It was the God’s honest truth. He didn’t have a lot, but he had some honor. At least, he liked to think so.
Which meant that he probably needed to talk to Cody eventually about the fact that he was planning on eventually transitioning his focus to his own ranch.
But he wasn’t even in the infancy stages of that. Even if he got one horse that he didn’t keep here at Painted Ridge, even if he started improving the facilities on the property, it wasn’t going to come together for a long while.
There was no point in worrying about something that far in the future.
Just like there was no point in Cody worrying about something that Zane was never going to do.
His feelings had nothing to do with anything.
They worked until he was sweaty, beads of it dripping down his face, and he regretted that he hadn’t saved enough time for him to shower before he went out with Cara.
It was far too easy to imagine deciding to take a dip in the river. Inviting her to join him.
Hell no.
Absolutely not. Not when he had just re-dedicated himself to his own honor.
When he had just promised Cody that he would conduct himself as was good and right.
“I’d better head out,” he said.
Cody nodded and waved Zane off. Zane got into his truck and saw that he had three text messages from Cara asking questions about what she was supposed to wear.
“Not a dress,” he said out loud as he typed his response to her.
Then he threw the phone back down on the seat and drove quickly back to his place. It was only a five-minute drive on the back roads from this part of Painted Ridge up to his property, but it was an additional five minutes up thehill to his house. The house had been on the property when he moved in, in its ramshackle glory, and he really quite liked it. It had been the house that had kept the property from selling for quite some time, because without a full plan in place to get a house that would pass code, it was one of those homes that was impossible to get a mortgage on. But he had bought it with cash outright, and he had no intention of changing the place.
He liked it just the way that it was.
It suited him.
It would never suit another person, he knew that, but since he intended to live by himself for all his days, it was just fine.
The shower in the back of the house was tiny. And there was a reason that he preferred the river. But he decided to take a quick run through the shower before Cara arrived. He ran the water cold and washed away the sweat, then got dressed in a different pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and grabbed his pack, got out of the house just in time for her to drive up.
He felt something that was close to pride when she got out of the car, and that was the strangest thing of all.
But she was wearing a pair of jeans, some sensible hiking shoes, a T-shirt, and a baseball hat. Her dark hair was back in a ponytail that was shoved through the hat, and her expression was one of glimmering determination.
“I’m ready,” she said.
“Good,” he said. “Because this is what we’re taking.”
Just their backpacks, and themselves.
“I don’t even like tent camping,” she said.
“After this, you’re going to think that a tent is a luxury.”
“Why am I doing this again?”
“Adventure.” He shrugged. “Well. And safety.”
“I guess it’s better than staying home,” she said.
“I’m going to drive us out to a starting point. Because we aren’t going to camp on my property.”
