As her answer, Kara’s chin rose slightly, and she tipped her hat down to shade her eyes.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he joked as Bella and Kara stepped through the gate. He maneuvered Larry through and then shut it behind them.
They set off across the field, heading in the opposite direction from his place. The Montgomery’s land may have been much smaller than his, but they still had more than a hundred acres.
“Where are we off to?” he asked, keeping Larry in step with Bella.
“I,” Kara said, dragging out the word, “am checking the east fence.”
He smiled. “Okay, you check out the fence. I’ll just let old Larry here stretch his legs.” He patted Larry on the neck, earning him a snort from the older horse.
“He doesn’t like to be called old,” Kara retorted.
“He can understand?” Nick joked.
“He’s old, of course he can,” Kara said, causing Larry to snort again. “Sorry, Larry,” Kara added quickly, causing Nick to smile.
“Okay, I’ll let Larry here stretch his legs then.” He gave Larry another pat. This time the horse nodded his head as if he agreed. Damn, the horse was really that smart. He’d trained plenty of horses over the past few years, but none had even come close to understanding him. Well, except Crash. He and Crash had an understanding that the horse was fully in charge. One hundred percent of the time.
Nick was smiling when Kara asked, “Don’t you have a ranch of your own to see after?”
“Sure, and plenty of hired hands to help out,” he answered smoothly. “I made a promise to your pa that I’d lend a hand, so here I am.” He shifted slightly in the saddle. “Why? Don’t you like having company?”
Kara narrowed her eyes at him. “I can take care of my ranch on my own.”
“I don’t doubt that.” He relaxed in the saddle. “While most girls your age are busy trying to decide what shoes go with their purses, you’re out here feeding and watering pigs.” He’d meant it as a compliment, but the look on her face had him wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. “I only meant—” he started, but she held up her hand.
“I get it. Still, that was a very sexist remark,” she said dryly before kicking Bella into a trot. He instantly felt bad about what he’d said and wanted to catch up with her but didn’t want to push Larry. Instead, he followed her to the fence line and silently cursed his words.
The next time he was close to her, he was helping her repair some barbed wire fence. They didn’t talk. Didn’t even really look at one another. It was going to be a very long three months.
As he headed back to his place for lunch an hour later, he cursed himself for not being as smooth as he was with other girls. Hell, he’d had six girlfriends since he’d started dating. Six. Most of all of them he was still pretty friendly with.
Nick saw his dad sitting in the swing on the front porch of the main house with the dogs lying at his feet and headed that way instead of the small cabin he’d been living in at the back of the property. He’d moved into it and had fixed it up shortly after his eighteenth birthday, once he’d healed from his injuries.
At one point in his life, he’d planned on moving away, out of state. Then he’d been injured and, well, after that, his father’s health had started going downhill.
His parents had Nick late in life. His mother had been forty-two. His father fifty-six. He was their miracle child, the one they had never planned on having but thanked god for every day of their lives. They had tried for so many years before and after his birth, but he was their only joy.
His mother had died shortly after his thirteenth birthday of breast cancer. His father was currently struggling with his second bout of cancer himself. His was somewhat self-inflicted from all the years he’d smoked. Even now, as Nick stepped onto the porch, he could smell the hint of the cigarette his father had tried to hide from him.
“Dad,” he said, his voice the only warning his father needed to understand that he hadn’t fooled him.
“It was just one,” his father said, then he coughed several times.
“That’s all it takes,” Nick said, sitting beside his father. Over the past few years, his dad had grown frail. He was no longer the boisterous strong man that had taught Nick how to bust broncos or rope steer. Instead, the man who sat beside him seemed well past his expiration date. That ate at Nick.
“Helping out over at the Montgomery place?” his father said, changing the subject.
“Yes,” Nick said, sending the swing rocking slowly. His eyes zoned across the land to the dot in the distance that was Kara’s home.
“That girl…” his father started.
“Kara,” Nick supplied, knowing full well his father knew her name.
“Yeah. She sure is a pretty young thing and smart to boot.” His father gave him a side glance. “You ever going to make your move on her?”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “How long was it before you made your moves on Ma?” Nick asked.