CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
-:- CORK -:-
Looking out the apartment window, there is still no sign of Dallas’ truck heading this way.
There are several cars parked along the road, but none that seem out of place.
An old Toyota pickup catches my eye, but there’s no one in it that I can see.
A nice Dodge Charger, but not as nice as Star’s. Everything else screams ‘soccer mom’.
It’s been almost an hour since I received Dallas’ text saying she was running late. Now, in my book, running late is a few minutes, not a damn hour. With all the weird feelings that we’ve both been having since that ranch mission, I’m more than a little concerned. I’m downright worried.
Taking up my phone from the table, I’m just punching in Dallas on my speed dial, for what feels like the tenth time, when I hear the apartment door. Stepping out of the kitchen I see her running at me. Fearing the worst, I grab her and start checking for injuries anywhere on her body.
“That has to be the most unromantic grope you have ever given me. I much preferred it when you grabbed me and threw me on the bed!” She pushes me away and slams her hands on her hips. “What is wrong with you?”
“I’ve been worried sick that something had happened to you.
Running late is not an hour. I’ve been trying to call you, and you haven’t answered, it just kept going to voicemail.
I promised to give it an hour, and if you weren’t home or in contact by then, I was calling out the full weight of the Raging Barons to find you.
Where have you been, woman?” My voice is rising with every sentence, and I can see she doesn’t like my shouting.
That’s just tough luck. Grabbing her again, I pull her against my chest, hug the living daylights out of her, all while sniffing her hair.
As I pull her to me, I feel her tense up, but within seconds she relaxes and wraps her arms around my waist, hugging me back.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear my phone. I got carried away and didn’t realize I’d been that long, or that you’d worry after I sent you a text. I said I was okay, though.” Looking up at me with those beautiful eyes, she makes it impossible for me to stay upset with her.
“Where have you been all this time?” I ask in a much calmer and more civilized way.
“All this time, indeed. You make it sound like I’ve been gone a lifetime,” she states while still gazing up at me.
“It felt longer!” I mutter.
“Come sit at the table. I have to tell you something. You won’t believe it, but it's wonderful news.” She sits opposite me in our usual places and grins like a Cheshire cat.
“You’re pregnant?” I hold her at arm's length and then place a palm on her stomach.
“Get off me, you moron! No! I’m not pregnant!
Geez. Just sit down and try to be normal again, will you!
On the way home from the range, I was trying to figure out what my mom would want for the wedding.
She will organize everything when she gets here, if she hasn’t started already.
Anyway, I missed a turn, and when I realized, I was already on the outskirts of town, so I carried on until I found somewhere to make a U-turn and get back on track.
You won’t believe what I found. You’ll never guess!
” She is positively glowing and bouncing around with excitement.
“What? What did you find?”
“Guess!”
“You just said I’d never guess.” I wait for her to say more. Seeing she isn’t going to, I hazard a guess, totally from left field, as it were. “You found us a house? I have no idea what…” Oh, my God. Her face just dropped. She found a place she thinks would be our home.
“Why would you do that? Why would you spoil my surprise like that? Well, fuck it. And fuck you. And fuck the rest of the fucking world, for fuck's sake!” I see tears in her eyes, and I’m gutted.
“Dallas, you told me to guess, but I thought I was miles off target. That was just something to throw at you.” Stepping around the table, I wrap her in my arms again. “You have really found our first home?”
“No, Cork. I’ve found our forever home. We’re going to see it tomorrow and see if we can afford it. If we don’t have the finances, I’m going to sell any organs I can live without to get the money, and some of yours too.”
For the rest of the evening, I listen to her excited chatter about the horse ranch and its owner, Colt Farrier. Colt Farrier? The horse rancher. His daddy certainly liked a joke.
The next morning, Dallas called BaronsSecure and spoke to Everlee about taking the day off to look at the horse ranch. Everlee sounded almost as excited as Dallas and as good as invited herself for weekends when we’d settled in.
We eat a rushed breakfast and after checking in with Ava that I can be spared -what a joke- we head out.
Leaving town, I approach the access road and turn in, seeing the tired For Sale sign.
As we drive Dallas is once again bouncing around in her seat.
I have seen nothing so far that warrants that level of excitement, but she must be waiting for me to show some enthusiasm.
As we pass the last of a stand of trees, I stop the truck and stare. Now I understand her excitement. The log ranch house alone is stunning, but with the outbuildings as well, it’s picture-postcard stuff in real life. I have to give Dallas her due, this is a forever home. I love it.
As I park the truck in front of the ranch house, the door opens and I swear to God, Clint Eastwood walks out to greet us. All the man in front of us needs is a poncho and cigar, and it would be Clint.
“Howdy, Dallas. I thought you’d be out early. I was expecting you to show up an hour ago.” Dallas jumps out of the truck, runs to him and throws her arms around Mr. Colt Farrier, and I don’t like it one bit.
“No need to get yourself all riled up there, son. I got no designs on this here fine-looking filly. Name’s Colt, and you must be Cork? I’m pleased to meet you. Any friend of Dallas is a friend of mine.”
“We’re more than friends.” I spit the words out without thinking, and the elbow in the gut from Dallas tells me she isn’t happy.
“Now you just wind in them hormones, Cork. There’s no need for that poor behavior. You aren’t even on the man's porch yet, and with them manners, he may not invite you to step up.” She gives me the evil eye, and I know she’s right.
Giving Colt a chin lift is all the apology I’m going to offer, even though it was my green-eyed monster that was the issue.
Stepping up, I offer my hand, and I’m not disappointed in the firm handshake he gives me.
Inviting us inside we follow him through the front door, and as I turn from closing the door behind me, I stop and gaze around.
The place is stunning. Open and airy but the interior design and furnishings lend themselves to separating the areas into functional spaces.
The kitchen dining area is superb. This was built to be the main area for people to congregate.
I can see our family spending more time in this space than the rest of the house put together, and I haven’t seen the rest yet.
Sitting around the kitchen table over coffee, Colt goes over the details of the property and how he built everything from the ground up. The lumber for everything was sourced from the land, and he has a sawmill near the woods that he still fells trees from for firewood.
The ranch is powered by solar panels and a couple of wind turbines.
Not the great tall windmill type but smaller cylindrical ones that don’t spoil the landscape as much.
They are less visible, apparently. Water comes from a spring that feeds a holding tank with filters, and waste goes into a septic tank.
The place is self-sufficient and exceptionally well thought out.
I can’t help feeling that all this is going to come at a cost. One that could be way above our heads, and far beyond the number of organs that I, or Dallas, can spare.
When it comes to looking at the rest of the property, Dallas and Colt look at me slyly. Oh, no. I’m not getting on any horse. Colt knows what I’m thinking and shakes his head.
Colt smirks. “I’m way ahead of you, Cork. I’ve got a quad bike, ATV thing, you can use. You’ll have to range back behind us a bit, the horses are skittish around that thing. They tolerate it, but that’s the best that can be said.”
When he shows me into the Dutch barn, I grin. “Hey, Colt, your Honda quad bike only has three wheels.”
Colt quickly replies. “You can take the Honda if you like, but I was thinking more about the Can-Am in the corner. You shouldn’t knock that old Honda, though.
In miles, she’s probably been to the moon and back.
You try to start her up and even though she hasn’t been started for months, she’ll be ready to go after a couple of kicks. ”
“Oh. The Can-Am is more like it. I can live with that.”
I leave them to go to the stables and sort out their live horses while I familiarize myself with the ATV. Ten minutes later, I’m more than a little excited by the sight of Dallas on a beautiful golden horse, with a white mane and tail. They look as if they were made for each other.
Dallas looks over at Colt. “I think he approves of your choice of horse for me.”
Colt lets out a loud snort that I think doubles as a laugh. “I think he approves of a lot more than the damned horse, Dallas. I’ve seen that same look on a great many cowboys over the years, and it ain’t usually a horse that draws their attention.”
It takes us several hours of riding for Colt to show us what he thinks are the pertinent areas of the ranch and his small herd of horses. He says small, but it’s the biggest herd of anything I’ve ever seen. He tells us that we can come back anytime if we want to see more.
Back in the grand kitchen with a sandwich and a coffee, and after being shown around the rest of the house, I hate to spoil the mood and talk the dirty business of money.