Chapter 5
I Don’t Care
Sun has just started to peek through the curtains of my window when the worst sound in the world wakes me up. Groaning, I reach over to stop my alarm.
It’s Monday. My first day of work at the Old Cabin. And I need to get an early start to stay motivated. I pull on my leggings and sports bra, throw my hair up into a ponytail and head out the door for a quick run, Shania Twain blaring through my headphones.
The quiet, empty streets swallow me up as I jog through town.
A few coffee shops and cafes are awake, with the smell of coffee beans wafting out of windows cracked open to let in the morning mountain breeze.
On the other hand, bars and nighttime restaurants are eerily still, chairs stacked on tables, neon lights switched off.
Aunt Millie and I used to go for runs most weekday mornings when I was a teenager.
We’d run around her small neighborhood, on the shore of Bear Lake, on trails through the mountains.
I remember thinking that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up.
Running care-free through the mountains every morning, and coming home to a fresh pot of coffee. It sounded like a dream.
Now, I do that almost every day.
My aunt passed a lot of things down to me in the years I grew up in Juniper Ridge.
Her love of chips and salsa, all of her many hobbies like crocheting and yoga, and her infinite wisdom on relationships.
I’ve cried and sniffled through many a heartbreak on her couch with a bowl of ice cream, listening to her recount stories from her younger days.
Once, when I was seventeen and had just lost my first love, Aunt Millie picked me up from my bed, pushed me into her car, and drove me out to the far end of the lake. She marched me down the beach until we were a ways out from anything or anyone else and picked up a rock.
“Here,” she said, “Write his name on this.” I took the sharpie from her hand and did what she told me without a protest, wiping the tears off of my face.
“Okay. Now on the count of three, I want you to throw that rock out as far as you can. Take all those sad, angry feelings and throw them out with the rock too. Once it sinks to the bottom of the lake, it’s over. No more crying over a boy who isn’t giving you two thoughts.”
I threw the rock, and surprisingly, it really did make me feel better.
Whenever I thought about him afterwards, I remembered standing on that beach throwing all thoughts of him into the water to sink forever.
We made it into a tradition, heading out to the lake everytime I had a bad breakup, a crush that didn’t reciprocate my feelings, or even a really tough test in school I got a bad grade on.
Now, I look back on all of the little ways Aunt Millie tried to make my life a little bit easier and see someone who was thrust into parenthood for a kid that wasn’t hers, making the best of the situation. But back then, she was a goddess. There’s no one I love and respect more than my Aunt Millie.
She shaped me.
After my morning run (and a stop into a coffee house, naturally), I head up the road to the ranch cabin with all of my bags packed in the back seat and get a sense of deja vu.
Hopefully this time, no angry cowboys come and yell at me when I get out of the car.
The mountains are glowing with morning light, dew on every blade of grass.
I turn down the short dirt road from the main ranch road to the cabin, and immediately slam on the brakes. Black, mooing blobs speckle the land all around the cabin, including on the road directly in front of me.
Cows.
Everywhere.
There has to be an easy way out of this. If I honk my car horn will they move? Or will they trample me? I look ahead, assessing the situation. They are everywhere I look. Dozens and dozens of cows, trampling the empty flower beds, eating the grass around the cabin, pooping in the road.
My gaze slides to the left, where a few more are gathered by the back wood fence that goes around the cabin, separating the small yard area from the rest of the property. Well, what used to be the fence. Now, it’s gathered on the ground in a pile of logs. Perfect.
I pull out my phone and dial Walter. Surely, he’ll have some cowboys come and take care of this, right? These have to be his cattle. He answers on the first ring.
“Well hello there, young lady. How is everything coming along so far? Did those boys get the guest cabin ready for you? They better have.” I can hear his warm smile through the phone.
“Actually, Walter, I haven’t made it quite that far yet.
I was heading up to the Old Cabin to take some photos for my interior designer, and when I got here…
well…” I search for a polite way to describe my current predicament.
“There are sort of a few… cows. Dozens of them. Blocking the road, standing all around the cabin. I think some might have trampled the fence too. They wouldn’t happen to be your cattle, would they? ”
“Ah shoot. They’re mine, alright. So sorry about that, I’ll get someone out there real soon to take care of it. There’s not too much damage is there? Damn cows, they kinda go wherever they please I’m afraid,” he says.
“No, nothing too bad, just the fence. Thanks for the help,” I assure him. If it was anyone else I might be a little mad, but I just can’t be mad at Walter.
“Don’t you worry about that, we’ll get it fixed too. Sorry again,” he says.
I pull out my laptop after saying goodbye to Walter, hoping to get a little bit of work done while I wait for someone to come and get the cows. It’s not like I can go anywhere anyway, I’m blocked in by cows on all sides now.
The familiar sound of a horse galloping towards me pricks my ears. It’s only been around fifteen minutes. My laptop shuts with a snap as my attention is dragged away. Two cowboys on horseback ride towards me with a cattle herding dog following closely to the side of the first horse.
They surround the cows on one side, pushing them back towards the back right of the cabin yard.
The cows in front of my car run off to the side, clearing my path, but I’m too wary to move quite yet.
The horses move so quickly, cutting sharp corners, working with the cattle dog to move the cows into a pile in the back corner of the yard.
It’s a flurry of hooves, dust, cowboy hats and whistles.
One of the cowboys hops down and unlatches the small gate in the fence. Cows pour through it like water through a funnel. I’m so in awe of it all I can’t look away. They were so quick, the cows just listened to their movements and gathered like they were just waiting here for instruction.
After the last of the cows is through the fence and they’re running off towards the ranch again, the cowboy that hopped down to open the fence closes it again and claps his hands, dust coming off of his gloves like a cloud.
The second cowboy hops down from his horse and I can hear a murmured conversation.
Feeling a little safer to move, I start my car and pull forward into the drive of the cabin.
I move to gather my things, ready to hop out and thank the two cowboys that saved my morning, when there’s a quiet tap on my window. I look up, right into bright brown eyes and a bearded frown. Miles.
Of course it’s Miles.
He steps back as I open my door, climbing out of my car with my laptop under my arm.
My eyes slide from his face down to his arms, on his hips. I don’t think he even realizes how powerful his stance is. If I was anyone else, I’d be scared to mess with him. His biceps bulge in his sleeves, his tan forearms peeking out from beneath his rolled up, black long-sleeve shirt.
“Sorry about the cattle. Won’t happen again,” he says with a nod.
“No problem. Thanks for coming so quickly to take care of it.” Good. This is exactly how things should go from now on, cordial, short and sweet.
“Walt insisted that I was the one to come out here, so you weren’t dealing with a stranger,” Miles explains, as if he can’t stand I’d think he’d want to see me. Point taken.
“Okay,” I say.
“Hi,” a much happier voice says from behind me, “I’m Parker.”
I turn around to the smiling face of Miles’s friend from the bar last night, his curly hair hidden under a straw cowboy hat. He still feels familiar to me, but I can’t quite place it.
“Hi Parker, I’m Katie.” I shake his outstretched hand. At least someone that works here knows how to greet a stranger.
“Your name’s Katie? That’s so funny, one time Miles– ow!” Parker is cut off by Miles punching him in the arm.
“She doesn’t want to hear your rambling, Park. She’s got a job to do,” he says.
“That actually hurt, man,” Parker mumbles at Miles, still holding his arm where Miles punched him.
Turning back to me, Miles’s face goes stone cold again, “We’ll get out of your way.”
“Actually I was just thinking about how nice it is to have someone around that wants to have a conversation with me in full sentences,” I say with a sarcastic smile. I just can’t help it, jabbing at him is so fun. His ears turn red within seconds.
“Don’t mind him,” Parker smiles. “He’s just gotten senile in his old age. He used to be a lot more fun, trust me. Now, I’m the only fun one around here.” Miles mumbles something under his breath as he rolls his eyes.
“Good to know,” I say.
“What exactly are you up to out here?” Parker asks. Miles adjusts the cowboy hat on his head, turning to look somewhere off in the distance.
“Well, my company bought this cabin so I’m renovating it to turn it into a vacation rental,” I explain, unsure how much Parker has heard about the sale.
Miles hadn’t heard anything apparently. “Today is actually my first official day of work on the cabin. Tomorrow my crew will arrive and we’ll start on some of the major projects. ”
“Oh right on,” Parker says, “Miles told me about that. Sounds like it’s gonna be quite the project.”
“The hope is we’ll get it done by the end of the summer, ready for guests in the fall and early ski season,” I say.
“Although it might be a few days longer now that half of the fence is down.” I tilt my head towards the destroyed fence in the back.
Both men turn to get a look at the fence, then share a look for a few seconds before meeting my gaze again.
“Yeah, Walter mentioned that. He said to let you know Miles is going to fix the fence for you while the rest of us are branding cows this month,” Parker says, looking amused.
“Did he now?” I try to keep my polite smile on, but I can feel it slip just a bit. Now he’s going to fix the fence? Hopefully it’s an easy repair.
“Speaking of branding, I better get back. We’ve got the first group all ready to go. The guys will kill me if I flake,” Parker says, tipping his hat down at me. What is it with all of these cowboys being so tall? “It was a pleasure to meet you, miss. Hope I see you around.”
I find myself alone with Miles again once Parker rides off with the cattle dog, back towards the ranch. He’s looking at the ground like he’s trying to figure out what to say, shifting his boots in the gravel.
“So,” I make an attempt at a conversation, “Did you have fun in town last night?”
“No,” he says, meeting my gaze. I expect him to continue, but he doesn’t. His stare hardens as we stand in a faceoff.
“Oh I’m sorry to hear that. I thought Alpine Rose was pretty cool. I’ve never been to a bar so big before. And everyone is so nice up here,” I say with a smile.
“I don’t know if I’d call the guys you were with nice,” he grumbles. “Those guys come up here every couple of months to hit on stupid tourists and leave.”
“Are you insinuating I’m a stupid tourist?” I tease, trying desperately to lighten the mood. His frown remains strictly in place.
“No,” he starts, looking down again. “Just saying is all. If you’re looking for a hookup, I’d avoid those assholes.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Mood officially killed. “What makes you think I’m looking for a hookup?”
“You left with one of them,” he says, arms crossed so tightly his veins start to pop out a bit. His jaw ticks.
“So, what? How is it any of your concern? Why do you care what I do anyway?” I say, voice raising.
“I don’t care!” Miles exclaims. His whole face is turning red now. My body is confused, torn between anger and attraction. That frustrates me even more.
“Seems like you did last night. And now too, apparently.” I stand my ground, arms crossed, mirroring Miles.
“Well, I didn’t. I mean don’t. I still don’t. You can do whatever you want. I’m going to get started on the fence,” Miles declares, walking away. “I’ll have to leave Claro tied up out front.”
As if she understands, Miles’s chestnut horse blinks once, turning her head towards me.
I’m frozen where I’m standing, once again working on catching my breath as he trails off to the back of the house to look at the fence. Air rushes out of my lungs, cold like the morning mountain air.
I don’t know what’s going on with Miles, but it sure seems like he’s mad about something and taking it out on me.
There’s no reason for him to be upset with me over something so inconsequential.
He was way out of line. Unless he really is just an asshole.
He’d better be ready to apologize next time he wants to talk to me.
I’m no stranger to random outbursts of anger. It happens a lot when you have a family like mine. But I’m determined not to let Miles get under my skin. If he wants to insult me and try to get my goat, so be it. I won’t participate.
I don’t have the extra brainpower to fight with my neighbor right now, even if we kind of know each other. Okay fine, we know each other enough. But it’s not like we were in a relationship or anything. It was one night.
A really amazing night, but still just a night.
Not wanting to waste any more precious time before my crew arrives, I fish my laptop out of my bag and get right to work.
I don’t have time to think about Miles right now, that will have to wait until later when I’m relaxing with a glass of wine reading a book.
The corner of my mouth twitches up at the thought of having a tiny cabin all to myself at last.