Page 21 of Begin Again
I learned that Shadow came to the ranch not long before I did. We were like kindred spirits, both lost and trying to find our place in the world. Loners with no other place to go, and Bezer had offered us refuge. It seemed fitting that we ended up here considering that’s what the town calls itself—the City of Refuge. Sloan had asked Joseph to take the horse in after he’d been found at an abandoned farm with evidence of abuse and mistreatment for who knows how long.
“I still can’t believe you’re the one who could break that damn horse.”
Over my shoulder, Charlie stands at the entrance of the barn. Locking the stall door, I grab one of the apples I had swiped for Shadow and pass it to him, ignoring her.
Charlie sighs. “I’m sorry for earlier.” She walks farther inside, digging her hands into her coat pockets. “I shouldn’t have been such a bitch when you could’ve easily outed me to my dad.”
“I didn’t have to do anything; you did that yourself.” I rub the bridge of Shadow’s nose before turning to look at her. “I thought you were over Cooper.”
“We were just talking.” Charlie shrugs.
I lean my elbow against the stall door, lips pulling into a line. “And drinking.”
“How is that any of your business, huh?”
“When you come home in the middle of the night drunk off your ass, waking everyone in the house up—me included—it becomes my business.”
Okay, maybe she didn’t wake me up, per se, but if I hadn’t been awake because of the storm…she would have done so.
“Besides, what kind of jackass feeds someone drinks and doesn’t make sure they get home okay? You shouldn’t have been driving in that state.”
“You’re ridiculous, you know that?”
“How’s that?” I ask, handing Shadow another apple.
Charlie takes a few steps closer but maintains a good distance between us. “You say you don’t want anything to do with me, but you get jealous when I hang out with my ex.”
“Your ex who is notorious for causing trouble around town.” I shake my head, turning away from her to put the muck tools away. This conversation is going nowhere and is going to end in an argument. One that I don’t care to have. “Be careful, Charlie. I’d hate to see you end up on the wrong side of things.”
“That what happened to you?”
Her words stop me.
“How else would you end up in this situation, right?” The only sound is the shrug of her shoulders in her windbreaker. Biting down on her lip, she rolls her eyes and steps back. “Whatever. You want to continue to pine after something that hasn’t come looking for you in almost a year instead of seeing what’s right in front of you, be my guest.”
CHAPTER TEN
“GETTIN’ ANYWHERE WITH THIS old thing?” Joseph’s muffled words catch my attention before I hear his hand knock on the edge of the truck’s body.
Before the dead of winter set in, I asked Joseph if I could work on the old Ford. He told me it had been sitting outside the barn for at least ten years, so he wasn’t sure much could be done with it, but I was welcome to try. Since then, it has been my pet project to pass the time. Something that I could call my own, instead of picking up other things to do around the ranch. It has been a few months since I got my hands dirty under the hood. The heavy snow that fell this past winter made it nearly impossible to work on it because I couldn’t get it inside the barn. But now with the temperatures rising and snow melting…I could finally get back to it. And it feels great.
“We’re getting somewhere, but not quite there yet,” I say, crawling from under the truck. “Need something?”
“Actually, yes.” Joseph wrings his hands before he folds them, leaning over the bed. He waits until I’m fully on my feet to continue. “I know you and Charlie have had your…differences the past year.”
That’s one way to put it. After our little spat in the barn yesterday, she’s been doing her best to ignore me.
“But tomorrow is her birthday and…Well, she’s supposed to go out tonight with her friends, and it seems like any time she goes out lately, Cooper shows up. But if you were there—”
“Joe.” I sigh and pull one of the work towels through the open cab window to wipe my hands. “You know I’d do anything for you, but—”
“I know that you two aren’t exactly friends, but I think if you gave one another a chance, you’d actually see you could be! You’re not as different as you might think.”
I rub the crease between my brows. I’m starting to get the feeling no matter what I say, I’m not getting out of this. Not if I want a (somewhat) peaceful night. If he tries to tell Charlie she can’t go out with her friends because of his fear that Cooper will show up…it’ll be World War III in the Blackwood household. And if she goes out without a chaperone, she will most likely wake me up at three in the morning again.
“Just think about it, hmm? She’s supposed to leave in a bit to meet them.”
“Fine. But I’m not going to be happy about it.”
