“I haven’t been to Cooper’s Hawk in years. I grew up there. That’s not running away.”
“Mom?” Jane gave Mindy the I-know-you-better eye. “Is this because of the house?”
“You’re heading to college and I would be here alone anyway. This house is way too big for one person.” Mindy and Branch had agreed that she would stay in the house for one year and then she’d choose to put the home up for sale, and split the profit, or buy Branch out of his share. “Some Montana fresh air will help me decide what I need to do with my life.” Mindy plucked at the frayed hem of her denim shorts. Since he’d asked for a divorce, she’d been asking herself the grueling question, “Where will I go from here?”
“I want you to be happy,” Jane said.
“I know you do, and I will be. This is a hurdle I need to get over and it takes time, but it can happen.”
“Does that mean you’ve decided to sell?”
“I haven’t decided anything yet, but more than likely I will.”
The sadness on her daughter’s face only lasted a second. “I’m getting a text.” She read the screen on her phone and smiled. “I’ve got to go. My squad is waiting.” She jumped up, gave Mindy a tight hug, then pulled on the cover up over her bikini. “Love you.” She started for the French doors.
“Wait. What time will you be home?”
“Don’t wait up!”
“Jane Elizabeth!”
“Sorry. I’ll be home around midnight. We’re grabbing a pizza and watching a movie.”
Mindy responded with, “I love you too,” but the door was already shut.
Getting up from the lounger, she took the stone steps down to the wooden dock and sat at the edge. She dipped her feet into the warm water, swirling her toes in the murky blue depths, wishing she had all the answers to her problems.
What would she do with her life?
She married Branch when Jane was a baby and they’d been happy, but the honeymoon stage had lasted less than a year. While Mindy had been up to her ears in dirty diapers, midnight feedings and keeping the house—then a two-bedroom apartment—running, Branch’s focus had been on building his reputation and clientele in the photography world. When he’d landed a shoot for a popular fashion lingerie company his business had taken off like a rocket. What should have been a lucky break turned out to be less time at home.
Mindy had maintained loyalty to her family through the years, running Jane to school and sports and supporting Branch in all his endeavors. All the while the gap grew wider and deeper until they couldn’t find their way out of the man-made hole. It happened to a lot of couples. Over the years she’d lost count of friends who’d divorced because they no longer loved one another.
At times, she’d tried to stick a match to the flame by surprising Branch with new lingerie and buckets of chilled champagne, but at some point, she felt he had lost interest. She faulted herself for not realizing that when she’d suggested they have a child together five years ago and he gave her a hard “no” that he would never be the family man. By then he’d completely segregated himself from her and the dream of building a larger family had fizzled.
A year ago he’d taken her to her favorite restaurant for dinner and proceeded to tell her that he wanted a divorce. It was, but wasn’t, a shock. She’d suspected for some time that he was seeing someone else, and it was almost a relief to finally hear the truth—to finally have him stop denying what she’d accused him of a handful of times. Jane, although sad that her parents would be divorcing, had almost seemed relieved too.
A house built on lies was no home.
If Mindy could have peered into a crystal ball to see what her future held, she would have taken a different path. Prepared better. Would have put away more money—got the college degree she so dearly wanted but had quit her junior year because being a mom, wife and college student had spread her too thin.
The day Jane started kindergarten, Mindy applied for a position as a figure skating coach and landed the job. She’d enjoyed coaching skaters at the nearby rink.
When the nights became lonely because Branch wasn’t home, she started writing in a journal. The stories had exploded and a writer friend suggested she submit them to a local newspaper. The editor loved her articles about the trials and tribulations of motherhood so much that she gave Mindy a small spot on the front page of the daily paper. She wrote the column until sales started to decline and the newspaper closed.
From where she sat on the dock, with the soothing sounds of the water splashing the rocks and swirling around her ankles, she closed her eyes and imagined she was back in Cooper’s Hawk. An image filled her mind. Pale blue eyes and a dimple-bracketed grin. Dark hair and silky waves she would tangle her fingers in. Large, callused hands caressing her sensitive skin. The intoxicating scent of leather and sandalwood, and the husky words whispered in her ear as she gave herself to the cowboy she’d never forgotten.
Cool water sprayed her face and she opened her eyes, watching as a speed boat passed. The couple waved at her and she waved back.
Standing, she looked at the house that appeared so regal with the white columns and stone siding. The architecture was beautiful indeed, but the house never seemed like home, not like the two story, white-sided farmhouse back at Sage Ranch. She missed the horses. The pygmy goats she’d raised for 4H. The sunrises and sunsets that never quite seemed the
