Chapter 12 #2
“Oh, I’ve got a pretty good idea of your kind of relationship.
But you can bring her by regardless. Your father speaks highly of her and I’d like to meet her.
I suspect she’ll be part of this community long after you two quit one another.
Covie is her only family left now that her parents are dead, and I’d like her to know that she’s got more than her grandfather pulling for her to make Quincy home. ”
“Hold up.” There was a lot there to appreciate. My mother’s warm and inviting heart. But my head was wrapped around something else. “Her parents are dead?”
“For a couple of years now, I think. They were killed in an accident in Bozeman.”
But I’d just seen their photo in her office last week. I’d met them years ago at Willie’s when they’d been here to visit Covie. How had I been sleeping with Winn and not known that her parents had been killed? “I didn’t know.”
“Covie didn’t talk much about it. He didn’t tell many people in town that they died.”
“Really? Why?”
“He lost his son and his daughter-in-law. I believe they were very close. We all handle our grief differently. I think Covie went through a period of denial. Pretending life was the same was his way of coping. And he spent a lot of time in Bozeman with Winslow. He mentioned to your dad once that she was having a hard time.”
What the actual fuck? I hated that my mother knew more about this than I did. Why hadn’t Winn told me? Maybe she’d suspected that I already knew. Still, not a hint that they were gone. In fact, she hadn’t spoken much about her parents other than to remind me that her father had grown up in Quincy.
I opened my mouth to ask Mom more about it, but the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it.” She disappeared down the hallway, and when the door opened, I recognized Jim’s voice.
“I think he was just grabbing a cup of coffee,” Mom said. “Griffin?”
“Coming.” I chugged the rest of my cup, then strode down the hallway and out the door, where my men were waiting.
After grabbing my favorite Stetson, I waved goodbye to Mom and headed for the barn. Everyone had saddled their horses, so while they visited, I made my way to Jupiter’s stall.
“Hey, fella.” I ran my hand over his buckskin cheek, letting him nuzzle me for a moment before I went through the motions I’d done a thousand times, combing him off before strapping on his saddle.
Jupiter had been my horse for the past decade. He was the best I’d ever had. Strong and confident with a tender heart. On days I needed to clear my head, he’d do it with me. We’d ride off through the valley or into the forest and I’d unload the burdens with the steady sway of his canter.
I led him from his stall, snagging my favorite pair of chaps from a hook on the wall, then together we walked into the sunshine. “Ready for a long day?”
Jupiter answered by nudging my shoulder.
I grinned, ruffling the black tuft of hair between his ears. “Me too.”
As promised, the day was long. We rode for miles, moving the cattle into their summer grazing home in the section of the mountains that we leased from the forest service. The animals would have more grass than they could consume, and with them there, they’d help alleviate the risk of a forest fire.
On the return trip, I broke apart from the guys. They headed to the stables at Mom and Dad’s place, where they all kept their horses. It was a benefit of working on our ranch—free boarding. While I continued on alone to my place.
Home was a happy sight.
So was the woman standing beside her Durango in my driveway.
I swung off Jupiter, my legs stiff as I walked to Winn. Wearing a pair of jeans and a simple sage-green blouse, she was breathtaking.
“When I show up here, I’m going to need you to be wearing that.” She pointed from my hat to my chaps to my boots. “Every time.”
I chuckled as she moved into my space. “I’ve been in the saddle all day. I smell like a horse.”
“I don’t care.” She stood on her toes, going for my lips.
I bent, ready to take her mouth, when my horse shoved his nose between us. “Do you mind?”
Winn laughed. “Who’s this?”
“Jupiter.”
“Jupiter. Interesting name for a horse.”
“Eloise named him. Dad bought eight horses ten years ago. She was into some science project for school about the solar system, so she named them all after planets.”
“I like it.” She reached up, hesitating for a second before touching his cheek. “Hey, Jupiter.”
He nuzzled her palm. My horse was as smart as they came. He knew quality attention when he got it.
“Let me get him put away. Head on in. Make yourself at home.” I took the kiss I needed, then winked and escorted Jupiter to the barn. After getting him settled, I returned to the house, finding her on the porch, rocking in one of the chairs.
She had a beer in her hand and another ready for me.
What a sight she was.
Most days like this, I’d come home to an empty house and pray that no one showed up at my doorstep. I craved the time alone, the time to decompress. But I hadn’t had a night alone in a week. And at the moment, I didn’t want one.
“I figured you’d want one of these.” She motioned to the beer as I walked up the porch.
“Yeah.” I sat down, tipping the beer to my lips and quenching my thirst.
She took her own drink as her eyes raked over my legs. “You are sexy on that horse, cowboy.”
“What’s it going to earn me?”
“Take a shower and you’ll find out.”
I laughed, leaning over the arm of my chair and waving her closer. Then I fit my lips to the corner of her mouth before I left her on the porch and went inside to shower.
With a towel to my hair and wearing only a pair of jeans, I came out of the primary bedroom and checked my phone.
I’d missed seven calls, and a dozen texts waited to be read. They were all from family members, and though I should find out what was happening, put out whatever fires had started today, I ignored it all and went in search of Winn.
I’d expected to find her inside, but through the glass windows in the living room, I saw her sitting in the same porch chair, rocking gently as her eyes stayed glued to the trees and the mountain peaks rising beyond.
She looked at peace. Maybe more at peace than she’d ever been, even in sleep.
My heart skipped. The towel fell from my hand. My hand came to my sternum.
She was perfect in that chair.
So beautiful I wanted this view every night.
Fuck. We were supposed to burn out. We should have burned out already. I needed it to burn out. My focus had to stay on this ranch. On my family.
Yet it didn’t stop me from walking outside, picking her up out of that chair and carrying her to my bedroom.
We would burn out.
Just not yet.