Page 51 of Carly's Heart

“Jimmy was failing in school. His mother was at her wit’s end. When I caught him shoplifting in the drugstore, I turned him in to the police. After a lot of talk, the police, Jimmy, his mother, and I came to an agreement. He’s doing community service here instead of being arrested and getting a record. Turns out that he loves horses almost as much as I do. He’ll do anything to keep this job. Keeping his marks up is part of our deal. He works Saturdays, and after school from four to eight. Part of that time is spent studying.”

“You’re a good guy, Mr. Brighton, sir.”

“I insist on being called Mr., but not the sir. It might be old school, but it keeps a definitive line between management and other staff. All my managers are Mr., Mrs., Miss., or Ms. as they prefer. We have a lot of students working here besides Jimmy. They go by their first names.”

“Just how many staff do you have?” She didn’t know if she was awed or intimidated. Probably the latter.

“Don’t make it sound like that. Like hiring people makes me a bad person somehow. Money is important to me only in that it lets me do what I want. What I want to do is raise horses. If I can hire other people and share my profit, that’s a good thing.”

They rode in silence while she tried to digest his words.

Finally, he said, “I lied. There are two things I want. I want to raise horses, and I want a family of my own. Is that so wrong? To want to have enough money to give the people I love everything they need and have enough left over to hire people, so my family gets my time as well?”

“No.” It didn’t seem so bad when he put it that way. Spreading his money around by hiring people was a great way to give to the community. Admirable.

“Look. I didn’t bring you here to show off my money. But this land, these horses and my facilities are all part of me. Horses aren’t what I do, they’re who I am. Look at it this way, you aren’t just a mom. You’re a generous kind-hearted woman and it would be wrong of anyone to try and make you change what you are deep inside.”

They rode a little further. “Dad made some really good investments over the years. He made a killing in real estate and the stock market. He’s retired from that to raise cattle. You don’t have trouble around my parents’ money, why do you balk at mine? That is the problem, that’s why you suddenly felt uncomfortable isn’t it?” Frustration rang in his voice.

“I ... I just sort of ... I don’t know. I’ve always thought of you as a regular guy. When you started talking bucket lists that included travelling the whole world and doing expensive things, it shocked me.”

“Give me today to prove that I am a regular guy, okay? My family has had money for as long as I can remember. But nothing was ever handed to me. I had to buy my own trucks. I paid for my own education, the same as Tanya is doing.”

“I’ll try to be open minded,” she answered.

He pointed to the left. “We’ll follow that trail. It gets narrow, so follow behind me. We’re almost there.”

“Almost where?”

He laughed. “Wait and see.”

They rode up a gentle sloping hill through the trees and when the path opened into a clearing by a stream he stopped and dismounted. He helped her down and let the horses’ reins dangle.

“Won’t they run away?”

“No. They’re trained to stay. A bear or cougar might freak them out, but we’d see their nervousness before they got too carried away.” He ran his finger down the crease in her brow. “Relax, beautiful. We’re safe here.”

---