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“Got started on what, exactly?” Pete asked, his arms still firmly crossed over his chest.
“Fixing this place up.” George shrugged. He then explained what had happened over the past few days. His mom dying, him finding out she’d never sold the ranch and it was now in his possession. “I figured… I want to start up the ranch again. It was supposed to be me running it by now. This was supposed to my future.”
“Is that what you want?” I asked.
“Yeah, among other things,” he replied, his hand caressing my cheek. I blushed, leaning into his touch.
“Gross,” Pete murmured, and I laughed as George leaned into dramatically kiss me again just to piss Pete off. “You’re serious about this, then?”
“It’ll take a while, but yeah. I should have the house and barns in operational order by late next year,” he said.
“You’re not going to stay here at night, right?” I asked, tilting my head toward the backpack I brought in. “Grant wanted me to pack you some clothes…”
“No, we can go home soon,” George said with a soft smile. “I do have some work to do around here today to be ready for the contractor’s inspection tomorrow. It’ll be a late night just cleaning up, clearing out the furniture—”
“I think the three of us can handle it in a timely fashion,” Pete said, sighing as he looked around scratching his head. He glanced at us and pursed his lips. “I’ll go—uh, order some pizzas and pick up a six-pack or something,” he mumbled, walking out the door. “I’m taking your truck, Keels!”
“Okay!”
“Take your time,” George said, which elicited a dirty look from Pete before he walked out onto the porch.
I let out a breath when Pete drove off and then turned to George.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m a lot better now,” he whispered, tucking a few rogue curls behind my ear. “I’m sorry, Keely. I should have told you what was going on.”
“Yeah, you probably should have,” I replied with a little laugh. “That doesn’t matter now. I’m just glad you’re home.”
ChapterThirty
George
“I’m fine, really,” I assured Keely for probably the fifth time. I walked a few paces behind her as we strolled through the house. I flipped on a few light switches. Nothing happened, of course. Keely ran her hands over the faded and peeling wallpaper upstairs while I kept an eye on her footing. The left side of the house seemed stable because the roof on that side hadn’t caved it, but I felt like a herding dog following her around and adjusting her position in the hallway every time she stepped too close to the right side of the house.
“It was a beautiful house once, wasn’t it?” Keely mentioned quietly, her voice a soft hum over the sound of our creaking footsteps.
“It really was.”
“It’s going to be a lot of work, huh?”
“Yeah. I don’t plan on rushing through anything. And if the contractor thinks it’s not worth it to save the original house, I’ll consider razing it along with the barns. Those are going to have to go anyway.”
Keely turned into one of the smaller bedrooms, lingering in the doorway. Her eyes lifted to the windows. There was a round stained-glass window in that room that faced south. Rainbows danced over the dust-covered wood floor as she stepped into the light.
“This used to be my room,” I said softly, leaning against the doorframe.
“Lucky you.” She grinned, running her fingers across the wallpaper printed with fluffy white clouds, horses, and cowboys. “Is this really what you want?”
“Yeah. There was no question in my mind, honestly. I’m still making sense of why she didn’t just tell me about it. I guess I understand her pain in regard to this place but… I’m forty, Keely. I could have been running this place years ago.”
“I’m sorry, George.”
“I’ve lost a lot of time here,” I said under my breath, that suffocating weight of grief and anxiety settling against my chest again. I looked up at Keely. “In a few ways.”
Keely’s cheeks bloomed with color as she looked down at her feet.
“I was an asshole, Keely—”
