25. Cassandra #2
I could feel a slow smile forcing my melancholy away as Claire rambled on.
“I was tucked away in an office, going over the books, and was annoyed because his boots were so damn loud. Apparently, no one was at the front desk, because he just let himself back and poked around until he found someone.”
“He found you, didn’t he?”
Claire smiled. “He had on a white Stetson. Took it off and tipped his head like the most polite troublemaker to ever walk the planet, and asked me if I knew where the boss was.”
“What did you say?”
She snorted. “I looked him dead in the eye and said, “Why are you assuming I’m not the boss?””
I snickered. “What did he say?”
Claire grinned. “He said, “Well if you’re the boss, then I owe you money. And it’ll be real awkward for both of us if it looks like I’m trying to get out of a debt by taking you on a date.””
Tears of laughter leaked from the corners of my eyes, and I dabbed them away. “How presumptuous.”
“Tell me about it. I told him he had a snowball’s chance in hell of taking me out if that was his pickup line.”
“What did he do?”
Claire beamed. “He came back every week with a different pickup line. I was willing to let it go on longer, but the old bat who usually guarded the front desk got tired of him showing up to see the intern every Friday. It went on through the rest of my senior year. Finally, she took pity on him and told him that I refused to date cowboys.”
“I’m going to assume he didn’t stop.”
“Oh—he did,” Claire said. “I think it was two or three weeks later when I got a letter in the mail with a job offer. A ranch down in Temple needed an accountant and they wanted little ol’ me.
I thought I had it made. I figured I’d work a little and save up some money before I moved to California for bigger and better.
I showed up for my first day of work and—what do you know—guess who was waiting for me at the front gate? ” She pointed to the dirt drive.
“Your cowboy.”
Claire nodded. “I lit into him. Told him that if this was some kind of joke, then I’d kill him.
But he promised there was a job and it was mine.
” She let out a low huff. “My first day, Silas asked me to dinner after work. I said no, and he asked why I wouldn’t date a cowboy.
” She hunched over. “I told him I didn’t want to be with someone who was out in a field from sun up to sun down and never had time for me.
I didn’t want to be some little wife at home, barefoot and pregnant.
I had dreams of my own and I didn’t want someone who was tied to a piece of land. ”
“How did he take that?”
Claire smiled. “He just nodded and said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ And that was that.
Or so I thought. The next day I showed up to work and he had a tablecloth over my desk.
You know—the one you and Christian use now.
It’s the same one. There were candles and flowers.
He said we’d have a business meeting instead, then grilled me a steak.
” She cut her eyes to me. “Steak is the way to my heart, and I was a broke college graduate. I didn’t say no.
Slowly but surely, he wore me down. Popping with flowers he picked in the fields.
Teaching me how to ride. Taking me on horseback rides when the day was done. Leaving me little notes on my desk.”
“That’s sweet.”
“I thought so too. We kept things professional. Never crossed any lines. That was, until I had been here a year and it was time for a performance review. I was gonna ask for a raise. So, I sat down with Silas’s daddy—the Griffith brother in charge at the time—and made my case.”
I was hanging on her every word. “Did you get it?”
“Well, not exactly.” Claire clasped her hands together. “He told me I’d have to talk to Silas, since my paycheck was coming out of his.”
I gasped. “No…”
“You can imagine how angry I was. I thought I had a legitimate job. I was putting away money so I could move away. But I had been here a whole year and fell in love with this land and a goddamn cowboy, whether I liked it or not.”
My throat tightened. “He convinced you to stay.”
“No, his momma did,” she said. “There weren’t other women around here, so she and I got to know each other real well. One day I asked her how she put up with the boys being gone all day long, barely coming in to eat dinner and sleep. You know—being the good wife when she didn’t get much out of it.”
Claire’s eyes locked on mine and I could feel the shift. We weren’t talking about her and Silas anymore.
“This life isn’t for weak women, Cassandra.
When Silas was running things, I carried half the load.
I raised the boys, took care of the house, kept the books and tried to keep us out of bankruptcy, while he was building onto the legacy of the Griffiths that came before him.
I found that I liked the solace of living away from the city.
The quiet was exactly what I needed after long days.
It takes a strong woman to carry that load, and Silas knew that.
It’s why he smiled at me when I told him off the first day he showed up in my office. ”
I swallowed the rock that lodged in my throat.
She reached over the rocking chair arms and squeezed my hand.
“It’s not for everyone. That’s for damn sure.
But I see the women that my boys set their sights on, and know they learned from their daddy.
” She patted my hand before letting go. “It takes a strong cowboy to put up with a bull, and a strong woman to put up with a cowboy.”