26. Beau #2
The movie is easy to watch, and Ollie’s giggles make me smile, but my attention wanders over and over.
To Daisy, curled up on the other side of my nephew, apparently unfazed that we’re behaving like the kind of family I never had.
To Ollie, who in his innocence can enjoy this moment and not turn it over, searching for the broken parts.
To the house, which even partially unfurnished and unfinished, is perfect enough to make me imagine a life for us inside it.
To the sky outside, dusky and darkening as the sun falls behind the mountains, so wide and open and, once upon a time, the only permanent roof I wanted over my head.
Now, I want to be inside. The world feels warmer with walls around me than without.
Ollie’s head starts to loll about an hour into the movie, and as the clock creeps closer to his usual bedtime, his eyes drift closed. My arm is stretched along the back of the sofa, and I let it drop to stroke his hair.
“Hey,” Daisy whispers. “Do you want to take these drinks to the kitchen?”
I grin. “You want another slice of cake, don’t you?”
She glares, then sticks her nose in the air. “Just for that, you don’t get any.”
Slipping off the sofa, she comes back with a pillow and blanket for Ollie. She swaps her laptop for her phone, set to play soothing lullabies, and totes her device back to the dining table.
“He had a good night,” I say, topping up our wineglasses while Daisy dishes up two more slices of cake. “Thanks for inviting us.”
“You’re welcome.” She follows me back to the table. “I had a great night too. He’s a great kid.”
“The best,” I agree. “It’s weird how much I love him. I was never very close to my sister. I didn’t know much about Ollie’s life other than the basics, but…” I blow a breath from puffed up cheeks. “I’d lay down my life for that boy.”
Daisy regards me with quiet affection, and to shift her focus off me, I reach toward the nearest ball of paper and straighten it out. It’s covered with a rough map, sinuous lines crisscrossing the page with trees, creeks, and clearings marked out between them.
“What’s this?” I ask.
She sets the cake on the table and offers me a mouthful off her fork, which I accept as she slides onto my lap. I snake my arms around her waist and cuddle her close, not taking for granted the way this comes naturally.
She spins the page ninety degrees clockwise. “It’s one of Mom’s trails.”
I scoop up the two other paper balls within arm’s reach, but with my other arm wrapped around Daisy’s waist, she does the work of flattening them.
“These ones too?” I ask.
“Yep. I’ve been drawing. And thinking.”
She feeds me another chunk of cake before I can ask, “Thinking about what?”
There’s a pause before she leans her head against mine and sighs. “You were right.”
“I usually am,” I say. “So I’m going to need you to be more specific.”
She groans under her breath and nudges me with a sharp elbow. “You’re insufferable.”
I grunt, then kiss the sweet slope of her neck. “And you love me for it.”
Daisy turns into my mouth and kisses me. “Yeah, I do.”
She twists on my lap, and the wriggle of her ass has me squirming to make room in my jeans. My dick twitches, and she feels it, closing her eyes with a slight whimper.
“No,” she whispers. “Focus.”
“Yeah.” I clear my throat. “You were saying I was right about something?”
“About my being unhappy with the way things are turning out at Silver Leaf. I mean, coming home was the right thing to do, and I know I’m circling the kind of future I want for myself, but the whole operations management agreement I made with Charlie kind of sucks.”
“That tracks. You were never interested in desk work before. It makes sense for it not to fit now.”
“Really? Because I was so sure that when the business was my own, all the administrative stuff would be much more interesting.”
“Doesn’t matter how you look at it. Spreadsheets and emails and appointment books are kind of dry.”
Her eyes trace my face. “But you enjoy it.”
I shrug. “I appreciate the variety. I’d choose to be out on a horse any day, but sometimes it’s a pleasant change to clean up a budget rather than piles of horse shit.”
Her smile lifts one cheek. “I’d take the horse shit. That’s how strongly I feel about paperwork.”
I tighten my arms around her and nod at the papers. “So what’s all this about?”
She ghosts her fingers over one of the maps.
“I came into this wanting to be like my sister, but I got it all wrong. I love Charlie, but I don’t want her life.
I want the life my mom had. It scares me so much to say it, but my mom loved it here.
She never felt trapped or frustrated. Even though she spoke about traveling all the time, she never actually went anywhere.
She managed to make this place feel like one big adventure instead.
I want to recapture that somehow. I want Silver Leaf to feel the way it used to feel when she was alive. ”
“That’s a great idea,” I tell her. “Is that what these maps are for?”
“Yes.” She traces a line on the closest piece of paper. “These are some of the trails we rode when I was a kid. Clearings where we camped. The rivers where we swam. Mom and I used to talk about guided camping tours. Hiking. Glamping. More than just the horses. A real immersive experience.”
“And this is something you want to do?”
“I think so. We don’t get a roaring trade via the cabin lodgings, and they’re most often taken by corporate or event guests.
I think with great wines and good-quality camping gear, Dylan supplying the food—or maybe offering high-end camping tours that include a chef—this could really be something.
” She glances at me, a little unsure. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s clever,” I reply. “It’s familiar enough that people will understand it, but with a Silver Leaf spin that’s all yours. Would you set up in one place or lead riders out to different locations?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet. I like the idea of riding, but I’ve got to consider the horses and safety risks. Insurances.” She rolls her eyes. “A month running the business has made me realize it’s not enough to have the idea. I need to iron out all the details too.”
She sighs and sags a little. “I don’t want Charlie to know she was right about me. She said I’d be bored, and it’ll kill us both to admit she was right. I don’t want to go to her with any of this until I’m sure it’ll work.”
“And what about the stable?” I ask. “Would you continue to manage it?”
“Well.” Daisy casts me a sidelong look. “I’d hire someone to oversee operations. A stable manager. Someone I could trust.” She’s trying hard not to smile. “Do you know anyone who might be interested?”
My heart skips. “You mean me?”
“Yes. What do you think?”
I’m stunned. Maybe I should’ve seen this coming, but with everything that happened with her brothers, the last scenario I expected was being hired to run an entire arm of the family business.
It’s a great opportunity, one that matches the offer at Emberfield, but there’s one important difference.
I earned that opportunity in Kismet Creek. I didn’t earn this one.
“You think your brothers would go for it?” I ask.
“My family wants me to be happy,” she says, but I know her well enough to hear the forced confidence in her tone. “And you are what makes me happy. They’ll come around. They just need to get to know you, is all.”
She leans in. As her lips meet mine and the heat of her body mingles with my own, my dick starts twitching again. Daisy circles her hips, and a quiet growl sounds in my chest.
My arms tighten around her waist, and her mouth opens in an invitation to stroke deeper when a cry sounds from the other room. We startle and jump apart.
“Daisy!” Ollie calls, then louder and more stricken. “Daisy! Uncle Beau!”
We rush into the living room, and Daisy falls to her knees beside the sofa before I can get there. Ollie’s sitting up ramrod straight, head swiveling and eyes hunting for something. She sets a gentle hand on his forehead, then smooths his matted hair.
“Hey, cowboy,” she murmurs. “It’s okay. Shh. We’re here. We’re right here.”
“Are you all right, buddy?” I take a seat at the end of the sofa and set a hand on his leg. “Did you have a nightmare?”
“I don’t know.” Tears stain his cheeks, and his eyes are bleary, but he’s slowly coming around. “I woke up and you weren’t here, so I got scared.”
“Oh, honey.” Daisy gathers him in her arms. “I’m sorry you were frightened. We were in the next room talking about business things, but it must have been scary waking up and not knowing where we went.”
She glances at me, and I squeeze my hand on Ollie’s slender calf. “We’d never leave you alone, Ollie. You’re safe here. I promise.”
His breath shudders as he nods. “Okay.” He sniffles and rubs his nose. “Can we go home?”
I sigh. “That sounds like a good idea.”
Daisy shoots me a look of concern before she retrieves Ollie’s boots and hat.
She keeps him stuck to her side as I grab my own boots and then passes him to me with a kind of worry that warms my heart.
It’s nice to know she cares. She doesn’t have to, but she does.
And though it doesn’t lessen the responsibility I have to my nephew, it somehow makes the weight of it more manageable.
Ollie sways on his feet, so I scoop him up, and he turns into my chest. Daisy fondly brushes a stray hair from his cheek.
“Take care of him,” she whispers.
“Always.”
She gazes up at me with the whole world swirling in her speckled hazel eyes. “It’ll be fine. I promise.”
“And if it’s not?”
She pauses to look at Ollie, then squares her shoulders. “It’ll be fine because it has to be.”