2. Hidden Gems
HIDDEN GEMS
Oliver
The day had been long as hell, and I was eager to get home to my boy. My brother, Rowan, who helped me run our family’s ranch, sat next to me, his leg bouncing as we waited for the last round of horses to be brought out.
We didn’t need any more horses or cattle, to be honest, but this one had caught my eye when we’d gotten here, and if no one else was going to bid on her? I sure as fuck would.
She was a Colorado Ranger. A white coat with tan spots. Around five years old. She was perfect, and I couldn’t leave unless I knew she’d be taken care of.
Rowan’s bouncing leg caught my attention once more when I realized she wasn’t in this batch of horses yet. My gaze turned back towards him.
“Do we need to limit your coffee intake?”
His eyes met mine, and he smirked. “No. I’m just thinking.”
I nodded but said nothing. If he wanted to talk, he would. Nothing I could do to stop it or entice it. Not that I ever wanted to.
“Aspen texted me. Apparently she’s at work with Ivy, and she’s upset that Ivy is in a funk again. I just know it’s from her fuckhead boyfriend. Can’t stand that dude.”
Emotions I’d long kept buried tried to fight for dominance within my chest, but on the outside, I just shrugged.
“If he’s that bad, she’ll dump him eventually,” I mumbled, my eyes back on the last of the horses in this lot as two people went on a bidding war over a Caspian.
Good for them, I guess.
“I know. Eventually. But what if she doesn’t, bro? What if she tries to marry this fool or something? I want to find her someone else.”
Internally I was rolling my eyes, but externally, once again, nothing showed. I was good at that. Locking down emotions before they could escape and be seen.
“You sound like Payton.” Our baby sister had been dead set on setting me up with someone new for the last two years or so. Every one of which I kindly shut down and ignored.
Not because there was anything wrong with the women, I just wasn’t interested.
“I do not. Aspen loves Ivy, and in turn, so do I. She’s a great woman, and she deserves better than some piece of shit who is probably fuckin’ half the town behind her back.”
I pushed a slow breath through my nose as those emerald-green eyes and the little button nose popped into my mind. The care and love she’d held in those eyes for her best friend that night she stood in my doorway. How worried she’d been for my brother’s state of mind.
And every moment since that, I’d caught glimpses of her around town or at get-togethers that Aspen dragged her to as if she were an extra child my mom had willingly taken in. Even though she had two parents who I knew were great.
“I just wish I could do something,” Rowan mumbled again.
He didn’t require a response, so I didn’t give one.
Instead, I focused on the horse that had just walked out, throwing in the one and only bid on the mare.
“Dad, I think I want to play hockey.”
The comment came out of left field as I chopped up peppers for the fajitas Hudson and I were making for dinner. He wasn’t the biggest fan of helping me cook, and I never gave him shit for it. I did make him sit at the island and talk to me, though.
With work on the ranch being the main time block of my day, dinner ended up being the small amount of time I refused to miss with my son.
The sizzle of the scalding cast iron pan filled the quiet now between us as I threw the peppers in. My gaze rose to meet his green eyes, the same green eyes that his mom had. They were dark, an almost forest green that some mistook for brown when the light hit them a certain way.
“What has you wanting to play hockey?”
Hudson was me through and through, but only in the sense that he was quiet and only did things he wanted to do.
You couldn’t make Hudson Carragan do anything.
Emily used to laugh and say she just birthed another bull-headed little boy version of me when he started learning to walk and wouldn’t let anyone touch him while he figured it out on his own.
I’d always offered to let him do any extracurricular he wanted to do, but so far, the only thing he’d been interested in was comic books.
Something him and his uncle, Wyatt, happily bonded over, and now every few weeks, Wyatt and his fiancée Ember, would take him over to Sapphire Cove to the massive comic book shop.
They’d spend hours digging through the shelves and finding the ‘hidden gems’, as they explained when they returned with more comics than any one kid needed.
“Well, you played hockey,” he replied with a shrug, clearly stating it, as if that should sum it up nice and tidy for me.
He wasn’t wrong. I played hockey from the age of eight until I went into the military after high school.
Coaches said I had a chance to really take it all the way, but the military felt more stable at the time, and I needed that after the years I spent helping take care of my siblings and ensuring Mom was okay.
I needed to get out of Colorado, see the world, and find my own voice.
Only to come back and end up never leaving again.
Clearing my throat, I stirred the meat and veggies in the pan before finding the words to respond.
“I did play hockey. I loved it, too. I’m just wondering what’s brought on your sudden desire to play.”
Nothing but silence met me. My chest felt tight as I briefly worried I’d pushed too hard.
Fuck. I never knew when to push and when to just accept what he said.
It seemed that being a parent was walking a fine line of getting it just right and royally fucking up so bad that you were convinced you’d just created the moment your kid would go on and on about in therapy twenty years down the line.
I was lucky, because overall, Hudson was an easy one.
He didn’t want much. He was easily entertained, and he didn’t give me shit like some of the kids I’d hear in the stores or from seasonal ranch hands.
He was just a little version of me, but with that came a great deal of introspection, and I constantly worried that I was fucking this up—fucking him up.
A soft sigh filled the empty space as I turned the burner off and he finally began explaining.
“There’s a new kid in my class. His name is Colby. He just moved here from the east coast, and he started going on and on about hockey. It’s his favorite sport, and he said he wanted to try out for the team next year, and well, I just thought it would be cool to play with him.”
I felt myself nodding, the corner of my mouth lifting as he stared back at me.
Hudson always had problems keeping friends—not because there was anything wrong with him, he just never seemed to want to.
He had a few that he would partner with during projects or see around town and say hi, but he didn’t do sleep overs or hangouts with anyone outside of the family.
So this? This I could work with.
“Well, I’m sure we can manage that. Hockey season doesn’t start until August, but I can get you signed up for some skating lessons and then the camps and clinic before try-outs.
Give you the best shot at making the team.
Plus, it’ll ensure it’s really something you want to do before we go for the bigger commitment of a full season. Sound good?”
Hudson nodded, and we made our plates, seated side by side as we both devoured our steak fajitas. It wasn’t until he started helping me clean up that he appeared nervous.
“How are you going to get me to practice with the ranch?”
An arched brow and my hand messing up his curly brown hair had him laughing and pushing my arm away in a way that only a pre-teen could manage.
“Don’t worry about that, bud. Maybe I’ll call in some family support,” I told him confidently.
He stared up at me wide-eyed for a split second before nodding and grabbing the towel to start drying the dinner dishes as I washed.
His reaction didn’t shock me. I’d never been known to ask for help, even though my siblings and Mom told me often that the moment I needed it, they’d be here, and they had. I just sucked at doing the asking. Didn’t want to need the damn help, honestly.
However, for Hudson? I’d do just about anything to see this kid smile, including asking for help to get him to practices, if that was what I needed to do.