15. Dane
“It’s a lot of traveling and competing. You sure you want to do this?”
Warren stares at the board we worked out together this morning without any arguing.
I picked all the biggest money events, and if we win or place in the top three at every event, I could have half of what Henry wants.
I paid Darla’s bill until July, and if I leave the boarding house and live in my truck for the summer, I’ll save almost a grand.
More if I don’t need a room until the cold weather.
Then I have to hope the Burkes hire me for something over the winter, or I can find something local that’s not casual. This can work. I know it. By the end of the year, Henry can be off my back for good, and maybe I can think about a real life.
Maybe even with Warren.
“Yes, I’m sure. My sister is used to me being away for months at a time in the summer, and I need to pad the bank account for the winter.”
Warren clears his throat. “Ah, about the bank account. I was thinking we should have a joint account for the winnings. It’s just easier for me.
One check, deposit it, and we can even run the expenses through it.
” He bites at his lip, and I’m instantly on guard.
“If cash flow is tight for you, then you won’t need to worry until the next payout.
It will all be there.” His brow furrows as he rushes on like he wants to cut off all my objections before they happen.
“Before you say anything, it’s not charity.
It’s really easier for me. I can read and do things, but it’s slower and more stressful when it’s not Jesse waiting.
I don’t want to hold you up if you have things you need to take care of. ”
I suppose it was just a matter of time before he did something more than trailer my horse home or introduce me to extended family that feeds me for free. I want to fight him on it, but he’s so damn honest about why this is good for him, I can’t possibly tell him to fuck off over it.
“How would you know I’m not taking more than my share?”
Warren doesn’t miss a beat, and it almost brings me to my knees.
“I trust you.”
Fuck me, why does he have to be so good?
How has the world not hardened him yet? After all the things he shared that he went through before being adopted, I went back to my room and thought about it for a long time.
At least I had some happy memories with my parents as a child to hold on to.
Warren was robbed of everything and forced to grow up far too soon.
He should be hard and rough because of it all.
He shouldn’t trust me so easily.
Those warm eyes blink and stare, honest and true. He trusts me. Just like that. After how I’ve treated him, he still trusts me.
“You barely know me, Warren.”
“True. But I’ve seen you with your horse…and your sister. That matters.” Warren licks his lips, and my body heat rises. “Plus, you’re my partner. If I can’t trust you, this will never work.”
He’s right, of course. A partnership of any kind needs to be built on trust. I know he won’t cross me or use me and yet…
“If it’s easier for you, then I’m okay with it.” Not completely, but I’ll try it.
Warren blows out a breath. “Okay, good. I’ll get us signed up for all these rodeos then.” His smile is so fucking shy I want to crush him to my chest and never let him go. “It might take me a while, so if you want to take a walk or something, we can deal with the bank stuff after.”
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“Not really. It’s all online, and since I pay from the school’s account, it’s a one-man job.”
Warren settles in the desk chair, and I watch as he slowly pecks on the keyboard to sign in. He even sticks his tongue out a little while he concentrates.
“Okay. I’ll be back a little later.”
“Sounds good.” He smiles at me before refocusing, and I even smile back.
After leaving Warren at the desk, I wander to the training ring. Jesse is at the back of the ring, fighting with a gate. After a wave, I jump over and jog over to him.
“Do you need help?”
He laughs before he sighs. “I didn’t think I did when I started, but I sure could use help now.” He motions to the next section. “I was trying to fix the latch when the other side broke, and now I can’t get the dang thing to stay anywhere.”
After going to the other side of the metal fence panel, together we wrestle the entire piece off and lean it against the rest of the rails.
“The weld here broke, Jesse.” Running my finger along the connection that failed, Jesse leans in for a closer look.
“Well, shit. How did that happen?”
“It’s a double swinging gate. Not uncommon, especially if it gets bumped by a truck unloading or is always used the same way. Is it original?”
“Yeah, so it’s been around. I’ll have to see if I can get the welder in to fix it.” He scrubs his hand in his hair with a sigh. “I should learn how to fix this.”
“I can fix it.”
Jesse’s eyes widen. “Seriously? You can weld?”
I see-saw my hand back and forth. “A little. I’m not a pro or anything, but I’ve done some work before with a home kit. We don’t need a gas welding unit or anything.”
“Do you have the tools for it?”
“I don’t, but they aren’t hard to get. Canadian Tire would have the stuff. Maybe $500, and you could keep it all here for yourself.”
He bites at his lip as he surveys the broken weld and mangled hinge. “If it’s under $1000, I don’t need to check with my brothers. It’s also a repair that’s necessary. Do you have time to do it today?”
“Totally. Warren is signing us up for rodeos, and I have time to kill.”
Jesse’s smile is almost as disarming as his brother’s. “Great! We’re going shopping!”
Canadian Tire doesn’t just sell tires.
I’ve browsed blenders, paint colours, and even rabbit supplies. I almost bought a box of rabbit treats for Warren’s rabbits, but held off because how would I explain that to Jesse?
Thankfully, they also had everything I needed for fixing the fence, and I loaded up the cart, explaining to Jesse what everything was.
Then we wandered the aisle for outdoor play toys because he wants to get a playhouse or slide for the backyard for Maise. As we head to the checkout, Jesse grabs a few chocolate bars for the haul while he answers a phone call.
After a tense moment, he pockets his phone and scrubs a hand over his face.
“Sorry about that. I have to swing by the daycare to get my daughter before we go back to the school. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Is everything okay?”
Jesse pulls out a credit card to pay for our supplies and dutifully folds the receipt and places it in his wallet before answering.
“Yeah,” he sighs. “My daughter, Maise, she’s only four, and since her mom left, she’s been a bit of a terror. She bit a kid, so I have to pick her up.”
“Wow. Is that, uh…do kids often bite people?” Fuck, some days I wish I could bite people when I’m angry. Kids don’t know how good they have it.
“Yes and no.” We reach his truck, and together we load the bags into the truck.
He rummages in the bag and tosses me a Coffee Crisp chocolate bar.
“Hide it or eat it before we get her.” After sliding behind the wheel, he opens his own chocolate bar and eats while he drives and explains more than I probably have any right to know.
“My ex is a wonderful woman. She struggles with her mental health, and I’ve always supported her.
Her postpartum depression was bad. Like…
so bad I brought her to the hospital and asked them not to let her come home until they had properly assessed her.
She scared the hell out of me.” He pops the last of his chocolate bar in his mouth.
“When she came home and had meds to take, I thought she was past it. I didn’t understand that it’s not always that simple.
She left. Went to some kind of wellness centre in the Yukon, and now she doesn’t want to come back.
Maise is finally acting out over it. They talk on the phone and FaceTime, but a month ago she dropped the bomb that she won’t be back, and Maise doesn’t understand, you know?
” He stops at a set of lights and turns to me.
“She’s acting out, misses her mom, and now biting is on the list.”
For the first time since I’ve known the guy, his sunshine demeanour is gone, and I notice the heaviness he carries.
The dark circles around his eyes and how his once easy smile now seems harder to wear.
I only know what it’s like to lose my mom suddenly as a young adult.
I couldn’t imagine how a small child must be feeling. Poor thing.
“So, what do you do? Can you get her help?”
The light changes, and Jesse continues the drive to the daycare.
“I’m trying. I’ve tried a nanny, and she didn’t enjoy living in Kissing Ridge.
I now have a manny. He has a degree in child behaviour or some shit I don’t understand.
He’s like a live-in therapist and caregiver, which I don’t mind paying for if it helps my daughter.
” He pulls into the parking lot of the daycare.
“It’s also his day off, or he’d be picking her up and calling me.
She starts school in the fall and can’t be biting kids.
” He puts the truck in park but leaves it running. “I won’t be long.”
Jesse leaves me in the truck, and he left his empty chocolate bar wrapper in the cupholder.
I grab it and stuff it in my pocket along with my own.
When he emerges with a little girl, I’m shocked that this sweet little thing with pigtails and a swirly dress would bite someone. She’s so cute and happy.
He opens the door of the truck. “Up you go, Peanut. This guy is Dane. Say hello.”
“Hi.”
I twist around and watch her climb into the car seat, and Jesse buckles her in.
“Hi, Maise. Nice to meet you. I like your dress.”
“Daddy likes it.”
Jesse boops her nose before backing out of the backseat. “I do. It’s beautiful.”
After settling behind the wheel, Jesse backs out, and we head towards the school.
Maise remains quiet while Jesse asks her questions about what she ate for snack time and what she made for crafts.
It’s cute. She keeps staring at me, though, and perhaps isn’t as chatty because she doesn’t know who I am yet.
When we pull into the rodeo school lot, she wiggles and seems extra excited.
“Is Uncle Bunny here!?”
“Yeah, Peanut. You can help him while I finish doing some adult stuff, if that’s okay?”
“Yay!”
I gather up the stuff in the back while he takes care of his daughter. When we get to the office, Maise makes a beeline straight to Warren.
“Uncle Bunny!”
She hurls herself at Warren, and he catches her, hauling her into his lap with a giant smile. “What are you doing here little miss? Are you lost?”
“She had to get picked up.” Jesse gnashes his teeth together behind Maise’s back, and Warren frowns. “I was out with Dane to get supplies to fix the gate. He’s giving me a hand, and once we’re done, I’ll get her off your hands. You okay with that?”
Warren has already moved with the kid on his hip like a pro to the coffee area and opens a door. “We have snacks, Maise!” He gives Jesse a thumbs up, and we head back to the ring without another word.
“She loves Warren. He’s the only one she never seems to have an issue with, and that comes in handy for days like today. I can’t have her out here while we weld.”
“No, I wouldn’t want that either.”
For the next hour, I show Jesse how to set up the machine and explain how it works.
He watches from a safe distance while I first repair one rung and then fix the broken hinge.
We chat about the rodeo schedule and how he’s not overly committed to the circuit this year because of the issues with his daughter.
“I can take her to some events if my dad isn’t my hazer. He loves taking her around the rodeos.” Jesse smiles as we test our work. “But if he’s competing with me, he can’t focus on her, and it’s the same with Warren. So until I know if this manny will stick, I’ll just do a few rodeos when I can.”
“You’re a good dad, Jesse.”
His breath leaves his lungs in a whoosh. “Do you really think so? Sometimes I feel so selfish just wanting to find someone to help so I can compete.”
“I don’t think that’s selfish. It’s a balance, and it’s not like you’re leaving her with people she hates. You’re doing great.”
My smile is genuine because he is doing great. He reminds me a lot of my mom.
“Thanks, Dane. Help me carry this to the storage room, and then I’ll relieve Warren of his duties.”
When we arrive back at the office, the scene we stumble into is one that stops me in my tracks.
Maise sits on the floor in front of Warren while he expertly works at braiding her hair. She holds his phone while it plays cartoons, and when he prompts her to hand him an elastic, she does.
“Okay, kiddo, all done. Just in time for Dad.”
“Daddy! I have a braid!”
“You do, Peanut. It’s so pretty. Uncle Bunny is good at that.”
I let the three of them say their goodbyes and catch up. Maise clearly adores Warren, and that shouldn’t make my heart pound so hard. Nor should watching him braid her hair, just like I do with Darla.
But it does.
When it’s just me and Warren, I lean against the desk with a grin.
“So…Uncle Bunny?”
He snorts. “She loves my rabbits. Just started calling me that, so I let her.”
He fiddles with a pen on the desk, and the silence between us is thick with something I can’t name.
“Listen, I know we were supposed to practice, but maybe we could—”
I cut him off before he can invite me to do anything that would endear him to me more.
“I should visit Darla. Should I meet you at the ranch on Thursday morning? Tell me when you want to leave, and I’ll come help load the horses.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Um…say 8 A.M.?”
“See you then, Warren.”
Turning on my heel, I leave quickly before he can say anything else that might make me stay.