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“I turn an awful magenta, myself. It’s ghastly.”
“Magenta isn’t terrible,” I said with a laugh. “I’ll have to wait to see you blush to judge for myself, though. You know. If you’re right about the shade.”
“I don’t blush easily, so it might be a while.”
“I’ll do my best to be patient.”
Chapter Ten
Wemadeplanstorun every day together. It would be a good time to talk over Chandler’s progress, being he swore off running with us. I spent that afternoon with both the boys, and Colby reminded me of Rick. His mannerisms, his smile, all things that were different from Chandler's.
Rick said that Chandler was like his mother, and when I saw a picture of her on the mantel, I saw it. Chandler could have been her twin from his hair to his smile.
I was officially asked to be in the family by Colby that day after he informed me I was Uncle Kanan. It made me feel like I belonged, and for someone like me who’d lost their only family, it was a feeling I didn’t take for granted.
After I told Rick about it on our run, he got choked up and stopped at the creek again. “He doesn’t do that. I know, he just loves everyone, but he doesn’t often take to someone like that.”
“I expected Chandler to be upset about that. He wasn’t. He was laughing. I felt good.”
“You should. Colby is a sweet kid. Very sweet. Maybe when you’re done with Chandler, take on Colby. Make him…I hate to say tougher. I’m not interested in making him some alpha male asshole.”
I understood completely. “Being so sweet in this world can kick a person in the teeth. Like it did you.”
“I’m not sweet,” he scoffed.
“Yeah. You are.”
We got to running again after we spoke for a few minutes and ran for half an hour before stopping again. Seeing him running was a morning joy for me. The man was fine as hell, and seeing him sweating, and out of breath, it made me think things that I shouldn’t be thinking. He was my boss, the father of two boys that needed him. He didn’t need some dude drooling over him, confusing things.
It was that second stop that had me confused, however. We stopped at the top of a crest, and the view was amazing. I couldn’t have run another step, not with that view calling.
The clouds were over the peaks, like out of a fantasy novel. I pictured two men, climbing the peak to deliver some valuable object. Over the green valley that led to those peaks, there was a dark shadow moving. I didn’t realize for a few seconds, but it was a herd of animals.
“Antelope. Deer don’t travel in packs that large usually.”
“We’re so high. I didn’t think we’d climbed so high.”
“Gradual incline up to this point. It’s a favorite of runners when they find it.”
I was surprised he let people onto his property. “This isn’t yours?”
“It is, but it backs up to government land, so people cross over a lot. It’s not a big deal unless they start fires in the dry season or think they’re gonna chop down trees or such.”
“I see. So…all this wilderness, can stay this way?”
The trees were like a carpet over the lower base of the mountains, rising just up to the rather bald tops. That was where the clouds hovered, just over those tops.
“It can and if I have the say, it will. Chandler will inherit it, the land, and Colby the house. I want them to always be close.
There were two waterways that cut through the area, one pretty wide, more like a river than a creek. That was where the herd headed. “I’m glad.”
“My father set that up. Chandler was going to inherit everything until Colby came along. Then the wills needed to be changed. He was a stickler about that kind of thing. He said boundaries need to be set and held. It was the only way to keep families together and not fight over money and things.”
“Makes sense, but does it work? I didn’t have competition. All my parents’ money went to me. Not that they were rich, not by American standards, but I got through school and lived for over ten years on it.”
“School. It’s so important. I know this, but knowing he’s going far from home, it’s killing me.”
I understood, of course, but it also bothered me that he thought that would be it. He spoke as if he’d never see Chandler again. “You make a home that the kids will want to come home to. That’s the easy part. Seeing them grow and leave for the world, yeah, I’m sure that’s hard, but you will see him a lot. Hell, he might even see how good home is and move back after school.”
