Chapter 18
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Reeves enjoyed the quiet serenity with Bailey as he sipped his coffee. It had grown too cold for him on the drive back to her place, and he set it down on the table.
He’d actually been to the vet clinic and been told by Marina that she was checking horses at Wade Ingalls’ place. He’d stopped by there, but the man had told him that Bailey had left a half-hour earlier. He’d tried her house on a whim, glad he’d finally found her.
He smiled as Sir ran into the stream, which had returned to its normal state. The deepest part of it went up to the boxer’s chest, and the current certainly wouldn’t sweep him away. He glanced over to Bailey, who watched Sir with a pretty little smile on her face.
“You can go out too, Boots,” she encouraged the black-and-white dog she’d brought home with her. She glanced over to Reeves, and her grin only widened when she saw him looking at her. “OJ named him.”
“How long have you had him?” Reeves asked, as he realized now that bringing animals home to care for them was simply part of Bailey’s job. Even if it wasn’t, she’d do it, and he loved that about her.
“We got him in last night,” she said. “He stayed in our emergency clinic overnight to make sure his wounds were healing up nicely, and I’m going to keep him with me for a little bit.”
Boots came over to Reeves, who set his coffee down and stroked the dog along both sides of his head. “He looks like part Labrador retriever.”
“Yeah, and maybe an Australian shepherd,” Bailey added.
“Are you going to adopt him out?”
“Yep.” Bailey sighed and lifted her coffee to her lips again, then put her cup on the table too. “I’ve got a list of people who want me to call them when I have a dog or cat adoption,” she said. “It hasn’t been terribly difficult to find them new homes.”
“I’m glad.” He cleared his throat and wished he knew how to speak the thoughts in his head better. “Listen,” he said. “I wanted to tell you a little bit more about my upbringing.”
Bailey turned fully toward him, her eyes growing a little bit wider and filling with concern.
“If you want to hear it,” he said. “I mean, I don’t have to.”
“No,” she said. “If you want to tell me, I want to listen.”
“I don’t want to upset you.” He practically whispered the words. He looked up to Bailey, and then waited for her approval to go on.
“I can handle it,” Bailey said. “Please tell me what you’re thinking.”
He nodded and focused his attention back out on the water again. It moved religiously and relentlessly, and something about it called to Reeves.
“I was okay until my momma left,” he said. “That happened when I was five. Then my dad started drinking, but I was too young to really know what was going on. My mom only lived a couple of miles away, and I could ride my bike over there.”
He paused for a moment, because he did have memories as an eight-year-old. “But she died when I was eight,” he continued. “And my daddy just turned mean after that.”
He’d thought a lot about telling Bailey more about his childhood, and perhaps if he acknowledged the memories, they’d feel free to leave his mind.
“He told me once that he had to hit me in the face, so I wouldn’t look like her and remind him of her.”
“Did you have grandparents?” she asked.
Reeves shook his head slowly. “Nowhere near us,” he said. “And my dad wouldn’t let me go to school if I had visible bruises or bumps. Me staying home only irritated him more, and he started hitting me other places so no one would see.”
“I’m so sorry, Reeves.”
He nodded, though he hadn’t told her to elicit her sympathy.
“I didn’t hit a growth spurt until I was fourteen,” he said.
“So I wasn’t big enough to defend myself for a lot of years.
But I learned how to cook, and I learned how to clean up afterward, and I learned how to check his pockets and wallet for extra money and take one dollar here and one dollar there, so I could pay for lunch money, or school fees, or bicycle tire repair kits. ”
Reeves heard his own voice hollow out, and he gave himself a mental shake. “I told you about the steel-toed boots. That was just before my sixteenth birthday. I haven’t spoken to him in twenty years, and I moved to Alaska with Shane the moment I could.”
“Is that where you started your videos?” Bailey asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, we started out doing tourism videos, if you can believe it.” A smile lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Showing people the fishing tours, the trains, and the cruises they could take in Alaska. Those were fairly new at the time, and it brought in enough money for me to pay for a place to live, feed myself, and get better camera equipment.”
Bailey didn’t follow up with another question, and Reeves appreciated that she simply waited and lent him a listening ear.
“I watched the trends and took the classes the platforms offered. When I saw the outdoor videos start to rise, I started planning my first one.” A smile came to his face, his memory of this video crystal clear.
“I created a shelter against a fallen tree root ball, built a fire and melted all the snow to get to dry ground underneath, and I slept outside without a tent. It went viral.”
“I didn’t see that video,” Bailey said, her voice a touch defensive.
“That’s because you watch my Teton Mountain Man channel.”
A gasp filled her side of the picnic table, and Bailey got to her feet. “Reeves Durham, are you telling me you have more than one channel?”
He chuckled. “Bailey, I’ve been making online content for sixteen years. My Teton Mountain Man channel is my most successful, but it’s not the only one that’s monetized and makes money.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and placed one hand on a very sexy hip. “One-word-answer time.”
He looked up at her. “I’m sorry?”
“One-word answer,” she said. “I ask you a question; you give me a one-word answer. No expounding.” A playfulness rode in her eyes, but her voice stayed stern. “My momma used to do this when she just needed to get the facts out of us kids quickly.”
Reeves couldn’t help the way his hormones fired at the beautiful woman standing in front of him. “All right,” he drawled. “I’ll do my best.”
“How many channels do you have?”
“Six,” he said.
A heavy breath fell out of her mouth. “Six?”
“Yes.” He grinned at her.
“That wasn’t a question.”
“How am I supposed to know that?”
Bailey squinted at him again. “Which one’s your most popular?”
“Teton Mountain Man.” He grinned. “Sorry, the name of the channel is three words.”
“What kinds of other channels do you have?”
“One on Alaska. I did a fishing one. I have a travel one. I have one on woodworking and blacksmithing, and one reserved that I haven’t put any videos on yet for something still in the future.” He shrugged one shoulder. “You can change the name.”
She paused, then asked, “Are you rich?”
“It depends on your definition of the word.”
She glared at him and took a step closer. “Would I think you’re rich?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Do you have any other houses outside of Coral Canyon?”
“Not anymore.”
She didn’t fire off another question, and it sure seemed like Reeves had given her enough answers to satisfy her. She crowded into his personal space and settled herself on his lap, and Reeves wrapped his arms around her and cradled her against his chest.
“That’s all?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said softly.
“Which do you like more: making videos or farming?”
“I like the animals the best,” he said. “And I enjoy taking care of the land, because it makes me feel like I’ve done something good with my time and accomplished something real.” He took a long moment to think further through how he felt about his farm and land and animals.
“It feels like God has entrusted them to me,” he said. “And I want to do right by them, and ultimately by God.”
“I haven’t seen you leave and go to church on Sundays,” Bailey said.
“Nope.” He sighed in a mighty way. “Church is a very public place.” His arms tightened around her for just a moment, then released. “Do you go to church?”
“Sometimes,” she said. “Sometimes it’s nice to just be home in the silence. I can hear God better there anyway.”
“I’d go with you if you’d like,” he said. “I mean, I’m going to be going to this big wedding in only a couple of days, and you’ve told me that the whole town will be there.”
“There will be hundreds of people,” she said.
“Probably more than you’d see at church.
” She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him.
“Bryce has invited me to the one he goes to up in Dog Valley. He says the pastor is good, and the sermons are short, and a couple of his uncles go, and Harry, and his best friend Adam, who manages Country Quad.”
Reeves swallowed, not sure he wanted to commit to attending a church ceremony. “Maybe let’s see how the wedding goes first.”
Bailey nodded. “You believe in God, though.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” Reeves said. “I came to believe in God in the cold, dark depths of my bedroom, when I begged Him to protect me and give me ideas for how I could get away from my dad.” Reeves could still see himself kneeling beside his bed, begging and begging God for a way out.
“And He provided a way. So I know He’s real, and I know He knows us, and I know He loves me.”
“I suppose you don’t need a pastor to preach that to you, then.”
“No,” Reeves said. “But I could do a better job at studying the gospel, and I don’t serve anyone but myself.”
“I think your videos probably reach a lot more people than you think,” Bailey said. “I listened to one the other day where you talked about God’s hand in creating the beauty of the earth, and people will feel that.”
Reeves hummed, because he didn’t feel like he needed to answer more than that.
“Thank you for telling me about your past,” Bailey said. “And just like you told me I could tell you anything about OJ or the Youngs, you can tell me anything about your dad, your mom, your childhood, and Montana anytime you want.”
“Thank you,” he murmured.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about our past,” Bailey said. “And how you said that we do have to consider it, because it makes up who we are now.”
“Hm,” he hummed again.
“And I think you’re right. Our past does give us the building blocks to who we are today, but it doesn’t have to define us. We can look back on it and say, ‘I’m not going to do what my parents did, or I’m not going to do that thing again. I’m going to do better.’”
“That’s why I don’t drink,” he said. “And I never will.”
“I think we can break down those bricks we don’t like,” she said. “And make something new out of them, or rearrange them, and with every day we have here on Earth, we’re actually building a new past—and ourselves into who we really want to be.”
Reeves smiled at her, finding her so sweet and beautiful. His heartbeat sped in his veins, and he felt very much like he was falling. “I like that,” he said. “It feels very hopeful.”
Bailey watched as Boots finally dipped one paw into the river, and then committed by going in further. “He’s a good dog,” she said. “Maybe I’ll keep him.”
“You did tell me once that you’d like a dog.” He nuzzled his face into her neck and placed a gentle kiss against the soft skin there, then moved up higher to press one against her jaw. “Tell me again—how long we have to stay at the wedding?”
Bailey gave a happy little sigh and pressed into his next kiss, before she ducked her head and met his mouth with hers. “I think the ceremony and dinner will probably last a couple of hours,” she said. “Can you do that for me, cowboy? Two hours?”
She kissed him again, and Reeves decided then and there that he could and would do anything for Bailey McAllister.
“Yeah,” he whispered when she pulled away. “I think I can do two hours.”
“Then we can come back here, and I’ll make you my famous buttery movie theater popcorn,” she said. “I have the really fine salt they use and everything.”
He grinned at her. “Now we’re talking about a really fun date.”