Studying him, it's then I realize he seems to have gotten even less sleep than I have. In fact, I wonder if he got any sleep at all. His hair looks like he's been running his hands through it all night. The circles under his eyes are dark, and he's still in the same clothes that he wore to dinner.
I stand up, put my plate in the sink, and finish my coffee, before setting my cup in the sink as well.
"Fine. I'm going home, and I'm going to date the guy from the diner, unless you give me a good reason not, too."
I stand there and wait for him to say something. Give me an excuse that Jason's too city or he wouldn't understand our friendship, or that I wouldn't be happy with someone who has a corporate job. Any of the excuses he's used over the years, but he has nothing and says nothing.
His silence says it all. I just nod, turn around, and walk out of the door.
My mind is all over the place, and I don't remember driving back to my dad's until I'm walking through the front door.
He doesn't say a word about me not coming home last night, just asks me to join him for lunch, before I head back to the city.
I won't pass up lunch with my dad, but I just hope he doesn't plan to ask me questions I can't answer right now.
Garrett
The downside of being a good boss is that your employees stick around forever. Like Geo. He's been on the ranch since I was a kid. When he was eighteen, he came here looking for a job. My dad took him in and showed him the ropes. He says he’ll be buried on the ranch because it's his home.
I love that he loves this land as much as I do, but the problem is he has seen everything. He's watched me grow up and has watched me with Kaylee, and now, he's going to have a front row seat to watching me ruin it all.
In some ways, he's as bad as Violet, sticking his nose in things. I'm pretty sure he's teamed up with her to push Kaylee and me together, one way or another.
So, when we are moving cattle to the west field today, he doesn't hesitate to confront me.
"What did you do to piss off Kaylee this time? I saw her leave out of here early this morning, and I don't think I saw her so mad, since you put that spider in her hair," he says.
I glare at him with no intention of talking about this, but he has a way of getting me to talk, even when I don't want, too. So, before I know it, I'm telling him everything, starting with my trip to Jasper earlier in the week, and then having her cancel her date to have dinner with me.
Then, I tell him about her date at the diner and everything that happened yesterday, down to the talk this morning, before she left. I expect him to tell me I did the right thing, which is that she’s better off without me, but that's not what comes out of his mouth.
"You're an idiot," Geo says.
"What?" I ask, completely shocked.
The last person to talk to be like that was my father. Heck, the only people to speak to me that way are my dad and Kaylee.
"Letting her go like that? You're an idiot."
He repeats it again in case I missed it the first time. Before I speak again, I stare at the cows in front of us to get my bearings. Geo is family, and I don't want to go off on him, even if my instinct is to tell him off.
"You don't know what you’re talking about." I dismiss him.
"Listen, I've watched you both all these years. Even if you tried to hide it from everyone else, I know you two were together your senior year. You really think no one caught you the times you'd sneak into the barn? I just kept everyone away. Now, you just won't admit your feelings for that girl, but that doesn't change the fact that you have some strong ones for her."
He knew about us back then? Of course, he did. There isn't a thing that happens on this ranch that he doesn't know about, but he has no idea right now what he’s talking about.
"I'm done talking about this." Is all I say, and we don't talk for the rest of the afternoon.
The second we’re done moving the cattle, I shower and escape into town. I head to The Whiskey Whistler. It's a bar downtown with mostly locals frequenting it. While it's kind of run down on the outside, the inside is done up right. Something you’d never expect to see if you judge a book by its cover.
Heading straight to the bar, I order a whiskey and down it, but before the bartender can walk away, I order another.
The second one I sip slower, and I finally take a look around me. Like every night, there’s a mix of single people and couples. Many of the couples are laughing and having a good time.
I want that. I want to be a couple, have someone to talk to, to dance with, and to share everything with. But I don't want just anyone. I want the kind of relationship my parents have. Not only were they each other's best friends, but they worked the ranch and problem solved together.
Early on, I decided I wasn't going to settle for anything less. My dad always told me he knew on the first date that my mom was the one. Maybe, that's how I got the playboy reputation by dating so many women. If I'm not feeling it by date two, I don't waste my time, while most don't even get a second date.