Once a Rancher by Linda Lael Miller Page A

the teacher, making some inappropriate, smart-aleck comment during a grammar lecture about the conditional tense. (No doubt his new friends had guffawed in great approval.) So, in one way she absolutely didn’t want to reward Ryder when he’d misbehaved; in another way she suspected he’d be safer at a distance.
    From her.
    School had just started and she already had notes? The kid needed to shape up now or he’d be struggling the entire semester, maybe the entire year.
    She hoped the tight-lipped silence she maintained as she drove Ryder to the ranch conveyed what she wanted to say. She could’ve recorded a full box CD set just on the importance of turning in his homework. It would be easier if she didn’t care and could shrug and point out that he wasn’t even her son. But she did think of him as her son. And she did care.
    A lot.
    Too much, maybe.
    No, she acknowledged, there was never too much caring when it came to a child. And Ryder was still a child, whether he’d agree with that or not. Yes, he was starting to look like a man and she’d gone ahead and bought him an electric razor, which he certainly didn’t need yet, at least not every day, and she knew that somewhere in her future lurked the discussion they’d have to have about safe sex. Not that the school system didn’t do a fairly good job with sex education—he’d come home snickering about it one afternoon—but the two of them needed to sit down, one-on-one. Hank would owe her for that, although, frankly, she wondered if Ryder would even be willing to listen to his father, should he suddenly put in an appearance and act like a father.
    Understandably, Ryder was damned angry with both parents. His mother should be here for him now, not Grace. And, as for Hank, his unswerving loyalty to the army and to serving his country was admirable, but his son was paying a high price for that devotion. Just as she had, while she and Hank were married.
    â€œI hope you realize the only reason I agreed to let you go on this trip is that although I’m disappointed in you right now, I’m not out to punish you. I need your word, Ryder, that you’ll try harder in school.” She paused. “Wait. Let me rephrase that. I need your word that you’ll try at all .”
    For a long moment Ryder just stared out the passenger window without speaking. Grace was about to scream when he finally said in a defensive voice, “Grace, I suck at English. Even when I try I get really bad grades, so I quit trying. Why do it for nothing? I was flunking, anyway.”
    â€œSo that’s why you were rude to the teacher? And that’s why I heard from the principal?”
    He didn’t respond and had gone back to staring out the window.
    She turned onto the country road toward the Carson ranch. Cattle grazed in the pasture, and the afternoon sun gave the scene an almost mystical glow. “This seems to be an ongoing discussion between the two of us. If something’s wrong, don’t you think you should mention it to me? I can’t solve a problem if I don’t know it exists in the first place.”
    â€œIt’s my problem.” His expression had that sullen cast she disliked.
    She slowed for a cattle guard. “It will be when you wind up flipping burgers for a living instead of going on to college because you failed English. How about a tutor? If someone can sit there with you and you can point out what you aren’t getting about a subject, that person can help.”
    She’d do it herself, but she had a feeling that would only cause more friction, and she was often gone in the late afternoon and early evening as it was.
    â€œI’m not stupid. I just don’t like English.”
    â€œI don’t remember calling you stupid, Ryder. I didn’t, I wouldn’t, and you’re aware of that. Quite the opposite. I’m more frustrated because I know you’re smart