“You’re not teaching them about their heritage.”
“Bringing in new teaching techniques and organizing a few trips to the City isn’t going to change them. And that isn’t all I’d like to do, I’d like to?—”
He cut me off with a dismissive wave. “You can’t change everything that makes this place special.” He scoffed. “But then you wouldn’t know that would you, being an out of towner.”
He had no idea because I’d grown up much like these kids - early mornings helping with chores, learning to drive a tractor before a car, understanding that the rhythms of farm life waited for no one. But he hadn’t bothered to ask about my background. I guess he’d just assumed when I said I’d lived in Bloomington that was where I was brought up. It wasn’t, it was where I went to college. I’d lived on a farm in a small town nine miles from Durango with a close community. Well, I wasn’t going to tell him.
My veins heated with anger. “Not that you’d care, but I was trying to tell you that I want to blend traditional knowledge with modern opportunities,” I’d said, my voice tight. “Give these kids every possible advantage while honoring their way of life.”
“By teaching them that your big city vision is better and that they need to change?” His laugh was cold. “That what they know, what their parents know, isn’t good enough anymore?”
“That’s not what I?—”
“Listen, I’m sure your ideas work great in the city.” He threw enough cash on the table to cover both our meals. “But out here? We don’t need fixing.”
I watched him walk away, my half-eaten dessert growing warm in the summer heat. It wasn’t just his dismissal of my ideas that stung, it was his complete refusal to even hear them. To see me as anything more than some city teacher with grand plans to ‘fix’ his world.
Present Day
The janitor’s footsteps in the hallway brought me back to the present and the fact that three years later he was championing a program that wasn’t so different from what I’d suggested that night. The same man who’d dismissed my ‘city ideas’ was offering jobs and opportunities to help local kids.
Closing up my purse, my gaze caught on the artwork my students had made. The pictures were all about what they loved about their present and what they wanted for the future. Every single one, bar none, had illustrated Silver Peaks in some way alongside pictures of veterinarians, teachers, ranchers, astronauts. It was proof that the kids didn’t see any contradiction in loving where they came from and wanting more. They understood something Gunner hadn’t that night.
Maybe he did now and that was what made it and him all so confusing.
Chapter 12
Slow Hands – Niall Horan
Gunner
The contract in Ruthie’s hands was shaking as she read it for what seemed like the tenth time. Each time she finished, she looked up at me with watery, moss green eyes and took a deep breath. Her hand went to her chest, and she clutched the sweater she was wearing.
“Are you okay, Ruth?” Nash asked.
Her gaze raised to his and she licked her lips. “This is the same salary as I’m already getting,” she announced.
Wilder nodded. “Same salary but no travel, the use of a ranch vehicle, health benefits and as much beef as you can fit in your freezer.”
“It’s too generous.”
I laughed. “You have no idea how much work there is yet. I’m not the best at paperwork.”
“He’s not wrong,” Nash added.
We were in the study, while Lily took the kids over to the stables to see Bertie’s new pony, Caleb Pontipee—we wereall hoping Bertie ran out of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers characters soon. None of us had ever pushed her, but she’d finally decided that she wanted to learn to ride so her daddy tasked me with buying her the horse best suited for her. He was a gentle soul, patient and well-behaved under instruction. He could also run like he had the devil at his heels, not unlike my niece, so they were the perfect match. Ruthie had chatted animatedly during dinner, mainly to Lily, but it was obvious she wondered why she was there. Everything told me she was going to refuse the job offer, but looking at her now, I wondered if I’d been mistaken. Her eyes were on the contract again but this time a huge smile stretched her lips.
“Are you sure?”
Nash lowered his head to look up at her through her hair hanging down in front of her face. “Hey, Ruth, we wouldn’t have offered it if we weren’t sure.”
“There’s a lot of new stuff going on down here soon, too.” Wilder slapped the desk. “Exciting stuff.”
“Once it’s finalized,” I warned. “There’s a lot to be decided yet.”
Ruthie’s head shot up. “Does that mean you won’t need me if it doesn’t happen?”
“God no.” I patted her hand. “We desperately need you, honestly.”
