When the Glitter Fades (Cowboys of Whispering Winds) Read online

  When the Glitter Fades

  Copyright © 2014 by Renee Peterson

  First Ebook Publication August 2014

  Published by Renee Peterson

  Edited by Asli Fratarcangeli

  Cover Design by IndieVention

  Formatting by Invention

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real people, living or dead are purely coincidental. All characters and events in this work are figments of the author’s imagination.

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  Lanie sank down on the plush leather chair, refusing to shed another tear over her cheating husband. All her dreams of happily ever after, destroyed in a blaze of lies, betrayal and infidelity. Maybe the signs had been there all along. Maybe she’d blissfully ignored them in hopes he’d straighten his path. Whatever the case, her marriage was over. The divorce was final and she was a single mom.

  This was goodbye.

  Cody was with her parents back at Whispering Winds while she packed up the items she would be taking with her. There wasn’t much beyond her clothes and a few personal items. Jeremy had offered the house to her, but the memories were too painful. This was their house, not hers. They’d spent hours poring over floor plans, trims, and color schemes. No, she couldn’t remain living in this house without Jeremy. It was intrinsically and irrevocably a symbol of their promise of forever. Too bad Jeremy hadn’t understood the meaning of forever, and ‘til death do us part. Or, maybe, he just hadn’t cared that he’d made that promise.

  Standing up, she walked to the kitchen and grabbed her purse from the granite countertop; along with a stack of her mail that had accumulated. The over-sized, eight-foot tall front door opened and Lanie bit the inside of her lip. Jeremy wasn’t due back for another hour and she didn’t have the strength to see him right now. The hair on her neck bristled. Seeing him in a neutral environment, the sterile courthouse room where they’d met with a mediator to define the terms of their dissolution, had been difficult enough. Facing him here, in the intimacy of the home they’d shared, would be nearly impossible.

  “I, um, thought you’d be gone by now,” Jeremy muttered.

  “Almost. I was just on my way out.” She held up her keys, as though she needed to prove her intentions. “My house key is on the counter.”

  “You can keep your key.”

  She left it sitting on the counter.

  They stood there awkwardly: two lovers turned foes. People always say there’s a thin line between love and hate, but she’d never understood how they could be so wholly entwined until now. Staring at Jeremy, her heart still fluttered when she saw him; the way his shoulders were always casually relaxed in a confident stance, the cocoa strands of hair that always fell into his eyes when he put off getting a haircut, the low slung jeans, held up by his hand tooled leather belt and championship buckle. She loved him. As badly as it hurt, she still loved him.

  And then there was hate. The blinding fury when she’d first discovered he was cheating. The humiliation when she found out most of their friends on the circuit knew long before she ever did. How she hated him for tearing apart her dreams of a family, for betraying her in the worst way a husband can, the callousness with which he’d treated her and their son.

  Yet, she loved him because of their son. Cody was the greatest gift he’d given to her, albeit one he’d not been thrilled about having. She, however, refused to regret Cody for a second. Her pregnancy had been an unplanned surprise, but he was her world, the love of her life. If she had to raise him without a father in his life, then so be it. The divorce settlement gave her full custody, but allowed Jeremy unlimited visitation rights, an allowance placed on the chance he decided to step up and be the dad Cody deserved. Strange how outlining the terms of their divorce had been so clean when the end of their marriage had been played out in such a public mess.

  Blinking furiously to keep the tears at bay, she knew seeing him here would be her undoing. She could do this. She had to be strong.

  “I leave for Denver on Wednesday. When I come home, maybe we can set something up with Cody?” His voice cracked, betraying his cool demeanor.

  “Yeah, sure. Just give me a call and we’ll figure it out.” She had to leave, get out of the house before she suffocated from the pieces of her broken heart jamming into her lungs. “I…I need to get going. Cody won’t go to sleep until I tell him goodnight.”

  “Take care, Lanie.”

  Such a trivial phrase to mark the end of their relationship, but what was left for him to say she wondered. What else could she say? How do you say goodbye to your best friend? Your lover? The one who betrayed you and slept around on you.

  He stepped aside, clearing a path to the door.

  Breaking the gaze they’d been holding, she kept her focus on the exit and getting away. One foot in front of the other, one step at a time. In slow motion, she crossed the room, knowing she was leaving a piece of her heart behind.

  As she approached the door, Jeremy reached out, encircling her wrist with his hand. If she hadn’t seen him blink away his own tear, the man who hadn’t shed a single tear when his mother passed, she would have pulled away; but she allowed herself this final moment. His arms went around her waist, pulling her to him. Her arms slid around his neck, inhaling the leathery scent attached to him. Leaning forward, he tipped his forehead against hers. Words that couldn’t be spoken passed between them. Saying them out loud would only make them sound trite. Her heart beat erratically, and she hated that his arms still felt like home even after all he’d done.

  In a moment she’d certainly regret later, she moved her head, allowing her lips to graze against his. There, they lingered for a final taste, a hint of whiskey on his breath. Abruptly, she broke away and walked to the truck, not looking back.

  She’d said goodbye to the life she knew.

  Three Years Later

  “I’m ready, mom.” Five year old Cody Travers walked into his mother’s bedroom, a superhero backpack hanging precariously from one shoulder. “I did everything you said.”

  “Are you excited for your first day of kindergarten?” Lanie felt teary-eyed that her baby was going off to school, never mind that he’d attended full day pre-k last year.

  Cody shrugged, sending the backpack to the floor. Automatically, Lanie reached down to pick it up, wrapping her fingers around the canvas loop at the top. She ruffled his sandy blonde locks, wishing she could pause time, even temporarily. He was growing up too fast; wasn’t it just yesterday he took his first steps?

  “Let’s go,” she told him. There was no time for nostalgia if they wanted to arrive at the bus stop on time. They went outside and Lanie buckled her son into his booster seat before making the drive to the front of Whispering Winds property, where the bus would pick up Cody. Once the big yellow mammoth of a vehicle came into view, she took Cody from his seat and gave him a hug before the bus got too close. Yesterday, he’d told her not to hug him in front of other kids. She’d hoped to have another few years before they reached that point.

  “Love you, mommy,” he said, then ran down a few feet to where the bus would pull over and stop.

  She watched him bend over, pick something up from a pile of dirt and examine it up closely. It wiggled. Ick, it was a
worm, or at least that’s what it looked like from her vantage point. The simple action made her smile. Cody might be growing up, but he was still a little boy at heart.

  Once he was safely on the bus, she hopped back in the car and drove back to the lodge, ready to work. Every Monday morning the entire Whispering Winds staff gathered for a weekly meeting to discuss the upcoming week. An upbeat song blared from her phone as she pulled into her usual parking spot. Switching off the ignition, she looked down to see the called id on her screen- Clayton Holmes, her boyfriend. She swiped the screen to answer the call and put the phone to her ear.

  “Good morning, sunshine,” Clay’s baritone voice greeted her.

  She felt the corners of her lips curl up into a smile, enjoying the bliss of being in the early stage of a relationship when every conversation was still exhilarating. “Good morning to you too.”

  “Did Cody make it off to school okay?”

  “I just got back from taking him to the bus. Gave him his hug from a distance then set him free.” The words were spoken more glibly than she felt. Every parent went through the first-day-of-school blues, right?

  “He’ll do fine; he’s a good kid. After all, he is your son,” Clay assured.

  Only Clay could use words to reach through the phone and give her an invisible hug. “Thanks.” Seeing the time still lit up on the radio reminded her she needed to get inside. “Hey, I have to run- the meeting’s starting soon; yesterday Dad mentioned there will be some important things to discuss.”

  “I should get busy also. There’s a shipment coming in today of new tools and I need to make room for them.” Clay owned Holme’s Hardware, the only hardware store in Bumblton; the small town outside of which Whispering Winds was located.

  “Still on for Wednesday evening?”

  “You bet. I’ll call you later tonight after I close up shop.”

  “Talk to you soon,” Lanie said, knowing they would still text each other throughout the day. Just little notes to say thinking of you.

  “Have a good one.”

  She disconnected the call and jogged inside. From what she could see, most everyone had already arrived. A few people were sitting down, but the majority were still milling about. In the corner she spotted Allie, her sister-in-law and good friend. Allie looked up, caught her eye then waved her over.

  Lanie went to her, grabbing a strawberry frosted donut on her way, not thinking twice about the calories. For the most part, she watched what she ate, but donuts were her weakness. Everything in moderation was her motto. Okay, sometimes she ate donuts a little more than in moderation, but she always made sure to exercise double on those days.

  “How was Cody’s first morning off to school?” Allie asked.

  She relayed the same information she’d told Clay. Her spirits were lifted to know Cody had so many people who loved and cared for him, helping to edge out some of the guilt she felt that he didn’t have a father in his life, on a permanent basis. Not that it was Lanie’s fault; she’d done all she could to entice Jeremy into a paternal relationship with their son. In the last year they’d made a lot of progress, until the accident this summer that had cost Jeremy his career. Instead of being thankful they survived, especially since Cody had been in the vehicle with him and his girlfriend, Jeremy had retreated into a shell, mourning the loss of a career he’d excelled in.

  “Let’s get started,” Frank Tyndale, Allie’s father, called out, beginning the meeting.

  Lanie took a seat and an unsettled feeling came over her that she couldn’t explain. A sense of impending doom, or rather a life-changing event. She mentally shrugged it off, placing the blame on first-day-of-school blues again.

  “September traditionally sees a sharp decline in bookings for obvious reasons. Tourist season is over, school’s back in session and winter weather will soon be arriving. This means several things for our staff.”

  Lanie’s thoughts drifted while Frank spoke. She’d heard the spiel before, so many times she could say it almost verbatim. Whispering Winds was owned by the Tyndales and the Callahans, bequeathed to both families by the former owner. The ranch had two major income draws, the horse breeding and sales operation plus the guest ranch. The Tyndale family oversaw the hospitality side, while the Callahans were in charge of the livestock; although, since the divorce, Lanie mainly helped the Tyndales. The dynamics of the two families were complex, but they worked. They were co-workers, family and friends all wrapped together in a package.

  During the fall and winter, when tourists and guests were few, the entire staff worked together to ensure that each guest who did arrive, left one hundred percent satisfied; it was everyone’s responsibility to see that it happened. After that, Frank would continue on describing how some roles would shift in order that no one had to be seasonally laid off at the ranch, even if it meant performing other tasks for several months. That was one of Whispering Wind’s policies that Lanie loved; the continuity of staff really made them more of a family than co-workers.

  “…and I’m sad to announce that Alan Raver will be retiring at the end of this month.” Everett Callahan, Lanie’s father, had taken over the meeting and his words broke into her strayed concentration.

  Gasps of surprise echoed around the room. Alan Raver had worked and lived at the ranch for twenty-some years. Talk had been circulating for several months that he might be leaving, but no one believed he really would. Whispering Winds wouldn’t be the same without him. Alan and his daughter, Missy, who’d married last summer and moved to a neighboring ranch, were as much a part of Whispering Winds as the Callahans and Tyndales. The meeting was disrupted for a few minutes while several long-standing employees, including Shorty, the foreman of sorts, wished Alan good luck for his future and gave laments for his leaving.

  Everett pulled the meeting back together. “With Alan’s departure, we’ll need to find someone to replace his position. We’ve been searching for about a month now, but none of the candidates have been a good fit. When you’ve had the best, you become spoiled.”

  The group murmured their agreement. Alan Raver was at the top of his field and would be difficult to replace with someone of equal caliber.

  “I know someone.” The words escaped before Lanie could stop them. What the hell had possessed her to speak up? It was one thing to think of the possibility in her mind. It was an entirely different thing to actually make the suggestion. Too late to go back now.

  Everyone turned to face her way; her dad stared at her through raised eyebrows. “Who?”

  “Jeremy.”

  The entire room went deadly silent. Most everyone in the room knew the history between her and her ex-husband.

  “I’m not sure that’d be a good idea, sweetheart,” her father answered, his voicing taking on that of a concerned father, not boss.

  Lanie stood and walked to the front of the room, making her case for some elusive reason. “If you want the next best, he’s it. Travers’ Ranch and Jeremy’s father had the highest reputation of horse-breeders outside of Whispering Winds and he could sell music to a deaf man. Not a single person in this room can dispute it.”

  “Jeremy’s not stepping foot on Whispering Winds land,” Jase, Lanie’s brother, growled. He took his role of overprotective brother very seriously, and the bad blood between him and his former brother-in-law ran thick.

  “Not now, Jase,” their father warned in a terse voice.

  “Just think about it. Everything Jeremy knows, he learned from his dad.” Why was she still defending him, trying to convince her father to consider him?

  “If Travers’ Ranch was so good, how come I’ve never heard of them?” one of the greenhorns asked innocently.

  “It closed up a few years back, hit some financial troubles,” Frank Tyndale answered.

  “Yeah, the old man was just as irresponsible as his son,” Jase snorted, earning him another glare from his father.

  There were rumors that Shane Travers had a gambling problem and lost the ranch.
No one knew the full story, but the rumors had been widely accepted as truth.

  “I’m just asking that you consider it,” Lanie pleaded. She only wanted what was best for Whispering Winds and despite their history, Jeremy was it. At least that’s what she told herself was the reason for suggesting him as a replacement.

  “How can you even ask us to bring him here, Lanie?” Jase stood up, the vein on his neck bulging. “Trust is a foundation of our team here. You, of all people, can’t possibly suggest we bring him on board.”

  “This isn’t about me and him. It’s about finding someone who can carry out the legacy Mr. Raver began and Jeremy can do that.”

  All eyes were on Jase and Lanie, but brother and sister were oblivious. “He’s a lying bag of scum that I wouldn’t trust with my worst enemy’s horse. How the hell am I supposed to put him in charge of our stock when he refuses to take care of his own son?”

  “Jase…” she hissed, warning him to shut up before anything more was said. She saw Allie stand and place her hand on Jase’s shoulder, physically giving him the same warning.

  “What happens to Cody when he sees his dad here every day but Jeremy still wants nothing to do with him. It will tear him apart, and I’m not willing to see that happen to my nephew. Did you think about that before you stood up, pleading his case. Did you sis?”

  “Enough!” their father bellowed, his deep shout reverberating against the walls, his arms thrown out mimicking a referee. “This is not the time or place. Meeting adjourned. Jase and Lanie- in my office now!”

  If she were twenty years younger, she’d topple her brother and pound her fists into him. How dare he imply she’d make any decision without first thinking of Cody’s welfare? It was because of Cody that she’d first thought of Jeremy replacing Mr. Raver when the rumors first started flowing that the older man might be soon in retiring. Jeremy needed something to bring him back to the land of the living, something to remind him he’s more than a champion bull-rider, who might never ride again.