Page 15 of Sweet Beloved

“Come here,” I tell her.

She obeys, letting me pull her onto my lap. I brush her hair back and look into her eyes.

“I think you should take on the café, sweetheart,” I say. “You’ve earned it. You can do this.”

She’s thinking hard, her jaw working a little. When she looks back up at me, there’s vulnerability in her face. “Sometimes, I think everything I have is because of you, that I didn’t earn all this. What do I know about running a business? I’ve never done anything like this before.”

My heart breaks a little bit. The coffee machine beeps, going quiet. I turn her so she’s facing me fully, legs hanging down on either side of my hips.

“You have had the hardest job in the world for almost two decades,” I say firmly. “You’ve raised the boys, you’ve helped me with the ranch, and you did all that while working for Tracy. There’s nobody more competent than you, sweetheart. On top of all that, you deal with me.”

A little smile breaks her sober expression. I touch the round curve of her cheekbone.

“There’s no reason to be scared,” I say. “I’ve got your back, the same way you’ve always had mine.”

Her throat bobs. “Thank you.”

She kisses me, and I kiss her back, taking all the time in the world, because nothing is more important than this. When she breaks away, her face is flushed, and I think I might get lucky tonight.

We have coffee together. Then, Jensen calls, and I head out to my truck. My mind stays the entire drive. This offer Freya got to take the café will change the dynamic of our day-to-day life. She’ll be much busier, and there will be late nights and early mornings. She’ll need my help with the business side, which means the boys will need to pitch in more with the ranch.

But something like this is what I hoped would happen. There’s still a little part of her, deep down, that needs independence. She was always plucky. God, I remember the way she fought me the night I kidnapped her from her stepfather’s truck. She might have settled in, but I know, under it all, she never settled down.

I’m pulled out of my thoughts as I park on the side of the road. Jensen stands on the curb, hat in his hand and coffee to his lips. He glances up, nodding as I step out of the truck.

“We good on time?” I ask.

He flips his wrist to look at his watch. “We got five minutes. You want a coffee?”

I’m pretty wired, but I follow him into the diner, the same one we once stood outside of and argued over who was going to talk to Freya. The same waitresses work there, the same cooks. I like that. It’s a steadiness I don’t find anywhere but out here in Knifley.

“How’s the missus?” I ask, digging into my pocket for some cash.

“Good. Renovating the house again,” he says.

“Well, she married the owner of a construction crew,” I say, taking my cup and thanking the clerk. “She gets free renovations for life.”

He laughs as we head back out onto the street. Jensen still, somehow, drives the same truck he bought for his business twenty years ago. It rattles, the exhaust holding on for dear life, and one of the windows doesn’t roll down. The air conditioning works, but only because it’s the one thing he can’t stand being broken.

We get to the auction just as the doors open. As I predicted, it’s boiling hot and permeated with the cloying scent of manure with a hint of cigarette smoke. I swing out of the truck and grab my hat, fitting it on. The quicker we get these cattle bought and paid for, the quicker we can get our asses back on the road.

Onwards and upwards.

We break about an hour later with no luck. Jensen goes to get some drinks, and I take a break in the truck to call Slate. He picks up on the third ring, which means they’re likely still up in the pastures.

“Hey, what’s up?” he says.

I can hear cattle in the background, along with a suspicious shouting. “What’s going on?”

“Red and Remington are fighting,” he yawns.

“How’s that?”

“Who gets the better horse.”

“Jesus,” I mutter. “Well, let them at it, I guess. But don’t tell your mother. They won’t hurt each other. Not more than a couple bruises, anyway.”

Knock-knock.I glance up to find Jensen is waiting outside, frowning slightly in the sun. I lift my hand, mouthing that I’ll be there in a moment. He flips me off, wiping the sweat from his eyes.

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