Coming home, p.1
Coming Home, page 1
part #1 of Whiskey River Road Series
Coming Home
Whiskey River Road Book 1
Kelly Moore
Edited by
Kerry Genova
Cover by
Dark Water
Title
Copyright © 2019 by Kelly Moore
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
I’d like to dedicate this book to two people.
Jennifer Thomason for all the countless hours she spends reading my books, making suggestions, and writing editorial reviews for me. You make me a better writer. Thank you.
* * *
Dave Thomason…you know what you did.
Playlist
My playlist of songs that inspired me to write Coming Home.
* * *
Don’t Want to Write This Song by Brett Young
Wild Horses by The Sundays
What if I never Get Over You by Lady Antebellum
Prayed for you by Matt Stell
Fight Sony by Rachel Platten
You Say by Lauren Daigle
You Are the Reason by Calum Scott and Leona Lewis
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter Twenty Six
Chapter Twenty Seven
Chapter Twenty Eight
Chapter Twenty Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty One
Chapter Thirty Two
Chapter Thirty Three
Chapter Thirty Four
Chapter Thirty Five
Chapter Thirty Six
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Kelly Moore
Chapter One
Clem
I park the truck on the edge of the concrete slab that has two other pickup trucks on it. Slowly getting out, I blow out a lengthy breath while trying to convince myself that I’ve done the right thing by coming home. I smooth down my long, chestnut-colored hair and adjust my simple army-green dress. Ethan gets out and walks around to my side of the truck.
“Are you ready?” He holds out his hand, and I take it. We head to the steps of the house, and he stops dead in his tracks.
“Why is there a shotgun leaning on the wall by the door?”
“That’s not a shotgun. It’s a rifle. I don’t know, maybe they had some coyotes out here last night.”
“Coyotes?” His gaze skims the area around the house.
The front door thunders open and my daddy, Chet Calhoun, steps out onto the painted wooden porch. “What the hell are you doing back here?” His heavy voice blares as his Adam's apple bobs. His silver hair and mustache haven’t changed, but I don’t recall the deep-seated wrinkles that now hang at his gray eyes. He’s older but stands just as tall and brooding as he always has.
“I wanted to come home.” I shrug one shoulder, unable to come up with anything else to say.
“You’re not welcome here.” He reaches behind him and grabs the rifle.
“Oh, Daddy, you’re not going to shoot me.” I brush the rifle downward, and he raises it again. “Then how about him.” He waves it in Ethan’s direction, and he scoots behind me.
Eighteen hours earlier…
* * *
“Does your family even know we’re coming?” The springs creak in the seat as Ethan climbs in the passenger side of my old pickup truck. The knobs rattle as he shuts the door and he immediately tries to roll down the window but struggles with the broken crank.
“No, and trust me, it’s better this way.” I turn the key over, and nothing happens. With a slap of my hand on the cracked dash, the engine sputters as it comes to life. My lucky charm always works. Its old bones make all kinds of noises, including a backfire that has Ethan jumping in his seat and banging his head on the bare ceiling of the truck.
“What the hell, Clem? Why do you still have this old truck anyway? Even the bumper doesn’t look like it wants to hang around on it. It’s holding on by one bolt. It’s a piece of shit. Is it even going to get us to Kentucky?” He rubs the side of his head.
“Ahhh, cover your ears, Lizzy.” I gasp and pat the dash like I’m consoling her. “She and I have been through a lot together. I’m pretty sure she’ll outlive me. Besides, once we get to the ranch, she’ll fit right in.” The sound of the gears shifting into drive drops heavily into place with a sharp grind. The engine gives one last hiccup before it jerks into motion. I glance over at Ethan, and he’s already digging through the bag of junk food and drinks that he bought when I stopped to fill up the gas tank.
It’s early, and the heat is radiating off the sunbaked long, narrow highway. The glass in my window makes a rubbing noise as I exert pressure to turn the window crank. It stops at halfway and won’t go any further, but it’s enough to let a breeze flow through once I open the sliding back window. The wind sends my dog tags hanging from the rearview mirror into a tornado spin.
Over the sound of the wind whipping through, I hear Ethan slurping his drink through a straw. I cut my gaze to him, and he shrugs.
He starts feeling around the seats and the center console. “Where are the cup holders?”
“You’ll have to hold it between your thighs because there isn’t any.”
“Jesus, Clem. Why couldn’t we have driven my new car?”
“Because that thing is pretty and a Corvette has no place where we’re going?”
“You make it sound like we’re going to The Hills Have Eyes.”
I giggle at his reference to the scary movie. “Have you ever been to the hills of Kentucky?” I add, in my not so frightening southern drawl.
“No. You know I’m a city boy from New York, but you’re scaring me just a little.” He pinches his fingers together.
“How did you and I ever become best friends?” I can’t help but laugh at him.
He finally gets his window rolled down and hangs his arm out. “I helped you get through basic training, and then you wouldn’t quit following me around.” His smile goes from ear to ear.
He’s right. I didn’t know a soul and was terrified once I enlisted. I had no idea why this charming city boy helped me, but he did. I could’ve easily fallen for his good looks and lean body. He has that all-American boy thing going on that all the women love. Jet-black hair, perfect teeth, and smile. Bright blue eyes that could make any normal girl’s libido rage.
I was still reeling from walking out on Boone on our wedding day. I haven’t spoken a word to him since. I wasn’t ready to jump into another relationship, much less a fuck fest with a hot soldier boy. I wanted to find out who I was besides a girl that was raised to be prim and proper but born with a dirty mind. After having my mouth washed out with soap enough, I learned to keep my thoughts to myself.
“It was you who kept pursuing me.” I snort.
He reaches over and spins the volume on the radio. He immediately starts humming to the country song playing. I introduced him to it, and now he’s a die-hard fan. I tap the steering wheel to the beat of the music and enjoy listening to him.
It isn’t long before I glance over and see his head lying against the doorframe with drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. Not a sexy look on him. It will be a boring eighteen-hour drive from Fort Carson to Salt Lick, Kentucky if he’s going to sleep half the ride.
I pull my dark, round sunglasses from the visor and focus on the drive. I can’t help but wonder how my family will take me coming back. I was just a young girl when I left. Returning at twenty-eight, I have a better perspective on what I want out of life, and the things I once hated about the ranch, I now think fondly of and have an aching in my heart to return. My older sister Ellie and I have written for years, and she’s kept me somewhat in the know about Mom, Daddy, and our two brothers. The last email I got from her was pretty nonspecific. She said there was trouble at the ranch, and Daddy’s health wasn’t the best. I figured now was the best time to return. I’m free of the army and can start a new life. But first I need to make some amends.
Daddy and I used to be close, but I’m sure Boone’s heart wasn’t the only one broken that day. I love my father, but he was always so controlling of his family. “We’re cattle ranchers and racehorse breeders and trainers. That’s what we do, and that’s what each of you will do.” I can still hear his firm voice in my head. He was the one that insisted that I marry Boone. He’d hired him as the lead trainer when I was sixteen years old. My love for the horses had me following in his shadow like a little lost puppy dog. It didn’t help that I was a horny teenage girl, and all I could think about was what was under the fly of his faded blue jeans. He was five year
s older than me. He only thought of me as the boss’s baby daughter until I turned twenty. I was a late bloomer, and my girls didn’t blossom until then. That’s when he started to look at me like a man looks at a woman, and I ate it up.
He taught me everything I know about training racehorses and other things. I was comfortable with him and enjoyed his company. There was a raw sexual force between us that I didn’t understand. My father saw that. Well, not the sexual part. He would’ve skinned my hide. He pushed us together. He said we’d make a powerful team in the industry.
Boone was sweet in a rugged sort of way. He’d flex his biceps, and my sex drive would approach a meltdown level. I was in a constant state of a puddled mess between my legs just looking at him. He was a true cowboy from Texas. The song, “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy),” always skirted around my mind when I was near him.
My dad found him hanging around the tracks and took him under his wing. His dark-brown sexy, soft curls and killer smile made it easy to fall for him. I loved him, but I wanted more out of life, and he deserved someone that didn’t feel stuck. In hindsight, I picked a really bad day to decide I couldn’t be who he or my father wanted me to be.
Seven years in the army, I grew up. I traveled overseas and learned the cybersecurity industry. I only ended up in Colorado six months ago. It was the first time I’d been in the same place as Ethan since we were assigned to an army base in Europe. I stayed there, and he went on to Germany. By then, I only saw him as a friend and not someone I wanted to hop in the sack with.
I know I should’ve made more attempts to talk to my family after I left, but Daddy was so angry. He told Ellie to tell me to never come home again. He wouldn’t take any calls from me, and he forbid my mom to talk to me. My older brother Wyatt is thick as thieves with my father. He lives and breathes the business, so he only does what he’s told to do.
My brother Bear, who’s only a year older than me, was too busy being a ladies’ man to care what was going on with anyone’s life but his own. Ellie’s always been a sweet, innocent girl and loved the ranch. She swore she’d never leave.
I’ve been lost in my thoughts for hours, listening to Ethan snore. I reach over and shake his leg. “Hey, I need to stop for fuel and to use the ladies’ room.”
He wipes the drool off his face with the back of his hand. “How long have I been sleeping?”
“Four hours. You never even woke up the last time I fueled up.” I pull off the highway into a mom-and-pop station. Ethan helps out by pumping the fuel while I run inside.
When we get back onto the road, Ethan is driving. He keeps trying to adjust the seat to fit his lengthy legs. “You really haven’t spoken to Boone since you left him at the altar?”
“No. Ellie said he didn’t want anything to do with me. I can’t blame him.”
“You’ve remained pretty closed-lipped about the story other than the basics, even from me. Why don’t you tell me the details, being that I’m going to meet all of them? I think you should spill it.”
Resting my head on the back of the seat, I let the wind cool my face and bring back clear memories. “I remember Ellie zipping me up and watching me in the mirror. I’d been in my own head, frantic about what I was about to do. The dress suddenly felt like hot glue on my skin. My head started spinning, and I felt woozy. Pictures of my future flashed before my eyes. I recall telling my sister, 'I…I can’t do this.’ I ripped the veil and the flowers out of my hair that she had spent the last hour fixing.
“She asked what I was talking about. She kept telling me that Boone and half the town was waiting for me in the church.
“My chair scooted across the floor as I fought to stand because my legs felt like wet noodles trying to hold myself up. My dress got caught underneath one the legs, and it ripped a layer of frill off. I screamed for her to unzip me. I twisted my arm over my head to tug at the zipper, but my hand was shaking so much I couldn’t get a grip on it.”
I stuff my hands between my legs and look down. “Ellie kept saying she didn’t understand. I can still feel her pulling the zipper all the way to my lower back, and I shrugged out of my dress.
“I told her that I did love Boone, but that I was only twenty-one years old. I wanted more out of life than the ranch and racehorses. If I had married him, it would be all I’d ever know. Traveling from horse track to horse track would be all I’d see of the world. I needed more, I wanted more, and it was such a confusing time for me.
“She cried, telling me that I’d been born and bred into this. That Daddy told her I’d become one of the best horse trainers he’d ever seen.
“I couldn’t get in my skinny jeans fast enough. I remember telling her, that’s what he wants for my life, and what about what I want? That never mattered to him. She tried to convince me that it did, but I knew better. Then she kept repeating the question, what about Boone?
“I told her that was just it. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I needed to figure it out before I settled down into a life I would regret.”
I look back up to see Ethan watching me from the corner of his eye. “I finished dressing as she kept trying to convince me to stay. She knew I’d spoken to a recruiter and had been talking about it for days. I tugged my cowgirl boots on and worked on pulling the hundreds of bobby pins out of my hair. She couldn’t believe I was really walking out. A runaway bride. I grabbed the suitcase that I had packed for my honeymoon to nowhere and my purse. I asked her to help me. When she didn’t answer, I told her I was leaving one way or another and marched to the back door of the church. I was terrified when I peeked out the door to make sure no one would see me. I ran to Lizzy that was parked underneath the shade of some trees.
“I was so afraid I’d get caught because Ellie was running behind me screaming my name ,begging me not to leave. I yanked the Chevy door open, and the last thing I said to her was to tell Boone I was sorry. When I drove off, I saw her in my rearview mirror, waving frantically and tears streaming down her face. When I got to the end of the dirt road, I hesitated only for a second. I clearly remember whispering the words, goodbye dirt road. I never slowed down again.”
He’s quiet for a moment as if he’s mulling around what I’ve told him. “Does Boone still work for your dad?”
“Yeah. I’ve been reading in the racehorse magazines that the horse he’s been training for the past three years is winning at all the tracks. Sounds like he’s got a good chance at the Kentucky Derby this year.”
“Wow. Has your dad ever had a winning horse before?”
“Back in 2009, he had a horse that won. The racehorse he has now, Whiskey River, is from the same bloodline.”
“Where do they come up with horse names. I mean, some of them sound like royalty.” The truck bounces over a pothole.
I grab onto to the rough dash. “Some of them are considered royalty and treated as such.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing what your life was like growing up on a ranch.”
“I didn’t appreciate it enough.”
“Do you regret leaving?”
“I don’t regret going into the army and all the experiences I’ve had. What I do regret is leaving the way I did. I hurt my family and Boone. If they’ll let me, I want to make it up to them, but my dad isn’t the most forgiving person in the world. He’s perfected holding a grudge to high levels.”
“And what about the man you left at the altar? Do you want to make things up to him too?”
“There’s no way I ever can. He’s moved on with his life and so have I.”
