Page 33 of Break the Barrier
“I’m always smiling.” This is something I get accused of often.
“Yeah…but this one is different.”
“How so?”
“It seems I don’t know, real or something?”
I turn to look at her as I pull us into the middle school parking lot, waiting in the car drop-off line. “Real? My smiles are always real.”
“Hm,” she hums, tapping her finger to her lip. “Maybe real isn’t the right word.”
“Well.” I give a little shrug, inching forward in the line. “I’m pretty happy right now.”
“Because of Thea?” she retorts quickly, unbuckling her seat belt as we are next in line.
“Maybe,” I hedge. I know my dating Thea would make Lue happy, she’s always asked me when I was going to start dating, when I would have a girlfriend again, but part of me wondered if she wore rose-colored glasses about the whole situation.
I wonder if the reality of me dating someone seriously hasn’t quite stuck with her yet, and she was still in that phase of fantasy.
We pull up to the drop-off, and Lue grabs the handle of her backpack and opens the door.
“Have a good day,” I call out, watching my somehow rapidly growing daughter dart out of the truck. “Love you!”
“Love you too, Dad!” she yells over her shoulder, rushing into the building. I sigh as I watch her go and then pull my truck out of the school parking lot.
Minutes later, I’m pulling into Three Rivers, smiling at the horses out to pasture on the side of the long driveway. The sun is still rising in the sky, and there’s a coolness to this early summer morning. I roll my window down as I take in the moment of fresh air before I’m bombarded with the people I work with.
Nah, I am pretty lucky to call this my job.
Last year, CT had been in a pinch when he wanted to suddenly start showing again, around the same time my cousin had gotten back in the arena. So, when he heard I was hurting for work and needed some extra jobs, he pulled me into the ranch business.
It’s been my job ever since. I do a little bit of everything around here like fixing fences, pushing cattle, branding, riding, training, and even cleaning stalls out, and it’s not always a glamorous job.
But it is honest work, and the pay is good enough for me.
The barn is already humming with activity, and I see my cousin down at the end of the alleyway, a wheelbarrow in her hands as she pushes it down and grabs hay out of it, sliding the pieces into the feeders for each horse.
Without even thinking of it, I go on the opposite side of her and grab some hay, feeding the horses along that side. They paw and chuff impatiently.
“Morning, cuz,” I greet my little cousin. Dani has been like a sister to my brothers and me since she was born and is like an aunt to Lue.
She smiles brightly at me and continues with the chores. “Good morning.”
We finish the inside chores mostly in silence, the horses making enough noise for us with their stomping and chewing, and when we get to the end, I hear the ATV outside, meaning either my brother Stetson or CT is feeding outside.
“What’s got you so smiley this morning?” Dani asks, grabbing her to-go cup of coffee off a shelf by the tack room.
I scoff out a laugh and shake my head. “I’m not that smiley.”
“Oh really? ’Cause I heard a rumor about someone andsomeone going on a date last night.” She raises an eyebrow at me.
“Someone and someone? Really, Dani?”
She shrugs and grins at me. “What?”
“Where did you hear about it?” I give in, knowing that it’s just delaying the inevitable if I keep skirting around the topic.
“Well, my fiancé.” She jokingly flutters her eyes like she always does when she says that. “Told me that Thea showed up here a week ago for a ride. And of course, being a man, he only told me that last night after I saw a post online about your date.”
