Chapter 6
We Don’t Talk Anymore – Charlie Puth ft. Selena Gomez
Cassidy
What was I doing there? I’d been asking myself that with every step I’d taken from the house to the stables.
I’d woken after everyone else, seeing as they all woke at a stupid hour every day.
Lily, thankfully, had left me to sleep but once I woke I went back to thinking about Lucas and how I could help him. That was what I was doing there.
“I need your…your expertise,” I said, keeping my tone neutral. Professional. This wasn’t about us, it was about Lucas.
Gunner straightened, his usual smirk fading into something more thoughtful. “What kind of expertise?”
“Your help. The professional kind.” I cleared my throat and forced out, “Please.”
He lifted a brow and smirked, making me second guess what the hell I was doing. When he stretched his legs out in front of him and crossed his arms over his chest, the air of superiority and confidence boiled my piss, as my Granny Lizzie used to say.
“You know what, it’s fine. I’ll ask someone else.” I turned to leave but Gunner laughed and that had me turning back around to face him. “What is so funny?”
“You are. Pretending to be all pleasant and polite.” He leaned forward. “Just because you want something.”
“I can be pleasant, even if I don’t want anything.”
“Really?” he scoffed. “I’m not sure I’ve seen that side of you. Ever.”
My teeth felt like they might splinter, I was grinding them together so hard. I hadn’t worn ugly braces for almost two years in high school to wreck them now. “Well, that’s probably because we’re not really friends and don’t spend much time around each other.”
“And the one time we did it didn’t end well.” He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, like it was my fault he’d insulted me.
“What did you expect when…” Gunner shifted his position, crossing his legs at the ankle and tilting his head to one side.
He still didn’t think he’d said anything out of turn.
Stupid idiot. But I did need his help. “Let’s just forget about that.
For now,” I muttered the last part because I couldn’t help it.
He boiled my piss more than anyone I’d ever known.
With a stupid smirk, he braced his arms back on his desk, probably to show off his biceps. “Okay, just tell me how I can help.”
“I can’t go into too much detail, but there’s a little boy in my class who I think needs some attention..”
“And you want me to…” He sat forward and rolled his hand, encouraging me to continue.
“I wondered if he could spend some time here. You know, maybe clean out some stables, feed some horses or something. I was reading last night that working with animals can be like therapy. I thought it would be good for him. Seeing as I was here, I thought I might as well just come out and ask you.”
He didn’t say anything but just looked at me, his gaze pinned to my face and his head still on one side.
The silence was deafening, unnerving, his stare heating my veins yet giving me goosebumps at the same time.
I felt like I wanted to run but was desperate to stay.
I disliked him intensely, yet he fascinated me.
“Okay, if you don’t want to help it’s fine.”
“Never said that, Cassidy.” He pushed himself off the edge of the desk and stood in front of me. Inches from me. “Lucas Keller the kid?”
I tipped my head back to look up at him, seeing as he was a good foot taller than me. “How did you know?” How could a man who only seemed to care about horses be so perceptive?
“I know he’s in your class and Bertie told me about the fight yesterday. Plus, he’s been here a few times, parties and play dates with Bertie and his mom was always late picking him up. One time she didn’t turn up at all. I took him home and she was out. The kid had to let himself in.”
“And did you tell anyone? Did Lily know?” Anger sparked as I thought about Lucas being home alone. About Gunner knowing and not doing anything about it. “God, Gunner, he’s just a little kid. Did you not think that someone should know?”
He blinked slowly and held up a hand. “Do you want to stop right there and listen to what I have to say?”
“Like what?”
“Like I went in with him and stayed for ten minutes until his mom arrived home. I told her it was unacceptable. Knowing he was going to be coming home she should have been there for him.”
“And what did she say?”
He worried his jaw and inhaled deeply. “She told me that her boss at the call center she works at in Montrose kept them all behind for an unplanned meeting.”
“She works in Montrose?” That was almost an hour and a half away. It explained so much.
“She does. And on weekends she works from home for an answering service.”
“She has two jobs?” The poor woman, no wonder she never had time for school meetings or events.
“She does. It appears Mr. Keller left them about six months ago. Went off with some woman he met through work. He lives in Montana now.” Gunner sighed and moved around his desk and pulled open a drawer.
He searched around it until he pulled out a packet of gum.
He took a piece and then held it out to me.
I shook my head. “Anyway,” he continued, throwing the gum back in the drawer, “he sounds like a dick to me. I asked if I could help in some way, but she said it was fine. She’s working on finding somewhere in Montrose to live. ”
He’d offered to help her. Wow, that surprised me, and it made me feel a little strange. In my stomach. Like I’d eaten something bad.
“How would you help her?” The words were out before I could stop them. It was none of my business but the unease in my belly was growing.
Gunner raised an eyebrow as he scratched at the stubble on his chin, an amused twinkle in his eyes. “Not in the way that you’re thinking.”
“I wasn’t thinking anything,” I replied too quickly.
“Hmm I’ll bet.” His tongue licked slowly along his full bottom lip and the unease suddenly felt like something different. Something I didn’t want to think about but made me realize that I really needed to get laid soon. It had been too long.
“I was going to offer her a job here. In my office.” He swept a hand over his desk. “You can see me and Charlie aren’t really ones for admin. Nash and Wilder are always complaining that I take too long to get everything on the computer.”
There was a tower of three trays, each one full of paperwork, with more covering the desk.
“You should just do it straightaway.” I rolled my eyes. “And who still sends actual paperwork anyway?”
“Ranchers, farmers and old guys who’ve worked the land for the last forty years.”
As he chewed his gum I couldn’t stop my gaze from wandering to his Adam’s apple, watching it bob with each chew.
Shaking my head to erase the images threatening to push through, I sighed heavily. “Okay, so about Lucas. Do you think you’d be able to help him?”
“I think I could find work for him to do. I’m sure Nash and Wilder could, too. If things work out with his mom finding a place in Montrose, though, it might not be necessary.”
My heart sank. “He’s doing so well at school; it would be a shame if he had to move to the city. There might be malls and movie theatres, but there’s no mountains, or beautiful landscapes like there is here.”
Gunner’s expression was one of awe, like I’d just told him the secret of how to find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
“What?” I asked.
“You really do love living here, don’t you,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “And there was me thinking you townie’s hated the great outdoors.”
“That would be because you don’t really know me, Gunner.
” I took a step away and looked out of the window, to the lush green paddock beyond the stables with the sliding doors which had been pushed open.
I turned back around and gave him a flat smile.
“Thanks for telling me about Lucas’ mom.
I’ll let Mrs. Wright know and now we have the full facts we can come up with some ideas. ”
“No problem. Glad I could be of help and just so you know, I’ve been trying to figure you out since the second I met you.” He pulled the chair out at his desk. “And maybe I’ll speak to his mom about that job, that way they won’t have to move to Montrose.”
As Gunner turned back to his paperwork, I didn't immediately leave. I hovered by the door, watching him work. When he glanced up, our eyes met and held for a moment longer than necessary.
"You know," I said quietly, "I misjudged you."
He set down his pen, giving me his full attention. "Yeah?"
"I thought you were just another arrogant rancher who didn't care about anything but his horses." I shifted my weight, suddenly vulnerable. "But you do care. About Lucas, about his mom, about doing the right thing."
Something shifted in his expression. "And you thought I'd do what, let them struggle?"
"I don't know what I thought." I touched the door handle but didn't turn it. "I'm sorry."
The apology hung between us, and for a moment, neither of us moved. Then Gunner's voice, softer than I'd ever heard it: "We both got it wrong, didn't we?"
I nodded, and my heart stumbled a little as he flashed me a warm smile. I tried to ignore how his eyes crinkled at the corners or how his whole face transformed when he wasn’t being a jerk. Why did he have to be so attractive when he was being nice? Being…vulnerable.
“Thank you,” I managed to say.
“Don’t need to thank me, Cassidy. Just next time maybe get the full picture before you accuse me of not giving a damn about something.”
“I didn’t say that,” I told him as he dropped into his chair. “Did you not just hear me apologize?”
“I did but you only had to because you wanted to hate me so badly, you didn’t even stop to notice that I was trying.” He swiveled away from me and picked up a pile of papers. “Anyway, I need to get back to work, so…”
Damn it, for a man with a good heart he could be a real douchebag.