Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch (The Ryan Family #1) by Carolyn Brown

Addy wondered who Mia was trying to convince—Jesse or herself—and why she was being so belligerent. She had been the kind, sweet daughter that Addy had raised when she had come home for the Christmas break, but the girl who arrived at the ranch for the summer had changed into a sassy, sometimes even hateful person. Could it be that knowing Jesse was coming home had made her question her own place on Sunflower Ranch?

“Well, I, for one, am glad that you’ve been here to keep the ranch going while I’ve been out running missions for the Air Force,” Jesse told her.

“Thank you,” Mia said as she took her cowboy hat off a rack by the door and settled it on her head. “When you get done with Poppa, I’ll expect you out in the hay field.”

“Mia Pearl Hall,” Addy fussed at her.

“Pearl?” Jesse raised an eyebrow.

“It’s my grandmother’s middle name as well as mine,” Addy answered.

“And my first name, so I claim her, too,” Pearl said.

“Enough about names,” Mia said. “Can I expect you in the hay field? Those young boys don’t want to listen to me, and Henry has a crew fixing fence this morning.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I get back with Dad,” Jesse promised.

“Good.” She nodded and left by the back door.

Jesse raised an eyebrow at Addy. “Looks like she’s well on her way to making a pretty fine foreman. She’s certainly bossy enough, but then she comes by that honest. I remember you being pretty sassy.”

Addy crammed her straw hat down on her head. “If you don’t have a hat anymore, you’d better rustle one up. This hot sun will fry your brains.”

“It can’t be any hotter than it was in Iraq or Kuwait,” he said, grinning.

“And you had a hat there, I’m sure,” Addy said as she pushed the back door open.

She went straight to the old ranch work truck. The thing had been new the year that Jesse left for the Air Force. Now the paint had rusted off in places, and the bench seat inside was cracked so badly that she kept a quilt thrown over it. But the engine still hummed like it was new. She started the engine, clutched and put it in reverse, then just sat there for a few minutes. Hoping to quiet her racing thoughts and all the memories, she leaned her head on the steering wheel. When that didn’t work, she rose up and backed the truck out of the yard.

“I should have stayed in Cactus,” she said. “I should never have come back here. When Granny went to the nursing home five years ago, and Mama and Daddy moved out there, I should have stayed.”

Driving to the hay barn, she remembered coming out to Sunflower Ranch five years ago and all the old memories that flooded her that day. Mia was fourteen that spring, and Addy had just started managing a home health care facility. That’s when Sonny was first diagnosed with MS, and Pearl had made arrangements for Addy to come see him every two weeks. Pearl had whispered that he was too damn stubborn to see a doctor as often as he should. The disease progressed quickly at first, and before long, Addy was out at the ranch almost every day.

“Mia loved it here, and Pearl said that she was the grandchild they had never had,” Addy muttered as she got out of the truck and hooked up the hay hauling trailer to it. “So here we are, and Jesse is here. And what am I going to do?”

“Who are you talking to, Mama?” Mia came out of the tack room with two new pairs of gloves.

“Myself,” Addy answered. “Don’t you ever have a conversation with yourself?”

Mia nudged her with a shoulder. “Of course. I have to talk to someone who’s as intelligent as I am every now and then.”

“If you were all that smart, you’d figure out a way to keep your hired hands working,” Addy told her.

“I’m only a year older than some of those guys,” Mia reminded her.

“Dated any of them?” Addy asked.

“Hell, no!” Mia got behind the wheel.

“What does that mean?” Addy slipped into the passenger seat.

“I love you, Mama. I’m glad you kept me and didn’t give me away, but I damn sure don’t want a baby at my age. I’ve got plans, and babies aren’t a part of that until I’m at least thirty.” Mia backed the trailer out of the barn and drove toward the hay field.

“Good for you,” Addy said.

“Besides, who knows what kind of man my father was. You don’t want to talk about him, and I respect that, but he could be a serial killer for all I know.” Mia didn’t even grind the gears as she shifted from low into second.

“That’s not showing a lot of faith in my judgment,” Addy told her.

“No shade on you, Mommy dearest. He might have been a good man at the time, but I would like to know what kind of genes he threw into me before I have kids of my own.” She slapped the steering wheel. “Not a boy in sight. If they show up to work at all today, I’m firing the lot of them, and calling a bunch of girls to come help me next week.”

“Temper! Temper!” Addy scolded. “Look over there under that big scrub oak tree. I do believe that’s four guys all hugging what shade they can before you start cracking the whip over their heads.”

“It’s a good thing they’re here.” Mia braked and brought the truck and trailer to a stop. “They don’t know how close they came to losing their jobs.”