Page 78 of Cowboys & Navy SEALs
This morning, seeing his mom so upset had rattled Lucas, taking him back to that dark time when the family was on pins and needles, wondering if his dad would be okay. Lucas hadn’t intended on telling Magnolia about his dad’s gambling problem, but he was glad he did. It felt good to get it off his chest, to confide in someone.
The things Magnolia told him about her family floored him. He’d always thought of Magnolia as an entitled diva, but listening to her talk, he could understand why she acted like she did. For all of his parents’ flaws, he knew that they loved him and Lexi. Their family was close. And, despite his longstanding rivalry with Jaxson, Lucas was close to his first cousins. Knox was like a second father to him. Magnolia didn’t know what it was like to be part of a close-knit family. The money was all she had—all she knew. No wonder she was so desperate to get her inheritance.
He wondered what the next few days would bring. He was dreading meeting Magnolia’s grandfather. He could tell that Magnolia feared Lucas wouldn’t measure up. While he put up a confident front to Magnolia, the truth was, he was in way over his head here. If only he were more like his cousins. When he’d gotten the new clothes, he felt a bit like Ramsey—the sharp dresser of the bunch. Lucas wished he had Cash’s quick wit and brains or Noah’s finesse. Heck, he’d even settle for Jaxson’s bullheaded confidence right now. Lexi had always accused Lucas of being on the defensive where their cousins were concerned. “You need to stop comparing yourself to them,” Lexi said, “and be yourself. You are enough!”
Was he enough? He certainly didn’t feel like it. There was part of him that was riddled with holes. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t plug the leaks. The practical side of his brain insisted that all he could do was be himself and try to buff out the rough edges. He and Magnolia had decided to keep their stories as straightforward and close to the truth as possible. They’d reconnected when Lexi went to stay with Magnolia prior to the reality TV show. The narrative was short and sweet. He could handle that.
Lucas thought back to the handful of dates he and Magnolia had gone on. In some ways, it seemed like it was anotherlifetime. And then, in other ways, the foibles of the past still clung to them, wrapping them in a shroud of regrets that would be better off buried and forgotten. The night they went to the drive-in stood out in his mind. They’d connected, never running out of things to talk about. Lucas could tell that Magnolia was crazy about him. It scared him. Back then, he wasn’t anywhere near ready to settle down, so he’d played it cool, intending to politely put distance between him and Magnolia. She wasn’t going to have it, however. She pressed the issue, which led to their fight. They’d called each other names, said cutting things, and went their separate ways.
Now, here they were, years later. Life could be a strange beast sometimes. Snow was falling harder, sticking to the windshield despite the wipers’ efforts to wick it away. Magnolia stirred. Lucas tensed. She was not going to be happy when she learned that he’d taken a detour. There was a ranch for sale that he’d found online. According to the GPS, it would only take an extra hour to visit it. Lucas figured they’d might as well check it out while they were so close. It wasn’t as if an extra hour would make much difference in their schedule. Then again, with the snow coming down hard, they would be delayed more than an hour.
Turn right in two hundred feet, the GPS instructed.
He slowed, pulling onto a gravel road.
You have arrived, the GPS announced. Lucas surveyed the area. He’d hoped there might be a For Sale sign or ranch entrance—something to let him know that they were in the right place. But there was nothing.
Magnolia opened her eyes as she sat up and looked around. “Where are we?”
“I decided to take a detour,” he said casually. “There’s a ranch that I want to check out.”
Her eyes flew open wide. “And you picked today, of all days, to go and look at it?” Her expression held a mixture of disbelief and frustration.
“Yeah, the ranch was pretty much on the way. I figured it would be easier to look at it when we were in the area, rather than having to come back later.”
A layer of red seeped into her cheeks. “How much time is this going to cost us?”
“I figured it would take an extra hour.”
He could almost see the wheels turning in her head. She was irritated by his deviation from the schedule and yet, she was trying to be understanding. He admired that about Magnolia. How she was trying to find some common ground with him. Finally, she sighed. “Okay, that’s not too bad.” A second later, her voice pitched. “The snow’s coming down hard.” She threw him a worried glance. “It wouldn’t be good for us to get stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, in a blizzard. We need to get to Asheville so we can get everything ready for the wedding.”
“We won’t get stuck.” His truck handled well in the snow. Even so, had Lucas realized how hard it would start snowing, he might’ve thought twice about taking the detour.
Magnolia hugged her arms. “This place is so remote.”
“That’s the idea,” he grinned.
“You sure there’s a ranch down here?” she asked a few minutes later as they continued down the long gravel road. There was nothing but glistening snowy pastures on either side of the road.
No, he wasn’t sure of anything at this point. “I guess we’ll find out.”
They came to a gravel road that shot off to the right. “Do we take that one or stay straight?” Magnolia asked in a voice that was clearly worried.
Lucas slowed to a stop. “Let me check the GPS.” He reached for his phone, his gut tensing a smidgen. “There’s no service.”
“Seriously?” Magnolia rolled her eyes. “That’s not good. Maybe we should turn around and go back. We can’t afford to get stuck out here.”
“We’ll go just a little farther. If we don’t find it, we’ll turn around and head back to the interstate.”
She nodded, her jaw tight. Lucas looked through the snow, further up ahead on the road they were on. His pulse quickened. “Look, there’s a car up ahead.” He continued driving in that direction. They came upon not one, but two cars. A group of people was standing a few paces in front of the cars.
“Oh, good. We can ask them where the ranch is,” Magnolia said in relief.
Lucas spotted the tall, rail-skinny man first, wearing a navy coat and matching knit hat. A thickly set woman wearing a gray coat was standing beside the man, bracing herself with a walker. Flaming red curls peeked out beneath the hood of her coat. The deep red strands of her hair were a stark contrast to the glistening white dots of snow. Three teenage boys faced the couple. Something about the scene was off. The couple looked scared. At the same time Lucas heard Magnolia’s startled breath, he realized that the boy in the center was holding a knife.
“Those boys are attacking that couple,” Magnolia exclaimed in dismay. “We have to call 911.”
The sight of the boys preying on the older couple scalded Lucas’s blood. He threw the truck into park and undid his seatbelt.
