Chapter Twenty-Three
Cash
The Next Morning
Sunday was the only day I slept in, though not by much. I still woke at the regular time and lay in bed thinking about how well things had gone the day before at the rodeo. Hailey and I had a pretty nice day together. It was the first time I’d taken a woman out in such a long while, I nearly forgot how to act. I wasn’t sure if she thought of what we’d done yesterday as a date, but she seemed open to the idea of us getting closer to one another. We rode the Ferris wheel right before leaving for the night, and there was a moment when she looked over at me, her blue eyes so wide and gorgeous that I forgot everything else going on between us and nearly kissed her right then and there. The look in her eyes was dragging me closer by the front of my shirt. But I didn’t. I hated not being better at this. I just couldn’t read what she wanted me to do, if anything. That was a possibility, too. She was a nice person who seemed friendly with just about everyone she met. Could be she just wanted someone to pal around with while she was here. I didn’t want to make a damned fool out of myself by jumping at an opportunity to move things to the next level that didn’t really exist. Eric would know just what to do in this situation, but I sure as hell didn’t. And I didn’t want to ask his advice and face the laughter that would come with it. I loved the man to death, but I was damned tired of being laughed at all the damned time when it came to women.
Sighing, I figured that even if Hailey didn’t consider what we’d done yesterday as a date, at least I’d shown her a good time while also exposing her to a little more of what life out West was like. It was why she was out here to begin with, right? Maybe I could find reasons to get her off the farm once or twice more before she went back to her side of the country.
I got out of bed after another solid hour of musing over all this and took a quick shower to wash away whatever tiredness was left. I’d slept well, and hadn’t worked as hard yesterday as I usually did on a Saturday. Of course, taking most of the day off would mean I had more to do today, but that was fine. Spending the day with Hailey had been worth it, even if it never amounted to anything substantial. But I needed to sweat out some of what had building up in me after being so close to her for so long. I kept seeing her body stretched out on my bed, inviting me to climb on top of her. Shit. I was getting hard just thinking of it.
I turned my mind sharply in another direction, focusing instead on getting dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. I slid my feet into my boots just as the phone rang in the kitchen. It rang two times before my paralysis broke. Hardly anyone called me out here — just my parents and Eric, who never called this early.
I ran out to the kitchen, boots clomping on wood floors, and picked up the phone hanging on the wall before it was too late.
“Hello?’
“Cash, I’m glad I caught you before you left the house for the morning.” It was my dad. My folks lived about two hours outside of Jackson. Usually, if anyone called, it was my mom, and it was on a Sunday evening just after suppertime. My heartbeat quickened. Something had to have gone wrong for him to call like this.
“Dad?” I asked, frowning at the empty kitchen. A little bit of light was coming in from the window as the sun woke up in the sky, but it was hazy and dark in here. “What’s wrong? Is Mom okay?”
“She’s fine, son,” he said quickly, and I relaxed just a little. “I’m calling about Uncle Rog. He’s not doing well.” He paused to let that sink in.
After a long moment, I asked, “What do you mean, not doing well? What’s going on?”
“We’re waiting on a report from the hospital, but it sounds like he may have had a massive heart attack. He’s in pretty bad shape, and we’re not sure if he’ll make it through the rest of the day. Your mother and I are flying out to Colorado later today to help Rog’s kids through this.”
“What do you need me to do?” I asked. I leaned my butt against the counter, too shocked by the early morning phone call and the news I was hearing to do much else. The last I’d seen of Uncle Rog had been the prior year around Christmas. He’d seemed okay then, but a lot could change in a short period of time for someone that age. He’d never watched his weight and had gotten even unhealthier in his old age, smoking cigars, drinking, and eating whatever he damn well pleased. Dad stayed on him about it, but Rog never really listened.
“Nothing but what you’re doing now. I don’t expect you to drop everything and fly out to Colorado today. I know you’ve got the farm. I just wanted you to know what’s going on so you’ll be ready to fly out for the funeral.”
“Alright,” I said because I couldn’t think of much more. Then it occurred to me. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be better once I know what’s going on. It’s part of the reason I want to get out there so quickly. His kids are on their own in this. I need to help out if I can. And if I can get there in time to speak to Rog, I want to be able to do that.”
“If you want me out there, Dad, I’ll leave this afternoon. I just need to get Eric up here to mind the animals. The rest can wait.” I was just setting things right on the farm after losing so much money before, but if Dad needed me, I’d get out there as fast as I could, the farm be damned.
“No, let me get clear on the situation first. I’ll call you after I do. I just wanted you know what’s going on.” He paused before asking the next question, though I’d been expecting it since he mentioned the potential funeral. “Your mother and I can pay for your flight if you need us to.”
I clenched my jaw and stared hard at the ground for several seconds before I answered. “I don’t need y’all to do that. I can handle my own flight.”
“Alright, son. I’ll call once we get to Colorado and see what’s going on with your uncle.”
“Give everyone my love.”
“I will. Bye, Cash.”
“Bye, Dad.”
He hung up, and I did the same, resting the phone back into its cradle on the wall. I leaned back on the counter, my hands squeezing the edge, my eyes focused on the floor. I was picturing Uncle Rog, not just from last Christmas, but from all the times he’d come out to the farm when I was growing up. He was older than my father by about eight years, but he’d always acted like one of the kids, taking us all out for ice cream, buying up fireworks to set off on the Fourth of July, running after us in the field during a game of tag, slightly out of breath from the 50 or so extra pounds he’d carried as far back as I could remember. Whenever I’d heard Uncle Rog was coming over as a kid, I knew I was close to having a good time. The man had to be nearing the end of his 70s by now, and he’d had a good life full of family and friends. His wife had died a few years earlier in a car accident, and it had been tough for him to get past that devastating loss. He and Aunt Dorothy had been married for over 40 years. But his kids, my cousins, saw him through, and he started visiting his siblings and their families more. Hell, I’d had him out to the ranch about a year and a half ago. We’d gone out riding every day, and he’d helped me on the ranch as much as his age would allow. He was an honest, decent man who’d be missed by everyone who knew him.
“Cash, is everything okay?”
I started and looked up to find Hailey in the doorway of the kitchen, dressed in a long nightshirt that reached almost to her skinny knees, her hair pulled back and twisted into a tight knot on the top of her head. She had one hand resting on the doorframe and the other fidgeting at her side. As always, her glasses were in the middle of sliding down her nose.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said, still whispering. “I heard the phone and wondered if everything was alright. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it this early since I arrived.”
“That was my dad on the phone,” I said, and her pretty eyes widened a little. “He told me my uncle had a heart attack and wasn’t doing too good.”
She brought a hand fluttering to her mouth, her eyes getting even wider. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
I shrugged that off, uncomfortable by the change in her attention. I didn’t mind her looking or laughing at me, but pity was completely different. That stung.
“They don’t know what’s going to happen and want me to be ready for the funeral when it comes.”
Her face fell into an even more tragic expression, her face scrunching so it looked like she was close to bursting into tears. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have said she was feeling pain from some internal injury I couldn’t see.
“Are you okay?” she asked, taking a single step into the room. We were still a few feet apart.
I nodded. “Yeah.” As soon as I said it, I realized that I was. Uncle Rog was a great man who had lived a long, mostly happy life. I was sad to see him go, but satisfied that he had done what he needed to do in this life—he’d married a great woman, raised his children, and worked at the same company for 35 years. We all had our time, and this might very well be his. I could be at peace with that. When the time came, I’d get on a plane to Colorado so I could pay my respects to my uncle and support my father in the loss of his older brother and friend.
“I don’t really know what’s happening yet. My folks are flying out there today and should know more by the afternoon. There’s a possibility that he won’t pull through.” Every word I spoke seemed to pain her even more. I didn’t how else to tell her all this without just coming right out with it.
Her face tightened, her glassy eyes seeming ready to leak tears down her face, and I had to stop myself from crossing the kitchen and taking her into my arms. This wasn’t her uncle, I reminded myself.
“Do you think you’ll be okay out here all by yourself?” I asked her.
Now she looked scared as well as upset, her eyes so wide I expected them to pop out of her face. “I can’t take care of the animals. Eric showed me some things, but not much. I’d hate for something to happen while you were gone.”
I smiled a little as I shook my head. “I know you can’t keep after the animals. I’d never ask you to do that. It’s too big a job. I’ll get Eric up here to make sure they’re fed, watered, and exercised. He knows how to do just about everything on the farm. He might ask your help, but it won’t be anything you can’t handle.” I let my smile widen at her obvious relief. “You can always say no if you want to. Eric won’t take offense.”
She tried to smile too, but it only made her look even sadder. She was likely to break a man’s heart looking at him like that. “How long do you think you’ll be gone?”
I shrugged and stood up straighter, dislodging my ass from the countertop. “There’s no telling. Couple of days, I’d wager to guess. Just long enough for the funeral and to help with whatever needs doing at my uncle’s house.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll be alright here. I can always call on Eric if I need help.”
Those words didn’t settle right. I could feel them twisting in my gut and stirring up the jealousy I thought I’d successfully put to bed. Eric had done his part and stayed away, but Hailey and I had gotten no closer to an actual relationship. I didn’t like the thought of leaving her here with him. But I couldn’t do much besides worry over it, and I had bigger shit to consider right now. Like my uncle, who might be clinging to life in some hospital in Colorado. Or the farm, which was also clinging to life in its own way, though it was coming back slowly but surely.
“Let me know if you need anything, Cash,” she said, and took another step closer. She hesitated, seeming like she wanted to say or do something else. Then she sprang forward, pulling me into a hug, and I buried my nose into the top of her head, getting a good long whiff of the flowery shampoo she used as I thoroughly enjoyed the press of her body against mine. Now that I finally had her in my arms, I never wanted to let her go again.
After a few seconds, she backed off again, seeming hesitant to do it, though that was likely my wishful thinking.
“Thanks,” I said, smiling awkwardly and cursing myself for how stupid I sounded and felt. It wasn’t like I’d never been hugged by a cute girl before. Damn. “What are you doing up so early, anyway?”
A smile twitched onto her small face as she pushed her glasses up her nose. “I didn’t sleep well, and then when I heard the phone, I thought I’d make sure everything was okay.”
“I need to get out to the horses. They’ve got to be starving by now. If you hear the phone again, can you come find me?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“Thanks,” I said again and left the kitchen before I said or did something else I’d spend the day chiding myself for. The more I knew Hailey, the harder it was to relax around her. It was getting ridiculous.
As soon as I got out to the barn and rolled the alleyway doors open, the sweet smell of hay and horses hit me square in the face and I forgot just about everything but what I needed to get done in the next several hours.