The Rancher's Secret Son by Betsy St. Amant

Author:Betsy St. Amant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Cody Shaver might not have his mom’s eyes, but he’d definitely inherited her uncanny ability to clam up at the slightest hint of a breached wall.

Max shifted in his office chair, ignoring the squeak of the fake leather and trying not to show the frustration building within his chest. They’d been making such progress in their One4One—two-plus weeks into the program now, and he’d gotten through to Cody about his behavior. He’d also been able to praise the kid for several well-done chores and even secured a promise to apologize to Jarvis for the fighting incident.

Then he’d asked Cody about his dad, and the boy’s jaw clamped tighter than Nugget with Brady’s favorite cowboy hat.

“So your father...”

Face pale against his black T-shirt, Cody shook his head, a dull ache in his eyes. “I already told you. I don’t know who he is.”

That was so not like Emma. A blank name on Cody’s paperwork under father? How could she not know? No, Emma knew, and didn’t want to say. Why?

Unless... A wild thought crossed his mind, so wild he felt ridiculous even considering it. But the timing... He turned Cody’s file to check the kid’s birthday and started a desperate backward count down in his head.

Cody slumped in his seat. “All I know is he was some jerk who left my mom when she was pregnant and never came back.”

His eyes lingered on the numbers before him, and his heart swam in an odd mixture of disappointment and amusement, all at the same time. The timing was impossible, by almost a year. Who was he kidding? Emma hadn’t thought twice about him after she left.

But this wasn’t about him.

No, this was about a boy who had been abandoned by his own father before he could even meet him and clearly carried those wounds around on his shoulders.

And Emma—he hurt for her. Even though she’d clearly gotten involved with someone quickly after she left Max, no one deserved what she’d been through. What she and Cody had been through together.

Max drew in a deep breath, determined to put Emma aside for the moment and talk about Cody’s issues alone. “Let’s talk about your dad for a minute. How knowing that he never came back makes you feel.”

A warning flashed in Cody’s eyes, indicating a hot button, and Max hesitated. He didn’t want to start a fight or war of the wills, but he had to reach through the shield Cody still held and get to the source of the boy’s hurt. Once there, Max could help him figure out how to process the behaviors Cody felt and decide if he needed to be referred to a professional. More than half of the teens that left Camp Hope received a referral, which made Max sick inside. The teens’ parents clearly cared enough to bring them to the facility, but they never realized how much of a part of the overall problem they often were themselves.

Workaholism. Alcoholism. Perfectionism. Transferring fears of guilt, rejection and failure onto their kids.

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