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Straw bales were lined against a wall Ty slu his elbows on his thighs and spreading his knees to let the coffee le between thehtness in his throat, a threat of tears stinging his eyes His teeth were bared with the effort of holding back all the anguish he was feeling

Nothing had turned out the way he thought it would when he ran away froo and hitchhiked across half the country to find the man whose name was listed in the fa had seeain,the three of them a whole family He idolized his father and wanted to b

e just like hi on a ranch the size of the Triple C, the son of the owner, how could he have wished forNobody cared about the ribbons he’d won at horse shows in California; nothing he’d acco else, he wanted to be accepted

Yet it didn’t seem to matter what he did or how hard he tried, it always turned out wrong He’d botched the calving and calf had died On top of that, he’d alienated Ramsey It all seemed so hopeless to him

He heard footsteps co his way and stole a look from under his hat briain and braced himself for the quiet condemnation, the tactic used by the ranch veterans which wasa fool

“There’s nothing like a hot cup of coffee on a cold night like this,” Stu poured into a container

After looking at his own cup, Ty straightened and took a sip of the strong brew Its bitterness made him shudder

“The taste grows on ya” There was a smile in Stumpy’s voice

“The calf’s dead,” Ty announced flatly

“It happens You alant all of them to live, but you always lose a couple” Stumpy continued to stand by the thermos

“It came head first, and I didn’t knohat to do,” Ty admitted and continued to stare at the coffee in his cup “If it hadn’t been for your daughter—Hell, a ten-year-old knows more than I do”

“She’s been around it a lot longer than you have,” Stumpy reminded him

“It’s no use” His shoulders slouched with defeat as he finally lifted his gaze to his new htness in his eyes that were so darkly brown “Ito be able to cut it”

The gentle understanding went out of Stury “Don’t ever say that!” he snapped in a low voice “It’s been rough on you But if you quit now, you’ll always be sorry You’ve got to stick it out if it kills you”

“Why?” Ty demanded to know “I’ll never be the man my father is”