Page 48 of Never Left You

“Where’s Stet—” He paused “—son,” he corrected himself.

I grinned. “I let him stay home from school. He’s with Kyla.”

“How’s his knee?”

“Fine. Scraped up, but thanks to Dr. Cash last night, he’ll survive.”

Cash kept his gaze forward, but he smiled, a small chuckle vibrating through the air. “He hated me for cleaning it out.”

“He could never hate you,” I admitted.

“You didn’t hear the hiss he gave me.”

“Sounded like a snake, didn’t it?” A smile tugged at my lips.

“A poisonous one,” Cash mumbled.

I couldn’t help but let out a scoff, “I’ve heard that hiss a time or two.”

“Yeah, but you’re his mom. You’re supposed to get the hisses. I’m fun Uncle Cash.” He straightened his back and wiggled his shoulders, showing he was proud to have that title. “I let him on roofs and teach him how to fix shingles. One day, I’ll teach him how to ride bronc and before you know it, he’ll be riding in the rodeo.”

“He wants to do bareback; did you know that?” I raised my eyebrow at him.

“I did. I won’t lie, I was hoping he’d choose saddle bronc, but I can see how he wants to take after his real uncle…cousin?” He furrowed his brow. “Lachlan is his cousin?”

I let out a laugh. “Technically, Lachlan is his first cousin once removed, but he’s always called him Uncle Lachlan. He wants to be like him. He’s seen his past events on YouTube.”

“What about his dad’s?”

Taking a deep breath, I shook my head. “No. At least…not with me.”

“What if he wants to ride bulls? He’s gotta learn from the best?”

Bulls. Sylas.Why did he have to bring that up? We were having a good conversation.

“No.” My voice was cold and toneless.

He caught my bluntness, and the air grew tense. The subject needed to change, and fast. Sylas was not a conversation I wanted to breach. I didn’t even watch bull riding on the TV or during the Fourth of July Rodeo, what makes him think I’d even let Stetson anywhere near a bull? I didn’t even like the idea of him riding bareback—hell, mutton busting—a bull. Fuck no.

I clenched my teeth to stop myself from saying anything further. Instead, I looked ahead and tried to will a white horse to appear.

A few moments of silence later, Cash cleared his throat. “So…”

I side eyed him.

“Lach tells me your dad’s finally retiring? That the ranch will be yours?”

“And Rhett’s, but he wants me to take the majority of it.” I swallowed. This wasn’t a topic I wanted to think about either. He wasn’t helping the ‘figure out your emotions’ battle I was having with myself.

“I can see why.” A sigh left him as he moved on Nova, straightening his back and tilting his head from side to side. “You’re invested in this place. I can tell you really love it.”

“I do,” was all I said.

It wasn’t a lie. I loved this land. It was beautiful. The trees were starting to get their leaves, and slowly but surely the green would consume the land. The blossoming trees near the lake would add the light pinks to make the spring shine. Spring timewas supposed to bring the sunshine to the ranch, and for the most part, it did. I loved the colors and watching the ranch come back to life around me.

And with the man on the horse next to me, his concentration ahead of him, helping spruce things up, I couldn’t wait to see what it would look like. The barn’s red paint stood out against the muted colors, and once the fences around it were fixed, it was going to be perfect. Absolutely gorgeous.

But still thinking of taking over the majority of the business, having my name on the title caused my throat to swell and my palms to sweat. I could even feel my heart begin to beat in an unnatural rhythm. It wasn’t about the numbers anymore. We were starting to catch up, looking good for this month to actually make a profit with the new horses we were boarding and Cash using the arena, but we still needed more. Sure, I no longer wanted to call David and take that offer we turned down months ago, but there was a lingering feeling in the back of my mind that I hadn’t told anyone. I hadn’t even admitted it out loud. I didn’t know if this is what I wanted. Did I want to be sitting behind a desk all day while Lachlan was out on the land? Not really. I didn’t want to constantly stress over the finances until I didn’t sleep at night. I didn’t want to be in charge. I wanted to…

---