Page 44 of A Cowboy's Twinkling Lights Lasso
“You dropped off food for her?”
He nods. “I’d like to clarify that Dani doesn’t take handouts. She paid me back. She cleaned the flower beds at the ranch and painted fences. She drove my dad home from time to time and hauled his ass into bed.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“She spent a lot of time at the ranch after you left.”
I mindlessly tap the forktips on my plate. “I wonder why she didn’t tell me.”
He shrugs. “I can’t answer that. I can tell you she didn’t know what Theo had said to you. She thought you left for school. It was that clean-cut. But we did both expect you to come home.”
“I never planned on coming home. I always wanted to leave this small town. I just thought she’d come with me. At one point, I thought you would come with me. You never showed interest in fixing your dad’s ranch, but then the whole barn thing happened, and I just left.”
He lifts the mug to his lips, his eyes never leaving mine. He takes a slow sip before he speaks.
“You are right. I didn’t know what I wanted back then. Spending the summer with you opened my eyes. It became clear, like the first light of dawn breaking through the darkness. I could see the ranch’s potential and realized I could reshape it and my life. You inspired me.”
“Don’t give me credit for something I’m sure I didn’t do.”
“You did. And I suspect you raising Dani gave her the bravery and independence to get what she needed.”
My heart swells. “You think so?”
“I do.”
“I always thought she’d be mad at me.”
“I never got that vibe from her. Not once.” His knife slices through his fluffy stack of flapjacks on his plate. The maple syrup drizzles down the sides, and he stabs his fork into the heap.
“Tell me more about the ranch.”
“You know, I remember what a struggle it was initially. My old man fought me every step of the way.” There’s dry humor in his tone.
“That must’ve been frustrating.” I bite into a ripe strawberry, and sweetness floods my mouth.
“Lord help me, it was. My dad sold anything he could get his hands on for himself. We wouldn’t have eaten if it hadn’t been for the odd jobs I took around town. But that wasn’t enough to live on, let alone buy cattle. One thing led to another, and I got into organic farming.”
“One thing led to another?”
He lifts the forkful of pancakes to his mouth and makes a satisfied sigh as he chews. I watch him, thinking I could watch him delicately chew food for the rest of my life. It was one of many things I could do with him for the rest of my life. Which then makes me wonder what that means to me. Do I want to spend my life with Thorn? Do I want to uproot the life I’ve built, move back here, and live in the town I spent my childhood dreaming of leaving?
The thoughts terrify me, so I push them down to focus on him.
He swallows, and how he makes it so damn sexy is beyond me. “Some days, I wasn’t sure it would ever turn around. I fixed the fences and the barn.” He did have a knack for fixing things. “But that didn’t bring in any money. I was just sinking money back into the ranch. That was until I started renting out land and stalls in the barn.”
“That sounds profitable.”
“It was, and things turned around.”
“I’m glad. I can relate to sinking money into a career that doesn’t bring it back. I thought I’d land a job right away when I graduated school.”
“That didn’t happen?”
“No.”
“Really? You are so talented. I’m surprised.”
“Do you think maybe your vision of me was clouded by young teenage hormones?” I’m only half teasing. The other half is digging.
