Page 9 of The CEO and the Mountain Man

“I’mfine.” Ah. There was the eye roll. “My dad issodramatic.”

I love my son, I love my son, I love my son.

Beau pressed his lips together for a second, then responded, “Excellent. Now, turn her around and circle around the other way.”

River nodded and eventually, awkwardly, got Betty going in the right direction.

Others may have executed a smoother turnaround, but my son managed to stay in the saddle, and I called that a win. Still, I was a little disappointed that we were the only ones here with Beau.

“So, are we the only family here?” I asked, looking around. “I didn’t see any families at breakfast, and I was hoping he would get a chance to hang out with, I dunno. Maybe teens his age?”

“We’ve got a pretty big family coming in tonight. Four kids; I think one or two of them around his age.”

“Oh, good.”

Beau’s face shifted from thoughtful to worried, back to thoughtful again. I shouldered him. “You’re not supposed to be the stressed-out one,” I said, teasing him.

“No, not stressed out. Just realizing that I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed.” He sent me a worried look. “You said he was injured,andhe lost his mom. Was this the same event?”

I pressed my lips together and nodded. “Just this past Christmas. Don’t know if you heard about the big snowstorm in Chicago…”

“Yeah, something about people losing power and roads not getting cleared properly.”

Not wanting to get emotional all over again, I kept it brief. “She lost control and hit a tree.”

Beau whistled low under his breath. “It must’ve been awful for him to lose a mom and you to lose a wife.” His expressive eyes widened and went shiny. “AtChristmas.”

“She was my ex-wife, but yes, it was incredibly difficult. He was badly injured in that accident, and even though he’s so much better now, he’ll have headaches and a hitch in his step, probably for the rest of his life.”

“He had a head injury?”

“Either a bad concussion or a mild traumatic brain injury, depending on which doctor or insurance specialist you were talking to.” I rolled my eyes, probably not unlike my son.

“Dealing with insurance is the worst,” he said, scratching his beard. “Though I don’t recall seeing a head injury on the health sheet.”

Oops.

I grimaced. “I left that part off because when I say head injury, people look at him differently. Which is…”

“... annoying as hell.” Beau watched River as he made the final turn. “Not to press the issue, but … no seizures or loss of consciousness since he left the hospital?”

I shook my head.

“What about the punk look? The all black? That new too?”

“Yeah. Up until the accident, he preferred pastels and lip gloss.”

I swear to God, I willnotcry again.

“Grief is a real son of a bitch.”

“Yep.”

He touched his shoulder to mine. “The horses are good with grief. You did the right thing by coming to us.”

He stepped away as River approached us again, not realizing how much I’d needed to hear those words.

“So? What’d ya think?” Beau asked, grabbing the reins.