27
After apologizing to Edye and Luke for causing unnecessary worry, Talia felt wrung out before the day had even properly begun.
Luke had accepted her apology with a short nod and a look that still managed to feel like a full-page legal document.
Edye had been kinder, though no less serious.
She had told Talia that people on the ranch looked after one another, and disappearing overnight without telling anyone was not something they could ignore.
Talia had agreed.
What else could she do?
She had been wrong. Not malicious. Not dramatic. But wrong.
By the time she returned to the kitchen, she expected to find Gordon waiting with questions or that careful, steady look of his that made her feel more seen than she was comfortable with.
He was there.
But he was not alone.
A woman stood near the counter with him, holding a coffee mug in both hands while Gordon smiled and talked about Elise’s kitchen like he was giving an official tour of a sacred site.
“Elise has rules,” Gordon was saying. “You’ll learn them quick.”
The woman laughed. “Should I be afraid?”
“Yes.”
From the stove, Elise said, “No.”
Gordon looked at the woman. “That means yes.”
Elise pointed a spoon at him. “Gordon Windgate, don’t you start with me before nine in the morning.”
He smiled, and the sight tugged at Talia’s chest before she could stop it.
Then he turned and saw her.
His smile shifted.
Not disappeared. Not exactly.
It softened into something quieter, more private, and Talia felt it from across the room.
“Talia,” he said.
The woman turned too.
She looked to be in her forties, with warm brown skin, sharp eyes, and short curls tucked neatly behind her ears. She wore slacks, a blouse, and the expression of someone trying to memorize names, exits, and social rules all at once.
Gordon gestured between them. “This is Wilma Haskins. She prefers Willie. She’s the new administrative assistant.”
Willie smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Talia said.
Gordon added, “Talia’s visiting the ranch to do a story about me.”
Talia felt the room shift slightly around that sentence.
Not much.
Enough.
Willie’s eyebrows lifted with polite interest. “That sounds exciting.”
Talia managed a smile. “It has been something.”
Gordon’s mouth twitched like he wanted to laugh but knew better.
Talia looked at him before he could say anything else. “What’s on our agenda today?”
His eyes warmed at the our.
She wished she had not noticed.
“I’m in charge of preparations for the upcoming cattle drive,” he said.
Willie looked between them. “A real cattle drive?”
Elise snorted. “As opposed to the imaginary kind?”
Gordon nodded toward the back door. “We need to check supplies, gear, equipment, and a few things being staged near the storage buildings.”
Talia straightened, glad to have work to hold onto. “Then I guess I’m following you.”
“You usually do.”
His eyes said he was enjoying himself.
Talia refused to reward him with a smile.
Mostly.
They said goodbye to Willie just as Edye returned to the kitchen. Edye gave Gordon a quick nod, then turned her attention back to Willie with the practiced warmth of a woman who could make an introduction feel like a welcome.
Gordon opened the back door, and Talia slipped out ahead of him.
The morning was already warming, sunlight stretching across the yard and catching dust in the air. Talia followed Gordon to his truck, her laptop bag slung over her shoulder, the key to his cottage still tucked in her pocket like a small secret.
He opened the passenger door for her.
She paused.
“You don’t have to keep doing that.”
“I know.”
“And yet.”
“And yet,” he said.
She climbed in.
He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. Once he was behind the wheel, the truck filled with that quiet that seemed to find them whenever they were alone together now. Not awkward. Not exactly comfortable either.
Aware.
Too aware.
Gordon started the engine and drove toward the large storage buildings beyond the barns. Talia watched the ranch pass outside her window, grateful for the view because looking at him in the close space of the cab felt risky.
“So,” she said, opening her notebook. “What is it like to go on a cattle drive?”
Gordon glanced at her. “You mean in general?”
“I mean for this ranch. For you. For the people going.”
He turned onto a road that ran along a fenced pasture. “It’s long days. Early mornings. Dust. Noise. Keeping cattle moving without pushing them too hard. Watching the weather. Watching the horses. Watching people who think they know better than cattle and then learn different.”
“That sounds like a story from experience.”
“It’s everyone’s experience eventually.”
She wrote that down.
He continued, “There’s a rhythm to it. Riders spread out. Some in front, some along the sides, some behind. Trucks and trailers handle supplies, medical, water, feed, whatever’s needed. It’s not like old movies where everyone sleeps under the stars for weeks and sings to the herd every night.”
“No campfire harmonies?”
“Not unless Eli gets dramatic.”
Talia smiled. “Does he?”
“Yes.”
“Often?”
“Also yes.”
She wrote that down too.
Gordon’s mouth curved as he watched the road.
“Luke likes the drive because it connects the ranch to what it used to be. Cody likes it because he likes anything that feels like work and a challenge. Dwight watches the horses like they’re his own children.
Travis pretends he’s only there for breeding stock assessment, but he likes the tradition too. ”
“And you?”
He was quiet for a moment.
Then he said, “I’m staying on the ranch.”
Talia’s pen paused. “You’re not going?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Someone needs to be here.”
“That sounds like ranch-code for there is more to the answer.”
He glanced at her.
She waited.
He sighed. “There’ll be kids here. Nia, Malik, and some of the ranch children. Most of the wives of the ranch hands will be staying behind too. Luke wants men he trusts here in case they need support.”
Talia watched him closely. “And he trusts you.”
Gordon shrugged. “He trusts me to be useful.”
“That’s not what you said.”
“It’s what I mean.”
“No,” she said softly. “It isn’t.”
His jaw shifted.
She knew that look. He was deciding whether to let her push or shut the door.
After a moment, he kept talking.
“Part of my role is keeping the ranch intact until Luke and Edye get back. Checking equipment. Making sure things don’t fall apart. Handling anything mechanical that needs fixing. Supporting Earl if something comes up. Helping Elise if she needs something moved or repaired.”
“You’re a general handyman.”
“That’s one way to say it.”
“You can fix just about anything?”
“Mechanical, yes. Most things, if I have time to study them.”
“That’s impressive.”
“It’s useful.”
There it was again.
Useful.
The word he hid inside whenever something felt too close to worth.
Talia looked out the windshield as the truck passed a row of sheds. “Who else is staying?”
“Earl and Elise. A few ranch hands. Some families. Brad will be around, though he has sheriff duties. Amy might be in and out depending on her schedule.”
“Is it hard for Edye and Luke to leave their kids behind?”
“Yeah, but they know that those of us who stay behind will take care of them.”
“With you being so useful, I’m surprised that Luke is leaving you behind.”
Gordon’s eyes cut to her.
Talia smiled. “What?”
He looked back at the road. “Nia said somebody had to look after her and Malik.”
“That somebody being you.”
“Yes.”
“Did she appoint you?”
“Loudly.”
Talia laughed.
Gordon’s expression softened. “She takes things seriously.”
“She adores you.”
He shifted in his seat. “She likes bossing me.”
“She can do both.”
He did not answer.
Talia watched him, seeing the way he tried to make the affection smaller than it was.
As if Nia requesting him did not mean anything beyond a child’s whim.
As if Luke and Edye trusting him to help protect the ranch, the women, the children, and the everyday rhythm of the place while they were gone was not enormous.
“You’re a very important man,” she said.
Gordon scoffed softly. “Hardly.”
“You are.”
“I’m staying behind while others do the big work.”
“The big work is not only where the dust is.”
He looked at her then.
She held his gaze because this, at least, she knew.
“They’re leaving you with what they love,” she said.
The truck slowed slightly.
Talia looked ahead, then back at him. “That is not small.”
He said nothing.
But she saw it land.
Luke and Edye trusted him more than he thought. Maybe more than he knew how to accept. Not just with repairs. Not just with errands. With the heart of the ranch while they were away.
The children.
The families.
The home.
Gordon looked toward the storage buildings coming into view ahead of them. “Nia asked me if I would make sure Malik didn’t let anyone else wear my hat.”
Talia smiled softly. “That sounds like an official duty.”
“It was very solemn.”
“I’m sure.”
“She also said if anything scary happened, I had to be brave first so Malik would know what to do.”
Talia’s chest tightened.
“And what did you say?”
“I told her nothing scary was going to happen.”
“That wasn’t her question.”
“No,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t.”
The truck rolled to a stop beside the storage buildings.
For a second, neither moved.
Talia looked at him, this man who had once arrived at the ranch with shame in his hands and had somehow become the person a little girl trusted to be brave first.
He was so much more than the story people would expect.
So much more than scandal.
So much more than Paul Windgate’s son.
Gordon turned off the engine and looked over at her. “You coming?”
She closed her notebook.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m coming.”