Chapter 20
POV: Cole?
Abby had a day off from working at the bar today, so she insistently volunteered to help me on the ranch.
The ranch wasn’t easy work, and I hadn’t expected such a little, fragile thing like her to be good at that kind of work but she gave it her best go and surprised me.
We were an hour into stacking up hay and she kept going, without a break in sight.
“You’re going to be sore if you don’t slow down,” I reminded her.
But she only gave me a stubborn smile in response. “I can handle myself, Cole. I know you like to think you’re the only one who can,” she shot me a wink.
I shook my head and couldn’t help but smile.
She was stubborn, that’s for sure, but she knew how to rile me up and tease me when she wanted to.
There was another truck load of hay set to come in later today but I told the guys to handle it.
The sun was beaming down hot on us today, so I grabbed a pitcher of water and set off to the barn to do our rounds at feeding the animals.
I loaded a few bushel of hay into each cow stall while she grabbed a bucket of carrots and apples to feed to the cows.
She ran her hand along one of my cow’s snouts, Martha and fed her apples. “She’s my favorite,” she beamed.
“She’s getting old,” I replied, walking to her side and looking over at Martha. “She’s had more babies than I can count for this ranch.”
“But she’s still got that spunk in her even after all her hard work. Don’t you, mama?” Abby beamed, petting the cow tenderly.
I smiled at her and watched her coo to the animal, as if it was a baby of her own.
“I’m not used to you smiling,” she teased. “You’ve been doing that a lot lately, Cole.”
I shook off the smile, out of pride and turned to gaze at her.
The sun had only made her more beautiful. Her skin glowed from a light tan and her blue eyes were brighter. And she was wearing those little jean shorts that made my wind wander. But work needed to be done, so our playtime would be later.
“Not in the barn,” she rolled her eyes, seeing me look at her hungrily. “I’m getting hungry from all this hard work.”
“Me too,” I murmured, glancing down at the way her hips shifted.
“Not that kind of hungry,” she rolled her eyes, nudging me playfully.
I wrapped her in my arms, tightly, so she couldn’t wiggle out of my grasp. My hands fell to her ass, grasping it hardly and causing her to blush. “I’m hungry too—for food and something else.”
“Cole!” she scolded, knocking her fist against my hardened chest.
I released her from my hold, and she gave me a playful glance. “Let’s finish feeding the horses. I swear if it was up to you then we’d never get any work done!”
I tipped my cowboy hat, “if it was up to me then you’d be naked feeding the horses.”
“For all your men to see?” she cocked an eyebrow and let out a heavy laugh. “Then you’d have no employees left, because after they saw that, I’m sure you’d kill them!” She skipped off, bucket in hand to feed the horses carrots at the stable.
She’s got something right.
Nobody has the right to see her naked, except me.
I followed her to the stable and admired her from a distance, the way she was so gentle with the animals. They loved her. She just had that type of nurturing inside her, it came easy to her. She was soft.
While, I was far from it.
Jemma came outside with a plate stacked with sandwiches, a pitcher of sweet tea, and a basket of fruit.
She stopped beside me and watched Abby with me for a moment. “She’s sure is something.”
I turned to look at her, and she was smiling at me. “Hang on tight to that one, Mr. Cole.”
“I plan to,” I murmured, as my gaze drifted back to hers.
“That one might just be the one to tame you, yet,” Jemma replied.
I gave her a careful look.
“Even cowboys can be tamed,” she reminded me.
“I don’t know about that one, Jemma.”
She shook her head, scolding me, “oh please. Men all want to settle down—it just takes the right woman to convince them. And that girl has a hold on you I haven’t seen before. Just look at the way you watch her and look at the way she is with animals—kind, caring, attentive.
She’ll be a great mother one day and I’m sure the perfect wife.”
With that, Jemma handed me the food and left me to think about her words.
Abby was wonderful with animals and I knew she’d be a great mother. She’d make any man happy to have her as his wife.
But the thought still lingered in my mind—did I want to be a husband? Did I want to be a father?
I knew that even if she denied it—she’d want that—to find a man to be a husband, a father, to settle down and build a family. All women wanted that, just in different ways.
I was far from perfect. I had my issues, and not due to a woman or a bad family upbringing, it was just the man I was. I wasn’t gentle. I wasn’t soft. I didn’t communicate. I just did. I needed control. I needed things a certain way.
And I wondered if a part of me could be capable of love—-of true love—of communication—of giving without just taking. That’s what it took to be a husband and to be a father.
The jury’s still out there, I guess.
Eventually, Abby finished feeding the horses and slipped into a seat on the old wooden bench next to me.
I handed her a plate with a sandwich, an apple I cut up with my knife, and a glass of sweet tea. She took with hungry eyes and practically inhaled it.
I chuckled, watching her eat with such haste.
After she finished, she smiled up at me with a sparkle in her eyes.
“You like it here, don’t you?” I asked, running my thumb over the dirt on her cheekbone.
“I love it here,” she admitted, glancing at the horses and the empty pastures beyond. “It feels right. This is where I always imagined myself.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “On a ranch?”
“Yep,” she nodded, taking another bite of the apple. “That’s why I wanted to be a vet tech, after all, to take care of farm or ranch animals. And here it just feels right, like I’m living the life I want.”
“What about your father’s bar?” I asked.
She let out a heavy sigh, putting down the rest of the apple and looking over at me. “That’s the problem. I don’t know what I’d do with the bar when he passes. He expects me to take it over but I don’t know…”
“Can’t you do both?” I asked, hopeful.
She smiled at me, that genuine smile of hers, the happy one. “If I’m lucky enough. If I find..”
I waited for her to continue.
“If I find a man to settle down with one day—marry, have kids with, maybe just maybe we can do both. Together.”
That broke something inside me.
I turned from her and looked down at my boots and the dirt beneath them.
All I’ve ever known is the life of a cowboy. And it didn’t include a wife or children or someone to share this life with. It just included me and this ranch.
But here she was—the perfect woman, sitting next to me, confessing her goals and dreams.
And I still don’t know if I can give them to her.
The conversation ended there. We sat in silence, staring at the horses in the pen and the sun shining down on them.