4. Ethan
Ethan
Ihate rural internet.
Hate is a strong word I don’t like to use, but it fits here.
How do people live like this?
Last night I created a few posts and edited the photos I’d taken with Colt.
Every time I tried to upload, the apps timed out.
It made me want to pull my hair out. Instead of dealing with self-inflicted bald patterns, I’m driving into town this morning for breakfast and working at the diner I saw yesterday with Colt.
Pulling on my new cowboy boots, I grin while remembering how pink Colt’s cheeks turned when I asked him if he thought boots were sexy.
I didn’t mean to be so bold, but sometimes it just slips out.
He was clearly uncomfortable, since he ran as fast as he could without making a scene.
I’ll need to be more careful around him.
Colt has the quiet cowboy thing down to a science.
I watched how he was with the horses yesterday and how they all perked up when they heard his soft voice.
Not a single horse in that barn was wary around him—and that was before he brought out the carrots.
It’s like they all know he’s a kind soul and trust him implicitly.
It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever witnessed.
He stood among them and talked with them like people. Until that moment, I didn’t understand what it meant to be charmed by someone. Colt had me dialed in as he stroked the horses’ necks and laughed when a few nibbled at him. He was completely at ease and in his element.
Unlike me.
I needed carrots to get them closer.
Lots of carrots.
Horses are ridiculously huge up close, but I wasn’t about to show Colt I was nervous.
Not even when one horse nipped at my shirt.
I wanted to throw the carrots in the air and run screaming, but thankfully, I kept my cool in front of the man.
It was touch-and-go for a few agonizing minutes, but I prevailed.
At least I hope I did.
Colt rewarded me with such a proud smile when I held my own that I went to bed thinking of what else I could do to earn that kind of smile again. He’s hard to read, but if I learned anything on our first day together, it’s that he has a soft spot for animals and leans more toward the shy side.
After parking on Main Street, I grab my laptop bag and enter the Laughing Fork. A sign in the window says it has the best bacon and eggs in Chance. With confident advertising like that, I know I’m in the right place for breakfast.
A server tells me to sit anywhere, so I choose a booth with a window.
It’s a quaint little place, with wooden booths, retro-checkered vinyl flooring, and daily specials written in neon colors on a whiteboard.
Faded newspaper clippings in frames, along with older photos, grace the walls, and it feels a bit like a museum of sorts.
Like the history of Chance, Colorado, might be splashed across the walls.
I’ve barely settled in when the server shows up, smiling with a menu and a fresh mug of coffee.
“Good morning! Welcome to Chance. I hope you like coffee. It’s the best in town.”
The woman sets the mug in front of me and hands me a laminated menu. On their T-shirt is an image of an oversized fork laughing while holding a plate of food in its cartoon hands, and I think it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Good morning.” I gesture to her shirt. “I love the logo and thank you. I’m new here, and I love coffee. Is it as good as the bacon and eggs, like the sign claims?”
“Better.” The woman winks.
With a smile, I hand her back the menu. “I’ll have the eggs and bacon, please. Sunny side up and whole wheat toast, then. Oh, and extra bacon.”
“You got it.”
She turns to leave, but I call her back. “Sorry, but do you have Wi-Fi here?”
“Sure do. Password is laughmore.”
She bustles off, and I set up my laptop, ready to get to work and bring all the business I can to this little town and ranch while I stuff my face with the best bacon and eggs in town.
Maybe the shitty internet at the ranch is a good thing after all.
After spending most of my morning at the diner meeting locals, eating breakfast, and generally enjoying my life and job, I get back to the ranch by lunchtime. Colt is leaving the barn just as I’m about to go find him.
“Hi, Colt! How’s the day going?”
He nods his head with a tiny smile. “Good. You?”
“I had breakfast at the Laughing Fork. I’ve kicked out a load of posts, met a man named Don, who told me the lawn at the town park gets mowed on Wednesday and Saturday.” He was a hoot. The locals here are entertaining so far, that’s for sure. “I’m ready for you to show me more of the ranch.”
Colt laughs softly. “Darn. Don beat me to it. I could have told you about the lawn mowing schedule.”
His eyes wrinkle at the sides when he smiles, and for one fleeting moment, I imagine Colt in the future with deeper lines and maybe a bit of gray in his hair. That smile says more than a fondness for the guy who mows the park lawn.
“I’m sure you have better things you can tell me.” I point to my booted feet. “You’re still winning. You showed me where to buy these, and I hope I can get them dirty today.”
The pink flush creeps up his neck as he averts his gaze from my boots. I guess that’s my answer to whether he thinks boots are sexy.
“I could take you to the creek today if you’d like? I should check the water level anyway before guests arrive.”
“That sounds like a great idea. I assume it’s Snow Creek? Since that’s the ranch’s name?”
Colt nods with a lopsided smile. “I know it’s not that original, but it’s super pretty. I can get two horses saddled up and take you there once I grab lunch, if that works?”
“Really!? We’d take horses?”
Colt nods again with a little laugh. “That’s what we do around here, so yes. Horses.”
I’m slightly terrified, but also…how cool is it to ride a horse on a ranch with a cowboy? While wearing boots!
“Okay then! What do I need to wear other than my boots?”
His eyes trail down my body and back up. When his gaze meets mine, he clears his throat. “What you have on is great.” Colt drops his gaze to the ground.
Did he just…? No, he couldn’t have.
“Okay. Should I help with the horses?”
He bites his lip and shakes his head quickly. “Next time. I have an errand to do, but meet me here at,”—he checks his watch and purses his lips—“say at 12:45?”
“I’ll be here.”
Colt nods and walks toward his truck while I head to the guesthouse. After pulling off my boots, I plug in my laptop at the kitchen table and grab a battery pack for my phone.
I should take my DSLR camera, but I’m too excited to ride a horse for the first time, and I don’t want to do anything stupid. Like fall off when I try to do a lens change. No, I’ll just take my phone and backup power this time.
After writing copy for a few potential posts, depending on what we see on the ride, I pull my boots back on and go meet Colt at the barn.
Colt is an excellent trail guide…and, surprisingly, a smartass.
“Just remember, whatever happens, don’t panic. Stay on your horse and call out for me if needed. If you drop your reins, grab the saddle horn until I can help you.”
“Do I have a reason to panic?”
Colt pretends to consider this.
“Would a bear make you panic?”
“Jesus! There’re bears!” Colt flashes a shit-eating grin, and I narrow my eyes. “You’re just saying that to scare me. That’s not cool, Colt.”
His grin fades, and he reaches out to touch my arm.
“Sorry. I didn’t think you’d be so scared.
” His hand squeezes my arm gently. “Our chances of encountering a bear aren’t zero.
But if we see a bear, don’t panic. I have to tell you because it’s safety, Ethan.
I rarely encounter them, but they live here too. ”
Colt’s voice is soft and tender, much like his gaze, and I look away.
“Okay. What else?”
“Your ass will be sore after today. And your legs. It’s a longish ride for your first time.”
I snort a laugh. “Okay, and how will you make that feel better after?”
Colt, to my surprise, doesn’t blush or clam up. Instead, he dips his head with a quiet laugh. For once, I’m happy about just saying the first thing that funnels from my brain to my lips.
“Are you, ah, always this forward, Ethan?”
“No, but when the opportunity presents itself, I don’t want to waste it.”
He presses his lips together and nods. “Right. Do you need help mounting?” I open my mouth, and he adds, “The horse, Ethan. Do you need help?”
“I can do it.”
After a few attempts under his watchful eye, I’m in the saddle by myself, and I have to say, it feels great doing it on my own. I know I didn’t have to prove anything to him, but I feel like I might have won some points with the cowboy.
“You’re a natural, Ethan.” He swings himself into the saddle with ease and moves his horse next to mine. “Let’s go to the creek.”
It takes some getting used to being this high on a horse.
While we aren’t moving very fast, the sway and distance from the ground make for a unique experience.
Also, knowing the animal could run and I’d have to hold on for my life is slightly terrifying.
How do people get used to riding a running horse? I’d probably crash a horse if it ran.
“How long have you been doing this?” I ask Colt so my mind doesn’t fixate on how much it would hurt if I fall off.
He glances my way with an easy smile. “I’ve been working here since I was sixteen. My uncle Albert told me I should get a job, and they were hiring for ranch hands.”
“Wow, so that’s what…twenty years?”
He laughs. “Twenty-four years. I just turned forty, remember?”
“Ah, yes. You did, and I said you don’t look a day over thirty.”
He hums, and I let it drop… but not before I sneak another look at him on his horse.
Maybe it’s just me having a thing for cowboys, but I’m slightly obsessed with the way he sits, so relaxed and confident in the saddle.
Paired with his shy smile and messy brown hair, I have to admit I’m a little entranced by the man.
Until now, I thought my type was the business suit and polished shoes kind of guy. The kind with perfectly styled hair and a spa on speed dial. Maybe that’s been my problem. All these years, I’ve been dating the polished facade of men and not the roughened, yet very real version.
The saddles creak as we sway and walk, and he swivels his head around, taking in everything outside like it’s the first time he’s been here.
I do the same, trying to see what he sees and wondering if I’d ever get sick of the view.
Colt babbled a lot about greens and grasses on our drive to town, and maybe it’s something you learn to love the more you live here?
Or maybe it’s something I can capture with a photo?
Feeling confident, I pull out my phone and snap a few photos of the scenery.
“I’ll take you here a few times over the summer, and you can see how it all changes as the leaves fill in and wildflowers grow. It’s beautiful,” Colt says as he watches me, happily snapping away.
“You like being outside? In nature, then, I mean?”
He nods, still with that soft smile. “I do. It’s peaceful.
The chaos of a city is….” He trails off, and I glance his way to find him biting at his lip.
“Overwhelming,” he finally finishes and puffs out a breath.
“Sorry. That probably sounds lame, but it’s the truth.
I don’t have a great relationship with the city. ”
I study him a moment as he keeps his face forward, but something in his voice signals to me that this wasn’t an easy revelation for him.
“I’m overwhelmed on top of this horse,” I offer, and he turns toward me. “I’m afraid of heights from on top of four legs.”
Colt smiles and nods. “I promise you won’t fall.” He says it so softly I’d think he didn’t say it if I wasn’t watching his lips move.
He faces forward again, and my phone sits limp in my hand.
Colt Beckworth is a man I just can’t figure out.