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“Just like you sayin’ you don’t want to go out with her.” He took a step closer and leaned in, his deep, bass voice low as he added, “You’re not the same man you were twenty years ago, Cord. It’s time to let him go.”
“Ihavelet him go,” Cord said.
“No.” Travis shook his head. “You cling to him, and you use him any time you want to do something that will make you happy.”
“I do not.” Anger rose through Cord. “I know who I am, Trav.”
“Yeah, so do I.” Travis straightened and met Cord’s eyes. “You’re a really talented mechanic. You’re a hard worker. You’re a good man, and Gray Hammond knows that. We all know it—and Jane can see it too.” He clapped Cord on the shoulder. “That’s why she wants to go out with you.”
Cord had never felt so conflicted. He couldn’t organize his thoughts quickly enough to ask the questions streaming through him, because they only existed in pieces. Trav gave him a smile and said, “Call me when you’re ready,” and turned around. “I’ve got to go find Matt and help him with the mid-day feeding.”
Cord couldn’t even say, “Okay,” fast enough, and Travis left the stable in silence. Cord spun away from the door as it banged closed. “He’s wrong,” he muttered. About what, Cord wasn’t sure.
He felt like a good person, but only a few people knew who he’d been when he’d first come to this farm. Only Gray, Hunter, and Trav knew why he’d come in the first place. Only the three of them knew that he hadn’t spoken to a blood relative in a decade and a half.
Leaning against the stall wall for support, Cord bowed his head and finally caught up to his thoughts.
“I want to go out with Jane Hammond,” he whispered. “But that doesn’t mean I liked her when she was fourteen. Does it? Will people think that?”
It didn’t really matter what people thought, other than Gray and Elise. He hadnotentertained the idea of going out with Jane when she was younger, not even a little bit. He would be mortified if anyone thought that, most of all Gray.
He cleaned out the corner of the stall where Trav had raked the waste, forked in fresh straw, and moved down to Mike’s stall. It was only half-finished, and Cord got the job done without complaint. Mike was a good man too, torn in a lot of different directions.
Because of his shoulder, he couldn’t do a lot of the work Cord, Trav, and Mission did, and Cord didn’t fault him that. He wouldn’t want to be CEO of a huge family company, generations of Hammonds all watching him. He was nowhere near smart enough for that, for one, and for another, Cord didn’t want the spotlight on him.
“That’s another reason I can’t go out with Jane,” he grumbled. “If I do, everyone will be lookin’ at us.”
He pushed the full-again wheelbarrow toward the waste area, his mind churning.What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?
He’d already determined to stay away from Jane this summer. He’d assumed she’d move out, making that task easier, but she hadn’t. She’d only crowded in closer, and Cord almost choked at the thought of her going out with anyone but him.
Call Gray.
The words came into his head in a loud, clear voice, and Cord actually groaned. “Really, Lord? I have to humiliate myself to go out with this woman?”
He couldn’t call right now, because if Mike wasn’t around, he had to get the horses out for the lunchtime free ride. Cord did that, the nagging thought to call his boss, his mentor, his father-figure still loud in his head.
He ignored it as he did his afternoon chores and then headed over to the mechanic shed to work on an old truck that wouldn’t start. He’d asked Gray if he could use the shed and the tools on the farm to restore the vehicle, and he’d gotten permission.
“So maybe he’d give you permission to date his daughter.”
There was only one way to find out, but Cord wasted his evening hours inside the engine, his stomach practically clawing itself out by the time he returned to his cabin. He put a pizza in the oven, showered, opened a bag of salad, and ate.
“It’s too late to call now,” he told himself as he went down the hall to bed.
The next morning, he went over to Pony Power, the same as he always did. Gloria and Matt handed out the day’s assignments, and Cord accepted his and instead of taking his spot over by Travis, he positioned himself closer to Jane.
His heart pounded at him; his pulse shot lightning through his veins; his mouth had never felt drier.
“All right, everyone,” Matt said. “Stay safe. Find us if you need us.”
“But don’t need us,” Gloria said with a smile. Cord grinned back, because she said that almost every day.
The crowd started to disperse to get started on the day, and Cord moved to Jane’s side. “Jane.”
She looked over to him in surprise. “Morning, Cord,” she said, glancing past him and then left and right. “Should we be seen talking to each other?” she asked in a mock whisper.
“Funny,” he said in a deadpan. He cleared his throat, because he actually thought she was funny. “Listen, you haven’t called your daddy, have you?”
