Chapter 34
Cheyenne
The fundraiser was tomorrow, and the frantic preparations could be felt in the air. Tiffany was running around with decorations and commands; Colt was dealing with the restaurant, getting the food ready; and I kept refreshing my bank accounts. My savings had officially been milked dry, fall had given way to winter, and the shiver that slinked down my spine iced over any other hope I had of this ever working. Every cent I’d ever worked for was gone because of Bill’s debacle that had ruined my sanctuary. Suddenly, anger began to heat my bones while people rushed around me.
I knew Colt wanted desperately to help out with expenses, but I knew he really couldn’t. He kept telling me he could donate some feed and supplies from his overflow stash, but I knew there wasn’t much else he could do. Money was just as tight for him because of the issue he suffered at the restaurant, and after already forking over money to turn my water, heat, and power back on, he had nothing left to give.
“Everything’s going be alright after this fundraiser, Cheyenne,” I heard Colt say.
“Yeah, I’m sure it will.”
“You don’t believe me,” he said.
“Don’t be offended, I just have no backup plan should this fundraiser fall through.”
“It’s gonna be fine, I promise. This community supports you and what you do, and with word circulating about Bill, people are enraged at the position he put you in.”
“I just don’t feel like people respect what I do,” I said.
“That’s because you’re so busy criticizing your own worth and staying busy fixing issues around your ranch. You never stop to look around at who is admiring you.”
I turned my chair around and watched people flutter in and out of Colt’s home. Tiffany was bringing in streamers and decorative glasses, while Michael was talking to florists and a D.J. As smells from the kitchen began wafting through the house while the chilly winter air floated in from the open door at the front of the house, I saw for the first time the effort people were putting into this because of me.
People that cared and loved me were working hard to put on a fundraiser in order to stabilize the financial situation of the sanctuary, and myself for that matter, and the reality of it all became a bit overwhelming.
I’d run from a massive city after a destructive relationship because I realized no one actually cared. When all was said and done after Dexter and I had parted ways, everyone followed the jovial man with the bright smile, leaving behind the devastated woman who had been drained of all she had to give. Pictures online of intimate moments were shared among circles of friends I didn’t recognize, and then I was cast out as the nasty one when I confronted Dexter and asked him to take them down.
“This fundraiser is going to go much better than you expect, I promise,” Colt said.
“I guess. I don’t know, Colt.” I trailed off, unsure of what to think or feel.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
I looked up into his eyes, and suddenly my soul began to warm once again. The chill winter air that had cascaded up my legs and shaken me in my boots suddenly began to dissipate, and in its place was a warmth I could only gather from the eyes of Colt Smith. The hustling and bustling of his home faded to the background while I swam in the depths of his eyes, and for a second, my heart stilled its anxious movements. My blood pressure settled, my muscles began to relax, and when Colt began massaging my shoulders, I instantly melted into his touch.
This man was dangerous for me, but his danger was everything I needed, with none of the extra chaos and pain.
“Take a deep breath and relax,” he whispered into my ear. “Just close your eyes and take a moment.”
It had been a long few weeks. I had been dragged through the mud, threatened within an inch of my life, seen a horse in my care murdered, endured repeated harassment and threats, rebuilt my sanctuary from its very ashes, and allowed a strong, determined man to slowly chip away at the walls I had built around my heart to keep strangers out who might want to do me harm.
Gradually, I felt like a phoenix, rising from the ashes of a life someone tried to destroy, but there was one last puzzle piece that had to fit into place in order for my transformation to be complete.
And it was completely out of my hands.
“Hey, Colt!” someone yelled out. “Wanna come try this?”
“That would be the chef,” he said.
“Go taste some food. I’ll be here when you get back.”
He released his grip on my shoulders, and I turned myself back to the computer. I refreshed the screen, hoping that between the time the screen went blank and the time it reloaded that my bank account would suddenly find a surplus of funds it had not registered before.
But when that zero popped back up onto the screen, I felt my blood pressure slowly begin to rise once more.
“Enough with this,” Tiffany said. She hobbled over and closed the laptop with a thud, and I whipped my gaze over to her in an attempt to figure out what was going on.
“I’m all done with what I need to do for now, so you and I are going for some lunch,” she said.
“I gotta stay here and feed the horses, Tif,” I said. “I can’t just go to lunch.”
“Michael’s already out there doing it,” she said. “Now come on.”
“Wait. Michael’s feeding the horses?” I asked.
“He offered to do it when I mentioned that you hadn’t eaten yet today.”
“Yes, I did. I ate breakfast.”
“Three cups of coffee and the smell of horse feed doesn’t count as breakfast,” she said, as she rolled her eyes.
“It has for a few years of my life now,” I said.
“Well, it doesn’t now, so come on.”
“Did he say why he was feeding the horses?” I asked.
“He said he would so I could take you out.”
“You know that man’s got it bad for you, right?” I asked.
“No, he doesn’t,” she said with a little smile. “He’s become a good friend through all of this. You know he helped Colt muscle down Bill at his house, don’t you? I like a tough man with a backbone of steel.”
“Then it’s a good thing Michael likes your spunky ass,” I said.
“He does not,” she said.
“God, are you really that thick? He’s been flirting with you relentlessly. Colt even sees it, and you know you slow up on uptake he can be sometimes!”
“Oh, Colt would egg anything on just to get back at me for how I rode him about you,” she said.
“Well, then it’s about time you got a taste of your own medicine. If you are taking me to lunch, then Michael’s the topic every time I can slip it in.”
“Well, you should be better at that now that you’ve got my brother,” she said with a big grin.
“Tif!”
“Just sayin’! Y’all been thinking I didn’t know all this time, but I’m not stupid.”
The winter chill kicked up a dangerously cool breeze, and I pulled my coat tighter around my body. The clouds in the sky turned a steely gray, threatening snow even as Michael gathered the horses into the barn.
“You think they’re gonna need an extra layer of hay?” I asked.
“Whatever they need, Michael’s got it,” Tif said.
“He’s got what you need, too,” I said.
“And what is that?” she asked.
“A good dicking and a witty personality.”
“Jesus, Cheyenne!” she exclaimed, giggling.
“Now you know how I felt every time you pushed your brother onto me,” I said.
“And look at where it got you. You’re welcome.”
I looked over at her, and all she did was wink and smile. Michael waved us off while we watched him gather the last horse into the barn, and I watched a goofy grin track its way across Tiffany’s face before she finally cranked up her car. I knew what she was feeling, and I recognized that look in her eye. It was the look I gave Colt when I thought no one was looking. It was the look of a woman who wanted something that was directly in front of her but didn’t have the courage to let herself be vulnerable enough to take it.
“I’ll help you,” I said aloud.
“Huh?” Tiffany asked.
“With Michael. I’ll help you like you helped me with your brother.”
“So, you do admit it!”
“You’re insane.”
“I got you to admit it. I got you to admit it. Now I can tease Colt relentlessly over it.”
“I’m sure you will,” I said, smiling.
We drove into town, and Tif was oddly silent. I knew what was on her mind, and I let it marinate in her brain for a second before I brought up the one question that had been rolling around in my head since I’d first woke up this morning.
“You think this is gonna work?” I asked.
“The fundraiser?”
“Yeah. Do you really think it’ll work?”
“I think you’ll be very surprised at the pull and support you have within this community,” she said. “I think you’ll get exactly what you need.”
“You think so?” I asked.
“I know so,” she said. “But I also know you’re not convinced. As long as I’ve known you, you’ve always looked on the bad side of things and settled for being pleasantly surprised when something more than the worst-case scenario ever happened.”
“I can’t help it. It’s just how I’m wired, I guess,” I said.
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
“Oh my God! What is it with you Smiths and that question?”
“Answer it. Do you trust us? Me and Colt?”
“Of course I do. With my life and the life of my horses,” I said.
“Okay, then trust us when we say this is going to work.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said with a sigh. “People were really upset with me.”
“All I ask is that you hold on to hope,” she said.