He smirked. “I think you forgot a bigger one like, Gunner’s dick.”
“You’re a dick, and anyway,” I scoffed, “I doubt it’s that big, you were blessed with a huge head, so I doubt you’d get a dick to match.”
He let out a loud roar of laughter and shook his head. “How little you know.” He stepped closer, his voice dropping low. “But you only have to say the word.”
“Yeah and that word would be one I’m too ladylike to repeat.” I reached for the file and the papers, but Gunner slapped his hand down on top of mine.”
“Just stop.”
“No, if you can’t be polite then I don’t want to stay here.” I tugged at my hand, but he wouldn’t let it go. “Get off me and give me my papers back.”
Lifting his hand from mine he grabbed the arms of my chair and swiveled me to face him. He leaned in, closer to me. “I’m sorry that you think I’m a dick, but we need to do this. If we can’teven have an initial meeting then how do you envisage the whole damn thing working?”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I’ll pass it on to someone else.”
“No, you won’t, Cassidy. This was your idea and contrary to what you think, I believe it’s a good one. One that you deserve to see through.” He scrubbed at his stubble, his posture rising and falling slowly as he exhaled. “I have to be involved because these are my horses and call me egotistical, narcissistic and what was the other one?”
“Other two. Conceited and egocentric.”
“Yeah, call me those, too, but no one else will be able to help you pull this off. No one else will know what will help those kids the same way I will.’
I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes because now was not the time to be childish. I chose to clear my throat instead, because everyone knows a throat clear says everything.
Pushing his chair back, he linked his fingers over his stomach. “When my mom died, I was nine years old. The age when you still need your mom’s hugs, her touch, her soft words, her reading me a bedtime story.” He scoffed. “Although, that one was getting to be less needed. The point is, when she was killed my whole world fell apart. I had Nash and Wilder, but they weren’t her.” He shrugged. “My dad was less than hopeless. Always had been with the emotional stuff. So, the only thing that got me through it, still gets me through it, are the horses.”
I slumped back in my chair, a weight pushing against my chest as I saw my own grief mirrored in Gunner’s eyes. The kids I’d fostered helped me, the kids I taught still helped me, but that crippling pain and realization that she wasn’t coming back was always with me. Just like it was with him.
“Horses,” Gunner continued, “are non-judgmental, you see. So, any shit I pulled because I was hurting, they never told me what a dick I was and that I’d never amount to anything if Ididn’t get a fucking grip.” He paused and drew in a slow breath, pressing his hand down onto the desk, like he was pushing down all his emotions and thoughts. “They picked up on my moods and were just quiet and soothing while I cried and raged.”
Footsteps outside came closer but no one came to the office, and seconds later they walked away. Something metal clanked on the ground, like a bucket or something, and then I heard water running followed by the ringing sound of water on vibrating metal.
Gunner glanced to the side, to the window, and sighed. “This ranch, this land, those horses have probably saved all of us in some way or another.” He barked out a laugh. “Apart from my father, seems it wasn’t quite such a healing environment for him.”
“It must have been hard for all of you, finding out how he’d stolen from you over the years.” When he raised an eyebrow I felt my cheeks burn up. “It was all in the local newspaper, Lily didn’t tell me or anything.”
“Oh, I know it was common knowledge and you’re her best friend, so I would expect Lily to tell you. You know that he hid the fact that mom had signed the lavender farm over to Shane and Felicia?”
“No. They didn’t report that.” Jeez the man was a real piece of work.
“Yeah, he hid the deeds that mom had signed over to them as a thank you for their loyalty. Hid her will, too, which left him nothing. Hence why every penny he took from this place was theft. He was a shit dad anyway. You know he was the one who forced Lily to leave town all those years ago?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I did. She told me all about it.” When Lily first came back to town and we became friends, Nash was more than hostile to her. Thank god they’d managed to get through that and get their happy ending.
“So, you see why I needed the horses.” His laugh was hollow. “Anyway, you ready to get back to this?”
I nodded. “Yes, I’m ready. Let’s organize a kids’ camp.”
When he turned back to his desk and picked up a pad and pen, I watched him for a moment. After that first date, I’d written him off as just another stubborn rancher who thought he knew better than everyone else. Who’d dismissed my ideas without really hearing them. But this Gunner, the one who understood exactly why kids might need more than just traditional ranch life, who’d found his own healing with these horses - was someone entirely different. Or maybe he’d been there all along, and I’d been too quick to judge after that disaster of a first date.
Chapter 14
Just Give Me a Reason – P!nk ft. Nate Ruess
Gunner
Cassidy and I had managed to thrash out the basic details of the camp. It had been a little fraught at times. She didn’t appear to like my natural charm, but at least we managed to get through a couple of hours of work without drawing any blood.
“Hey Uncle G. You look nice.” Bertie stood with her hands on her hips, looking me up and down. “Got a date?”
