Page 42 of Romeo

“I’ll go slow, but it might be a bit bumpy.”

“I’ll be fine.”She smiles.“I’m not unaccustomed to pain.”

It breaks my heart to know she’s not just talking about physical pain.While I still have no clue what happened to her that turned her so cold to the world, I imagine it was horrible.Since I can’t chase those demons away for her, I can at least bring her a bit of peace while she deals with them.

“Just let me know if it gets too rough, okay?”

“Okay.”

I start driving, guiding the UTV down the road that leads away from my house and toward the creek.I pass by my chickens then take a left once I hit the path that runs parallel to the water.With it being summer, it’s not nearly as full as it usually is, but the crisp water still runs smoothly over the rocks.

Jules keeps her gaze turned out toward it, long enough that I can steal some glances at her profile.

She’s beautiful—anyone with eyes can see that—but right now, as she stares out at the water in the bright morning sun, she’s breathtaking.Her blonde hair is flowing softly as we drive, her piercing green gaze watching everything we pass.

Aside from the growl of the engine, the minutes tick by in silence until I’m pulling up to a closed gate.“Have you ever driven one of these?”I ask her.

“No.”

“Want to?”

Her eyes widen a bit.“Why?”

“I need to open the gate.You can pull it through, and I’ll close it behind us.”

She stares at me, obviously shocked that I asked her to do it.Given what I know of Odie, I can’t help but wonder if he ever made her believe she could do anything.“What if I mess it up?”

“You won’t,” I reply easily.

She continues staring at me for a moment, and I watch as she battles against the fear of making a mistake and the fact that she’s excited at the chance.Finally, she nods.“Okay.I can do that.”

“Great.”I give her a quick rundown of the controls then climb out and undo the chain wrapped around the gate.After pushing it open, I watch with a happy smile as Jules guides the UTV through the gate and stops just on the other side.After resecuring the gate—always leave them like you found themingrained in my brain since childhood—I climb into the passenger side.

“You don’t want to drive?”she asks.

“Nah, you’ve got this.”

“Seriously?I don’t know where we’re going.”

“We’re driving.Find a place you want to stop and stop.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” I reply with a grin then turn to face the front.

Jules hesitates just a moment then starts driving down the path.The pasture we’re in now is the same one where the bulk of our cattle are at the moment, so when we crest the hill and Jules sees the cattle grazing around a large pond, she comes to a stop and gasps audibly.“That is a lot of cows.”

I reach over and turn off the engine.“This is about three-quarters of our herd.We rotate them through different pastures.”

“Are they going to come after us?”

“Nah.They’re all pretty friendly.Though, if they see us, they may think we brought them food.”

She turns to me, and for a moment, I see unshielded joy in her gaze.“This is such a great life, Riley.”

“It is.When I was a kid, I didn’t get the chance to fully appreciate the peace that comes from a place like this.Or the pride one feels when a day of hard work is over.”

“No one ever really had me do anything,” she confesses.“Aside from me taking over the cleaning of my grandfather’s estate.I remember feeling so accomplished after I cleaned it the first time.”Her smile falters.“That sounds ridiculous and incredibly stuck up.”

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