If Noah was swearing, it was serious.
Hell, it was serious. They couldn’t afford to buy out anyone who had a share of the ranch, and if his mother thought they were selling it, she could think again.
“I won’t lose the Flying W,” Liam ground out.
“You’re right. You won’t. I swear to God, Liam—no matter what it takes.” Noah was quiet a moment, then he chuckled. “Guess we’d better win the Founder’s Prize. We could sell the Ridley property. Give her the cash.”
“Why doesn’t she earn her own cash?” Noah was right, though. If they won the Ridley property, it would fix more than one problem.
“Wish I knew,” Noah said. “Hang in there. Take that break you need. Say hi to Tory for me. I’ll see you in a few days.”
He hung up, leaving Liam to gape at the phone.
How the hell did Noah know about Tory?
“What’s up, Mom?” Tory asked when she answered her phone. If she hadn’t felt bad for listening in on Liam’s call with his brother, she would have ignored her mother again, but she supposed she couldn’t do that forever. She wished she could get back to the part where it was just her and Liam, though. A moment ago, standing in the sunshine with him, just the trace of a breeze whispering over her skin, she’d been… happy.
“Where are you?”
“Out.”
“For God’s sake, Tory, I was worried about you. You never came home last night.”
Was she serious? “Isn’t it a little late to play the doting mother?”
“Ouch,” Enid said. “Direct hit.”
“Sorry.” As soon as she said it, Tory wanted to smack herself. Why was she the one apologizing?
“So where are you?”
“With a friend.”
“I thought… I thought we were going to spend some time together,” Enid said. “I told you I’d be in town this week.”
“You said you’d be here all week. I figured we could grab lunch in a few days.”
Enid was quiet for a long moment. “I’d hoped for more than lunch.”
When was she going to learn lunch was all Tory had to give her? She’d been a mess when she’d first landed in Seattle, scrambling to find work, a place to live, a way to exist in a city that at first was too big, too expensive, too much of everything for a country girl like her. She’d met a lot of people—fast. Some were genuinely friendly. Others wanted something from her. She’d had a crash course in learning to separate the wheat from the chaff. Thank goodness an older waitress she’d worked with briefly had given her some sage advice early on.
“When you meet someone and spend a little time with them, ask yourself—do I feel better or worse afterward? If you feel better, keep them around. If you feel worse, even if you aren’t sure why, get the hell away from them.”
It had been a long time since being around Enid had made her feel better.
“Is this the way it is with you?” Enid went on when she didn’t answer. “People get one chance, and if they blow it, that’s that? Is no one allowed to make a mistake?”
“It was a pretty big mistake, Mom.”
“Yes, it was. A huge mistake. But maybe if you put yourself in my shoes—”
“I don’t want to, and what’s more—” Tory tried to moderate her rising tone. “What’s more, even if I did, I’d never, ever leave my children, no matter what.”
“Of course not. Not you,” Enid said bitterly. “Not my perfect daughter, who never, ever makes mistakes—except you do leave people behind, don’t you? You left your sister and brothers behind when you headed to Seattle. I know you hurt Olivia a lot.”
Tory’s mouth dropped open. Had her mother actually said that? Guilt clogged her voice when she tried to put words to her outrage. “I was seventeen. I had my life to live, Mom. That’s hardly the same thing! Olivia had Aunt Joan.”
“Olivia wanted you. She depended on you. She told me that. She said it broke her heart when you left her behind.”
Tory dropped the phone. Went to kick it. Restrained herself and paced in a circle before picking it up, swiping at it with her finger and ending the call. How dare her mother say those things? How dare she compare them? Enid was Olivia’s mother, for heaven’s sake. Mothers were never supposed to leave their children. Big sisters were different—
But her mother had found her weak spot, and her accusations burned her to the core. Leaving Olivia had been the hardest thing she’d ever done. She’d known it would hurt her sister, but she’d been dying in Idaho, and she was afraid if she stayed, she’d lose herself altogether.
She’d thought about it like the airplane drill where they told you to put on your own oxygen mask before saving someone else. She’d been stifled. Fighting to breathe. She had to touch down somewhere else and get air in her lungs. Only then could she come back for Olivia.
It had taken far too long, though. Olivia had grown up. Returned to Chance Creek with Lance and Steel. She’d made her own way.
And Tory could never make up for what she’d done. A gulf separated her from Olivia, because as much as she wanted to be close to her sister, and as nice as Olivia had been to her so far, she was terrified one day she would voice the same accusations Enid just had.
Tory didn’t think she could stand that. Shame would bury her alive.
Was that how Enid felt—
No.
She would not feel sorry for her mother.
It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t.
No matter what her mother said.
The paddle back across the water seemed to take twice as long. Like he’d warned Tory earlier, a wind had kicked up, and the waves, while not over-large, built resistance against their forward progress.
Liam couldn’t think of a thing to say, his thoughts consumed with his mother’s play for her share of the ranch. They couldn’t owe her money, could
