Page 24 of 7 Dirty Lies

“Too full?”Ilaughed.

“Stomach ache.It’s amazing what an entire bucket of berries will do to you.Or tomatoes.Or a bushel ofapples.”

“Are you secretly a vegetarian?”I couldn’t imagine a man with that much natural muscle built it all on fruits andveggies.

“Not on a cattle ranch,” he winked.“But I did have a very natural, well balanced diet.Stilldo.”

“When you aren’t eating all thecrops.”

His eyes unfocused.“I should probably do it more.Work less, enjoy the thing I take forgranted.”

“You only live once.Don’t waste it on work when you could be eating grapes offthevine.”

He stared at me like I was a magical fairy that had just flitted out of the bushes.“You’re quite theoptimist.”

I used to be.Maybe I was finding it again.“I learned a long time ago that life is what you choose to make it.You can be miserable if you focus on all the negative, or you can be happy and focus onthegood.”

He seemed to consider that for a moment.“I think I focus on both, but someone has to keep the lights on and food on thetable.”

“At the expense of your life?”I wasn’t an expert but most people who worked obsessively also worked themselves into earlygraves.

But that wasn’t what I meant.Notspecifically.

“What are you working for if you don’t get to be happy?”I realized that I needed to take my ownadvice.

His eyes unfocused again.I wondered where he went in his mind each time he did that.“So the people I love can be happy,” he said simply, still not lookingatme.

The sentiment hit me hard.He cared deeply—at his own expense.“How old are you, Colt?”He couldn’t be that much older than me, which meant he was rather young to have the weight of the world on hisshoulders.

“Thirty-two.”

“And how long have you been in charge of everyone’shappiness?”

His eyes snapped back to mine.“Specifically?Or will an estimatesuffice?”

I don’t know what possessed me.“Specifically.”There was something.A trigger.An event that had pushed him into thisposition.

“Eighteen.But,” he blinked away the darkness that had clouded his eyes, “I am who I am.I think I’ve been trying to keep things together since I was about twelve or thirteen.Started working for the company from the bottom up atsixteen.”

“I think you take on too much, Colt.”I wiggled closer to him on my back so that I was lying with my lips just below his.“Your sister pushed you into this vacation,right?”

He nodded slowly, his eyes locked on mine with a thousandquestions.

I gave a little nervous shrug.“That sounds a lot to me like a sister who is worried about her brother’s happiness andwellbeing.”

He didn’t deny it.I felt the full intensity of his emotions as his gaze remained locked on mine.It was too much.I held my breath while I waited for him to say something.I hoped I was right.Everyone needed someone in their corner, pushing forhappiness.

“Look at this.”I pointed up.He hesitated but followed along, lying down beside me so that our heads weretouching.

“What am I looking atexactly?”

“The trees.See the way they’re dancing in the wind?We can’t even feel it all the way down here.We can’t hear it, the falls drown it out.But we can see it.Isn’t thatamazing?”

I waited for him to brush me off—it wouldn’t be the first time.Some people enjoyed my tangents but most weren’t able to see the simply beauty.Maybe it was too basic.I didn’t know and I didn’t care.I saw it and I’d keep sharing it because sometimes...well sometimes itmattered.

“Are you alwayslikethis?”

I stiffened.“Like what?”Crazy?Silly?

“Brilliant.”

My breath caught at the admiration in his voice.“Brilliant?I don’t think anyone’s ever called me that.”Untalented, freeloading, wannabe.I heard those all the time.But brilliantwasnew.

Ilikedit.

“To notice that,” he continued, “while having a conversation...that’s some serious observational skills, plus to process it.I guess that’s what artists do,though.”

“Yeah.”Artists...Just not the kind you’rethinkingof.

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