Page 5 of Forever His Brat

Charlie laughed. “Much as I hate to admit it, Sam’s right. Judging by the sounds, we’re getting more sleet than snow so it’s best to wrap this up for now. But Katie, feel free to come over and visit any time. I’m… I’m really glad you’re here.”

And that was the truth. Just the reluctance she felt to say goodbye to the other woman was a sign of how starved she’d been for friendship. They’d literally just met after all. She shouldn’t be feeling this need to stall and keep them there.

She loved Sam more than anything, but he couldn’t fill every single role in her life. Her therapist was right, a friend was what she really needed. She was looking forward to seeing where things went, but for now her stress levels were low and that was a good sign.

CHAPTER2

Sam had been dealing with some doubts over how well things would work out. Charlie seemed to waiver between excitement and dread as they discussed the plans for Nick and Katie to come and live on the ranch.

Obviously they would have a lot in common. They were both submissive women and that should be plenty to bond over, but Charlie didn’t always allow people in. Sam wasn’t sure how this was going to go.

One moment she’d be talking about all the possibilities it would open up… the next she was worrying about having people she didn’t know on the ranch after hours. There were fears about whether she’d get along with Katie too. Charlie was easy to like, and he remembered her having a lot of casual friends, but she tended to keep them at a distance.

Sam couldn’t remember her ever having any close friends before. Maybe when she was off at school she had. He hadn’t been involved in her life then, so he couldn’t say. But from what he’d seen, he was the only one she’d allowed to get close.

It made sense. They’d grown up on the ranch together and they were the only two kids for miles around. But even at school he was the one she sought out, despite being in different grades. It wasn’t something he’d thought about much.

Sam didn’t need a big circle of friends and he got plenty of interactions during the day while he was working, but he hadn’t realized how isolated Charlie felt until she’d spoken up.

Once she did, it made him start to think. Hedidsocialize throughout the day. They talked and laughed while they worked, and it was generally pleasant. But since becoming foreman there had been a change in how much fun he had with the ranch hands.

He remembered it being different when he was just one of the guys. Stepping into the boss role, well that had put up some walls. He missed having a friend he wasn’t dating too. Someone to toss back a beer with and bitch about women, and work, and those damn politicians who were always making things worse.

It hadn’t taken him long to realize he needed a friend just as badly as she did. Unlike Charlie he wasn’t entirely sure that hiring Nick was going to help with that.

He was still going to be the boss. He and Nick went way back, and he sure hoped they could maintain a friendship despite the new situation. He’d hate to see it trampled into the dust, but he couldn’t deny it might happen.

In his mind it was worth the risk to have someone solid, someone he could depend on running the ranch under him. He didn’t want to be just another guy talking about all the things he wanted to do—but never doing any of it.

When Jimmy died and left him half the ranch it had hit him hard. Shock had hit, and then came the instant realization that it was going to cause a shitstorm between him and Charlie. When they’d found out, there had been such a crushing look of betrayal on her face that it was physically painful to see.

For a while, things had been rocky, but she’d gotten over the hurt faster than he would have expected. Sam was pretty sure it had only worked out amicably because they’d ended up getting back together. She didn’t mind him being in charge of the ranch business (much) because he was in charge of her too.

He couldn’t think of any other scenario where things would have worked out as well as they had. Now that he had some perspective, he was grateful for the opportunity Jimmy had given him. It was probably the only way he ever would have had a spread of his own, even half of one.

But there were some genuine fears there as well and he had time to think about all of them while he parked at the end of their private road waiting for Nick and his wife. In the dark truck, with the heater blasting and his headlights bouncing back off a wall of whiteness, he could barely see a thing. His concentration turned inwards for lack of anything else to occupy him.

He’d never been his own boss. Even as foreman he’d worked under Jimmy’s authority and Charlie’s father had kept his hand in as long as he could before the cancer took him. Having power and authority also meant having all the responsibility for the decisions he made.

There was no one to blame if things went bad and he was aware of the heavy burden resting on his shoulders. The changes they’d discussed and decided on were risky financially. He was taking a shot at making their future better, but it came at a cost.

He had confidence in his plan, most of the time. A lot of thought had gone into it, and research too. They’d priced the materials they would need and had already made the first overtures with local businesses about putting together event packages.

Charlie had a good head for business and degrees to back up her natural instincts, and she agreed they had a real shot at expanding. At a time when most of the local ranches were starting to cut down and pull back, that was a pretty big gamble.

Hiring Nick as foreman was the first step, and an essential one. Sam got all of that. He knew he needed to step back from the daily work of running a ranch if he was going to have the energy to put into growing their side venture. It was still hard to let go of those reins.

As a boss he tended to be a micromanager and he knew it. He was hoping that having Nick in place would cut back on that. Nick had the same amount of experience he did, and their style of running things was compatible.

Whether being friends helped or made everything harder he didn’t know yet. He was hoping it would make him less prone to push in and take over. And once Nick was comfortable running things he could step back and focus on the future.

Not just the future of the ranch but his future with Charlie too. They were going to see the world, if he had anything to say about it. Traveling around event schedules was a lot easier than traveling when you were trying to run a ranch. With Nick here they would be able to relax on that front.

That was the theory anyway.

Before he could pull that apart any further, he heard the muffled sound of tire chains grinding down the main road, getting closer. Only one lane in each direction had been plowed, and not recently enough so the progress was slow. He couldn’t see the vehicle, but he could tell from the sounds that it wasn’t a plow.

Sam figured there weren’t going to be many others out on the road in the middle of the snowstorm, which hopefully meant it was them. He began to flash his headlights as he attempted to catch the driver’s attention before they crawled past. When the vehicle slowed, skidded, and then came to a stop he got out of the truck and waved madly with both arms.

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