Chapter 10
TEN
I have nothing in common with people who wash, dry, fold, and put their laundry away all in one day.
—Denver to Holly
DENVER
I felt lighter than I had in months, and that had everything to do with the woman currently laughing her ass off as she saddled up a horse to ride.
Applesauce gave a mournful whinny, and I spared a few minutes to run my fingers along her favorite spot just behind her right ear.
She leaned into the touch. “You’re not quite recovered yet, dear.”
Applesauce gave a pitiful grumble.
The girls and Holly took off together, riding like the wind.
I was struck a little dumb, though, when I watched the way Holly’s tits bounced as her horse galloped away.
I looked away from those tits, only to be caught by her powerful thighs as they gripped the horse between them.
“Earth to Mr. Windsor.”
I looked over at Jetty.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I asked if you wanted me to clean out any stalls today, or do you want me back out there running fence?”
I scrubbed at my face.
“The girls are doing the front pasture on their ride,” I said. “Holly already got to the stalls, too. Everything is in a pile right outside the barn door. You can go get all that up with the skid steer and dump it in the compost pile, though.”
Jetty was off moments later.
My mother rode up in the next moment on her golf cart.
“What are you doing?” I asked, eyeing the glass of sweet tea that she held out to me.
My mother was originally from the South, so she adopted some of their customs.
Like overly-sweet sweet tea in glass mason jars as a refresher when it was hot outside.
“Thanks,” I muttered. “Thought we talked about you not driving anymore?”
“That was before.”
“Before when?” I questioned.
“Before I decided that you were doing some interesting stuff over here and not telling me about it,” she said. “Plus, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“What interesting things am I doing?” I wondered.
“Hiring cute women to live in the apartment over the barn,” she said. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that Holly moved in.”
“Didn’t think it was necessary,” I hedged.
She snorted. “You’re reaching, and you know it. You used to tell me everything.”
I leaned against the golf cart and took a healthy swig of my tea before replying. “I’m not overly proud of how my life has turned out.”
“That wasn’t something that you had a part in, son,” my mother pointed out in her getting way too frail voice.
“A marriage is supposed to be give and take. Some days, you give one hundred percent and they give nothing. Some days, they give ninety percent, and you give ten. Some days, it’s shared fifty-fifty.
Saying that, she was fully capable of being an adult and telling you that you weren’t holding up your end with her.
She could’ve shared that she was unhappy in a productive way. ”
I grunted in reply.
“Your dad was my best friend,” she said softly. “I still get up every morning and smile. Reach for him on the other side of the bed, and get really sad when I remember he’s not here anymore.”
My throat constricted.
I missed my dad, too.
But I couldn’t imagine how my mother felt.
She wasn’t lying when she said that he was her best friend.
They’d done everything together from the second they’d found each other.
They got married at within months of meeting.
Had kids within a year—at least two of them anyway.
They built a cattle business from the ground up.
They raised three healthy, thriving children.
They got to see their grandbabies be born.
They loved hard, fought little.
I couldn’t remember a time when I’d ever heard them fight.
That wasn’t the kind of marriage that I’d had with Juliana.
Our relationship wasn’t based on friendship.
Our relationship was good, sure. But other than being slightly sad when she’d decided to leave, I didn’t regret letting her go.
I didn’t imagine that was the way you should feel about the woman that you supposedly loved and called yours.
“I’m not super happy about how my life turned out,” I admitted. “And the more Juliana shows me her true nature—like yesterday when she got pissed that they took the dogs for an emergency—the more I realize that whatever we had was a complete lie.”
“You deserve to be happy,” she said. “And you have nothing to apologize for. You did everything that you could to make that woman happy. It’s her turn to step up and pave her own way in life. She’s not your responsibility anymore.”
I looked over at my mother. “What do you want to know about Holly?”
The old woman grinned at me unrepentantly. “How’s she doing?”
I told her everything that I knew.
“That old bat that she rented from before.” My mother shook her head.
“That lady needs to make up her mind. She wants to make money. She rents out the apartment. She hates that people are on her property. So then she makes up some bogus reason to get them to leave. At this point, I should file something with the town.”
“Don’t go creating problems with that woman,” I ordered my mother.
She blinked those far from innocent eyes at me and said, “Who? Me?”
I chuckled as she drove away, narrowly missing a horse trough that was as big as the cart was.
As I watched her cross the pasture back toward her place, I wondered if anyone else had this kind of problem with their elderly parents.
I’d just turned around, ready to get back to work on breaking in my two-year-old gelding, when I saw the white Beemer roll up like it owned the place.
I gritted my teeth, thankful that my mother was gone.
She’d have caused more problems with Julianna, and Mom didn’t need the added stress even if she was in the right.
I leaned against the fence and watched her walk toward me.
I was thankful that the dogs had taken off with the girls earlier, and they were nowhere in sight.
That was just what I needed, her seeing them and calling the cops.
“What are you doing here, Juliana?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, her phone in her hand, and kept it pointed at me.
I wondered if she was recording me.
Or trying to get proof that the dogs were here in real time.
“I’m here to talk to you in private,” she said, once again taking a look around.
A cow bawled, startling her.
The phone dipped down toward the ground, and she immediately righted it.
Yes, definitely recording.
“We need to talk about yesterday.”
“What about yesterday?”
“I know you have the dogs,” she accused.
“I didn’t take the dogs, Juliana,” I said. “If they got out, that’s not my fault. I’ll talk to the girls about trying a little harder to be careful when they go over there.”
“You know that you’re not allowed to go into my home.”
I leveled her with a look that could’ve peeled paint. “I have no desire whatsoever to go into your home. I don’t even know where you live.”
Which was the truth.
I knew she lived in town in an apartment complex, but I didn’t even know the address.
With Joe driving, she’d always taken Catalina and DeeDee over there. I had them on the tracking app that Joe had insisted that I use so she knew where I was and how close I was to her favorite stores. I could find them if I wanted to.
But so far, I hadn’t wanted to.
“You’re lying.”
I looked her straight into those eyes I’d once thought I loved and said, “You don’t even cross my mind anymore, Juliana.
I don’t care where you live. I probably should, since my babies are over there.
But I don’t. I don’t care where you live.
I don’t care what or who you do. I don’t care if you’re out late.
I don’t care if you made it to work. I don’t care about anything concerning you anymore.
And, if I’m being honest, you did both of us a favor.
I didn’t realize how little I cared until you were no longer here reminding me how much you hated this life. ”
I’d hit a nerve.
I could tell that in an instant.
“One day, I hope you know how it feels to love someone and they don’t love you back.”
I scoffed. “I loved you.”
“Not enough.”
I shrugged. “Love hangs on for a long time, and some people say that there’s a fine line between love and hate. You forced me to cross that line when I never wanted to.”
She hissed in frustration. “You’re impossible.”
I didn’t reply to that.
Knowing I wasn’t going to say anything more and seeing that the dogs weren’t around to video, she started to leave. She got as far as her car before she turned around and smiled at me.
“Oh, guess what.”
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to calm down. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like what she had to say. “What?”
“There’s a new ski resort coming to town soon.”
Fucking great.
That was exactly what I wanted to hear.
“Is that right?” I asked.
We’d get a ski resort over my dead damn body.
“Yeah, they’re in talks right now with the city council about opening it. They’re also under contract to buy the land right next to yours…”
That had me stilling as anger barreled into me. “The old Ryder property?”
She grinned. “One and the same.”
“He’s already verbally agreed to sell it to me when he’s ready,” I growled.
I didn’t hit women.
But in that instant, when she smirked at me like she’d gotten the upper hand, I wanted to.
“Oh, I know.” She smiled. “I went and had a little chat with him. He’s agreed to sell it to the developers.”
This. Fucking. Bitch.
“Why would you do that?” I asked. “You know what a ski resort would do to our land here. You know it would mess with the ranching operation. Not to mention, this is a direct fuck you to your children that want to run this place when they’re older.”
Juliana’s smug smile slipped a little bit. “They don’t want to work this farm for the rest of their life.”
“Yes,” I growled. “They do. All three of them. They’ve all come to me talking about it. Why would you take that from them?”