Chapter One

      Lance Drummond had never expected to find himself on his ex-wife’s doorstep. But he’d also never expected that his entire future would hinge upon her. At least not since their divorce. After all, they’d divorced for a reason. Not his reasons, but when someone told you they didn’t want to be married to you anymore, and counseling wasn’t working, the gentlemanly thing to do was to let that person out.

      Besides, wasn’t there a saying that if you loved someone, you should set them free? He’d set Erin free, but sometimes his heart told him he was the biggest of all fools. Not just in letting her go, but for still wanting her in the first place. He’d had reasons of his own to want out of the marriage. But where he came from, when you made someone a promise before God and your family, you kept it. He might not have a great relationship with God these days, but he still didn’t think it was a good idea to break the promises you made Him. So here he was, knocking on the front door of a woman who’d given up on him, needing her help and not sure how to ask for it.

      The door opened and a familiar but much more mature face peered out. “Uncle Lance? What are you doing here? Aunt Erin said you guys got divorced.”

      That was one of the worst things about divorce. It wasn’t just about losing the partner who promised to stand by you, no matter what, but also losing extended family you’d grown to love. Like his nephew Dylan. He and Dylan had spent a lot of time together in the past, and the little guy, though not so little anymore at nine years old, used to follow him around.

      Lance shook his head. He couldn’t think about those happy times. Not when they were lost to him and he would never get them back.

      “We did, bud. But I need to talk to Erin about some things. If she’s home.”

      The details were fuzzy when it came to what was going on with Erin and her sisters, Nicole and Leah. Based on the few conversations he’d had with her, they’d inherited some ranch from a relative he’d never heard of and moved to this tiny town of Columbine Springs, in the middle of nowhere Colorado, to make a go of ranching. It had been none of his business, but it seemed kind of foolish for them to pursue something like that when none of them knew the first thing about ranches. But here they were, a year and a half later, and they’d stuck it out.

      How they were making it, he wasn’t sure. Erin had called him a few times since their divorce, asking if they could revisit the idea of selling the house they still jointly owned because she needed the money. The most recent call came a couple of weeks ago, but he’d refused, as always.

      Why would she think he’d ever be willing to sell?

      The house was technically marital property, which the court said had to be split evenly between them, even though he’d paid for most of it. Erin had said he could take his time with either selling the house or buying her out.

      One day he’d have the money to buy her out and then his last tie to Erin would be severed.

      Dylan held the door open wider. “She’s in the kitchen.”

      Leaving the door open, Dylan ran in the direction of the other room. Though the outside of the house wasn’t yet decorated, stepping inside was like entering a Christmas nightmare. Erin and her sisters had always loved the holiday and, when they’d been married, her need to decorate to the hilt had been one of their common disagreements. He hated the commercialism and constant need for more, and she bought every sparkly Christmas item she set her eyes on. She used to want to start decorating as early as possible, but he’d always made her wait until after Thanksgiving.

      How