in his hand. He tore it open, pulled out the check, and stared at the figure. The check was for his share of the profits the family had earned, plus the exact amount of money Chase had put into the ranch when he joined the army.
His dad paid him back every cent and then some.
His chest went tight. He didn’t know if he should behappy or sad or even angry it took his dad this long to finally do what was right and acknowledge that without Chase’s help, he’d have lost everything.
But Chase remembered what he’d said: that after his mom got sick, nothing else mattered to him, except her getting well. And when she didn’t, and things turned bleak...
It wasn’t that his father didn’t care. Didn’t love. He did. He just had a hard time showing it.
He’d done a lot better today with Chase, and he couldn’t deny that it made a huge difference and changed things between them.
Still, if his dad didn’t accept Eliza and Shelby as part of the family, then Chase didn’t want back in.
Chapter Seven
Shelby loved her job most days. Helping people made her feel good. As a physical therapist, she helped people regain mobility after an injury or surgery. In the beginning, she’d had to work hard to overcome her shyness and aversion to being really close to people.
Most days now, it didn’t bother her. But sometimes with a male client, she got nervous and tried to stay ultra-focused on the task and not them, and sometimes that made her seem unfriendly, but all she was trying to do was be professional.
Not a bitch, like some clients thought.
Including the guy she was working with now. “You could smile or something, so it doesn’t seem like you want this to be over.”
She eased his leg out of the stretch she held him in due to a hamstring injury. “What? No. That’s not it. I was just concentrating.” She gave him a weak smile, but didn’t meet his intense gaze.
“That’s a little better.”
She gently held his leg and pushed it back into the stretch.
“You never wear your hair down.”
With him on his back on the mat, her practically between his legs, and her holding one of his legs aloft, she felt far too up close and personal in his space to be talking about her smile and hair during a session.
“Um. It gets in the way when it’s down.”
