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“Thank you,” Ashley whispered from his seat on the other side of the counter.
I got to work putting together a plate full of the food Harlan had made for today’s event. He always doubled his portions now to ensure there was some left for everyone after we cleared out the ranch. It wouldn’t be a problem for me to give some to Ashley.
Once I got the food up to temp, I placed it in front of him with some utensils and a cup of water. I walked around the counter to take his bag from his shoulder. He’d yet to put it down since he walked up to the table outside.
'Cause yeah, I’d spotted him before he saw me. I’d been talking to one of the moms who frequented the market with her kids. They all loved to ask us questions each month to learn all about being a ‘proper cowboy’ as they called it. I’d been mid-sentence when something told me to look at the food table. I’d only spotted his profile but that had been all I’d needed to see to know it was him.
I excused myself to the kids with a promise to let them have even more of my time when they came back. That had appeased them enough to let me go.
Since the moment I’d confirmed it was indeed my Ashley talking to Harlan, my mind had been on overdrive. I’d askeda few questions to get an idea of timelines, though I hadn’t progressed past that. There were a million more things I needed to know.
What was his plan moving forward?
Would he want to stay here at the ranch with me?
Had our letters meant as much to him as they had to me?
Did he want to see if the connection we had transferred to real life too?
Focusing on the time we had alone together before the rest of the ranch descended was important. That’s why I stopped worrying about the growing list in my head to focus on taking care of him.
The smudge under his eyes and the scruff of his beard told me how exhausted he was. He wasn’t one for being unkempt in any way.
It also gave me an idea of how important it was to him to get here. To get to me.
“Give me your bag. You don’t need to hold on to it anymore. It’s safe here.” I lifted the strap from his shoulder. Leaning it against the floor next to him, I pulled up an empty stool to sit beside him.
He watched me just as close as I did him. It was as if neither of us could truly believe what was happening. Despite our disbelief, his stomach grumbled loud enough to pull us both from the stare off.
I pushed the plate closer to him. “Eat. I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you. We can talk after.”
His eyes closed as he breathed out a deep sigh. If I had to guess, I’d say it was relief. That or maybe acceptance. I wouldn’t know more about where his head was at until I knew his basic needs were met.
Ashley dug into his food with gusto. He’d clearly been neglecting himself in order to get to the ranch. That wasn’tgoing to fly moving forward. He deserved better. He would get better. It was my personal mission until he indicated he wanted otherwise.
When he scraped the last bite of food from his plate, I stood to take it from him. He stood as well, his gaze wild as he watched me.
I pressed my hand over his. “I’ve got this. Have a seat while I clean up. Then we need to go over a few basic things.”
He nodded slowly as he eased back down. I took the plate from him, then cleaned it all up so Harlan wouldn’t have to. The less we disturbed the norm of the ranch, the better.
After I got everything dried and put away, I turned to face Ashley. He sat ramrod straight at the counter, his expression devoid of any emotion. That wasn’t going to work for me.
I moved around until I was standing beside him again. He turned to face me without me having to ask. The position of his legs gave me just enough room to slip between them as I got close. He sucked in a breath at the proximity.
“Ashley,” I said slowly as my hand moved up to his chest. I ran my palm over his rapidly beating heart as I kept his stare locked with mine.
“Corey.” His word held a slight tremble to it.
I shook my head. “Don’t be nervous, baby. I’m not going to do anything to hurt you. I simply need to know what it is you want next. I’ll be happy to take care of whatever that is. You just have to tell me.”
“I don’t know what to say to this. I’m…” His gaze went to the side like he couldn’t voice what he wanted.
“Ashley,” I whispered. He didn’t move. I tried again. “Ashley.”
He turned to me; his brow furrowed. It wasn’t anger I saw there. It was confusion. Like he wasn’t sure what had just happened.
“Baby, I’m trying to help you. Don’t fight me. I’ll understand whatever it is you want. It’s just that, well, you came here first. That makes me think you want to be here. It makes me believe you want to be with me like we’d talked about. Is that what you showing up here means?”
