Crazy Little Thing Called Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

whole
remodeling project you started and that land your brothers have
been looking at.”
    “Okay.” Zach crossed his arms over his chest
and waited.
    He had a pretty good idea what was coming.
Ever since his brothers started looking at buying up the
neighboring properties and he’d said no the family had been in a
state of unrest. It figured that their mother would try to get
involved. Still, it wouldn’t change his mind on the matter. He
owned a third of the ranch and he didn’t want to expand. He had
final say, he’d had it for nearly twenty years and if Devin and
Riley thought that was going to change because they sent their
mommy to confront him they had another thing coming.
    “I know I wasn’t very supportive when you
said you wanted to remodel the house. It’s just, this place had so
many great memories for me of when you boys were little, of our
life with your father. I was afraid to see any of that destroyed.”
She started.
    “I understand that.”
    “It’s just; this was a great place to raise
you boys. I thought it would be a great place for you to raise your
family someday.”
    Zach’s brow furrowed naturally. He didn’t
like to talk about family and kids. That kind of talk could lead
only two directions. Either she wanted to talk about the future,
something Zach didn’t do because he never saw himself getting
married let alone having kids, or she wanted to talk about the
past. The past was full of a lot of painful memories he didn’t like
to face.
    He didn’t want to face those first few years
after his father died. He didn’t want to face not living up to the
legend of Ellis West. He didn’t want to remember his mother’s tear
streaked face when she begged him to give up college and keep the
ranch going because they wouldn’t survive otherwise. He didn’t want
to face how much he’d resented doing just that because when he
faced it he felt guilty and not good enough and everything about
his life seemed somehow wrong.
    “The thing is, you’ve done a great job with
this place Zach. You’ve managed to keep the history alive but make
it your own at the same time. You never sacrificed the features
that made this house a home just to modernize. What I didn’t
realize is that you’ve been building your own home here. You’ve
done beautiful work and now I see this...”
    A cell phone buzzed, ending Reba’s monologue
and Zach sent a silent thank you towards the heavens. He didn’t
want to have to point out that not all the memories in this house
were happy and special. He didn’t want to point out that her dreams
of little dark haired grandchildren weren’t part of his plan. He
didn’t want to hurt her when she was finally coming around about
the house so he was thankful for the distraction.
    She pulled the phone out, took one look and
then gave an apologetic smile as she held up a finger, “It’s Devin.
Give me a second.”
    Zach watched his mother put the phone to her
ear, her smile widening as she stepped out of the room to talk to
her middle son. He tried not to grimace. Devin was probably calling
for an update on if she’d badgered Zach into the land deal yet. He
hated thinking so poorly of his younger brother though, in all
likelihood Devin had no idea their mother was here or why. She was
hard-headed and stubborn and it wouldn’t be a surprise if she’d
taken it on herself to ease the tension between her sons on her
own.
    The three brothers had always been close.
Even after Zach took on the role of parent as a lost eighteen year
old kid he’d managed to maintain his easy relationship with his
younger brothers. It helped that they all shared a deep devotion to
their mother, to family and to the ranch that was their home.
    Home. Yeah the family house was definitely
home, it always had been. Memories were everywhere in this place
and nothing had confirmed that more than when he’d started tearing
it apart. It hadn’t been easy for him at first either though his
mother