Millie
I had only been at the ranch for four days and could already see why Bonnie needed help with Addy. Normal play just wasn’t stimulating enough for her, well not for long anyway. After a few hours, she would start to get bored and, as Bonnie said on my first day, get mischievous. Only yesterday I found her drawing on the wall in the office, at the back of the house. It was where Ted did all the paperwork for the ranch. He couldn’t ride for any great length of time any more, due to a problem with his knee, so he ran the business side of things while Jesse ran the practical side.
The scolding that Addy had received for writing on the wall obviously didn’t worry her, because I was now watching her fill Garratt’s trainers with soil from the garden at the back of the house.
“Addy,” I scolded. “Why are you doing that to Uncle Garratt’s trainers?”
Addy looked at me perplexed as though I was talking in a foreign language. She’d better not try the old ‘my invisible friend did it’ trick. As a nursery school teacher, I’d had to deal with that one a lot; it was old news.
“Addy,” I pressed. “I asked you a question.”
“But I didn’t understand,” Addy replied.
“Okay. Why are you putting soil into Uncle Garratt’s trainers?”
She screwed up her tiny little nose and shook her head. “What are trainers?”
“Trainers? You don’t know what trainers are?” I picked one up, emptying the dirt back into the flower border. “This is a trainer.”
“You mean a sneaker?”
I couldn’t help but smile at the way her brow wrinkled and her tone insinuated that I was pretty much the dumbest person she’d ever spoken to.
“Yes, Addy,” I replied biting back a laugh. “I’m sorry, I mean a sneaker.”
“Oh, why didn’t you say that?” She stood up and dusted her hands down against each other. “He put a toy spider in my bed and made me squeal. He knows I don’t like spiders. I’m the same as Daddy, he hates spiders.” Her little face looked grave as she shook her head in evident disgust of Garratt.
So big, bad, Jesse Connor hates spiders, was my first thought, then I remembered that Addy was in trouble.
“Well that isn’t very nice, I admit, but it’s also not very nice to put dirt in his trai…sneakers. You don’t have to do something bad back if someone upsets you. You just tell them that they made you sad.”
“Grandpa always says ‘an eye for an eye’.”
I gasped that she even understood what that meant. Then her next sentence explained where she’d gained that knowledge.
“Uncle Garratt says that means if someone hits you then you kick them back in the shins. Harder.” She grinned at me and stretched out her hand. “I don’t want to kick Uncle Garratt, so can I have his sneaker back please?”
Part of me wanted to give Garratt’s shoe back to her, payback for teaching her things he shouldn’t, but I’d been employed to care for her and teach her things, and not just those of an academic nature.
“No, Addy, you shouldn’t be doing that, so empty the dirt out and we will take them back inside and let Uncle Garratt know what you did, and why you did it. Okay?”
She looked at me as though she was going to argue, but then she sighed and emptied out the soil. Addy handed me the shoe and stalked off to the house.
“You’re no fun,” she muttered as she stomped up the back steps to the house and then slammed the door behind her.
“You’re good with her,” a deep voice said behind me.
I turned around to see a tall, broad man with dark brown hair and eyes that looked like pools of melted chocolate. He was watching me with a smile that showed perfect, white teeth. What the hell did they put in the water around here? This man was like a model. He didn’t make my nerve endings jangle as Jesse did, but he was still extremely easy on the eye.
“Brandon Reed,” he announced, offering his hand. “Jesse’s best buddy and part-time dogs body this time of year.”
“Hi, Brandon, I’m Millie. I’m Addy’s new nanny.”
We shook hands and Brandon held on to mine for a little longer than was necessary. As he pulled away, his fingers trailed slowly along mine.
“Yep, I know who you are. I’ve wanted to come introduce myself for a couple of days, but we’re calving so…” His words petered off as his gaze drifted over my shoulder. “Garratt.”
“Brandon.”
The two men stared at each other in silence, and I half expected one of them to pull out a pistol and shoot the other at any moment. I looked from one to the other and the iciness of both their stares was positively arctic.
“Well, I’d better go and find Addy,” I said. “Nice to meet you, Brandon.”
Brandon’s face fell into an immediate smile and his eyes turned back to me. “You too, Millie. Maybe you’ll let me take you to Rowdy’s one night. Show you how we enjoy ourselves in Bridge Vale.”
“I can take her,” Garratt said, his tone hard.
Brandon laughed. “No offense Garr, but I think everyone around here knows you’re under age and that fake ID you use in the city won’t cut it here.”
“Don’t have to drink, and I think you’ll find I’ll be legal this time next week.”
“Oh yeah,” Brandon scoffed. “I forgot that you were finally becoming a man soon. How’s that growing up thing going for you then, Garr? Oh sorry, it isn’t, you’ve been sent home from college haven’t you.”
My eyes widened. These two really didn’t like each other that was more than obvious.
“Maybe we can all go together,” I said gaily, trying to diffuse the situation.
Brandon smiled at me again and shrugged. “Maybe, Millie. Well, it’s been great meeting you and hopefully we’ll catch up again soon.”
“You two don’t get on,” I said to Garratt as we both watched Brandon disappear around the side of the house.
“Nope,” Garratt replied and stalked back inside.
I followed him in and made my way to Addy’s room, sure that’s where she would be sulking. As I reached the top of the stairs, one of the framed photographs that hung on the wall drew my eye. It was a picture of Jesse, Garratt, and Brandon and looked as though it was around four or five years ago. Brandon was standing between the two brothers, with his arms draped over their shoulders. They all looked happy and Brandon appeared to be laughing down at a grinning Garratt. I had to wonder what on earth had gone on to change them from obvious friends to two men who evidently hated each other.