We ride that thing until my wrist hurts and I can’t handle it a second longer. I take us back to the shore and Rhett jumps off, holding it so I can climb off. I take my jacket off, watching him rope it up. When he turns toward me, I know the smile on my face is huge but I can’t wipe it. I just had the best day ever and I don’t want to leave. This place ... It’s magical.
“What?” he asks, narrowing his eyes. “You’re lookin’ at me like I’m Prince Charming and you’ve just figured that out.”
I shake my head with an eye roll. “No, it’s not that. I just ... I want you to know that this place ... it’s incredible. What you’ve done here is going to change the world. I think you deserve to hear that.”
He gives me a small grin. “Appreciate that.”
“What’s next? I’m pumped and I really want to keep going!”
“Your afternoon is all yours, got massage parlors on site, if that’s somethin’ you want.”
I mean, it is but there is this big part of me that just wants to stay with him. I don’t know what it is but there is something about him that draws you close, like you could just spend every day listening to his stories, or working with him, and you’d be completely content.
“What are you doing?” I dare to ask, my voice soft and a little nervous.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m goin’ to fix the fences down the back, the cows broke them and I don’t want them gettin’ out when we move them later tonight.”
“Can I ... help?”
“Fix a fence?”
I give him a sheepish smile. “It’s stupid, I know, but would you mind?”
He studies me. “Not at all.”
Oh boy.
I swing my fist. “Then let’s go fix some fences.”
He stares at me.
Too much?
Oh well.
Let’s do this.
5
Sweat trickles down my forehead as I hold onto the wire while Rhett pulls it tighter, clamping it back to the fence post. God, I should have never agreed to come out here and help. Not because it isn’t fun, I’m actually wildly fascinated by what he does here, but instead because I’m sweating and it isn’t attractive. My face is no doubt red and puffy, and as if I didn’t look bad enough, my shirt is now soaked with it.
He’s probably so turned off, it’s not a wonder he has his back to me right now.
I’d be running down the paddock if I were him.
“There,” he says, standing. “That’s the last one.”
I release the wire and it stays put. Rhett turns and stares down at me, and my red face gets a whole lot redder. “Don’t look at me, I look like a burned tomato.”
“Burned tomato?”
“Yes. So red and awful.”
“Aren’t tomatoes already red, wouldn’t they just go black if they were burned?”
I close my eyes. “Right.”
I open my eyes and he’s grinning at me, again. “What’s so funny?” I mutter.
“You.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re fuckin’ adorable.”
I pause, shocked. His words penetrate deep. I bite my lip, unsure what to say or do. Never in my life has being called adorable felt so damned good. “Ah, thanks. You too.”
No.
I did not just say you too.
I press a hand to my face and cringe out loud.
Rhett smirks. “Thanks.”
“I’m going to leave now, maybe find that river and drown myself before I can say anything else shameful.”
“Can’t say I’ve been called adorable before, I’ll take it as a compliment.”
I wince. Shame. The shame.
“Can we go now before I say or do something else awful?”
“One more thing before we do,” he murmurs, throwing his tools back into the bag that is strapped to the back of Diablo’s back, “I want to show you somethin’.”
“Okay,” I say, huffing and puffing as I get onto Porky.
I’m sure he gave me this horse again as a joke.
He thinks it’s funny.
I certainly do not.
Though, the little round guy is kind of growing on me.
We walk down through the paddocks on the horses, past the rolling hills and the thick tree lines. It’s beautiful out here, a paradise all on its own. Somewhere you could go and just let your thoughts disappear, and the world would fade away until you felt like you were the only one left.
I could stay here forever.
We stop at a large formation of rocks, sort of like a cliff ledge that looks down over the river we swam in yesterday. The view up here is incredible and, as I climb off Porky and walk toward the edge, I feel overwhelmingly free. Not a single thing in the world could touch me while I’m standing right here, the breeze trickling against my hot skin, the sound of water flowing below us.
“My mom used to bring me here when I was a kid,” Rhett tells me, walking up beside me. “There’s a pond you can only see from up here, where the water collects within some rocks before it rolls into the river. We used to paint stones and throw them in there, can you see?”