The Billionaire's Christmas Contract: A Clean Small Town Romance (Christmas Billionaires) by Laura Haley-McNeil

Author:Laura Haley-McNeil [Haley-McNeil, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Huerfano Press, LLC
Published: 2021-10-26T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Four days later, Leah and her parents sat in the dining room and stared at the drawings spread across the table.

Bryg had stopped by the house every day to let them know the progress with the drawings. Sometimes, he stayed for dinner. He always played baseball or touch football with the boys. That Zeke had lost his sullen attitude and joined the fun was refreshing and a relief.

When Leah would walk Bryg to his car afterward, she felt so comfortable―as if he were part of the family, but caution loomed nearby, and Leah kept the conversations casual. One heartbreak had proved one too many. She wouldn’t let her desire to grow closer to Bryg lead her to something she felt too fragile to endure.

Now, she stood next to the dining room table and looked at Bryg’s drawings. She swallowed. Colorful images of brick homes with three and four car garages filled the table-sized sheets, their curled corners anchored with glasses and vases. Rolled and rubber-banded drawings of the commercial plans stood in the corner.

Bryg stood next to Leah and explained the ideas that would become a reality as soon as her parents signed the sales contract. She couldn’t ignore Bryg’s pleasant voice, his relaxed and in-charge posture, his masculine scent.

Saying little, she listened to the plans that should’ve made her excited. Instead, she felt something sliding through her fingers―it was the ranch, and she wasn’t ready to let it go.

Until she left for college, the ranch was the only home she’d known. She always thought she’d spend the holidays and summer breaks here. After she and Charlie married, they’d bring their children here.

What children? That dream had disintegrated. She didn’t miss Charlie. Her throat dried whenever she thought of the plans they’d made―the cute house in a quiet neighborhood, the miniature collie racing around their feet, the two-point-two children toddling across the lawn. She’d even chosen names for their children and the dog. Why had she never suspected Charlie’s interest in someone else?

Why hadn’t he told her?

“It looks like you’ll have a real nice community here.” Vern looked down at the drawings, then looked up at Bryg. He smiled with his mouth, but not with his eyes.

Leah knew Bryg hadn’t missed the forced encouragement in her father’s voice.

Her mother sat next to her husband and nodded. She said nothing, but her hands clasped on the tabletop spoke volumes.

Outside, the boys played baseball in the yard next to the barn in the unseasonably warm December afternoon. They called to each other. The crack of a bat hitting the ball sounded, and the boys’ voices rose, Zeke’s being the loudest of all. Since he’d returned to the ranch, he’d seemed more relaxed, talked more, and even helped Carl with his homework. Zeke was a whiz in math and always had a bookmark in a paperback.

He was also intuitive and didn’t miss that things were changing at the ranch.

Her parents had told the boys they might sell the ranch, but nothing would change as long as the boys lived here.

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