Page 20 of Begin Again
I can only nod in response because I don’t know what to say. While I appreciate everything Joseph has done for me the past year, every day I wake up hoping it will be my last one here—hoping I’ll finally remember something, or that someone will rescue me. The festival is supposed to be a celebration, but I’m not in the mood to celebrate much of anything that coincides with the one-year mark of my arrival in town. Thinking about still being here at the end of the week, let alone tomorrow or the day after, is enough to throw me into the thick of the depression I’ve been fighting my way out of for months. Every day is a challenge, some worse than others, but I remind myself there are worse places to be. At least I’m alive with a roof over my head, food on the table, and a warm bed to sleep in…
“Might be a good distraction for you,” Joseph adds when I still don’t say anything.
I hum in response, filling my coffee tumbler from the fresh pot that has finished brewing. When I turn, ready to face the cold again, I’m face-to-face with Charlie in the doorway. She’s dressed in a different set of pajamas than the ones I pulled out for her at three-thirty this morning.
“Well, good mornin’, sunshine! ’Bout time you got up,” Joseph calls over his shoulder, a slight chuckle in his tone.
“Can you not be so loud?” Charlie grimaces.
“What’s wrong, darlin’?”
“I have a massive headache, and I feel nauseous.”
“You sick?”
I don’t move from my place against the counter, I’m too interested to see where this will go. Charlie is her father’s pride and joy, and I’ve realized that he tends to turn a blind eye to his daughter’s antics—especially when it comes to partying. I raisea brow when she looks at me. What is she going to say? Time is ticking, and she better come up with something soon.
“No, I, uh…I just stayed up too late,” she stutters.
Finally, Joseph slams the wooden spoon down and turns to look at her. “Charlotte Grace Blackwood, were you hangin’ around that Hayes boy again?”
Let me correct what I said earlier…He turns a blind eye to her antics, except when it comes to her hanging out with her ex-boyfriend. According to conversations I’ve overheard between Joseph and his friend, Bill Wyatt, Cooper Hayes is bad news, alongside his friend, Dakota. They’re the town’s local bad boys. Whenever there’s trouble, you’d usually find them at the center of it. But for some reason, nothing ever stuck, and they always walked free.
Charlie has been adamant she isn’t interested in her high school sweetheart anymore, but it seems like they’ve been running into each other more than normal since he and Dakota made their big return to town two weeks ago. I haven’t seen them, but town has been buzzing with the news ever since.
“Cooper?” Charlie scoffs. “Yeah, right.”
Joseph’s face says he doesn’t believe her.
“I wasn’t! I mean, yeah, he was there, but—”
I scoff, cutting her off.
“Something you wanna say,Xavier?”she hisses.
“Nope,” I say, taking a sip of coffee. “Nothing at all.”
“Your face says otherwise.”
“That’s enough, Charlie.” Her father sighs. “Go get cleaned up and take a Tylenol. I need you to do the stalls.”
Charlie glares at me. “You’re not done? It’s like…two o’clock!”
“And I needed him to do some other stuff this morning. So, you’re on stall duty.”
“I can manage the stalls, Joe,” I say. “I was gonna work on the tractor some more, but I can do that later. I’m sure Charlie would much rather stay inside and nurse her…headache.” I take another sip of coffee, catching her glare over the rim of my mug.
Joseph looks between us, before shaking his head. “Obviously, I’m missing somethin’ here, and you know what? I don’t want to know. You two can figure it out yourselves.”
“Don’t worry about it,Princess,” I say to Charlie, walking out of the kitchen. “I can handle it today, but you owe me.” I wink at her from the door and leave, but within seconds I hear her frustrated groan before she stomps up the stairs and slams her bedroom door.
I hum along to the rock song playing on the boombox on the ledge above the tack room entrance. The stalls aren’t too bad, all things considered. I’ve been taking my time, enjoying the solitude working in the barn offers. The barn has become somewhat of my safe space at the ranch. A place I can disappear for a while without any interruptions, working on different projects. Since my arrival, I’ve found that working with my hands is one of my favorite ways to work through whatever thoughts are swirling in my mind.
As I finish spreading a fresh layer of bedding on the stall floor, I turn to the stall next door, where Shadow waits impatiently. I tried putting him in the pasture for fresh air, but he refused. I swear if he were a human, he’d be standing therewith a raised brow, critiquing everything I’m doing, complaining about it taking so long…but I love that damn horse. “C’mon, Shadow, you’re all clean, bud.”
The black horse huffs in response.
“I know, I know. I won’t take so long next time,” I say, rubbing the bridge of his nose before taking hold of the halter and guiding him into his stall.
