LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter 1

      Nick Benson tightened his grip on the steering wheel and fought against a press of anxiety as the road sign ahead read: Grady Gulch—5 Miles.

      A man wasn’t supposed to feel this way when he was returning home after a two-year absence. He should be excited to connect with old friends and family, but instead each mile that took him closer to his hometown knotted the ball of anxiety in his belly tighter.

      He hadn’t wanted to come back to Grady Gulch, Oklahoma. In the past two years, he’d begun to slowly build a new life working as a ranch hand on an old friend’s place in Texas.

      Home had once been a happy place. Even though the Benson siblings had lost their parents at an early age, Nick’s eldest brother, Sam, had managed not only to keep the family ranch prosperous, but he’d also kept them together as a unit. Now all of that had changed. His sister was dead, his oldest brother was in jail and his other brother had fallen into the bottom of a bottle of booze.

      His hands slowly unclenched from the steering wheel as in the distance he saw the massive billboard cowboy that topped the low, flat building of the Cowboy Café.

      The café had been as much a part of Nick’s life as his brothers and sister had been. On impulse, as he reached the eating establishment he pulled into the parking lot, deciding that at least he could enjoy a home-cooked meal before driving on to the family ranch and beginning to deal with the difficult issues that awaited him there.

      It was just after one in the afternoon, and he’d been on the road since early morning. He’d stopped at a convenience store along the way for soda and a bag of chips, but that was all he’d eaten since leaving Texas just after dawn that morning. As he found a parking space in the lot, his stomach gave a loud rumble of anticipation.

      He turned off his engine and looked at the building for a moment, remembering all the good times he and his sister and brothers had shared here. It wasn’t unusual for the four of them to eat dinner together here at least twice a week.

      Sam, the eldest and the most serious, played the role of parent, insisting that each of them order a side of vegetables to go with whatever else they had ordered. Adam emulated Sam, wanting to be just like the brother who was two years older than him. Meanwhile, Cherry was the one who would unscrew the top of the salt shaker just before Nick would salt his fries. She would sneak pickles off her brothers’ plates and flirt shamelessly with any cowboy who walked in. By the time the meal was over, they were all laughing together. Then had come the car accident, and the laughter had died.

      He shook his head as if he could dispel the very thought of the sister he had loved, the sister he had lost. There had been only two women in Nick’s life who’d owned pieces of his heart, one was the sister he’d lost to death. The other he’d left behind in a fog of grief and despair.

      Cherry was gone forever, but Nick had spent the past two years of his life trying to forget the other woman, and there were times in those two years he’d actually thought he’d been successful.

      He finally got out of the truck and stretched with arms overhead to unkink the muscle knots that had claimed his body from hours behind the wheel. The scent of onions frying, potatoes and savory sauces filled the air, and his stomach rumbled with a new pang of hunger. Definitely time to fuel up. He had a feeling he was going to need all the strength he could

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