I was honestly speechless. Jake was doing everything right. He was trying harder than anyone to make Cassie part of his life, not that I ever doubted him. It was who he was, but knowing it and seeing it were two very different things.
“You want to climb up, Cass? Or do you want me to help you?” Jake offered, leaving me gobsmacked and addressing Cassie directly.
“I do it!” Cassie boomed. Little Miss Independent, that one.
Holding his hands up in surrender, Jake stepped back, and we watched as Cassie scrambled into the truck. It was a lot higher than my car, and she struggled, but Cassie was nothing if not determined.
I knew Jake was anxious to get going. I could see it in his face, but he didn’t flinch. He didn’t get impatient, and he didn’t snap. Instead, he let Cassie climb all over his truck and settle herself into the new seat.
Five frustratingly long minutes later, we were bumping through the gate, following Nash and Sawyer who were on their ATVs through the paddock, some guy on the radio crooning about long-lost love and regret.
“Mom! Look at all the flowers!” Cassie called out excitedly from the back seat.
They were weeds in bloom, but that didn’t dissuade her. All she could see was the pretty colors, and that was enough. After passing through a couple more gates and bouncing over a rickety wooden bridge that I wasn’t convinced could hold us, we found the beast. And what a beast. He was almost as big as Jake’s truck.
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed.
“Mom! You said shit,” Cassie repeated, calling me out while Jake snickered beside me, already unbuckling his belt.
I tried not to swear around Cassie, but sometimes it slipped out. I’d been mortified the first time she’d repeated it. I was dropping her off at The Learning Tree, and after a particularly shitty morning stuck in traffic with morons clogging the roads, I was running late. I hadn’t had time for coffee, and I had something, probably Cassie’s banana, smooshed into my shirt. An idiot had cut me off and forced me off the road to avoid being smashed into. Stupidly, I let loose a long line of expletives that would make even a sailor blush. A list of expletives my daughter chose to repeat word for word as soon as her teacher said good morning.
“I did, and I shouldn’t have.”
“You owe the swear jar a dollar,” she instructed me. I’d implemented the swear jar after that morning, and so far, it was doubling as her college fund. I really had to get better at minding my manners.
“Naughty. Naughty,” Jake teased. “Now, are you all right here while I go deal with this?”
“We’re fine. Go do your thing, cowboy,” I encouraged, and when Jake winked at me before swinging out the door like he’d done it a million times, I knew I was screwed. We might have a hundred hurdles in front of us, but with Jake as the prize, I wanted to start jumping. He was worth it. I knew that, without a doubt, I was in love with the crazy cowboy.
After a few minutes completely mesmerized by the way Jake strutted up to the oversized hunk of steak, unfazed by his size and the horns on his head, Cassie interrupted my appreciation. “Mom!” she squawked, reminding me she was still there.
“What’s up, buttercup?” I asked, twisting in my seat to face her.
“I wanna see,” she complained, tugging at her belts.
“Just a second,” I replied, unsnapping my belt, and leaning over the console, ass in the air.
It took some effort, and if I hadn’t been worried about the size of the bull, it would have been easier to climb out and go around to her. But after a bit of jiggling, we managed to get it undone, and she scrambled into the front seat and made herself at home.
When I turned around, I saw three men staring back at me. Two were grinning like fools while the other wore a scowl I’d recognize anywhere. I had no idea what I’d missed, but if I knew Jake like I thought I did, I was pretty sure he’d enlighten me soon.
Cassie was fascinated. Leaning on the steering wheel, she watched on with awe as Sawyer and Nash closed in on the big bull, blocking his exit while Jake approached. I could see his lips moving, but I couldn’t hear his words.
Pawing at the ground, the beast bellowed, and everyone took a step back. I felt like I was holding my breath, especially when Jake puffed out his chest and stepped forward.
“Don’t do it,” I muttered under my breath as Jake lifted his arm toward the pissed-off animal.
“Do what, Mom?” Cassie asked.
“Jake’s being silly,” I told her.
“Why?”
“Because he’s getting too close to the cranky bull.”
“Why?”
Ah. My most hated word in the world. Why? Cassie used it a million times a day, and it didn’t seem to matter which excuse I gave her, she still wanted more. Some days it was enough to drive me batty.
