Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Brodie brushed the gentle mare’s flanks, the flesh quivering with every stroke. “You like this, don’t you, Miss Maple?” Named for her tawny-brown coat, the horse was the perfect one for Finn to learn to ride on.
If someone had asked him this morning when he’d walked into the diner that he’d end up enjoying a breakfast with Cerise, meeting a kid who’d clearly had more knocks in his life than a young boy should have, and then invite them out to the ranch, he would’ve laughed his head off.
Yet here he was, preparing two horses, with a pair of cowboy boots and a cowboy hat waiting for the little boy.
When he’d returned and spoken to Mrs. Alexander about what he’d done, she’d gone quiet for a moment, and he was worried he’d overstepped his position.
But then she’d grabbed his hands and squeezed them, assuring him that she had the perfect boots for Finn, as well as a hat.
She’d rushed out of the room, taking his concerns with her. She returned a few minutes later with her bounty and he couldn’t wait to see Finn’s face when Brodie handed them to him.
Satisfied that Miss Maple was sufficiently brushed, he saddled her, led her out of the barn and tied her next to the other mare he’d already prepared for Cerise. Saffron was another sweet mare but a little younger than Miss Maple, so she would be perfect for Cerise.
The sound of approaching footsteps had him looking up and he chuckled at the vision walking toward him.
Finn was dressed in jeans, a button-down shirt and some sneakers.
Perfect clothes for riding horses. Cerise, on the other hand, looked like she was dressed for a night on the town.
Sure, she wore jeans, but the pockets were outlined with crystals.
Her belt was the blingiest thing he’d ever seen, entirely made up of what looked like little diamonds.
She wore a pink-striped western shirt, but there was silver threaded through it.
Atop her head was a sparkly pink cowboy hat and—he narrowed his eyes—yep, there was glitter on her cheeks.
“Sparkles, I’m not going to lose you today, am I?”
She grinned impishly. “That’s the idea.”
He laughed. “All that glitter and shine should be over the top, but I have to say it suits you.”
She curtsied. “Thank you. If you hadn’t guessed, glitter and bling are my jam.”
“I never would’ve picked it,” he said drily before turning to the boy standing next to her. “How are you doing, Finn? You didn’t want some of that shine?”
“Ew, gross.” His response was typical of a boy and Brodie laughed.
Cerise clutched her shirt. “You wound me, Finn.” She softened her words with a big grin.
Finn rolled his eyes, but he had a smile on his face. “I will never love that stuff, Cerise.”
“I suppose I can forgive you that, but if you happen to find a little glitter on your shoulder, it’s my way of saying I’m always with you.
” The conversation turned serious and Finn swallowed and looked away.
Brodie guessed he was trying to keep his emotions in check.
He’d been a young boy once and crying in front of girls was so not the boy thing to do.
If he knew the kid better, he’d tell him that expressing emotions, including crying, was nothing to be ashamed of.
But as he’d only just met him, he didn’t want to overstep his boundaries.
He could see Cerise fighting with herself from pulling Finn into a hug. It was as plain as the cowboy hat on his head that Cerise’s feelings for the child were genuine and she wanted to do everything to protect him.
What had Finn gone through after his parents died? Apart from grief, which he probably still hadn’t processed. And why did it sound like he kept bouncing from Cerise to some other place?
Not your place, Brodie. Just offer them a ride and a day at the ranch and then get on with your life.
While he wanted to listen to his inner voice, his heart was pulling him in the direction of the two people standing in front of him and he couldn’t understand why.
This instantaneous reaction he was having to the both of them was confusing.
He would get through the day and deal with it in the quiet of his own house.
“Finn, I’ve got something for you.” He injected excitement into his voice to liven the serious mood that had fallen around them.
“Really? What?” Finn’s eyes lit up, but then, as if he’d been disappointed by the words before, the light dulled just as quickly as it had arrived.
Damn, even he wanted to reach out and reassure the little guy he wasn’t playing tricks on him.
“You’re going to love this, wait right here. I’ll be back in a second.” He strode back into the barn and collected the boots and hat he had for Finn. Before he exited the building, he called out. “Finn?”
“Yeah?” He yelled back.
“Close your eyes. And Cerise, make sure he does.”
“Okay, but hang on a second, Brodie.”
“Right.” He didn’t know what was going on but his best guess was that Cerise was probably reassuring Finn that he had nothing to be afraid of and that she wouldn’t let anything bad happen to him.
“You can come out now.”
There was nothing in her tone to suggest he should be worried about the reception he was going to receive. Brodie poked his head out and saw that Cerise had one of Finn’s hands clutched in hers and the boy’s eyes were squeezed shut, to the point it almost looked painful, his face squished hard.
When Cerise saw what Brodie was holding, her face broke out into a big smile, the glitter on her cheeks glinting in the sunshine. Her fingers flexed around Finn’s.
He stopped in front of the boy and met Cerise’s gaze. They sparkled with unshed tears. “Thank you,” she mouthed and nodded toward the items in his hands.
His heart swelled, what seemed a small gesture to him, brought a lot of meaning to her. “Open your eyes, buddy?” he said softly.
Immediately Finn’s eyes popped open. Brodie held his breath, waiting to see what the boy’s reaction was going to be.
Finn’s gaze took in the hat and boots Brodie held in his hands.
He looked over to Cerise, who smiled encouragingly and nodded, and then he transferred his gaze back to Brodie, hope shining brightly in his brown eyes. “Are they for me?”
“They sure are, buddy. And”—Brodie popped the cowboy hat on the child’s head— “they’re yours to keep.”
“Really? I can keep them. I don’t have to give them back. Or they won’t be taken back to the store for a refund because we need food?”
What the fuck?
Seriously, what had the boy been through?
Brodie glanced at Cerise. Her lips had firmed into a thin line, and he could see a hint of anger flaring in her eyes. He assumed it was from what Finn had said and not anything the boy had done in the past to her.
He squatted down so he was on Finn’s eye level, placing the boots on the ground in front of him. “No, Finn, I will never ask for them back and neither will Mrs. Alexander. When I told her you were coming for a visit and a horse ride, she found these for me and told me to give them to you.”
“I promise I won’t lose them or let anything bad happen to them, Mr. Brodie. I won’t.” He finished fiercely and Brodie suspected the boy had lost a few favorite possessions in his short lifetime.
“I believe you, Finn.” He stood and straightened his own hat. “How about we see if these boots fit and then we can get on those horses over there.” Brodie pointed to the two mares munching happily on the small amount of hay he’d left for them. “And go for a ride.”
“Yes.” Finn yelled the word and the sadness that had surround Cerise seemed to burst like a balloon when pricked with a needle. He plopped on the ground and pulled off his sneakers.
Cerise came up to Brodie, he was hit with the fragrance of flowers, like he had been the night they’d met at the accident scene. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me. Or to Finn.”
“It’s not a big deal.” He’d given away a lot of money to various charities over the years and had received a lot of thanks from many people, but not once had he ever felt the amount of accomplishment like he did right this second.
“No, I think it really is. You heard him ask about having to give it back. I don’t know what Poppy did to that kid, but I’m going to make sure she doesn’t take the hat and boots from him if I have to give him back to her.”
The determination in her voice was plain to hear. He believed Cerise would do everything to make sure that happened. But a million questions were forming in his mind. He wanted to know more about Finn and his life.
And he wanted to know more about Cerise too.
Cerise kept glancing in Finn’s direction to see if he was doing okay. Each time she did, he had a huge smile on his face and looked as if he’d been born on the back of a horse.
“He’s a natural, isn’t he?” Brodie commented quietly, voicing her inner thoughts.
She gripped the reins a little tighter. His voice was as smooth as ice cream. “Yeah, he is. He hasn’t had much joy in his life in the last two years.”
“It’s tough when you lose a parent, let alone two.”
“I know,” she said quietly.
If anyone could relate to what Finn was going through, it was her.
She was well versed in the foster system.
The fact Finn had a relative he could live with should’ve been a bonus for the little boy.
How wrong it was that his aunt only wanted him when it suited her and when she was between boyfriends and needed someone to love?
Very wrong.
Cerise shifted and the saddle creaked. As if sensing her annoyance, Saffron did a little skip, and she clenched her knees against the horse’s flank. Leaning forward she patted the mare’s neck. “Sorry, sweetie.”
“You okay there, Sparkles?” Brodie asked and, when she looked at him, she could see the concern shining in his sapphire-blue eyes.
A shimmer of warmth splintered through her, and she had to make sure she didn’t shift again in case Brodie saw the movement or Saffron decided to do another little side skip.
Fixing her gaze firmly ahead she willed her body to settle down.
How long had it been since a man had pulled instantaneous reactions from her like Brodie was able to do?
Too long to remember. If one ever had at all.
It would be so easy to lose herself in his eyes, but she had to be strong.
Finn needed her focus at the moment. Stability was what the boy needed and after his experience with his aunt, if Cerise allowed her interest in Brodie to manifest, then the boy would be scared that he would be kicked to the curb—again.
She would never do that. Her heart was big enough to love Finn—and someone special—when the time was right.
Someone like Brodie.
Her inner voice teased her, but she couldn’t allow thoughts like that to take root in her mind at the moment.
“Cerise? Are you okay?” Brodie’s question penetrated her thoughts, and she realized she’d flaked on him and hadn’t answered his question.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” Looking around she couldn’t deny the property Mitch’s parents owned was beautiful. Growing up in a girls’ home, she hadn’t had the opportunity to see much more than the four walls of her bedroom, the dining hall, and her classrooms at school.
She never had enough money to go on school trips and, the one time she did, it had been a horrid experience with the other girls luring her into a room with mummified heads.
Even now she still had no idea how they’d done it, but they’d locked her in there for hours.
A shudder rippled through her at the memory of all those garish faces looking at her.
She’d had nightmares for weeks, but she’d gone to school the day after the excursion and held her head high.
How she managed that she didn’t know, because all she’d wanted were a couple of girls she could be friends with.
Cerise had one friend, Louise, in the whole time she’d been in the home, but Louise had gotten adopted. They’d written to each other for a few months, but when her letters went unanswered, Cerise knew her friend had moved on and forgotten all about her.
“I can understand why you like working here,” she said after the silence had stretched on again.
“Why is that?”
Cerise waved her hand encompassing the view of the gentle sway of the trees as the soft breeze caressed their branches. “It’s beautiful and peaceful. You can lose yourself in nature but know that civilization is only a few miles away.”
Brodie adjusted his hat. “You’re right. Working the land is humbling. There’s so much that can go wrong and so much that is beautiful.”
“How much further do we have to go? My butt is getting sore.” Finn called out from his position in front of them.
Cerise looked at Brodie and they laughed at the same time. “That right there’s another humbling thing about working on the land and riding horses—a sore butt,” Brodie commented, sending her a wink before digging his heels into the side of his horse and riding up to get close to Finn.
“Not much further, Bud. We’re going to ride just over this little rise, then we’ll stop and you can rest your weary backside.”
Cerise sighed at the sight of Brodie leaning toward Finn. She could almost let herself believe that the three of them could be a little family.
What the heck?
Hadn’t she already told herself that now wasn’t the time to get involved with someone, even a good guy like Brodie?
Yet the thought refused to be squashed. Especially since she’d always wanted a family she could call her own.