Page 7 of Broken Boundaries

Aspen

“There she is,” Zach greets me from the couch as I walk into our apartment. “How was your first day?”

I put my purse and keys down on the counter and try not to notice all the boxes that are still unpacked. “It was good. Learned a lot. The ranch is beautiful.”

“Yeah, it’s not bad.”

Not bad? Between the land, the lakes, and the mountains, it’s all stunning. Moonlight Ranch could potentially make this city girl like living in the country. I don’t feel like arguing with him, though. He’s got his own reasons for not liking the ranch, and I try to remember that.

“What did you do today?” I ask, grabbing a glass of water.

“Eh, not much. Finished unpacking my clothes. Grabbed some groceries.”

“Cool. Hey, how come your dad didn’t offer us the cabin by his house instead of helping get this apartment?” I’ve been thinking about it all day. Not that I particularly want to live on the ranch. At least the apartment is in town and makes it feel like I’m not in the middle of nowhere. It just seems odd that Brooks wouldn’t have at least offered it.

“He did,” Zach says, like it’s obvious. “But I don’t want to live so close. And I know he’d just try to get me to work there if I was that close.”

“Would it be so bad to work there? It seems like a nice place. Give you a chance at a good future.” I try not to sound too annoyed that he conveniently forgot to mention that offer. It’s something we should’ve discussed together. I would’ve understood his reasoning, but it would’ve been nice to be involved.

He sighs and looks back down at his phone like he would rather talk about anything else than this. “I don’t want that life, Aspen. I told you that. The ranch is his thing, not mine. I don’t want to take over his stupid family business.”

“Right.” I can’t help but think about how sad that must feel for Brooks. His only son doesn’t want to continue on the family legacy that he’s worked so hard on. I wonder where the ranch will go when Brooks decides to retire.

“And trust me. You don’t want to live in that shit-hole cabin.”

“Really? It seemed nice.”

Zach looks up from his phone. “Did he take you in there?”

“Well, no, but we drove past it on our tour of the property. He says he has a lot of fond memories with you there, like camping out back when you stayed with him. Until you stopped…”

Zach huffs a laugh. “Yeah, we had to camp because that place is smaller than this apartment. It was fun at first, I guess, but it got old quick. It’s just one big room. There was no privacy. I hated being there.”

“Oh.” Honestly, it sounds kind of charming to me, but I didn’t go inside, so I can’t say for sure. I guess I need to trust Zach on this. “Well, I was just curious.”

“You’d better change. We’re having dinner with my mom tonight,” Zach tells me, changing the subject abruptly.

“I thought we were going out to celebrate.” I’m so concerned with the change of plans that I don’t have time to be offended that he told me I need to change. I think I look cute.

“We are. I talked to Mom earlier, and she wants to take us out to celebrate your new job.”

“Oh.” I can’t hide my disappointment. “I was hoping it’d be just the two of us.”

He finally gets off the couch and walks over to me and wraps me in a hug. “Sorry, babe. We’ll go out just the two of us another night. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”

He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he had no problem disappointing me. I take a deep breath and try to shake off the irritation. I’ve had a long day, and I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.

“That’s fine. Maybe next time just talk to me before you commit us to something?”

“Sure, babe. I can do that.”

He kisses my head and releases me from the hug. “Go get changed so we can go.”

I nod and head to our room to throw on a casual sundress. One I know Zach likes. I touch up my hair and makeup and then meet him back in the living room.

“Where are we going for dinner?” I ask as we walk down the sidewalk of Main Street.

“It’s this place called Roadside. It’s a little bar and grill. You’ll like it.”