Page 34 of Chasing the Wild
This is the hard part. The bit that always makes me choke up when I try to find adequate words to explain it.
“Except, by the time I finished high school, she’d already started forgetting things. Getting muddled up easily, you know.” I scratch at the label on the beer. “They called it early-onset dementia, and it took my aunt away before I knew which way was up.”
Colt clears his throat, and I reluctantly meet his eyes. I don’t want his pity or his charity, but I hope he understands why this is so important to me.
“You pay for her care, I take it.”
My lips thin as I nod again.
The clock on the wall ticks and we both sit there for a long moment.
“Now you’ve heard my happy bedtime story, let’s hear yours.”
Now it’s Colt’s turn to take a long swig of his beer.
“There’s not a lot to tell. My parents died in a car crash when I was a kid, too young to even remember them, and it was left up to my grandfather to take me on.”
“Here at the ranch?”
Colt makes a noise of agreement.
“Grew up right here. Orsurvivedgrowing up here, I should say.”
My throat tightens as I see the tension in the jaw of the man across from me, having to revisit memories I’m presuming he’d rather leave locked away.
“He might have owned this ranch, but he was a mean son of a bitch, the kind who liked to take his anger out on whoeverwas closest. When I was old enough to understand why our cattle always ended up broken, I started to pick fights with him. At least that way he’d take it out on me rather than innocent animals.”
Colt chews over his thoughts for a moment.
“I was fourteen when I put my first bullet through a heifer’s forehead. She was due to calve anyday and so badly injured she’d never have survived.”
The backs of my eyes sting. I want to crawl into his lap and hold him.
“When that man hung himself, the real devil of Devil’s Peak was finally gone. Kayce had only just been born, and I spent the day knocking down the rotten old farmhouse that used to stand on this very spot instead of going to the sick bastard’s funeral.”
My chest aches just listening to him. But I don’t want him to stop talking. I feel like there’s a chance I’m the only person in the world Colt has ever spoken to about this.
I’m unsure what kind of spell has descended on this kitchen tonight, but it’s as if we’re suspended, dangling out of time.
He chuckles darkly to himself over the top of his beer. “Spent nearly thirty years taking this place from a broken, run-down piece of shit, and erasing that fucker’s legacy. Hopefully, one day, when I move on, this place will be sold to some savvy person who will come along and make way more money than I ever have off this ranch.”
“You didn’t build it for you?” I’m heartbroken for him, but at the same time I think I just fell head over heels for this man and everything he has worked so tirelessly to achieve.
Colt shakes his head. His unruly dark locks falling across his eyes make him look younger. It’s only when you see the flecks of silver in his beard that it gives away his age.
“Figured this place was always going to be a tourism opportunity, not a ranch that could compete with the big boys.So I built something that could be good for that. I dunno, accommodation for rich folk who like to chopper in and prance around on horses for the weekend or some shit.”
“Like a dude ranch?”
Colt shudders and scrunches his face up. “I swear if anyone calls this placethatin my vicinity, I’ll have a fucking aneurysm.”
He gestures for me to pass over my empty bowl. I’m guessing our little heart-to-heart has come to a conclusion, but I pick it up before he can try to do my dishes for me. While I kind of like how easily we seem to split chores around here, tonight feels like the kind of night when we can each clear up after ourselves.
“I’ve got it.” I flash a small smile, then duck my head.
When I cross to the other side and join him beside the counter, my attention is drawn to peer out through the dark in the direction of the cattle. His broad shoulders fill the space in front of the sink as he rinses out the containers that must have had the stew in them, as well as his own bowl.
“They’ll be ok. You did an excellent job out there.”
