"It's different now, Ruth. Look at Chase. He's only just met January and he's older than me."
"Chase felt obliged to look after all of you instead of finding the right woman."
"And make millions of dollars. Don't forget that. He's like me. The idea of having a family scared the crap out of him."
Ruth sat opposite him. "Mind your language."
"Sorry, but come on, Ruth. Why would any of us want to get hitched when we lived through the clusterfuck of our parents' marriage?"
"It wasn't all bad, BB, and don't use that word again or I'll wash your mouth out with soap."
"It wasn't good, either." Blue stood up.
"Chase seems to have gotten over it."
"That's because he's the eldest and the perfect child."
"Or because he decided to let go of the past and move forward."
"And allow our father to hang around this place like some kind of ghoul?" A movement in the doorway made him look over his shoulder to see his father standing there. "Great. Perfect timing as always. Excuse me, Ruth."
He pushed past Billy and was halfway to the barn before he realized he'd forgotten to put his boots back on. Muttering a blistering curse that would've made Ruth give him a clout round the ear, he retraced his steps, opened the screen door, and turned toward the mudroom.
"He's right, Mama. I am just hanging around here."
Blue froze in the hallway as his father spoke from inside the kitchen.
"It's your home, too, Billy. Don't ever forget that," Ruth reminded him. "BB will come around."
"No, he won't. He's not like Chase. BB sees everything as black or white. I used to be the same way." Billy sighed. "Roy's been letting me help out on the ranch and Chase has tried to get along with me, but it's hard for everyone, and that's my fault. Maybe I should go back to San Francisco."
"And give up on your sons again?" Ruth sounded fierce.
"The twins won't even come and visit while I'm here."
"They'll be here for the wedding. Promise me you'll stay until then, Billy."
There was a long silence broken only by the hiss of coffee percolating. Even Blue held his breath.
"Okay. I'll do that," Billy finally said. "Should I go and talk to BB?"
"I'd leave him be right now. You know what he's like."
At that point Blue crept toward the mudroom and put on his boots before escaping through the other door that led into the kitchen garden. It would take him a moment longer to walk around to the barn, but it was worth it to avoid his father and grandmother.
Was he really so inflexible? He had goals and he worked toward them with single-minded purpose. No one criticized Chase for doing the same thing. Order was important in anyone's life. It didn't take a session with a therapist to work out that he sought order and structure because of the chaos surrounding his mother and sister's disappearance during his childhood.
"And what the hell is wrong with that?" he demanded of the mountain range. "Should I have let the rage out and become a drunk like my dad?"
He'd tried it. Had spent his first few months in the Marines acting like a fool in the local bars and clubs, but he'd cleaned up his act because he hated the way he felt after a night screwing and boozing. Hated it.
So he wasn't sorry for the path he'd chosen even if he ended up alone. Blue opened the door into the feed store. Jeez. Ruth had made him feel like a loser. Or had that happened when he'd seen Jenna smiling at another man-a man who was ready to settle down, according to his grandma, who tended to be right about such things?
Blue unlocked the lid of the chicken feed and scooped out a bucketful to mix with the table scraps Ruth had left out in a covered bowl. He still wasn't buying the Jenna and Nate thing. It was way too convenient after his conversation with Jenna the day before. His hand stilled. Unless she really had taken his words to heart and moved on?
She was smart enough to do that, and she might have moved fast.
So, who exactly was the stupid one here?
* * *
"Thanks for coming to my rescue, Nate."
Jenna smiled at her dining companion as they settled back into their booth in the hotel dining room after getting their coffee and dessert. She'd spent the journey from the ranch into town telling him everything he needed to know about why he was taking her on a date. To her relief, he'd taken it so well she might have told him far more than she'd intended to.
"Just doing my job, ma'am." He handed her a new set of silverware wrapped in a napkin. "I'm not surprised BB's being a pain. He's usually the one overrun with choices."
"Exactly. Blue thinks I'm after him, and I just wanted to make it clear that I'm not."
"I get it-by pretending to go out with another man."
"No, by really going out with another man."
"Me?"
Jenna gave him an encouraging smile. "Why not?"
"Good question." He winked. "I am quite a nice guy."
"Dave said you were the best of the bunch."
Nate winced. "Which considering our friends doesn't mean much. But I'm glad he asked me. So what's the story? I got the impression that we're supposed to have known each other a while."
It was Jenna's turn to look sheepish. "I'm sorry I sprang that on you at the last minute."
"Seeing BB's face made it well worth it. He didn't look happy at all." Nate grinned. "He might say he's not interested in you, Jenna, but he sure didn't like me coming out to the ranch to take you out."
"Do you think so?" Jenna shook her head. "Hang on, Nate. We're not doing this for Blue's sake. We're doing it to see if we have anything in common and might want to start dating."
Nate sat back and considered her for a long moment. "I'm not feeling any spark between us. How about you?"
"Don't you think it's a bit early to tell? It's only our first date."
"Not for a Turner. We fall in love like that." He snapped his fingers. "When I meet The One, I'll just know."
"You really believe that?"
"Why not?"
"And it's definitely not me?"
"Nope, sorry." He raised his glass to her. "That doesn't mean we can't keep pretending to go out together. I'm more than happy to help the course of true love for someone else."
"That's really nice of you."
Nate shrugged. "Dave's my best bud, and BB's a conceited ass if he thinks he can keep you hanging until he's ready to make up his mind. I totally agree with your strategy."
"It's not really a strategy. I was just mad at him," Jenna confessed as she dug into her strawberry cheesecake. "He literally patted me on the head and told me not to waste my time pining after him."
"Idiot." Nate snorted. "But then he always was pretty definite about everything, even as a kid."
"He has an agenda, and falling in love and settling down isn't currently on it."
"You see, if he was a Turner? He wouldn't think like that. We know we have to be ready to find The One at any moment."
"Could be embarrassing if it was someone you were arresting."
"I have thought about that." Nate chuckled. "It would certainly be a great story for the grandkids."
Jenna finished her cheesecake and then drank her coffee. She'd asked Mrs. Hayes how Duke the rabbit was doing and heard she was the proud mother of six and that Mr. Hayes had made a new cage for Stan so there would be no more mishaps.
"So can we do this again?" Nate asked. "If you like I'll take you out to the Red Dragon on Friday for a drink."
"That would be awesome. January said she and Chase were going there on Friday night." Jenna hesitated. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"
"Definitely. One of the things I've noticed is that if a woman thinks a man is already taken, sometimes she'll be more relaxed and more her true self."
"That's certainly true for me." Jenna raised her cup and clinked it against Nate's. "To fake love and no happy ever after."
"Amen." Nate grinned at her. "And to making BB Morgan sweat."
* * *
"So basically Red Williams is a scumbag." Blue finished reading his notes out to Chase. "We can't rule him out because despite that he definitely had enough charm to convince a lot of women to step out with him."
"Do we know where he is right now?"
"I spoke to his mom, and she said he was in jail up in Sacramento penitentiary for nonpayment of child support, defrauding Social Security, and other small crimes."
Chase nodded. "We could probably visit him there. What about the other two guys?"
"Larry Paquino went back to Colombia a year after Mom and Rachel disappeared. I think he was here illegally, so he probably won't be coming back."
"Unlikely to be him, then, but I'll get the private investigators to check him out and make sure he traveled home alone. What about Big Mike?"
"He's living in San Diego."
"And?"
Blue shrugged. "That's as far as I've got."
"Well, it all helps." Chase tapped away at his keyboard and then stretched. "I'll send this along to Trevor and see what he makes of it."