I untied the swing and walked backwards until I had the rope secure and then screamed as I ran as fast as I could before my feet left the ground. Swinging out over that water was one the most fun things I had ever done. When I got to the middle of the creek I let go, falling close to fifteen feet before my body plunged under the surface. The water instantly put my body into shock from the bitter temperature of it. By the time I made it back to the top and could catch my breath, I was screaming again. Only this time I was forced to monitor all the use of profanities that were coming to mind.
"What the hell! It's freezing! You lied to me!"
Shelby swam toward me. "I didn't say anything, so you can’t say I lied."
Canyon was laughing from the moment I let go of the rope.
"It's not funny!"
"Yes it is. Don't be a baby, you'll get used to it."
"You could have been honest and warned me."
He swam over to me and I watched in slow motion as he raised his hands up in the air before they dropped on my shoulders and dunked me under the water.
I came back up ready for war when Canyon said, "You wouldn't have gotten in!" as he swam away from me.
I fought against the water to race after him until I could grab onto his back and then wrapped my arms around his neck. I tried with all my might to push him under but he was entirely too strong for me to win. We were all laughing at my failed efforts until I half-heartedly gave up and enjoyed the fact that we were all having fun.
"Shelby, you should go swing. It's fun."
"You'll let me?"
"Absolutely! Canyon and I'll stay down here and watch you."
She swam over to the bank and started climbing up while Canyon pulled me around to face him. "I love you, darlin’. I know I've said this a million times already but I really am glad you're here."
I didn't know where that came from but obviously our conversation the night before wasn't far from his mind. "I love you too and I never want to leave." And I meant it.
"Say that again."
"Which part?"
"The whole thing. I don't think I'll ever get used to hearing you say it."
"You will one day when I'm old and fat. You'll be wishing you never wanted this after all."
He looked me in the eye and I knew what he was about to say would melt my heart. "Damn, you're right. I may want to rethink this after all." I was wrong. I tried to push off of him and swim away but he just laughed and pulled me in tighter. "I'm just teasing you, girl."
"You think you are but you just wait and see how miserable I make you in a few years."
"I'm looking forward to it."
I smiled and gave him a kiss right when we heard, "Hey, guys, watch!"
Just as we looked up, Shelby was running straight off the ledge. I didn't realize how crazy high you got on that rope until I watched her swing out. When she let go she screamed at the top of her lungs as she plunged in to the water.
I nervously let go of Canyon and swam over to her when she came up for air.
She grabbed onto me and just as I opened my mouth to ask if she was okay she blurted out, "That was awesome!"
"Really? You had me freaked out when you screamed like that. I thought you were scared."
"No way, that was awesome! Canyon, it's your turn."
We both looked back to give him trouble but he was already on his way up the bank.
"I'm on it, girls. Are you going to catch me?"
Shelby and I looked at each other wide-eyed.
"Not me."
"Not me either."
"Well then you better swim fast ‘cause here I come!"
Canyon shot out over the water, forgetting the rope, and pulled his knees up right before he made the biggest cannon ball splash in history right next to us. Shelby and I both screamed at the top of our lungs as waves crashed over us. Canyon came up and we all laughed and played over the next few hours, letting go of all the bad and just enjoyed the moment we were in.
Eventually, it was time to get back to work and I had to take Shelby home. I hated seeing her cry but I couldn't keep her with me even though it was all I ever wanted.
"Hey, do me a favor, huh? Can you make sure that you come back tomorrow? I don't think I can handle all the puppies running around while I'm working on your horse. I really could use the help."
Shelby wiped her snotty nose and looked up at Canyon with her red swollen eyes.
"My horse?"
"Yeah. I seem to remember Ari telling me something about you wanting your own and I have the perfect filly for you if you want her."
My face almost matched Shelby's with the disbelief we were both dealing with. "Really, Canyon, you will let me have one?"
"You bet, hun. I'd do anything to make you smile. But you have to do your part too. She's going to need lots of love and care that I can't give her so I'm going to need you to be here every day. Will that be something you can handle?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
She ran into his open arms as he picked her up from the ground and swung her in a circle. I stood back smiling at the two people I loved most in the world and thought, this is what life’s all about.
"I hate to break this up but, Shelby, I really need to be getting you back."
Canyon hugged her one last time before he set her down and she ran to my truck and climbed in.
I walked over to the greatest man in the world, took both of my hands and rested them on his cheeks while I stared into his eyes.
"You are something amazing, Canyon Michaels." I didn't give him a chance to respond before I softly pressed my lips against his.
When I pulled back he grabbed me and yanked me forward so he could kiss me again. "You, Ari, are what makes me what I am. Now hurry up and take her back so we can get to work."
"Yes, sir."
"Don't start that with me."
I walked back to my truck with a smile on my face and got in.
"Can you believe he's giving me my own horse?"
I turned the key and started to back up when I said, "You deserve it, Shelby. You're a good girl and he loves you so much."
"I love him too."
The smile she wore all the way back to the house melted my heart.
We got out and I grabbed her bag to carry it in for her. I hated the idea of entering that house knowing I didn't have to anymore but Shelby ran in straight to Mom and John screaming, "I have my own horse! My own horse!"
Neither of them said a word. They were waiting for me to walk into the room.
"What do you mean you have your own horse?"
"Canyon gave her to me. She's mine! And I get to take care of her every day."
"That's great, honey. Why don't you go jump in the shower. You stink."
"No I don't. We were in the creek swimming all day. I can't smell."
"Well you do and I said get in the shower now!"
Shelby huffed but still walked down the hallway and disappeared in to the bathroom.
My work was done. I had gotten her back home safe and felt no reason to stick around. I walked out the door, closing it behind me when it flew back open with a raging lunatic coming right at me
"You can tell your precious Canyon he can keep his fucking horse! I don't want his pity and he had no right getting my daughter’s hopes up."
I spun around and walked until my finger was almost touching his nose.
"Your daughter was bawling her eyes out because she didn't want to have to come back here and live with you! You! So don't you dare blame anyone but yourself for the fact she hates you. You did that all on your own."
I turned and walked to my truck wishing I never had to see him again.
All of a sudden my head was yanked backwards. He had my hair and was pulling me away from my truck while I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"I am so tired of you!”
He shoved me down to the ground and was pushing my face into the gravel with his knee. I tried fighting back but there was nothing I could d
o.
"Go tell Canyon I said to stay the fuck away from my daughter or he will lose everything he owns. Don't fuck with me!"
He pushed down one last time with his knee before he let go of my hair and stood up to walk away.
I sat up and screamed, "I hate you!"
With both of my fists filled with rocks, I threw them as hard as I could at his back but he never bothered to turn around. Instead, he continued to walk into the house as if I wasn't even there and slammed the door behind him.
I wiped my face to try to get the small bits of gravel imbedded in my cheek off. It hurt like hell but I got up and sat inside my truck using my rear view mirror to get out the rest. Nothing short of killing him would ever be justice enough for that man.
I drove back to Canyon's dreading the reaction he was going to give me when he forced me to explain what happened. Once I pulled up and realized he wasn't waiting for me I took the advantage and went into the house to shower and get cleaned up. From the upstairs bedroom window I could see him running Percy and knew I would be okay.
After I got out of the shower I decided that the old me didn't need to be completely buried. I may have hated a lot about who I was but it didn't mean that wanting to feel pretty had to go with it.
Taking the time to curl my hair and apply my makeup actually felt good. It's crazy how an everyday ritual that feels almost like a chore can turn into something uplifting. I liked who I saw back through my reflection.
Choosing the clothes was a lot harder. The old me would have gone straight for a dress and heels but I wasn't her anymore. I needed to find comfort in who I was becoming. So instead of the dress I found a denim skirt and a blue plaid button up shirt. The yellow tank top I paired with it just peeked out from the few buttons I left open. My cowgirl boots were the last accessory I put on before I was ready for Canyon to see me.
I walked out onto the porch feeling way more insecure than I had upstairs. What if he didn't care for me with all the makeup and hair? He never once made me feel less than beautiful when I was completely natural. So many thoughts were going through my mind when I opened the door and put myself on display. Canyon happened to be walking back from the training run with Skyla, one of the mares. His body glistened from the sun bouncing off of the sweat pouring from him. With his hat backwards and only his jeans and boots on, he made for possibly the sexiest man alive in my eyes. But none of that compared to the look in his eye when he looked up at me for the first time. I wasn't sure how he would take my new look but nothing beats a man stopping dead in his tracks. Even Skyla was jerked to a halt when her lead rope wasn't moving along side of her anymore.
My smile was as big as it could get looking at him, watching him stumble for words.
"Are you going to say something?"
I took one step at a time, trying my best to not look like I was putting too much thought into it until I was on flat ground and approaching him.
"I ah, um... Ari, you are stunning."
I hadn't thought my smile could stretch further but it did.
"Let me take you out tonight."
"Wait, what?"
That was not what I expected to hear.
"May I have the honor of taking you out to dinner? I know any normal man would want to tuck you away and keep you all for themselves but, darlin’, I would rather show the world what's mine. You are beauty at its finest and..."
"Stop! You're killing me. Yes, I'll go to dinner with you."
"Why did you cut me off?"
"Because. No one wants to hear all that. It makes me uncomfortable."
He let Skyla go and hopped over the fence that stood between us.
"You will get one thing straight right now and with this, I won’t budge. You deserve to hear these things and I'm going to tell you whenever I feel like it. It doesn't make you conceded or vain, it makes you loved and there is nothing wrong about that."
I closed the space between us and moved to kiss him when he grabbed my arms to stop me.
"I'm all dirty, darlin’, you don't want to do that."
"Don't tell me what I want to do. If I want to kiss the man I love I'm gonna damn well do it."
He smiled at me before my lips touched his. The taste of that man. God help anyone who had ever had him prior to me and had to let him go. With each swipe of his tongue or pull on my bottom lip I was done for. Just as we were both getting into it, he pulled back, short of breath.
"Let me shower real quick. I don't want to mess you up. You look all fancy. Just give me twenty minutes please."
I couldn't drop my smile if I tried. "Take all the time you need. I'll go put Skyla on the wheel and take Percy back in for the night."
"Sounds great to me, thanks."
He started walking to the house while I squeezed myself through the fence.
"Hey, Ari!"
I came up on the other side to find him standing on the steps.
"Think about what your favorite song is."
"My favorite song? For what?"
"Just do it for me okay? I don't need to know right now. Just think about it."
He walked into the house as I laughed to myself.
I knew the answer to his question. I'd had listened to it every chance I got since the first time I heard it. Why he wanted to know was going to be interesting to find out.
Chapter 27
When Canyon came around the corner into the barn I could smell him before I saw him. The cologne he was wearing was something I could drown myself in and die happy but what I got to look at topped even that.
He had shaven, cleaning up the scruff on his face I had come to expect daily. The jeans were crisp with a royal blue button down that pulled the tan coloring from his skin out and made him almost look golden. His hair was gelled up in a messy way that took his sex appeal to heights I didn't know were possible as he walked toward me. I stopped petting Triton and said, "Hey there, good lookin'."
"Hi to you too, sexy."
When he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me tenderly on the forehead I thought to myself, this is a memory I will hold onto forever.
"You about ready for dinner?"
I was starving so the answer wasn't hard to come by. "Absolutely. Where would you like to go?"
"I'm taking you to the best restaurant in a forty-five mile radius. You like seafood, right?"
"I haven't had any since we moved here."
"I figured that. I just wasn't sure you liked it."
"Can I tell you how excited I am?"
"Why don't you wait until we're in the truck? This is going to be a long drive."
He wasn't kidding. The restaurant was almost an hour away but holy crap was it worth it. When we walked in, the mood was as romantic as something you would find from a five-star restaurant in the heart of Baltimore. I didn't think it could exist way out in the middle of nowhere Montana but Canyon had managed to pick the perfect place for us.
I felt slightly under dressed by the setting but looking around had me more at ease. People there didn't make you feel like you needed to adorn a seven-hundred-dollar outfit to enjoy good food and for that alone I respected them.
We were led to a table in a far back corner, giving us privacy from the main dining area in the center. A low lit pendant hung from the ceiling centered above our table. It was the only light we had to see with other than the soft glowing candle resting as a centerpiece. Canyon pulled out my chair before he took his seat across from me.
After giving the waitress our drink order we started looking over our menus. My mouth watered at the mere thought of lobster. It is my favorite food on the planet and seeing it listed on the menu had me smiling from ear to ear.
"You see something you like?"
I looked up at him and asked, "What sounds good to you?"
"I'm going with the lobster."
"That's what I was thinking too!"
You wouldn't believe what they brought out for us. The lobsters were the size of small dogs and oh my God did it
taste amazing. We stuffed ourselves to the brink of being miserable before we both sat back and laughed.
"That was freakin’ delicious."
"Did you think of that song yet?"
"Where did that come from?”
"I'm still waiting for the song if you came up with it."
"I did."
"Are you going to make me torture you to hear it?"
"’Let It Be Me.’"
"What?"
"The song you sang me the other night on the porch. By Keith Whitley?"
"You mean ‘Don't Close Your Eyes’? How can that be your favorite song? I sang that at one of the saddest points in my life thinking you were leaving."
"It was the words that made my decision to stay."
"But how is that your favorite?"
"Because it was the best decision I have ever made."
"You ruined my surprise by this, I hope you realize that."
My jaw dropped. Even though he wore a smile I never thought my love for that moment could ruin anything. "How?"
"Never mind. Would you like to share a dessert with me?"
"Uh no. I couldn't eat anything else if I tried. Besides, what did I say wrong? Would you like my runner up?"
"Yes, please."
"Well I know you live in the sticks but have you ever heard of Ed Sheeran?"
"’Thinking Out Loud’, maybe?"
"That's the one. How did you know?"
"Because every woman on the planet loves that song. And it's perfect."
"Perfect for what?"
"Us."
That was like the gospel spoken. He was more right than he knew. I always hoped someday I would find someone who could love me like that and I had it from the man I least expected letting myself fall for. I think my smile was his answer because the next thing I knew he was standing up and pulling my chair back.
"Are we leaving?"
"Yes, darlin’, I have other plans for tonight."
"Really? With who?"
"Only the most gorgeous woman on the planet."
Let It Be Me Page 24
