Chapter 40
KADE
It’s getting harder and harder to drag myself out of bed each time Chloe stays over.
But this morning was even more difficult.
After last night and how peaceful she looks in my bed, her hair splayed out and a sheet barely covering her body, it’s a miracle I’m going to make it out to the ranch at all.
I grab a notepad and pen from my home office and head for the kitchen, careful to avoid the floorboards that creak, before jotting out the alarm code and instructions for how to set it should she want to leave.
I leave a set of keys to my old truck on the counter beside the note so she can come and go as she pleases.
With a promise to see her tonight, I hesitate before deciding to end it by signing my name.
I’ve only just asked her to be my girlfriend; saying ‘I love you’ in a note is not how I plan to tell her for the first time.
Besides, it’s far too soon for that. Even if I knew for certain the moment I saw her at the airport yesterday.
When she was gone these past few days, I felt lost and alone, like part of me was missing, and the only time I felt whole again was when I heard her voice or saw her smile on a video call. I might not know what the future holds for me, but I do know that I want Chloe by my side as I figure it out.
The fact she was scared for me at the rodeo last night has given me pause.
I don’t want her worrying that she might lose me, because that is a very real possibility.
She should be secure in the fact that I’ll be here for as long as she’ll have me.
That’s why, last night as Chloe dozed on my chest, I decided that the competition in January will be my last ride.
Sure, I’d planned on quitting then so I could come clean to my family, but I’d made that promise to myself many times before. This time I mean it.
Swiping up my travel mug of coffee with one hand and my keys with the other, I head out the door to work.
It doesn’t take long to reach the main part of the ranch, and I pull my truck into the driveway, killing the engine as I look out at the mountains that provide the perfect backdrop to the big red barn.
It’s going to be just Beau and me today, out moving a small herd of cattle to pasture eighteen.
We do this once a year before the end of summer, so we can fatten them up for winter when they’ll be eating nothing but manufactured food that doesn’t have the same nutrients as the grasses.
They’ll eat in the pasture furthest from the yard, making their way up the land and into the mountains until they’ve grazed the grass down.
I can see Beau is already getting to work; his horse and Duke are tied to a fence post as he brushes them down.
Swiping up my Stetson from the dash, I place it on my head as I climb from the cab.
The thrum of activity on the ranch hits me as I slam my truck door closed.
It might only be six in the morning, but the working day around here would have started around four-thirty.
As I head for the barn and Beau, Grayson walks out leading Cash from the stables. “Morning,” I call, lifting my coffee cup in a salute.
He inclines his head, tying Cash next to the others. “Morning, can you grab Ace? We’re still waiting on Wyatt, but that’s nothing new,” he grumbles.
Wyatt is the type to roll out of bed five minutes before he starts work, whereas Gray and I are the early birds—or at least I used to be—usually getting started on our day before the sun has even risen.
I chuckle, taking a sip of my coffee before asking, “You guys coming out with us?”
“No, we’re heading to check out the flood in pasture six. Tanner’s got someone coming out tomorrow to look at it, but we need to locate it.”
“You got an idea what it could be? I’m guessing the irrigation, but we have no clue where?” I ask, leaning on the fence.
Gray lifts his hat, pushing his hair back before replacing it. “Nope, no idea. We’ll be gone most of the day. Drew and Elijah are coming with us, but it’s partially flooded, so we’ll be moving slowly.”
“I’d rather be moving a herd than figuring out where a leak is coming from in a hundred acres.”
Grayson tightens the saddle on Cash, glancing over his shoulder at me. “You know, technically, I can change what you’re doing today. Seeing as you’ve been late to work ever since Chloe arrived in town, and I suspect that’s only going to get worse if the rumors I’ve heard are true.”
I hold my hands up, heading for the barn, with a grin on my lips. I’ve got a feeling today is going to be a good day, especially as I get to go home to Chloe at the end of it.