Page 28 of Holding On to a Hero
“It’s always twenty dollarsor,” she announced. Before I could ask, she went on, “I can pay Uncle Will twenty dollars, or I can do something for him.”
“Wow, twenty dollars is a lot. What kinds of things does he want you to do instead?”
“Mostly it’s chores, or this one time I had to do twenty push-ups.” She wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t like that.”
“That’s terrible. You must really want to play Peach.”
“She’s the best. It’s worth it. But sometimes I get to do fun things, like this one time he taught me this really cool song about a chameleon, and I got to sing it for mom!” She started singing the chorus toKarma Chameleon.
I coughed again, and managed, “That does sound fun.” Now Ally had turned her glare on me.
“Yes, but he didn’t know Mom doesn’t like that song, likeat all, and I heard her tell Uncle Will,” she put on a stern voice, “’If you value your continued existence you won’t do that again.’” Abby and I laughed, and Will finally met my eye with a rueful shrug. Ally shook her head and started to clear the dishes.
Cole needed to meet Will’s family soon.
Chapter Nineteen
Will
Before he and Jason left to pick up the sheep, Arturo directed me where to find Cole. As I approached the paddock behind the barn I could see him standing with the horses who were surrounding a wheelbarrow full of hay. A small amount of hay seemed to have made it into the net above, but the horses were ignoring that in favor of the wheelbarrow’s feast. Cole was attempting to push the horses away from the wheelbarrow, but the horses were expertly shoving him aside instead.
“Do you need some help?” I called, laughing.
Cole turned, and his face brightened when he saw me. “Thanks, but as you can see I’ve got it under control here.” He patted the chestnut horse’s hip.
“Your command and mastery of horses is amazing,” I said in a fake awed voice as I walked up to the paddock fence.
He speared his hands through his hair. “I swear, one day I’m going to know what I’m doing around here.”
I chuckled and said, “Well, isn’t that why you hired Arturo?”
He looked balefully back at the horses. “Yeah. But I’m trying to learn.” Turning back to me he walked over to the fence and leaned across for a kiss. I had one of those moments where you feel like you’re standing next to yourself, wondering how in the world you of all people got to be the one Cole Washburn, hot as hell Hollywood hero, was kissing. It was a quick kiss, but perfect just the same. When Cole pulled back I couldn’t help the goofy smile I felt coming over my face.
“I’ve got hay in my hair, don’t I?” He brushed fruitlessly at the bits of hay sticking out of his thick black hair. I wondered if he’d let me take his picture, but I felt a little too insecure to ask.
Instead I said, “Too bad you missed breakfast with my family.”
“Jason texted me he loved meeting your sister and niece.”
“Yeah, they’re the best.” I looked over at the horses. I guessed we were waiting for them to polish off the hay. I leaned on the fence to get comfortable. The midday sun felt nice on my back, and for once it wasn’t too humid. “What made you decide to open an animal rescue anyway?”
Cole looked at me thoughtfully. “Have you heard the story about the stray dog and how I met my agent and got into acting?”
“Uh, I don’t think so? I deliberately didn’t Google you or look at Wikipedia.”
“Hah. I appreciate that, you have no idea.” Cole removed his work gloves and laid them over the top of the fence. “I’ll tell you my tale of privilege and woe, and by the time I’m done maybe I’ll be able to get the wheelbarrow back from the horses.”
“Okay. I’d love to hear it.”
“Right.” Cole turned to lean his back against the fence so I could only see his profile. “So I grew up in Santa Madre in Southern California, just not the good part of Southern California. It’s a couple of hours from L.A. I never knew my dad. My mom had a couple of different jobs at a time – waitressing, working retail and the like. But she was an alcoholic.”
I must have made a noise because he glanced over and nodded. “Yeah, not the best way to grow up. I loved her and she tried, but when she wasn’t working the alcohol was her priority, not me.” He blew out a long breath. “Looking back I’m actually impressed she managed to go to work and hold down her jobs. She died in a car accident when I was a senior in high school. She’d been drinking of course. Luckily no one else was hurt.”
“That must have been awful for you.” My heart clenched thinking of Cole left on his own so young.
He gave a sharp nod. “They didn’t make me go into foster care at least, since I was already eighteen. Our neighbor took me in for the last few months of high school. I’d been working at the grocery store for a couple of years, so I had a little money saved up. When I graduated I went straight to L.A.”
He rolled his head around on his neck, like he was trying to relieve tension. “I didn’t have the money to go to college, so I decided I’d trade on the one asset I had, my looks.” He made a face. “I thought I could get some modeling gigs but I didn’t have professional headshots, and those aren’t cheap. So I ended up working at a grocery store again and sharing a tiny two-bedroom apartment with three other guys who were looking for their big breaks just like me.”
