Second Chance Ranch: a Hope Springs novel (Entangled Bliss) by Cindi Madsen Read Free Book Online Page A

She was experiencing the best relationship of her life. As pissed as she was at the younger girls for squabbling and dissolving the band she used to be in, she couldn’t really talk. She’d let a good thing slip between her fingers before, too.
    The knock on her door made her jump, and the pictures in her hand slipped to the floor, scattering in all different directions. Memories she’d have to pick back up and relive all over again.
    Mom walked in, wearing her Mickey Mouse scrubs. She worked for the local pediatrician, who was, embarrassingly enough, still Sadie’s doctor. She’d never seen any reason to change, what with Mom working there and all. Well, unless it was time for a gyno visit. Then she traveled as far as possible, since awkward run-ins with someone who’d examined down there would be highly likely anytime she went for a stroll through town.
    “I need you to take the quilting stands back to Caroline, along with a pie I baked for her as a thank-you for letting me borrow them. And Grandpa wrote Royce a check for the hay and set it by the pie, so make sure you get that, too.”
    Sadie stared at Mom for a moment, waiting for her to say, Just kidding! After the longest pause ever, it was clear she wasn’t going to. “Caroline Dixon? You want me to drive out to Second Chance Ranch and talk to Royce and his mom?”
    “Grandpa took Grandma to Salt Lake to check out ovens at Lowe’s, and I’ve got to go to work. But the quilting stands are already loaded into the back of the truck, thanks to your grandpa.”
    Part of her couldn’t believe her grandparents were driving a couple hours to Utah just to go to a home improvement store, and the other part of her was sad they hadn’t taken her. She always took the city for granted until it was far away. “Can’t it wait? And who even writes checks these days? I couldn’t find my checkbook if I tried.”
    Mom crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
    “Fine. I’ll take care of it. This isn’t some attempt you and Caroline cooked up to get me and Royce talking, is it?”
    “Yes, I run around like a crazy person with no time so that you have to face your ex-boyfriend.”
    Clearly, her love of sarcasm had been inherited from Mom—that and the strawberry hue in her hair when it was au naturel were about all she’d inherited from her. They’d never been the type to sit down to have heart-to-hearts. Part of that was because Mom was always so busy, but it sometimes felt like they just didn’t speak the same language, which in turn, often left Sadie upset at Dad for moving on so easily, sending a check in his place, as if that’d make up for his absence in her life.
    Luckily, Sadie had always had a connection with Grandpa, and she’d spent hours sitting with Grandma, who’d always listen and then chime in with great advice, so if anything she had more parents instead of fewer after the divorce.
    That, as well as becoming friends with Quinn, and eventually Royce, had changed her perspective from thinking moving here was the tragedy she’d first thought it was. The friends she’d made in Nashville were fun to hang out with but not great with the deeper stuff, and she missed having people around whom she could share everything with.
    Mom wound her hair into a bun. “I’ll be off around six. There’s chicken thawing, so if you wanna start peeling potatoes about a quarter till, that’d be a great help. Then we’ll fry up the chicken and make gravy. Oh and there’s a load of clothes in the washer, but I ran out of time, so switch them to the dryer for me, okay?
    “Thanks,” she said without waiting for an answer, then pressed a quick kiss to Sadie’s forehead and rushed out of the room, leaving her with that same dropped-through-the-wormhole feeling. It really was like high school all over again. Sadie didn’t mind helping—in fact, it’d be nice to have something to do—but she wondered why Mom would ask Grandpa if she was okay, but not her. They