Home For a Cowboy Christmas(83)

Hours later, Cady finally rose from the chair and closed the laptop. That’s when she called her mom.

“I’m okay. Really,” Cady said.

“I birthed you, honey. I know you’re not.”

Cady swallowed. “You’re right. I’m not.”

“Want to talk?”

“Yeah.”

“Want me to come to you?”

“Please,” Cady said. “And bring ice cream.”

Less than thirty minutes later, she let her mom in. They sat facing each other on the sofa in silence, each with their own carton of ice cream.

“You don’t have to talk.”

Cady scooped some ice cream onto her spoon. “I quit my job.”

“Thank goodness.”

She was taken aback by her mother’s response. “You and Dad always taught me not to quit before I had another lined up. You two drilled that into us.”

“There are some exceptions,” her mother said with a knowing look. “You’re financially responsible, you have no bills, and you’ve been miserable for some time now. I thought it was just the job. Then I thought it was just the jackass. Now, I realize it was both.”

Cady tried not to laugh at her mother calling Jared a jackass, but she had to admit, the name fit. “I thought the firm was what I wanted.”

“It was. When you first started out. But everyone changes.”

She thought back to the conversation she’d had with Zane about change. “I clung to the same idea I had when the firm first hired me. Why couldn’t I see that I had changed?”

“It wasn’t just you. It was everything else that changed, as well. And,” her mother said with a little shrug, “sometimes, we can’t see the forest for the trees.”

Cady ate another bite of ice cream.

“What are your plans now?” her mom asked.

“I have no idea.” But there was a smile on Cady’s face. “I’m actually looking forward to it.”

Her mother grinned in response. “That’s my girl. You’ve always had big dreams. Go out and chase them.”

Cady looked around at her house. “I fell in love with this place the first time I saw it my senior year.”

“I remember,” her mother said with a chuckle after a bite. “How many times did we drive out here? How many times did you talk your dad into driving you out here?”

The memories brought a smile to her face. “So many. It annoyed both of y’all tremendously, but neither of you said anything.”

“I remember when you called us, screaming in excitement when the house finally went up for sale. It was meant to be yours, that’s for sure.”

Cady set aside her ice cream and looked into her mother’s blue eyes. “I don’t know if it’s still meant to be mine.”

Her mother’s smile was sad as she nodded and set aside her ice cream. She folded her hands in her lap. “You’ve always done things to the beat of your own drum. You and your siblings. Your father and I, and our significant others, have fostered that. After things went sideways with you and the jackass, you seemed rudderless. But now … well, honey, whatever happened in Wyoming changed you.”

“Yes, it did.”

“I have to say, I was worried sick about you.”

Cady twisted her lips. “For a bit, I was worried. You know how I feel about the snow and the cold in general. I packed the warmest things I had, and it wasn’t enough.”

“You couldn’t have known the GPS would fail you.”

“Mom, do you believe in destiny?”

Her mother gave her a flat look. “Of course I do. You know that. I was destined to marry your father so we could bring three amazing people into this world. And I was destined to find the love of my life years later.”

“I’m not sure I really believed in any of that until recently. I sat in that car for hours. I had no cell service, no way of starting the engine to warm up, and no way of getting anywhere out of the elements. I was stuck. Then, out of nowhere, Zane showed up.”

“Didn’t you hear his vehicle?”

“He was on a horse.”

Her mother’s eyes bugged out. “You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.” Cady shook her head, smiling. “He was as patient as he could be despite the storm moving in while trying to get me on the horse. He knew instantly that I was from the city, and he wasn’t impressed in the least.”

“Did you get on the animal?”

Cady wrinkled her nose. “I was so cold. I could barely feel my legs, and I just wanted to get warm. In the end, I was more afraid of the cold than Brego.”

“Brego?” her mother asked with her brows raised. “Like from Lord of the Rings?”

“Yep. Except he read the books.”

Her mother’s mouth formed an O. “Interesting.”

“He had a not-so-flattering first impression of me, and I had one of him as a cowboy. I couldn’t have been more wrong. He took care of me, Mom. Brought me to his cabin, got me warm and fed.”

“Seems I owe this man a lot for looking after you.”

“The storm kept us locked in. We couldn’t get out, couldn’t use phones. We were shut away from the rest of the world, and, for some reason, that changed my outlook on everything. I set aside the person I’d been and decided to try to be the person I was.”