3. Beau
three
Beau
I don’t get nervous starting new gigs. It’s a waste of energy. Shit either works out or it doesn’t, but today, my heart is pounding. I need this job to stick.
The woman who hired me is younger than I expected. Her tone on the phone was brisk and efficient, so I figured she’d been at this for more years than I’ve been riding horses. Instead, she’s barely thirty.
Charlie offers me her hand, and I remove my hat before I take it. “It’s nice to meet you too,” I say.
“I’d like you to meet my sister,” Charlie says, gesturing into the room. “She’ll be your manager here at the ranch. Beau Covington, this is Daisy Davenport.”
My heart slams into my throat, and my head jerks up.
Daisy’s hazel eyes are wide, her lips parted like she’s forgotten how to breathe, and she’s got a palm pressed to her stomach the way she does when she’s got butterflies. For a split second, I want to go to her, but the impulse disappears as quickly as it came.
Charlie clearly has no idea who I am, which means Daisy never did tell her family about me. Funny how that still hurts.
I extend my hand toward the woman who broke me, fingertips tingling at the promise of her skin. “Pleasure to meet you, Daisy.”
I trip over her name, the reflex to call her something else alive on my lips. Daisy glances at my hand, nostrils flaring, and ignores it.
“You can’t be here,” she says hotly. “Leave. Now.”
“Daisy!” Charlie looks scandalized.
“It’s all right,” I say with an ease I don’t feel. “She has her reasons.”
“Don’t you dare pretend to be the good guy,” Daisy snaps before she snatches her sister’s hand and drags her into the hall.
The door closes behind them with a slam. I’m not proud of it, but I edge closer so I can listen in.
“You can’t hire him,” Daisy whisper-screams.
“Why not?” Charlie asks. “Do you know him?”
“I know him, and I hate him.”
Her temper is exactly as I remember it. Hot like morning bedsheets and cheap bourbon and the curl of her fingers in my hair. It makes me smile despite the anxious roll of my stomach.
How the hell did I not put two and two together? Davenport. I took this job the minute they offered it. I’ve been so distracted by my own shit that Daisy’s last name never rang the right bell inside my thick skull.
I wasn’t listening for it. I was never supposed to see her again.
“What do you mean he’s got to go?” Charlie says. “Who is he?”
“He’s a jerk,” Daisy spits. “He’s reckless and unreliable and… and…”
Silence. Then, “Daze. Did he… Did he hurt you?”
I clench my jaw and wait. Yes, I hurt her. But she hurt me first.
“Not like that,” Daisy says. “Not the way you’re thinking. He’d never do that. He’s just… not a good guy.”
Another pause. “All right,” Charlie replies. “I’ll tell him there’s no job anymore.”
Sweat breaks out on my hairline, and I smooth it back into my hair.
I can’t lose this opportunity. I need somewhere to live, someplace safe to raise a ten-year-old boy.
Somewhere a judge will approve when I apply for permanent guardianship.
This gig at Silver Leaf checks all the boxes.
Horses. Decent wages. A cabin instead of my usual bunkhouses.
Permission to keep Ollie with me while I work.
The chance at a future that won’t fuck up my nephew the way my childhood did me.
I have no plan B. If Daisy fires me, I’m screwed.
Their voices drop, and I press my ear against the door.
“No,” Daisy says. “You can’t.”
Relief settles my stomach, but it twists again when she adds, “I’ll do it.”
“Are you sure?” Charlie replies. “You look… kind of pale.”
“It’s the sangria,” she says. “And the stable is mine now. Hiring and firing included. You already agreed, so that makes him my problem, not yours.”
“Daze… I don’t know how I feel about this.”
“I can do it,” Daisy says, quietly but firmly. And even knowing she’s about to ruin my life all over again, her stubbornness makes me smile. “I need to do this.”
“Okay,” Charlie agrees. “Do you want me in there with you?”
“No. This is something I have to do myself.”
“If that’s what you want,” Charlie says. “I’ll be in reception if you change your mind.”
I step back just before the door swings open. Charlie’s on the other side, giving me a warning glare before Daisy shuts her out. She passes me in a stormy cloud of jasmine and vanilla, and my hands twitch to reach out and pull her close. It’s a relief when she puts the desk between us.
“You’re fired,” she says, not meeting my eyes. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
I swallow. “Daisy—”
“Unless that’s an apology on your tongue, one you’re going to deliver on your knees, you can save whatever you’re about to say for someone who’ll believe it.”
I close my mouth. I’d spend the rest of my life on my knees for this woman, but I can’t apologize. I’m not sorry for ending things when she couldn’t.
“I’d feel bad about firing you,” she adds, “except we both know how good you are at taking off.”
She’s hitting below the belt, and it’s not her style. And that’s not all that’s different. She’s cut her hair, and the colored ends are gone—no more blues and pinks and purples. Just soft butterscotch waves that finish a handspan above the small of her back.
Fuck. I’ve missed her.
“Daisy—”
“And what were you thinking telling my sister you have a kid?” she demands. “That’s some lie, even for you.”
“Not a lie. He’s waiting out front.”
“Oh, my God.” She storms across the room, flings open the door, and points to the end of the hallway. “Get out.”
“No.”
“No?”
Sparring like this used to be our love language. Now I’m fighting for my life.
“I need this job.”
“And I need you to be anywhere but here.”
“His name is Oliver. Ollie.” It’s a struggle to sound neutral as I sink to the lowest kind of low. I know exactly how Ollie’s story will disarm Daisy. “His mom, my sister, abandoned him, so now he’s mine.”
Daisy hits me with a look that’s as disbelieving as it is devastated. It makes the short distance between us feel like an ocean I could cross in a heartbeat.
“I didn’t know this was your ranch when I took the job,” I tell her.
“And I’m not here to make your life difficult, but Ollie has no other family, and I’ve got no other options.
” I challenge her unswerving gaze even as her kaleidoscopic eyes threaten to undo me.
“I promised him we’d have a home here, and I’m keeping that promise. ”
“Since when do you care about keeping your word?”
“I’ve always cared about doing what’s right.”
Her nostrils flare and old sparks crackle between us. I hold my breath until she tosses her head and flings herself into the hallway. I follow, unbalanced but finding some pleasure in knowing she’s going to have to admit I’m right.
Daisy stops short at the sight of my nephew perched on a sofa in reception. He’s got a suitcase at his feet with my worn-out duffel beside it. Charlie sits next to him, and they both look up.
“This is Ollie,” Charlie says as she stands. “He’s, well…”
“My nephew,” I finish. At the nervous look in Ollie’s eyes, I add, “My family.”
Ollie slides off the sofa and comes over to slip his hand into mine. I take it and hold tight.
Daisy’s expression is carefully neutral, her eyes on Ollie and nobody else. “It’s nice to meet you, Ollie,” she says, and then to Charlie, “Is their cabin ready?”
“Yes. It’s the last one on the left.”
Daisy turns her face toward me, keeping her eyes downcast. “You start Tuesday at six. Split shifts through Saturday. Monday and every other Sunday off. Don’t be late.”
The fist around my heart eases. “Sounds good.”
“Me too?” Ollie asks, glancing tentatively from me to Daisy and back again.
“Ollie’s my second-in-command,” I explain. “I’m going to teach him everything I know. Isn’t that right, Ollie?”
He nods and watches Daisy anxiously.
Daisy presses her lips together, then offers Oliver a small smile. “You too. Do you have boots?”
Ollie defers to me for the answer. “Of course,” I say.
Daisy gives a short, approving nod, then steps away and tilts her head for me to follow.
“Hey, buddy,” I say to my nephew. “Just give me a second, okay?”
Charlie helpfully distracts Ollie with a question about his shirt—a secondhand hockey jersey—and I join Daisy a few paces away.
She lowers her voice so only I can hear. “I’ll give you a week to find somewhere else to go. I don’t want you in my life. Not now and not ever.”
I hide the way my stomach free-falls into nothing.
“I can’t promise that,” I say. “Ollie’s been through a lot. We’re not sleeping in my truck and eating out of paper bags when I’ve found a way to put a roof over his head and good food on the table.”
Daisy blinks, but lifts her chin like she’s ready to argue.
“I’ll be professional,” I say. “I’ll look for other work, and we’ll leave as soon as we can, but it’ll take time. Ollie can’t leave California.”
Her gaze flickers to Ollie, and her posture softens, if not her tone. “Fine. I’ll make some calls too. It won’t take as long as you think.”
I exhale with resignation. “Fine.”
That’s when I notice what I missed before. Dangling from Daisy’s wrist is the silver charm bracelet I gave her when things were good between us. I look away before she realizes I’ve seen it.
“Charlie,” Daisy says. “Can you take Beau and Ollie to their cabin?”
“Sure. No problem.”
“Thanks.” Daisy’s gaze again strays to Ollie, and she contemplates him for a quiet moment before she adds, “I’ll see you boys on Tuesday.”