Serious Cowboy (Cowboys of Duncan Ranch #2)

Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Aaron glared daggers at this other man inside Joy’s apartment. He didn’t care why the guy was there or whatever business he might think he had with Joy, Aaron hadn’t liked what he heard through the phone.

And when he’d caught sight of the hole in her door and how it’d literally been ripped from its hinges, his brain had lasered in on every detail. Yet he’d only had room for a one thought and one thought only.

Protect Joy and Kara.

That didn’t change one iota as the man took a swing at him. Aaron didn’t find it difficult to duck out of the way. Working with large herd animals meant he had to have swift reflexes.

The guy who’d thrown the punch didn’t fare so well, though. He lunged forward off-balance, then straightening himself, his complexion reddening—though how much of that was fury and how much embarrassment Aaron didn’t know—began to bellow at the top of his lungs.

“You’ve been cheating on me.”

The man aimed this accusation at Joy, which told Aaron this waste of skin must be Wayne Randall.

But what spurred Aaron into action was Wayne’s next move, a move that entailed him snatching at Joy’s arm and saying the following. “I’m taking her with me. Her and my girl both. They’re mine, and they’re going with me whether they like it or not.”

Joy yanked free of his grasp, backing toward the bedroom where Kara stood in the doorway, openly weeping. All the color had drained from Joy’s complexion, and she was trembling all over. Aaron didn’t know if this was from anger or fear, but either way, he was finished with this yahoo and his threats.

Slowly, deliberately, Aaron paced forward until he stood in the center of the room. He glanced back at Joy and Kara, remaining as a barrier between the increasingly desperate looking woman and child Aaron felt responsible for. Keeping his motions purposeful, he retrieved his phone from his pocket and tapped the number nine and then the one on the keypad.

“I’m calling the police unless you get your tail end out of here right this second.”

“But—” Wayne protested, yet as Aaron made of show of hitting that last numeral, he at last took off, barreling down the stairs and slamming the broken door in his wake, bouncing it off its broken hinges.

Aaron pulled the door to and rushed down to his truck, making certain to search for any vehicles that might’ve belonged to Joy’s ex. He didn’t see any, nor did he see Wayne.

He headed back inside to check on Joy and Kara as he dialed 911 on his phone. The cops would at least come by and take a report. This break in by Wayne Randall needed to be on record. The damage would have to be repaired after the police were done with whatever investigation they could do.

“You two all right?” he asked, but even as the question left his mouth, he already knew the answer. Joy confirmed this.

“No. I don’t think so.”

Kara was no longer sobbing, but her poor little face was a wreck. Aaron grabbed at a nearby box of tissues and cleaned her up as Joy watched him, looking like she was about half a minute from tumbling over into a heap herself.

“Hey, that was a lot of excitement, but he’s gone now,” Aaron soothed them. “And I’m going to make sure he doesn’t come back.”

“But that was my daddy.”

Kara’s words tore into Aaron. Not because of the truth of them. There was no getting away from that. But because of the sorrow and devastation behind them. Wayne Randall might not have realized it, but he’d just broken his daughter’s heart into thousands of pieces.

He deserved serious consequences for that sin alone.

“People get confused sometimes, Kara,” he spoke gently to her. “Sometimes they forget what the most important thing to them should be and get a little lost. And sometimes, they hurt those they love in the process. It’s sad, but it’s human. So, for now, I want you to try to put what happened tonight out of your mind and lay down.”

Kara nodded, obeying him, and just for good measure, he read her not just one story, but two. He made certain these were cheerful stories with happy endings—ones he for sure performed the voices on—and that by the time she’d shut her eyes no more remnants of that evening’s trauma marred her features.

At least not in an obvious way.

Her eyes and nose remained somewhat red and swollen, and her expression wasn’t entirely peaceful. But it was the best he could do under the circumstances.

“Thank you for calming her down,” Joy gave him her appreciation, and looking in her eyes he could tell she was just as freaked out as her daughter. Joy might still be on her feet, and she might’ve stood up to the man who’d seemingly come back from the dead. But she looked like a stiff breeze could blow her over as easily as a bowling ball knocked over pins.

“Least I can do,” he comforted her, leading her over to her couch.

“You didn’t have to do anything. You didn’t even have to come over here. But I’m glad you did. He…” She trailed off. “He was so… scary.”

Aaron couldn’t help but agree.

“Showed up with no warning, I take it.”

Her only reply was to nod. She reminded him of someone who had been through a terrible car accident and was physically uninjured but had no clue where they were. Then, almost as an afterthought, she spoke up.

“None at all.” She looked down at her hands, where she’d been rubbing her thumb into the opposite palm. It was a habit she’d had since elementary school but only when upset. “After all my worry, wondering what was going on when we were in Hollywood, seeing him today was just…”

Taking her nerve-ridden hands in his, he held them until she gazed into his eyes. Bringing them up to his lips, he pressed kisses to each palm, as well as the back of each hand. Then, he tucked them together against his chest, bringing her head so that it nuzzled against his collarbone. Looping his arms around Joy, he simply held her.

He did it for her, sure. But he also did it for himself. To remind himself that she was in fact okay.

“I was going to call you back. I’m not even certain how we got disconnected.”

He wasn’t, either. But that wasn’t the aspect of what had occurred that was currently bugging him. “How did he find you and Kara, Joy? If you hadn’t had any contact with him for so long, couldn’t even reach the man to serve him with divorce papers, how did he just appear like he did?”

“Good question,” she answered, which didn’t satisfy Aaron in the least. But then, she went still and sat up, goggling at him. “Debbie…”

“Huh?” he raised his brows, puzzled.

“My friend back in Hollywood. Debbie Malone. She worked on Futile Passions as a production assistant and was friendly with Wayne. That’s how I became a stylist on the soap. If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have had two pennies to rub together.”

“All right.”

“No, you don’t understand.” Joy pressed her open palm to his collarbone. “She’s the only person back there I told my plans to. She knew I was taking Kara and moving back here. That I was coming home.”

To Rocky Ridge.

“And she told Wayne,” Aaron concluded.

“She must have. I doubt that he maintained ties with anyone he knew from so long ago here. He knew I’d been on the outs with my mom and dad forever, so he wouldn’t have gone to them anyway. If he had, they wouldn’t have told him. Not in a hundred years. So, it must have been Debbie. It couldn’t have been anyone else.”

Before he could ask her what she was doing next, she was up and plucking her own phone from the cord where she had it plugged in on the kitchen counter.

“It’s earlier out there. Not too late to find out for sure,” she mumbled, and that was when he understood that Joy was calling this woman. Aaron listened, and Joy didn’t beat around the bush. “Have you seen Wayne?”

There was some chatter he couldn’t quite make out.

“Uh-huh. I suppose it’s a miracle. Did you let him know where I was?”

More incoherent chatter, the tone this time sounding more like regret.

“Well, in the future, please don’t let anyone else know our location. Especially anyone affiliated with him. He’s unstable, Debbie. And when he just showed up… well, it wasn’t good.”

More chatter.

“Don’t apologize. Just… You didn’t know what he would do. I didn’t, either, when it comes down to it. I had no idea he was even alive.”

“Me, neither,” Debbie must’ve hollered it because Aaron was able to understand that loud and clear.

After some more back and forth, Joy hung up with Debbie.

“She apologized all over herself. Said she was so surprised and delighted to see him that she didn’t think anything of giving him our address. I get it. I mean, she knew us as husband and wife. And back then, he’d been a more normal guy. Even if he did have all these huge aspirations. But in Hollywood, that’s not unusual. Lots of dreamers.”

“Nothing wrong with dreamers,” Aaron put in. “As long as their dreams don’t make them lose touch with the important parts of their reality.”

Like Kara.

Not that he said that part out loud.

Although he didn’t say anything further, a bunch of different possibilities occurred to him then. With Wayne alive and aware of where Joy and Kara were, he could come after them again. She may need to file a restraining order against him.

Or, on the other side of the coin, he could be paying child support. Especially if he was making money off a soap opera. He owed it to his wife and daughter after treating them so poorly for so long.

But it was Joy who came up with a concept that he never would’ve thought up.

“He could fight the divorce and make things difficult.”

“That’s true.” Aaron grimaced at the idea.

“Or even try to take custody.”

“He could, but no court or judge would give Kara to a former—or maybe current—drug addict. No way.”

“But what if he makes more than I do? Couldn’t that go against me as staying her guardian?” He could hear the worry in her voice.

“You have proof of his drug use?”

“Yes.”

“And that you’ve been the sole parent to your daughter for all this time?”

“Sure. I also have copies of all those missing persons reports I filed. I might even still have a poster somewhere.”

“Then, you should be more than covered,” Aaron hugged her. “So, if he tries to fight you for her, he’ll lose.”

“Do you think he will? Try to fight for her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” he admitted. “But I’ll back you up, if need be.”

“He’ll probably just reassert that you’re the man I’ve been ‘cheating with,’” she said, using finger quotes, her expression downcast and glum.

“We know better.”

Then, her features brightened. “The next step in divorcing him was having him officially declared dead. That’ll be on record, so maybe that’ll help my case, too.”

“I’m sure it couldn’t hurt.” He played with the ends of her hair. “I don’t feel right about you being here alone. Do you want me to stay here on the couch?”

“I could just go to my parent’s house.”

But she glanced at the bedroom where Kara had so recently gotten to sleep.

“You could. But why disturb her?” He didn’t mind. Even if it would make it necessary for him to leave before dawn to get ready for his time at the ranch. Aaron was more than willing to make that sacrifice, though. He didn’t think he’d receive one minute of undisturbed sleep if he went home knowing they were alone, anyway.

Aaron remaining here provided Joy with the solution she was looking for. The one she needed. And the one he needed.

So, with her giving him a blanket, he sacked out on the living room couch, facing that door. Luckily, unless Wayne turned into a spider or a bird, there was no other way in. He didn’t sleep much since he stayed on the lookout, but as Joy and Kara stirred to ready themselves for school and work, at least he had peace of mind.

“I’m likely going to have to stay late at the ranch.” He thought of the extra work he’d have to cover because of firing Brock. He’d also have to explain himself to Bryce. But the rest of the Duncans other than Sam and Whitney should be back on duty today. “So why don’t you head on over to your folks’ house tonight?” He could see the objection forming on her lips. “Or at least until your landlord has the time to replace your door?”

Reluctantly, she nodded. “All right.”