Page 10 of A Cowboy's Trust
Maybe it would be good to talk about it. Jake’s commitment to not complain to his brothers had stood firm. Even after two weeks, he hadn’t once complained about being left out of the loop with Tansy’s hiring.
Talking to Kevin wasn’t really complaining?—
And there he went, justifying it all over again.
His friend snickered. “The dead-air I just got to my suggestion means you absolutely want to talk about it. So let’s do this. I’ll take my mismatched oxen here back to the barn, then how about we meet in the art studio?” He considered for a minute. “There’s a few final bits of window trim that need to be stained. We can take care of that while we talk.”
The man was brilliant. It was somehow easier not to think of it as a therapy session when they were knocking off one of the final things on Jake’s checklist.
The art studio absolutely needed to be ready. They had their first weekend visitors arriving Friday night, and while it was only a group of six, it meant High Water was about to officially be open. The public-facing, money-making side of High Water, that was.
Jake filled a thermos with coffee and nabbed a handful of muffins off the counter in the main house, timing it perfectly so Tansy was out of the room when he raided the kitchen.
The woman got up at five a.m. every day. It made it damn near impossible to avoid her when he wanted to grab a quick breakfast.
Of course it also meant that there was fresh baking every morning, so it wasn’t as if he really had anything to complain about.
Out in the art studio, the sunshine reflected off the hardwood floors and created a warm honey glow that bounced off the walls. Jake filled a cup and grabbed a muffin, settling into one of the oversized easy chairs arranged to look out over the land to the south.
It was hard to keep that disgruntled feeling inside sharp when confronted with pristine acres of snow and towering spruce trees against the Rocky Mountains.
He sat and enjoyed his breakfast. Kevin copied him and settled into the chair at his side, munching quietly as he too looked over the endless vista.
“That alone is worth the price of admission,” Kevin said. “You know, when you gave me a shout and told me what you were doing here, I thought it was a pretty good idea. Didn’t realize how much I’d need it at the time.”
Jake took a glance at the friend he’d known for years. The cut that ran through Kevin’s brow and down beside his eye had healed, but it left him with a bit of a rakish look. It might be rude, but they’d always spoken bluntly between them. “You have nightmares about getting that scar?”
“Mostly I’m thankful it wasn’t worse,” Kevin said slowly. “The nightmares I have are regarding the young man who gave it to me. He’s exactly the type of person we might see here at High Water.”
Ouch. “That’s going to make it tough for you.”
Kevin shrugged. “Jake, you know this. Doing the right thing isn’t always easy. But there’s a special sense of pride in doing what’s right in spite of how tough it might be. I can’t let something that happened to me change the person I am in negative ways.”
Jake cringed again, but this time it was for an entirely different reason. He met his friend’s gaze straight on. “Yeah, I think that might be my current dilemma. Stuff that happened in the past changed me, and every now and then I get a reminder of how much I don’t like it.”
His friend leaned back in his chair and crossed his ankles. He sipped his coffee then nodded. “Anything specific?”
Jake wasn’t about to bust out Tansy’s name, because it was pretty clear she wasn’t the problem. Only she came to mind, and he wanted to shake his head to get her out of there.
When he caught Kevin grinning, he realized he wasliterallyshaking his head.
Fine. Bite the bullet and spit it out. “I’ve always been good at organizing things,” Jake offered. “With some of the stuff that’s happened in my past, I might have gotten too obsessed about it.”
“We do like to fall back on habits that give us comfort,” Kevin pointed out. “You’ve had a lot going on over the past years. Your organizational skills have gone a long way to making High Water possible.”
It was as if Kevin was giving him an out, but Jake knew there was a difference between a solid plan and paranoia. “Yeah, but I shouldn’t feel a sense of panic when somebody changes plans on me.”
For a moment, his friend stayed quiet. “Lots to untangle in that sentence,” Kevin finally said. “Let’s hit the two questions you should start with. First, do you have a reason to panic? I mean, consider the source right at that very moment. Sometimes when we get trained by past experiences, there’s a good reason to be wary. We should trust our gut—we earned that knowledge. But if you’re talking about situations involving your brothers, or Petra, can you trust them, or should you panic?”
“Good question. That’s the part keeping me level. I know where their heads are at, and they’re both rock solid. I know what they want in the end is the same thing I want.” This was the easy part to answer. “Aidan will do everything he can, even if he puts Petra first now, and that’s how it should be. And Declan’s pouring his entire life into the place.”
Kevin nodded. “Good. That’s a solid place to start. Which doesn’t mean the panic will go away right away, but it means that you can turn right back on its heels after you askDo I need to panic?No. Feeling uncomfortable is fine, but panic, go away.”
“Easier said than done,” Jake grumbled.
“Don’t I know it,” Kevin agreed. “That’s where the second question comes in.”
“Is it time for a beer?”
