Back to Home (Cameron Falls: A Small Town Romance Book 3) Read online

  Back to Home

  Cameron Falls: A Small Town Romance

  TC Matson

  To the men and women who serve…

  Thank you.

  A special thank you to SSG Mitchell.

  Contents

  To My Readers

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Sneak Peek of Back to Love

  Also By TC Matson

  Connect with TC Matson

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright © 2021 TC Matson

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permissions of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at [email protected].

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people, whether living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously. The author recognizes the trademarks and copyrights of all registered products and works mentioned within this work.

  Cover Created By: Juliana @Jersey-Girl Designs

  Cover Photographer: Furiousfotog

  Cover Model: Tyler Caussey

  Edited by: Amanda Brown

  To My Readers

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  Chapter One

  Cash

  The sun is barely up, the sky still dark except for the purple haze that summons it to rise over the horizon. I, of all people, know just because the rays don’t kiss the ground doesn’t mean people aren’t already milling around. Take my family for instance. They’re early risers. Always have been. They’re the ones who wake up the roosters to announce the beginning of the day to everyone else.

  My boots hit the dirt driveway as I step out of the cab. No one knows I’m coming home. I wanted it to be a surprise, and no one in my family can keep a secret worth a damn. The news would’ve spread like wildfire, and I would’ve had a huge welcoming home party. I’d rather fall back in line to normal civilization as quietly as possible. It’s why the cabby is dropping me off at the end of the long driveway that leads to my entire family.

  I shove the man some money plus a hell of a good tip since he drove me two hours here and will have a boring ass two hours back. Picking up my duffle bag, I start my way to my parents’ house. It’s a place I haven’t been to in a long while, where my head hasn’t rested, and my family hasn’t seen me in person in years. Sure, I could’ve come home on leave, but I wasn’t entirely ready to face the town I left behind or the mess I had made.

  As I make my way down the gravel drive, I can’t help but smile at the liveliness of the birds singing off in the distance. I may not have been home, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t missed being here. I’m willing to bet Ma’s cleaning up the kitchen after cooking Pops his breakfast. He and my brothers should already be at the ranch starting in on their morning duties. My sister Willow? She’s my wild card. Who the hell knows what she’s doing. My hope is she’s not out and about yet and getting ready to blow my surprise.

  Quietly, I make my way up the porch, open the screen door, twist the knob, and push in. Years of training has taught me how to be stealthy and make sure no one knows I’m there until I’m a whisper in their ear. With Ma, this can go one of two ways. Either she’ll be happy or she’ll shoot first and ask questions later.

  Home. The scent of it assaults me as I step in. It smells like everything I’ve missed, everything I left behind so I could get my shit together and make my parents proud. I left a total fuckup. I’m back as a soldier. A changed man. A better son.

  The air still holds the smell of breakfast—bacon and eggs with something sweet mixed in. Everything still looks the same minus a few new pictures on the wall and a new living room set. Good. The old brown leather had taken a hell of a beating by all of us boys.

  Hadley, my niece and the prettiest girl I’ve ever laid eyes on, comes skipping around the corner, her caramel-colored hair bouncing with each hop. Her eyes land on me and immediately she stops dead in her tracks. She’s frozen still with her amber eyes wide with shock, fear, curiosity, and elation—a weird ass concoction.

  The last time I saw her in the flesh, she wasn’t even a year old. When she was born, she was the most beautiful little girl, all squishy faced with wide eyes and barely fit into my hand. But through all the joy and happiness came pain for my brother who was barely keeping it together. Hurt sat so heavily in my soul, it was devastating. Summer, Hadley’s mother and my brother’s wife, died during childbirth, leaving behind the perfect daughter and a heartbroken husband. Not long after that, I enlisted and had to leave—one of the most difficult decisions I ever had to make. Since then, I’ve watched Hadley grow up through photos and Facetime, but seeing her now, all grown up and a spitting image of her mother, my heart somersaults.

  I hold a finger to my lips. “Shhh…”

  She assesses me, her eyes narrowed and roaming over my fatigues. “You look like my Uncle Cash, but he would’ve told me he was coming home. He tells me everything,” she says quietly but not nearly a whisper.

  I suppress a chuckle. She’s right. I do tell her a lot. Well, to a point. “If I had told you, you would’ve told your dad and then the next thing we know the entire family would’ve known. Right now, though, I’m really upset. You promised me the biggest, most bestest hug ever when I got home, but instead you’re looking at me like I’ve got two heads. What gives, Pipsqueak?”

  The skepticism slithers away and her grin explodes, lighting up her entire face. She charges at me and I drop to a knee seconds before she slams into me. As promised, she delivers the biggest, most bestest hug ever, squeezing the hell out of me.

  “Shhh…” I whisper again, keeping her little body against mine while leaning back to look at her. “I want to surprise Ma.”

  She covers her giggle with her hands and I love the way her nose scrunches up. “She’s in the kitchen.”

  “Want to help me?”

  She nods, and
I lift her, abandoning my duffle by the door. Her arms are around my neck as I carry her into the kitchen and just like I suspected, Ma’s cleaning the stove with her back toward us. I stand there. Quietly. Well, as quietly as I can with Hadley trying to contain her giggle.

  “Hadley, honey. You need to get ready. We’ll be leaving right after I finish cleaning the stove. I want to get to the grocery store before the rest of the town wakes up.”

  “I just got here. Why leave so soon?” I ask.

  Ma startles, whirling around. “Cash!” she screams out, dropping the rag from her hand and rushing at me. I have just enough time to set Hadley down before Ma barrels into me so hard, it knocks me off balance, causing me to stumble a few steps.

  It’s been a little over three years since I’ve put my arms around my ma. I bury my face into her neck and hold her. My throat’s tight. God, I’ve missed her.

  After a minute, she leans back with tears sliding down her cheeks as she cups my face. “I’ve missed you so much. My baby.” She hugs me again. “Please tell me you’re really here and I’m not dreaming. Tell me my son is right here in my kitchen.” Her voice wavers from the tears.

  Tightening my arms around her, I squeeze gently. “Right here, Ma.”

  I’ve missed everyone, but my mother? No one holds a candle to her. She’s always been my northern star.

  “He’s real, Grandma. I hugged him too,” Hadley says.

  Ma titters, pulling away and wiping her cheeks. “You should’ve told me you were coming. I would’ve made you breakfast. I still can. Do—”

  “I didn’t tell anyone. I wanted to surprise you and we all know there’s no such thing as secrets in this family.”

  Her smile is loving and warm. “They’ll be so glad to see you. They’re at the ranch now but let me call them. Your father will—”

  Clutching her hand, I stop her from moving. “Don’t call them. Let’s go pay them a visit.”

  Ma and Hadley hold hands as they walk behind me, sneaking down the hallway toward the voices coming from the meeting room. Ma called ahead and had Hadley talk to Rhett for a minute. She asked him something random, which then turned into her rambling, that led to us finding out they were upstairs having a meeting. Hadley was perfect and I don’t think Rhett suspected a thing.

  “The holding fence is fixed as of yesterday,” Blake, my brother, informs everyone sounding frustrated. “That Hunter’s going to give me a heart attack before I’m thirty-five.”

  I recognize Pops’ chuckle, deep and rugged. “He’ll get it. I know you weren’t around when Richard started, but I’m tellin’ you, he didn’t fair any better than Hunter. Then one day it just clicked. He’s gotten better over the years. He wants to do right by us. I think he’s just trying too hard.”

  Blake huffs a breath. “Yeah. To make a mess. Speaking of Richard and messes, he’s been working on fixing that tractor for a few days and hasn’t had much time to check out the backhoe. Said he’ll get to it next week at the earliest.”

  I take this moment to step into the doorframe. “I could fix that backhoe for you sooner.”

  At my voice, all heads whirl around to me. Eyes bulge, and mouths drop before splitting into grins. The shocked silence lasts only a few seconds before Rhett and Blake lurch out of their chairs toward me. They don’t offer their hands to shake. Instead, I’m jerked against them, cocooned in their arms with slaps on the back.

  After a few minutes, they break, stepping back and giving me some breathing room. That’s when I lock eyes with my father. He looks as if no time has passed between when he and Ma came to visit me and now. Crows’ feet are etched deeply around his chocolate eyes with profound wrinkles around his mouth as he smiles. His hair is a little more salt than pepper, and it’s slightly longer on top with matching stubble across his jaw.

  “It’s good to have you back, son,” he says as he approaches me and sticks out his hand.

  “It’s good to be back, Pops.” The moment my hand meets his, he hauls me into him and wraps his arms around my shoulders.

  “I’ve missed you,” he says, his whisper thick with emotion.

  Just as he pulls back and gives my shoulders a squeeze, another voice echoes through the hallway.

  “Hey, Pops? Ma called and said you needed—” Willow freezes at the door and her eyes flash wide before she lets out a shriek and lunges. She jumps, slamming against me and wrapping her legs around my waist with her arms around my neck.

  “Hey, weirdo,” I say with a chuckle, calling her the nickname I picked up when I was younger.

  She tightens her hug before she gets her feet back to the ground. “Are you home home? Home for good now?” Her voice wavers as she slaps a tear off her cheek.

  I nod and grin wide. “Yes.”

  Hadley moves to me, wrapping her arms around my leg, and looks up to me. “I’m really glad you’re back home, Uncle Cash. I got bunches to show you and it’s going to take a long time to show you everything.”

  Smoothing her hair, I smile down at her. “I can’t wait.”

  All eyes are either on me or Hadley with smiles on everyone’s faces.

  Finally… I’m home.

  Chapter Two

  Cash

  Since I’ve been home, I’ve settled into a good routine. My parents handed over the keys to the house I was supposed to receive after graduation, but since I went into the military straight after, I never got them. They’ve given all us boys a house as a graduation present. Willow on the other hand, told them she wanted to wait until after she finishes college, saying she just wanted to be able to focus on getting her degree. She might be the youngest, but I think she got all the smarts.

  Ma kept my house clean while I was gone, dusting it once a week and whatever else. They furnished it with the bare minimum—a living room set that consisted of a dark gray sofa with a matching loveseat and recliner, a coffee table that sits on top of a lighter shade of gray area rug. They supplied all the kitchen appliances with a few decorative items, and also my bedroom set, which is a king-sized bed, two black nightstands and a matching dresser. It was plain. No character. Nothing that said Cash lives here so I took a few days changing that.

  I also caught up with some old friends, but none of the troublemakers. That life is over. I didn’t dedicate eight years of my life to become a better man only to come back and fuck up again. I’m older. Wiser. I know better.

  The moment I stepped foot back on the ranch, I immediately went back onto the payroll as a mechanic. It’s what I did in the military. It’s what I planned on growing up. Richard, Blake’s father-in-law, has been a ranch hand and the mechanic for us since before I can remember. Now that I’m back, he finally felt satisfied enough to retire. He’ll pop in every once in a while to “make sure I’m doing my job right” said with nothing but love of course. He’s part of the backbone that makes this place.

  “Hey, bromando,” Blake calls out as he comes through the side door of the garage, the metal echoing as it clanks shut behind him.

  I peer out from around the tractor I’m working on. “Seriously? Bromando? It’s too early to be dealing with your nimrodity.”

  Blake scratches his jaw, which has some stubble. Fatherhood has been treating him great except for the fact that Knox has his days and nights mixed up. “Nimrodity,” he repeats. “They teach you that shit in the military?”

  I chuckle under my breath as I get to my feet and pull the white terry cloth from my back pocket to wipe off my hands. “Among other things.”

  “I’m heading into town to run by Johnson’s to pick up a large lumber order. Rhett told me to grab you.”

  “He making sure the job gets done correctly?” I quip.

  A smirk tugs at the corner of my brother’s lips. “Yeah.” He gives his head a quick nod. “We’ll go with that since your ego apparently needs boosting this morning.”

  I arch a brow, blistering him with my own smirk. “Right. We’ll go with that.”

  When we were younger,
my brothers and I were close, but not tight. By the time I was born, Rhett was six, Blake three, and Willow wasn’t even thought of. In the beginning I was the cute, squishy new toy to them. As we grew up, I was the annoying little brother who always got in trouble… a lot. Rhett was the Type A personality who always walked the straight and narrow. He took his responsibilities seriously, always had a plan for the future, and was the one our parents could count on. He was the adopt-a-dad.

  Blake was laid back. Although he took his responsibilities as seriously as Rhett did, he was more relaxed about it and had a whole lot more fun. Where Rhett would lay out clothes for school the night before—dork—Blake would figure out what he was wearing five minutes before he hit the door. Blake and Rhett balanced each other.

  Then there was me. I was the lax one out of us, the most carefree and casual with a splash of rebellion mixed in. I took my responsibilities seriously. Pops made sure of that. But if Blake was laid back, I was laid down. I didn’t have a care in the world and I sure as shit didn’t see past my nose. I didn’t think about my future and I rarely thought anything through, which was what got me the label of being a troublemaker. I never went out looking for trouble, but me being me, that shit always found me.