Crazy Little Thing Called Love (4 page)

He frowned as he noticed one of those
employees casually leaning against a wall chatting up a petite
brunette with a high ponytail and hoop earrings. In her mid-fifties
her hair had begun to pepper with streaks of gray and laugh lines
framed her eyes and mouth. Still, she barely looked a day over
forty in her white tank top and pressed turquoise capris with the
matching flip-flops.

“Frankie, we pay you to work, not to
socialize with pretty ladies.” He grinned, “Mom, I didn’t know you
were stopping by.”

“Zach! Honey! There you are.” His mother
squealed as she spun to face him and threw herself hard into his
arms.

She wrapped her arms around as much of him as
she could reach and squeezed him hard with all the love and
affection she’d always given freely with her sons. Still, he hadn’t
gotten his size from her so she barely hit him mid-chest and her
arms didn’t reach all the way around his back. He gave her a quick
squeeze and a pat on the back in return before putting her back on
her feet.

“Heck of a greeting. I’ve only been gone a
few days.”

“We were beginning to think you got lost.”
Reba West pursed her lips.

He’d seen that look a million times in his
life. While he hadn’t inherited his size from his mother he did
have her eyes, dark hair and proclivity for a hell of a scowl when
needed. His restlessness and penchant for beautiful women came
straight from his father though so he avoided the assessing
look.

“She was about to call the police. Send out a
search party.” Frankie explained.

“Don’t you go tattling on me to my boys.”
Reba admonished.

“It ain’t tattling if it’s the truth.”

“Franklin Scott, I am allowed to worry about
my babies. It’s in a mama’s nature. You’d do well to remember
that.”

“Yes ma’am.” Frankie grinned back at her.

Zach watched them carefully and tried not to
cringe. Surely he was imagining things. There was no way the two of
them had been… flirting? A shudder ran down his spine at the
thought.

“That part Riley needed is in the truck. Can
you run it out to the barn?”

“Sure thing boss.” Frankie nodded and tipped
his cowboy hat, “Afternoon Reba.”

When the door swung shut behind him Zach
frowned, “I think Frankie’s got a thing for you Mom.”

“I think you’re right.”

“Oh Jesus…” He groaned.

“Now, now Zachary, I’m a grown woman with
needs and I’m as single as the day is long so there’s no point
taking that tone with me.”

He rubbed his eyes again, the beginnings of a
headache cropping up. He was not having this conversation with his
mother. She was in her fifties for God’s sake and Frankie was
barely a few years older than him. The thought of his mother being
a cougar was downright ridiculous.

“You are not dating Frankie.”

“Who said anything about dating? Maybe I’ll
take a page out of your book. Love ‘em and leave ‘em.” She smiled
primly, her words so sugary he figured it’d rot her teeth if she
tried to say them again.

“Now Mom,” He used the same tone of voice she
had when he chided, “You know love ain’t ever had a thing to do
with it.”

Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. Served
her right trying to goad him. Let her think about that. He crossed
to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.

“It might if you’d stop jumping from bed to
bed and try a real, adult relationship for once.”

He kept his back to her as he twisted off the
cap and took a long pull. Typical for his mom to hit the nail on
the head in one try. He didn’t do relationships, he’d never seen
one end well and he wasn’t going to set himself up for failure. His
younger brothers felt the same way. The West brothers’ hearts might
as well have been stamped with no trespassing signs. Any woman that
got involved with them knew exactly what she was getting, a good
time, no strings and a quick goodbye.

“Stop trying to psychoanalyze me Mom.” He
turned back to her with a playful wink and noticed the food on the
table, “Mmm, is that homemade pecan pie?”

She gave him another knowing look but nodded
with a sigh, “It sure is but you have to eat the dinner first. I
brought you some brisket sandwiches. Sit on down and eat.”

He did as he was told. His mother could be
persistent when she wanted to be so he was thankful for the change
in subject. Discussing his sex life with his mother was not on his
list of things to ever do. Talking about hers… well he was just
lucky he still had an appetite.

His mother slid into a chair next to him, “So
where’ve you been? I was expecting you an hour ago.”

“Car trouble.”

“With the truck?”

“Nah, not mine.” Zach shook his head, “Saw a
little sports car on the side of the road just outside of town,
blown tire. I stopped and helped.”

The brisket was amazing. He took another bite
of the sandwich and savored the deliciousness. He’d only been gone
two days but he’d missed home cooked meals. Getting out of Fate for
a few days was always a trade off. He could have had the tractor
part shipped, it would have saved time but cost more money.
Instead, he’d packed a bag and hit the road. Two days away had
sated some of his restlessness but not his stomach.

“Of course you did.” She smiled softly, “Was
it somebody from town?”

“Not exactly.”

“A stranger? Don’t get too many of those
around here.”

“Nah, she used to live here. She’s just in
town for Molly McBride’s wedding.”

“Oh you don’t mean…”

“Yep. Bluebell Carter is officially back in
town, let the gossiping begin.” He took another bite of his
sandwich and watched his mother’s mouth fall open.

“Well, I declare…” she shook her head, “I
never thought I’d see the day. That girl took off the minute she
hit eighteen and never looked back. Left her poor daddy out there
on the ranch all by himself. She hasn’t been back around these
parts in years.”

Poor daddy? Zach blinked in confusion. Since
when had he ever heard anyone refer to the Carter’s as poor
anything? Coming out of his mother’s mouth it was even stranger. It
probably meant the rumors going around town were true.

“Everybody said she was coming back for the
wedding but... Bluebell Carter huh?”

“Yep, Bluebell Montgomery Carter.” He drawled
and returned his attention to his sandwich.

“I never did understand why her mama gave her
that silly name. They’re pretty flowers sure but Rose or Lily would
have been just as nice.”

Zach shrugged indifferently. The name was
definitely unique. Still, the memory of those big blue eyes made
him think it was pretty fitting. She hadn’t seemed like a Lily or a
Rose.

“How’d she look?

He smiled at the open invitation to think
about the pretty blond though he doubted his mother wanted the
details that had warped with his testosterone addled brain. Sleek
blond hair, smooth pink lips, perky breasts and legs that’d easily
wrap all the way around his waist were the first things that came
to mind.

“I’ll take that grin to mean she’s as pretty
as she ever was.” He caught the eye roll his mother did and
couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

He couldn’t confirm yes or no since he didn’t
have a memory of the girl to match the woman. If he was a betting
man though he’d say she’d always been a looker. She had the type of
beauty queen looks you had to be born with, no amount of styling or
dieting created that figure.

“You know I heard from Penny McBride that
Bluebell never got married.”

His mind ran screeching into a brick wall. He
frowned and took a swig of his water, wishing he’d opened a beer
instead before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. If there
was one thing he wanted to talk about less than sex with his mother
it was marriage.

Marriage was not in his future. His mother
couldn’t seem to get that through her thick skull though no matter
how many times he tried to explain. He’d already done his family
duty as far as he was concerned. He’d taken over the ranch when he
was eighteen and all the responsibility that came with that. Caring
for a grieving mother and two younger brothers had more than
solidified his feelings that he didn’t need a wife any more than he
needed to take care of any extra little people. The only thing
about marriage he’d ever wanted was the sex and he got more than
enough of that without the institution.

“Maybe I should look her up, make sure she
has a good time while she’s in town then.” He used his hardest
glare to get his point across.

Reba glared right back, “You’re
hopeless.”

“Thank you.”

He drank his water, ate his food and ignored
the look of disapproval on his mothers face. He hated that look. He
hated knowing she didn’t approve of his style with women. She’d
once called him a chauvinist pig, course she’d done it with a smile
and a wink. Didn’t lessen the blow any. Still, he was what he was
and he had his reasons.

“Did you just stop by to gossip or was there
something you needed?” He changed the subject.

“Am I that easy to read?” She softened.

He nodded but remained silent. It wasn’t
every day his mother stopped by the ranch house with enough food to
feed an army. She hadn’t been happy with him remodeling her house
so she’d stuck to town the past few months and he’d been the one
doing the visiting. He’d already deduced she had something
important she wanted to say.

“I wanted to talk to you about this whole
remodeling project you started and that land your brothers have
been looking at.”

“Okay.” Zach crossed his arms over his chest
and waited.

He had a pretty good idea what was coming.
Ever since his brothers started looking at buying up the
neighboring properties and he’d said no the family had been in a
state of unrest. It figured that their mother would try to get
involved. Still, it wouldn’t change his mind on the matter. He
owned a third of the ranch and he didn’t want to expand. He had
final say, he’d had it for nearly twenty years and if Devin and
Riley thought that was going to change because they sent their
mommy to confront him they had another thing coming.

“I know I wasn’t very supportive when you
said you wanted to remodel the house. It’s just, this place had so
many great memories for me of when you boys were little, of our
life with your father. I was afraid to see any of that destroyed.”
She started.

“I understand that.”

“It’s just; this was a great place to raise
you boys. I thought it would be a great place for you to raise your
family someday.”

Zach’s brow furrowed naturally. He didn’t
like to talk about family and kids. That kind of talk could lead
only two directions. Either she wanted to talk about the future,
something Zach didn’t do because he never saw himself getting
married let alone having kids, or she wanted to talk about the
past. The past was full of a lot of painful memories he didn’t like
to face.

He didn’t want to face those first few years
after his father died. He didn’t want to face not living up to the
legend of Ellis West. He didn’t want to remember his mother’s tear
streaked face when she begged him to give up college and keep the
ranch going because they wouldn’t survive otherwise. He didn’t want
to face how much he’d resented doing just that because when he
faced it he felt guilty and not good enough and everything about
his life seemed somehow wrong.

“The thing is, you’ve done a great job with
this place Zach. You’ve managed to keep the history alive but make
it your own at the same time. You never sacrificed the features
that made this house a home just to modernize. What I didn’t
realize is that you’ve been building your own home here. You’ve
done beautiful work and now I see this...”

A cell phone buzzed, ending Reba’s monologue
and Zach sent a silent thank you towards the heavens. He didn’t
want to have to point out that not all the memories in this house
were happy and special. He didn’t want to point out that her dreams
of little dark haired grandchildren weren’t part of his plan. He
didn’t want to hurt her when she was finally coming around about
the house so he was thankful for the distraction.

She pulled the phone out, took one look and
then gave an apologetic smile as she held up a finger, “It’s Devin.
Give me a second.”

Zach watched his mother put the phone to her
ear, her smile widening as she stepped out of the room to talk to
her middle son. He tried not to grimace. Devin was probably calling
for an update on if she’d badgered Zach into the land deal yet. He
hated thinking so poorly of his younger brother though, in all
likelihood Devin had no idea their mother was here or why. She was
hard-headed and stubborn and it wouldn’t be a surprise if she’d
taken it on herself to ease the tension between her sons on her
own.

The three brothers had always been close.
Even after Zach took on the role of parent as a lost eighteen year
old kid he’d managed to maintain his easy relationship with his
younger brothers. It helped that they all shared a deep devotion to
their mother, to family and to the ranch that was their home.

Home. Yeah the family house was definitely
home, it always had been. Memories were everywhere in this place
and nothing had confirmed that more than when he’d started tearing
it apart. It hadn’t been easy for him at first either though his
mother didn’t know that. He’d needed to make it his though, to
finally, get rid of the ghost of his father looking over his
shoulder.

Because that’s how he felt he’d been living
his life, always a step behind what Ellis would have wanted or
would have done. He loved his father. He missed his father every
single day. But he still cursed him sometimes for dying and leaving
him to this life he wasn’t so sure he’d ever wanted.