“It’s an assumption. You’re…”
“I’ll prove it,” she says as she puts a hand on her hip.
“Why? That’s not going to save your ranch or the cattle. Let me worry about that.”
“You don’t have to come in and rescue me all the damn time, Wade,” she says haughtily. “I’ve lived this long without being rescued.”
“I’m not trying to rescue you; I’m trying to help you prioritize what’s important rather than getting lost in the distractions.”
She rolls her eyes. “I have more cattle to check for the day.”
“You cannot run off when I have a difference of opinion.”
“I have work to do.”
“And I’ll come right along with you. I’m not dropping this. It’s not that I don’t believe you, Sutton. But I don’t want you to get lost in conspiracy theories and not focus on the bigger picture. It seems like we’ve got the illness figured out, but we’re not certain. Not to mention, the next biggest thing on that list is making sure you don’t lose your ranch. Let’s focus on that.”
“I’m working on that, too.”
“I can multi-task.”
“And I can help. You need to understand that this isn’t you against the world any longer. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”
She sits back a little, her eyes staring back at me all wide and shocked. She doesn’t say anything. She turns on her heel and keeps walking back out to the cattle.
Actions speak louder than words, and she’s about to see that I’m for real.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Sutton
Does he think I can’t handle this? Does he think I’m not capable of taking care of things myself?
I stomp through the barn, the warm scent of hay and the low murmurs of cattle surrounding me, but my mind is anything but calm. He’s so infuriating.
“Hey, boss, can you come here a sec?” Jared calls out for Wade.
I’m grateful for the distraction. Now he’s not following me.
My heart hurts as I replay his words in my head. I’m not sure what I’m really mad about. I just know that his words hurt when he told me that I was going off assumptions.
Does he not believe me? After all this, does he not trust my judgment? I blow out a long breath and try to figure out the emotions that are racing through me.
When Wade questioned me, I immediately went on the defensive. It’s like, as he was talking, it wasn’t Wade talking anymore; he was replaced with my father. All my insecurities from my dad resurfaced quickly.
I feel a teardrop slipping down my cheek, and I quickly brush it away. It’s a good thing that I realized I’m not mad at Wade so fast, right? At least now, I can work on understanding it.
I slam the latch on the feed bin harder than necessary, muttering under my breath. “Will I ever get past this?”
“Everything okay, Sutton?” Caleb’s voice startles me, and I spin around to see him leaning casually against the barn door, his baseball cap tilted back slightly.
“Fine,” I say, brushing off the irritation in my tone. “I didn’t realize you were back from school already.”
He steps closer, his boots crunching softly on the barn floor. “I heard about the diagnosis. Bovine respiratory disease, huh?”
I nod, letting out a long breath. “Yeah. It’s not great, but at least we know what we’re dealing with now. The meds are already being administered. I’ve got Doc Lucy hitting the other ranches, and I’m handling things here.”
“Do you know where it started?”
