Best Friend's Ex Box Set

“Like mother, like daughter.”

“Shut up,” she groaned.

“You know you love it.”

It had been three years. Three years that I’d had this beautiful woman in my life, and now she was ripping her entire body apart to have my child. There wasn’t a second that went by that I never understood how incredibly lucky I was to have the devotion and passion of a woman as strong and sensual as Cheyenne, and every day I tried to show her just how much I cherished what she gave me. I sat in front of her and put her feet in my lap, and when her shirt rolled up over her stomach and showed me the purple stretch marks cascading around her belly button, all my tongue wanted to do was trace their outlines.

“You look beautiful,” I said.

“I’m a beached whale.”

“Hardly.”

“How was work?” she asked.

“Busy, as usual. These new hours are really bringing in some decent money, but it’ll half kill me to work them.”

“I’m telling you, you should hire someone. Especially with this little one on the way.”

“And I told you, I officially hired Michael. He’s on vacation to figure some things out with his farm, and when he comes back, he’ll be full time.”

“Good. You need some help over there anyway,” she said.

Cheyenne ended up taking some of the money and creating the summer camp program she had always dreamed of. The first summer was such a hit that she added four more weeks and expanded the advertising to the surrounding areas, and the next two summers brought in enough cash flow for her to fully expand. Our relationship had blossomed in every way imaginable, and after that second summer session of camp, she officially moved in.

The grantors weren’t happy about her moving off-site, but things had increased so much with the restaurant that I had to quit ranching altogether. After a long talk one night with Cheyenne and Tiffany, we decided to officially close Smith Ranch and instead make our ranch simply the expansion Cheyenne had been seeking. Her horse sanctuary expanded into our domain, she was able to take on more horses—and even other animals—to rehabilitate, and her farm became a full-time, fully-functioning horse preservation farm for children who wanted to come learn, ride, and take care of horses.

She had her main summer camps there, and she did her rehabilitation work at Smith Ranch.

Which, in all reality, was now simply her home.

For a while, we weren’t sure what to do with her house. It stayed unused for quite some time, but eventually, it got to the point where Cheyenne needed full-time help. Bouncing between her preservation ranch and her newly-expanded animal rehabilitation sanctuary was wearing her down, and when she put herself in the hospital because she was neglecting her health, I put my foot down. She kept saying she didn’t have the funds to hire anyone full-time to help her, and I finally convinced her to let me take a look at her books.

When I realized she had all but fully paid her ranch off, that freed up the funds necessary to hire someone full time.

My sister was the obvious choice, but even that didn’t suffice. When the third summer camp kicked up, it took both of them to run it, leaving Michael and I to hop between the budding restaurant and Cheyenne’s Horse Sanctuary in order to keep it afloat. We hadn’t made it through the summer before we realized she would have to hire on another full-time hand for her operations, and that’s when we started interviewing people.

There was a man from out of town who had recently moved to the area and was looking for a job. He didn’t have much in the way of experience with ranches, but he had grown up around horses all his life until his parents passed. He explained all he knew about taking care of horses and talked about how he had single-handedly taken care of his parents’ small farm a few counties over while making sure they were alright, and I could tell the story resonated with Cheyenne.

But she was sold when he mentioned that he’d have to sell his horses if he couldn’t find a way to provide for them.

“Why don’t you just bring them with you?” she asked.

“I don’t have a way to get them here,” he said.

“We could help you pick them up. You said there are only two horses, right?”

I wasn’t sold on the idea of having some out-of-towner come randomly work her ranch full time while bringing his own horses along, but Cheyenne was dead set in her decision. We went and picked up his two beautiful horses, and we set him up in Cheyenne’s old house until he could find himself a place. A few weeks turned into a few months, and when we found out how well he was taking care of the house, we roped it into his salary and let him stay there so long as he was working full time for us.

Everything settled into place like it needed to, and it equally divvied all the responsibilities out without anyone being run into the ground.

Well, until we got pregnant.

“I can’t wait to get back out there with my horses,” Cheyenne groaned while I massaged her feet.

“I know you miss them, and I’m sure they miss you. But you’ve still got one more week of bedrest before the doctor comes to check on you again.”

“I know, I know.”