Chapter 34
CHARLIE
All night long, I lay in my bed thinking about Olivia. I’d gotten myself in trouble with her. I really liked this girl and I happened to agree with my dad. She really did belong on the ranch.
None of which were things I’d been expecting to think or feel when I’d met her. It possibly should’ve confused me, this emotional about-face, but I was perfectly at ease with it.
By the time my alarm went off, I’d barely gotten any sleep but I got up easily, not at all minding since I knew I would be seeing her in just a few minutes.
If it’d been up to me, I would have dragged her back to my bedroom last night instead of walking her to hers, but with a whole house full of her colleagues and the hired camera crew, that just hadn’t seemed like a good idea.
After grabbing a quick shower, I headed to the kitchen to find the camera crew up early as well, still yawning and making coffee, but most of them seemed to be down here already.
Of course, despite the many other people currently occupying my kitchen, my gaze zeroed in on one person in particular: Olivia.
She was standing with Dave, seemingly going over some of the shots from yesterday, and she looked fucking amazing, back in jeans with her boots on her feet and her hat resting on the counter beside her.
Her pale blue V-neck showed off just the barest hint of cleavage.
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from going over and sliding my hands around her hips. So very tempted, I turned attention to fixing my own coffee and then faced Olivia’s team once I had my thermos in hand.
“Who wants to come feed the animals with me?” I asked, and the question snapped them all into motion.
Mugs were drained and set down. When they were ready to follow, I led them out of the house, inhaling a deep breath of fresh air and smiling at the faint scents of earth and manure that wafted to my nostrils.
I knew it wasn’t most people’s cup of tea, but this was my life and I loved it.
Hanging onto that feeling, I turned and nodded at Olivia, signaling without words that I was ready.
My heart did some kind of weird leap thing when her gaze met mine, but she looked away quickly, only the vaguest hint of pink on her cheeks giving away that she’d felt something just now too.
“Okay, folks.” She made eye contact with some of the others before turning to Dave. “Let’s get this show on the road. Are you ready?”
Dave glanced at his minions before he gave her a curt nod. “We’re good to go.”
The minions lifted cameras of their own, some turning them toward the pastures to get shots of the property. I prepared for the main camera to be pointed at me. Olivia and Dave exchanged a few quieter words I couldn’t quite make out, and then he finally got to it.
When the red light at the front of his camera went on, I smiled even though I would have rather punched him for holding Olivia’s attention for even just a moment.
The thought was sobering, since I’d always been possessive but never quite to the extent where violence was the first place my mind went, but I was going to have to deal with the realization later.
Once these people had left.
“Good morning, everyone,” I said, speaking directly into the camera just like she’d told me to. “In case you missed it before, I’m Charlie Anderson and this is Twenty-Four Hours on Anderson Ranch. It is now just after four a.m. and I’m heading out to do the morning chores.”
Olivia smiled and my heart did another weird leap, but since Dave was still filming and no one had looked at me funny, I knew that my features had remained neutral. Thank the lord.
To fill the time with something that wasn’t just footage of me walking down to the barn, I started spouting off random facts. “A typical day for us starts at this time of the morning. I’m not just doing it today to make myself look busy, I promise.”
A few chuckles rang out behind me and I grinned, glad that they found me amusing.
Hopefully, that meant that they’d be happy with the footage they were getting and there would be no need for them to stay longer or to come back.
Olivia, on the other hand, was welcome anytime.
Her team and their cameras, not so much.
“The first thing we do every day is a head count,” I explained as we ambled across the grass.
I could’ve taken them along the road, but she’d told me to be authentic and this was the way I walked every morning.
“These days, Anderson Ranch is a collection of properties rather than just the one. We raise mostly cattle, but we’ve also got sheep, pigs, goats, horses, as well as some chickens scattered across the ranches.
Every morning, we need to count them all to make sure they’re all safely where they should be. ”
I took another breath of the predawn air, exhaling. The sky slowly started turning gray. It was so damn weird to have to talk about any of this stuff, but at least stating the obvious gave me something to say.
“We’re going to start with the dairy cows today,” I said.
“My brothers will already be up as well and they’ll be going to the other animals.
As I’m sure you’ll know by the time you watch this part, we also had a new baby born into the family last night.
A little goat, which is called a kid. When we’re done with the cows, I’ll take you over to the stables to meet her. ”
After sending another smile over my shoulder, I faced forward again and kept talking.
“We have several buildings on the ranch that have been converted into stables, and then we’ve also got the original stables that my great grandpa built with his own two hands.
All of those house horses, but we always keep some stalls available for mamas and babies, to keep them as safe and as comfortable as we can. ”
Cody came jogging down toward us from the main house. Relief trickled through me when he took a turn with the cameras. Successfully drawing the attention his way, he picked up as soon as he realized where I’d left off.
“Some good news,” he said with a wide grin on his face. “I just checked on mama and baby, and they’re both doing well. We’ll keep them at the stables for now until you’ve gotten a good look at them, but then we’ll move them back to their flock.”
Cody’s grin widened. “Isn’t that interesting? The collective noun for a group of goats is a flock, but it’s also referred to as a trip, a herd, or a tribe. I’m going to go check on the flock now. Make sure they’re ready to welcome their latest addition. See you in a few.”
Once he was gone again, one of the minions took off after him with his own camera in hand and Dave turned the main camera back in my direction.
We were at the barn now, and I did my head count while feeding the cows, with Dave or one of his people following my every move.
They pointed at equipment they wanted me to explain the name and purpose of, got close-ups of the cows themselves, and thankfully, didn’t get in my way.
We headed over to a chicken coop after that, and I had the crew collect the eggs while Wyatt and I checked the animals.
An inordinate amount of pictures were taken by Olivia’s team as they collected eggs, selfies and videos of them grinning as if they’d won the lottery while performing such a mundane task.
My head shook, but Wyatt elbowed me in the ribs with a smirk.
“Think we should tell them Mom is going to be cooking those for their breakfast?”
My eyes narrowed in thought. “Maybe. It’s possible they’d get a kick out of it.”
As it turned out, they did get a kick out of it.
I almost told them the bacon they’d be eating had come from pigs we kept on one of those other ranches, but I decided not to push our luck.
All of my brothers put in quick appearances throughout the morning and the team got plenty of footage before they all attended a family breakfast.
Back at the open-sided barn, they joined us at the long tables our guys had helped Mom set out, experiencing firsthand how close knit of a group we all really were. Most of the people in here worked for us, one way or another, but we treated them the exact same way as we treated each other.
We’re family, related by the ranch instead of blood.
Since it was the camera crew’s second meal here after lunch yesterday, they were a lot more relaxed today. It seemed they’d seen all they needed to in terms of knowing how to act while we ate, and even though they were technically outsiders, we treated them like family too.
Everyone was laughing and picking at each other, having a good time while eating delicious food. Colt came and planted himself right across from me, as if he still felt like he needed to be part of everything with Liv and me, and was happy to be getting the chance to butt in.
“So,” he said, flicking a glance between the two of us, sitting with our thighs pressed together. Though he wouldn’t be able to see that under the table. “You two seem chummy again. What did I miss?”
I stared back at him, chuckling as I shook my head. “Get out of here, Colt. It’s got nothing to do with you.”
He pouted. Olivia rolled her eyes at me, a smile on her lips that she just couldn’t hide. She turned to my brother. “We worked things out, is all.”
Lifting his eyebrows at her, he was obviously about to say something else, but he got cut off when Dad stood up at the head of the table. He cleared his throat and waited until he had everyone’s attention.
“With your time here almost at an end, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for coming out and spending the last day with us.” He turned to Liv, sending her a warm smile as he inclined his chin.
“Thank you for putting all of this together. I hope it will allow the world to see how much love we have for our family, animals, and community.”
When he sat down, he gave me a look like he was expecting me to say a few words as well. I sighed, but I was in too great a mood to let this bother me. Standing up, I looked around the table and realized that the filming hadn’t been as bad as I’d thought it might be.
The crew Liv had brought in were good people, professionals who had stayed in their lane and hadn’t made me feel like we were sacrificing our privacy at all. That was all because of these people, and while I’d rather not have made a speech, I didn’t mind giving credit where it was due.
“I had my reservations at first,” I said, my lips quirking in a smile when I saw the knowing gleam in everyone’s eyes and heard the chuckles they were trying to muffle.
“Thank you for proving me wrong. I’ve actually really enjoyed having you all here and if we can help spread the love that happens on the ranch into the community then I’m happy to be a part of that. ”
A scattering of applause rang out when I lowered myself back into my seat, and Colt gave me a teasing look, eyes filled with laughter. He brought a hand to his chest. “Thank you for that, Charlie. It was so beautiful. Profound, really.”
Olivia giggled and smacked a hand over her mouth as if to silence herself, but it was too late. I already knew she was amused. I cut a playful glare at her before turning back to my brother.
“Just for that, you’re going to help me get them packed up and ready to go.” I leaned back in my chair and waited for him to argue, but he simply sighed and pumped his eyebrows at Olivia, who laughed a little more.
Those possessive urges from earlier when I saw her with Dave were definitely amplified when it was my very own brother she was laughing with. Shit, I’m going to have to tell him to lay off her—or wind up with a broken jaw.
Colt looked at me like he already knew that and was enjoying messing with me anyway, and in response, I ignored him while we all finished up. He dutifully followed along to my place after breakfast. He helped the crew load up their stuff and waved them off as they pulled out of the drive.
As he turned to face Olivia, I took a half-step sideways to put myself in his path instead, and then I gave him a smile that very clearly said to fuck off. “Thanks, Colt. I’ve got it from here.”
He smirked at me, deliberately leaning around my body to wink at her. “Goodbye, Olivia. Good luck with the caveman.”
She laughed and stepped past me, giving him a quick hug before watching him take off. When we were alone, she glanced up into my eyes, and my heart did yet another leap.
“Thanks for helping me carry everything to my car.”
“You’re welcome.” I reached for her hand, hooking only my fingertips around hers and drawing her gaze back to my own. “I’d like to take you on a proper date. You know, because I’m an actual gentleman and we haven’t gotten around to doing it right just yet.”
“I’d love to.” She offered me a genuine, beaming smile. I took a small step closer. She tipped her head back to keep looking at me. “Just let me know when and where.”
“I’ll pick you up on Saturday night.” It was way too far away for my liking, but those were the breaks. “At seven.”
She gave me her address before she finally looked away from me to climb into her car. “I’ll see you then, Charlie.”
With that, she shut her door, fired up the engine, and drove off, heading back to the city. Back to her life.
I groaned and rubbed the back of my head. What am I getting myself into?
If I was being honest, I had no idea, but that wasn’t about to stop me. Once her car was nothing more than a puff of dust at the bottom of the road, I walked back to the barn to help clean up after breakfast.
To my surprise, Dad was still there too, reading the paper while he sipped a cup of coffee. He looked up when I walked in and immediately set the paper down to wave me over. I frowned but went. Lifting my eyebrows, I braced my palms against the back of the chair across from him.
“What’s this, old man? You’re not working today?”
He didn’t take the bait. “You like her, don’t you, boy?”
Suddenly sensing that he’d been waiting here for me to have this conversation, I decided that I wasn’t about to walk into a trap. If that was what this was. I didn’t know how to answer, so I deflected. Dad had told us to stay away from her. He’d said she was off limits.
Until I knew exactly what was happening between us, I refused to admit that I had not been following his orders. At all.
“Nah,” I lied. “We’re too different. There’s not much there.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed. “You look at her the way I look at your mother. Lying to me is one thing, son. Lying to yourself is a whole other issue. I suggest you work on it.”
He held my gaze for another beat before he picked up his newspaper and went back to it, which shocked the hell out of me. My father was not the type to leave things like that, but it spoke volumes that he was doing it now.
I just wasn’t sure what those volumes were saying exactly.