She dutifully followed her rancher wherever he went. Soon, the herd was nestled into their winter pasture and probably just in time. Her cheeks must be pink from the brisk wind. It was fall, but this was the time of year when clouds could dump surprising amounts of snow. Not today, though.
She steered Mandrell into the barn and dismounted with the rest.
“Most of the horses winter here, too,” Cash explained as he handed her a brush. “Travis keeps Reba and his siblings’ horses in one of his pastures.”
Brushing Mandrell, Abbi listened to the guys discuss what herd they’d move tomorrow, the weather forecast, and how they’d coordinate their weekend schedules.
“After the cattle are moved, we should have a big barbeque,” Travis said. “We can do it at my place this time. Michelle was just talking about our infamous grills.”
Cash stopped brushing and rested his forearms on Patsy Cline’s back. “You two back together?”
Abbi thought she was done brushing, but feeling a slight increase in tension, she kept up her long strokes and Mandrell didn’t complain.
Travis rose to his full height, which was just as tall as Cash. “Yeah, and I don’t need to hear it.”
“Hear what?”
All the guys stopped to watch the interaction while Travis elaborated. “How you think I can do better than Michelle.”
“I never said that. And it’s not about Michelle, it’s about you two breaking up and getting back together again—again.”
Abbi stroked Mandrell as quietly as she could. Would the guys start pointing at her and asking what Cash was doing with her?
“Whatever,” Travis grumbled. “I’m not asking permission to date my fiancée.”
Cash made a disgusted sound only she heard.
Aaron spoke up. “Why do we have to wait until we’re done moving cattle? Let’s go out tonight. Barley ‘n’ Hops has live music tonight.”
“I’d love to take Elle out dancing,” Dillon spoke quickly, like he was glad to move on from the Michelle subject.
Abbi glanced around at all the men. Belonging to this family would be like gaining four other brothers. And a sister. Not to mention the other cousins Abbi hadn’t met yet.
“I could ask Josie,” Brock said.
Cash looked at her with a question in his eyes and she grinned.
“Sounds fun.”
***
Abbi laughed as Cash spun her around the dance floor. The man was as good on his feet as he was in bed. She didn’t miss the envious, sometimes seething looks she got from women. Cash hadn’t let go of her all night.
Loud country music kicked a steady beat through the bar. Men and women Abbi’s age and older crowded the tables and dance floor. The place was just what Abbi would expect in a small town: wood beams, booths, and tables lining the dance area, and a polished hardwood floor. It was homey, but fancy enough to make going out a treat.
“Are you thirsty, honey?” He had to yell in her ear as close as they were to the band.
She nodded, and he led her back to the table their group sat at when they weren’t out dancing. Abbi chose a seat and spotted Dillon and his beautiful girlfriend two-stepping to the current song. Josie looked like she struggled at dancing as much as Abbi had, but like Cash, Brock was a pro at gliding with her across the floor. Travis and Michelle seemed like they were in perfect sync, and Aaron had found a few single ladies—for dance partners at least.
She let her gaze wander to the bar to pick out Cash. With his height and broad shoulders, it wasn’t hard. Neither was seeing the lady next to him, pressing against his side. She was cute and dressed to kill. Her flirty mannerisms were all for Cash. Abbi watched, more amused than irritated.
The woman murmured to him and he shook his head. The bartender slid a pitcher toward him and he smoothly snatched it up, gave the woman a nod of polite dismissal, and swaggered back to Abbi.
Abbi’s grin grew as he slid into the seat next to her. “Am I going to have to come with and protect you next time?”
“Yes, please. I said no three times.” He smirked with a hint of apology. “She’s not used to that, from me or anyone else.”
“She’ll get over it. Aaron’s the only one of you guys free.”
“Don’t mention that around him.” Cash poured their beer. “He’s got a thing about not dating anyone the rest of us…you know.”
“Does that leave him anyone under the age of sixty?”
Cash hesitated, then chuckled. “We weren’t that bad.”
“You weren’t?” She moved like she was going to stand. “Let me go ask that girl who was hitting on you.”
“You could.” He grabbed her and dragged her onto his lap. “Or you could sit here and talk about the next thing that comes up.” He nuzzled her neck.
“Oh my god, I haven’t heard that line for years.”
His gentle laugh sent shivers up and down her spine. “I know a place where we could…talk.”
She met his hot gaze. “I’d like to talk.”
They were in his vehicle within minutes and cruising through town.
Abbi had a hard time fighting her grin. When had she looked forward to having sex before? Not just ooh, I’m getting some but yes! I’m getting some! It seemed to be more every time she was with Cash. “Do I get to see a part of Moore I haven’t yet?”
“Uh…I was going to take you to the lake we went fishing at, but I can find another spot.”
“No, the lake is good. We can do another spot another time.”
He shot her a sidelong glance. “Yes, ma’am.”
She gazed out her window as they bumped along the small gravel road. The only light came from the pickup’s headlights and the occasional yard light visible through the trees.
“It’s so dark out here. I’ve never seen this many stars.”
“It’s why I wanted to take you to the lake. The road out there is decent and there’s little light pollution. I used to go there when I was a teen and Mom and Dad were fighting. I’d throw a blanket in the bed of the pickup and stretch out to think.”
Her heart went out to the young Cash who’d felt responsible for his parents’ problems. “You don’t have to be alone to deal with it anymore.”
He gave her a warm look. “I appreciate it, but you don’t need to deal with my family drama.”
“I mean it, Cash. I don’t want to be coddled—I want us to be partners. You don’t need to protect me from anything. I can handle it.” She’d never again be part of a relationship where her man made decisions for her own good.
He patted her knee and ran his hand up her thigh. “I’ll always protect you.”
His words seemed to echo with a deeper meaning, but she shook her head. “No. We’re in this together. Don’t baby me.”
His expression became serious. “I won’t.”
“Promise?” She’d make him pinky swear if she had to.
“Of course.” His charming smile should’ve eased her sudden anxiety about jumping in with another boyfriend who didn’t think of her as an equal. But she’d seen that smile before.
Why wouldn’t he be one hundred percent genuine? No, she wasn’t going to second-guess his word. He’d been nothing but real with her and tonight was about enjoying them and their new standing as a solid couple.
Chapter Seventeen
His house came into view. The yard light cast a soft glow over all the buildings on his property. Cash had taken her to the lake, but with the cool temps, they’d had to scurry back into the cab of his truck. Quick sex in the backseat of his truck had only been an appetizer.
He’d gone out dancing with her and now he got to take her home. A guy could get used to this.
No, he’d never get used to it. Not when it was what he’d wanted for so long but had told himself he wasn’t good enough to have. He’d been the plus-one several times as his cousins had dated. Then witnessed Dillon find true love. And Brock—the least likely of them to find a woman who understood him—as he fell
hard for Josie. Each time, it’d bothered Cash more and more that he wasn’t allowed to have that.
But he was. And she was next to him. She wanted him to be honest with her. And he would, but not about her brother. It’d devastate her; she’d blame herself for ever making her brother worry.
He shot her a grin full of promise as he turned into his drive.
She smiled back and when her gaze angled away, she frowned. “What the hell?”
He looked in the same direction and an ominous cloud floated over the whole night. A dark sedan sat in front of his garage, parked next to Abbi’s car.
“Is that Ellis’s car?”
She nodded, but she was squinting to look inside the vehicle. All at once, three doors opened.
He recognized Ellis as he stepped out of the car, but there was another man and a woman with him.
“Who are they?” he asked.
“My parents.”
Ice washed through his veins. The air around them grew heavy. Abbi must be thinking the same thing he was. This couldn’t be good.
“Haven’t you talked to them since you told your ex off?”
She shook her head, her gaze stuck on the people congregated behind the car, waiting for Cash to park. “I thought he’d go home, and I just didn’t want to deal with them. I texted them and said I was staying in Moore until the end of the week and then I’d love their help moving my stuff.”
Since Ellis the Ex was in Cash’s normal parking spot, he swung around in front of his separate garage.
Abbi gave him one final look, as if she was siphoning strength from him to face her family.
As soon as she got out, her mom’s voice carried across the yard. “Abigail, thank god!”
Cash’s boots hit the ground in time to see Abbi’s mom scurry across the gravel, her arms out to hug her daughter.
Abbi let her mom soothe herself for a moment. “What are you guys doing here?”
Abbi’s dad strode to his ladies, his suspicious glare landing on Cash. Cash looked at Ellis. The man’s grim stare was stuck on Abbi, like if he didn’t look at Cash, Cash didn’t exist.
“When Ellis called and told us you broke up with him because of…” Mrs. Daniels peered at Cash.
He stopped by his tailgate and waited, letting Abbi take the reins in this situation.
“Mom, Dad, this is Cash Walker. Perry called him Reno.”
Mr. Daniels’s jaw clenched and he assessed Abbi’s ruffled hair and rumpled appearance. Cash’s own shirt was untucked and his coat was in the cab. They didn’t look like a couple who’d been out dancing. They looked like they’d been doing what they’d just done.
“Nice to meet you.” Cash put out his hand. Mr. Daniels glowered at it, but eventually grasped it in a firm handshake. Mr. Daniels was an older, more mature version of Perry Daniels. Cash could hardly look at him without being assaulted by memories of joking with Daniels—or of finding him staring at his weapon while deep in thought, huge lines of sadness etched into his face.
He tried to look up again, but seeing Mrs. Daniels sent a wave of grief over him. These people had lost a son, and no matter how much Cash told himself he wasn’t responsible, he’d always feel like a failure for not having prevented Daniels’s decision. What had Abbi said? Her parents had been hurt and disappointed that none of Daniels’s squad had come to visit after they’d gotten home.
Cash had known why he hadn’t made the trip, but now he knew. He hadn’t felt worthy enough to face them. Their fear and grief over Abbi’s actions likely couldn’t compare to what their son’s death had done to them. He wouldn’t have been able to stammer out an apology and lurch away. And how would that have sat with them?
“What’s going on here?” Mr. Daniels asked gruffly.
The man must’ve taken Cash’s avoidance as guilt that he had ill intentions toward Abbi.
Abbi broke away from her mom and crossed to Cash’s side. He hooked an arm around her and forced himself to face Daniels’s parents—Abbi’s parents.
“I met Cash and we’ve formed a relationship. I don’t know what Ellis told you, how he told you, but there’s nothing nefarious. Being with Cash helped me see how miserable I was at home.”
Mr. Daniels scowled. “You ended a four-year relationship and started another one within a week?”
“Abigail,” Mrs. Daniels breathed, “what were you thinking? Do you know how worried we’ve been?”
Remorse touched Abbi’s eyes. “I kept telling you I was fine. I really am.”
“Why would you—” Abbi’s mom drew herself up. “I think we should talk in private.”
Abbi shook her head and pressed close to Cash. “We will all discuss this together, not that I need to justify anything I’ve done. I’m an adult.”
Her dad’s forehead creased in concern. “Fine. Then why would you leave a man who treats you like a queen, provides for you, and came running after you for a coward who can’t face his friends’ parents?”
Cash recoiled. Whoa. Direct attack. But no anger flurried within him. Daniels’s parents were right to think he was a coward.
“Dad!”
“No, it’s all right.” Cash rubbed her shoulder.
Abbi’s mom went to stand by her husband, her expression strained. “Ellis told us he asked around town about Cash.”
Cash wanted to groan. With his own history fueled by his dad’s actions, he could imagine what had been said about him.
“And what, Mom? You’re going to believe Ellis and a bunch of strangers over what I say?”
“You haven’t made the best decisions in the past,” her mom said.
“He has quite a reputation.” Mr. Daniels’s hard stare burned into Cash. “He’s not someone I want my daughter with.”
Cash chewed on his cheek. He couldn’t exactly argue with the man. He’d worked hard to dissuade anyone from thinking he was boyfriend material. Abbi squeezed his side in reassurance.
“He’s a hard-working man,” Abbi defended. “He works from sunup to sundown.” She shot Ellis a hard look as if to stress that Cash worked longer hours than him. “Hard, honest work. I’m sure there’s plenty of places in Moore I could find a job.”
Her mom’s eyes bugged out. “You’re moving here?”
“Eventually.”
Ellis drifted toward them, hesitancy in his step. “I accept that you and I are done, Abigail. But it doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Before you give up your entire life, think about what kind of living he makes from ranching, how unreliable it can be.”
He had a feeling about where Ellis was going with this. “My cousins and I run a successful farming and ranching operation, which I’m sure you discovered when you asked around town.”
“And when grain prices fall?” Ellis countered. “Or cattle prices? What if a hail storm wipes out your crops? Do you have any education to fall back on, or will the whole operation crash?”
Abbi stiffened next to him and it was his turn to give her a reassuring squeeze.
“Do I have a college degree? That’s what you’re asking, right? No. I don’t.” He directed his next words to the worried mom and dad hovering in his yard. “Rest assured, this business is one of the longest running in the county. I’m a fifth-generation farmer and rancher, and this place has weathered many storms, both climate related and financial.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re the man for my daughter,” her dad said calmly. “Abigail, why would you want to be one of many?”
Cash sucked in a breath. It was hard not to get pissed, but more at himself because what the man said about his past was true. A previous lack of commitment didn’t make him a bad guy. He hadn’t lied to the women he’d been with, or made false promises.
“Cash’s past is none of my business, and what goes on between us is none of your business—” she stabbed a finger at them, then pointed at Ellis, “—and none of yours.”
Her mom spoke and her voice was low, serious. “Perry told me plenty about Reno—Cash—whatever
the hell you call yourself. Despite the stories, like my daughter, my son seemed to treasure your friendship. Yet you let him down. You let us down. You let him get killed, and you let the army lie to us and blame my son—” her voice cracked, “—who’s no longer here to defend himself. I won’t tolerate my daughter associating with a man like you.”
Cash worked to steady his breathing. Fucking Daniels wasn’t here to defend himself and his parents blamed Cash for the man taking his own life. Actions that would lead to Cash losing the love of his life. Or worse, having her lose her parents because he didn’t tell them what had really happened.
Abbi would walk. He could feel her resolve in the hard lines of her body. She was prepared to leave everything in Green Bay and set up life with him. She’d lost her brother. They’d lost a son. Cash couldn’t be responsible for them losing a daughter, too.
“The army didn’t lie.”
Abbi nodded next to him, and his heart cracked. Would she hate him when this was over?
Her mom cut a hand through the air. “No. I know they did. Why was my son taken and no one else was even injured?”
There were injuries, but nothing severe, and definitely not a loss of life. “Because he disobeyed orders to fall back. Dil—my cousin relayed the order and we were working our way back out when I noticed Daniels wasn’t with me.”
Mrs. Daniels shook her head. “You’re lying. Protecting yourself. I knew you were hiding something. Perry wouldn’t have put himself in danger like that.”
“Mom, you don’t even know what you’re talking about. It was an accident.”
Mrs. Daniels charged him. “No! My son was killed because you made a mistake. You left him behind.”
“He was depressed.” The rest of Cash’s breath froze in his lungs. He’d said it. He’d only confessed it once, to Dillon several months ago, but now he was telling the people he’d sworn never to tell.
Mrs. Daniels gasped and drew up short. Abbi disengaged herself from his hold and peered up at him.
Cash shoved a hand through his hair. All those shitty nights of sleep and it hadn’t been the actual experience plaguing him, but the helpless feeling that had preceded it. He’d turned around and Daniels’s vest and Kevlar helmet had disappeared around a corner, into a room they’d just reported an IED in.
Long Hard Fall Page 16
