This Hick?

Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

CASSIDY

I woke up early. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I slept at all. That was going to make for a long day. I had tossed and turned all night thinking about Karen. I wanted to talk to her but now that her friends were here, I wasn’t sure when I would get the chance. I was still struggling to get my head around the idea of her up and leaving.

Why wouldn’t she talk to me?

It really made me feel like everything we shared was all bullshit. Did she really not care about me at all? It felt wrong. The last night we were together, I had spilled my guts. I opened myself up. Was it too much? Did she decide I was unfit to be with her?

She wasn’t wrong. I knew that, but I guessed I thought differently of her. I didn’t think she would be the one to cut and run. She didn’t tell me she was leaving. Was it because she didn’t trust me to take it well? Maybe she was just scared of wanting to stay. Either way, it didn’t matter now. She had her friends here and I assumed she would be leaving with them.

Whatever I thought we had was over. And she wasn’t going to take two minutes out of her day to tell me herself. It was the coward’s way out, but whatever. She had a life back in Dallas and that didn’t include me. I just had to get over it.

I rolled out of bed. Some of the other hands were already up and out the door. I went to the bathroom, happy to find it open. I got ready for another day of chores and hard labor. But before I did any of that, I was going to get some breakfast.

I pulled on my boots and walked out into the cold. The ranch was quiet as I trudged up the hill to the lodge. I could see the warm glow of light in the main windows. There would be a fire going and strong coffee set out. Bodie would probably have breakfast started. I had no doubt in my mind he would be putting on a fancier spread than usual to impress Karen’s friends.

When I walked in, I spotted Ginny right away. She was already seated at what we dubbed the staff table. I made my way over to get myself a couple of burritos and a cup of stout coffee. I sat down across from Ginny, who barely looked up from her phone.

“You’re up early,” I said.

“I think I might be working harder on my downtime than I did when I had two good feet.”

“Why?”

She looked up from her phone. “I’ve got to make place cards for the party. I want to make them look pretty, so I’m watching videos on how to do calligraphy.”

“That might not be as important as you think,” I said.

She scowled at me. “Well, it’s important to me,” she said defensively. “I want everything to be perfect.”

“Nobody will remember the place cards, Ginny. They’ll remember the atmosphere, the laughs, the food.”

“Maybe, but I’ll know they were there. And they’ll be beautiful.”

“Have you seen Karen yet?”

“No,” she answered, not looking up from her phone. “She’s probably still asleep with her friends.”

“Well, if you do see her, can you tell her… never mind.”

“What?” she asked.

Karen and her friends breezed into the dining hall all bright and cheerful. They were laughing and smiling as they made their way to the buffet. I had no idea why but seeing her that happy made me both happy and irritated. She looked lighter than I’d seen her in days, chatting and laughing. The last few days, she’d been sullen and withdrawn.

Karen talked to a couple of the guests that were already enjoying breakfast. She was a totally different woman than the one that had nearly fainted yesterday. I took a bite of my burrito and watched them fill their plates and move to an empty table. They passed around the salt and pepper with one dumping ketchup on her hashbrowns. They looked so natural, like they had done this a million times before.

I realized I really knew very little about Karen. These women were her friends, but they seemed more like sisters. I didn’t even know their names. When I thought about it like that, I supposed it wasn’t a big surprise she was running back to Dallas without a word. Why would she tell me anything?

“Oh no,” Ginny said.

“What?”

“This is going to be good. Watch.”

Kenny sauntered up to the buffet while not so casually checking out the table of women.

“Oh, he is so barking up the wrong tree,” I said.

Kenny swaggered over to the girls’ table, tipping his hat in what I think he hoped was a suave move. Judging by their laughter and the motorcycle chick waving him off, it seemed Kenny’s charms had fallen a bit short.

Ginny burst out laughing. Kenny spotted us watching and shook his head. He retreated to the safety of our table and sat down next to Ginny. She gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder. His ego was clearly wounded.

“What? They didn’t fall for your coveralls and dirty fingernails?” Ginny teased and nudged him.

Kenny scowled, lifting his hands like he’d just noticed them for the first time. “Shit,” he muttered as if the grime was news to him. “They are kind of dirty, aren’t they?”

Ginny snorted. “What would you do with a city girl, anyway?”

Kenny shot her a smug smirk. “Same thing I would do with a country girl.”

Ginny rolled her eyes and pretended to gag.

“Trust me, those city girls aren’t what you think,” I said. “You’re better off staying away.”

“You didn’t,” Kenny retorted.

“Yeah, well, I should have.”

“That’s an understatement,” Ginny said with a shake of her head.

I frowned at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

“What are they doing here?” Kenny asked.

“I imagine they are here to save Karen from the horrors of living on the ranch,” I said.

“You think they’re taking her back?” he asked.

“You’re the one that heard her say she was leaving,” I reminded him.

“I don’t think she’s leaving,” Ginny said. “She didn’t tell me.”

“Or me,” I said.

“Hey, I’m just telling you what I heard.”

I scarfed down the rest of my breakfast, then headed back to the kitchen to return my tray. Karen was in the kitchen at the fridge with all her special foods.

“Karen,” I said softly.

She jumped and turned around. “Cassidy.”

“Feeling better today?” I asked.

She smiled at me, her eyes meeting mine like they hadn’t in days. “Yes, thank you. Thanks for everything yesterday.”

I shrugged, trying to play it off. “Didn’t do it for a thank you,” I said. “I was worried about you. Still am. You look better. Did you get some sleep last night?”

“I did.” She nodded.

“Did you eat?” I asked.

“Yes. I was just craving something bubbly and cold. Not feeling the coffee this morning.”

“Probably best to hold off on Bodie’s sludge,” I said in an attempt to make her laugh. There was a strange tension between us.

“I agree.”

“I was hoping I could pull you away for a quick coffee in town later? Just the two of us. Get away from the ranch for a minute.”

She shook her head. “Today is just not a good day. The next two and a half days, actually, I’m all booked up with them. They came all this way for me. I really want to spend as much time with them as possible.”

“Right,” I muttered, biting back my disappointment. “Well, we’ve got a meeting later to finalize some details for the ball, don’t we?”

Karen winced. “Maybe you all can make the decisions without me? I trust you’ll keep me in the loop.”

I set my jaw, trying to hide my irritation at being blown off again. “And chores? You’ve got those today, too. Chickens need feed, water, stables mucked, feed inventory done. Ginny’s still out of commission, so someone’s got to haul firewood up to the lodge, too. It’s not going to move itself.”

Karen blinked at me, like she was shocked I would dare mention the chores she agreed to take on. “Oh, that’s covered, actually. I spoke to Uncle Don last night. He said he would take care of it.”

Her words stung. I couldn’t stop the frown from crossing my face. “Don’s covering for you? Really?” I managed, trying not to sound like it pissed me off as much as it did. It wasn’t like Don to pick up other people’s slack, especially when they were able-bodied and right there to do it themselves. Don had his own shit to do.

Karen looked like she was about to say something then forced a smile. “I’m not actually a ranch hand,” she said with a nervous laugh. “It’s not like I’m on payroll. I was only helping out. My uncle understood that, which is why he offered to fill in for Ginny. They were never really my chores.”

With that, she turned and walked back into the hall. I followed her out of the kitchen and watched her for a few minutes. She didn’t strike me as the type to just push off something she agreed to do. And to her uncle of all people. It rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe she wasn’t the person I thought she was after all.

I gritted my teeth and walked out of the hall. I didn’t want Don busting his ass to take care of the extra workload. I could do it on my own. I got right to work, tossing feed in for the chickens to satisfy them before stomping back toward the barn to start mucking out the stalls. Thankfully, someone else had already turned out the horses which saved me some time.

I was halfway through, actually sweating despite the cold, when Don showed up. He watched me for a minute. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Mucking the stalls.”

“I was going to do that,” he said. “I told Karen I would.”

“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “You don’t need to pick up all the slack. It’s not a big deal. We don’t need you to throw out your back.”

“You didn’t have to do that, Cassidy.”

I shrugged, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand. “It’s fine.”

Don was silent for a moment, then reached into his coat and pulled out a large manila envelope. I glanced down and saw my name scrawled across the front in neat letters. “Something came for you,” he said, holding it out.

I glanced at him, then took off my gloves and reached for the envelope. “What’s this?” I asked.

“You’ll need to open it to find out.”

I tore it open and pulled out a thick stack of papers. My heart skipped a beat as I read the words printed on the page. “The Last Will and Testament of Winslet Josephine Scott,” I read aloud.

My mother’s name.

I stared at the words on the page, scanning through it all and feeling complete disbelief.

“What is it, Cassidy?” Don asked.

I looked up, my throat tight. The words wouldn’t form. I looked back down at the document. “My biological mother. It’s her will.”

“Her will?” Don sounded as confused as I was.

“She left me everything.”

“Everything?” Don repeated. “What does that mean?”

My legs felt weak. I couldn’t believe it was real. It had to be a joke. There was no way this woman, my mother, had done this for me.