AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I don't think you'll understand," he said.
"The fact that another man beat you in a fight doesn't mean that the man who beat you is a better man than you are. Austin is a wildcard. He is vengeful and angry. He is not normal, and I don't think that you should compare yourself to him and think that you aren't good enough just because he beat you in a fight. What's the matter with you, son?" Ike asked, his voice quiet and calm.
"It's not that. It's just that…"
"You feel like he humiliated you by doing it in front of your girl, and that is what annoys you the most?" He asked. Hayden looked at his father and then slowly nodded.
"I think you need to stop thinking about it that way. I think that you should focus more on the girl than on Austin. Yes, Austin fought you and won, but that doesn't mean that it lessens you in any way in her eyes. Anyone can see the way she looks at you and I can tell that this girl absolutely adores you, so I see no reason why you should be dwelling on things that have already passed," he said slowly.
Hayden looked at his father for a time, then he sighed deeply and nodded. It was easy for him to say. He wasn't the one who suffered the defeat.
"I understand," he said quietly. Ike was still staring at him, and he had the feeling that his father understood that he didn't meanwhat he said, but then again, he didn't seem like he was going to push it.
"I think you should take some time off. I mean, I'd be a fool not to admit that a lot of stuff has been happening lately and that has the ability to rattle a man's mind and make him think thoughts that he shouldn't be thinking. If you want to take some time off, then I completely understand and support that decision. Do you understand?" He asked.
Hayden looked at his father and then gave a small smile. This was the first time that his father had given him a time out, and that amused him for some reason.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
"Just that you never give anyone a time out from work and all that, but now you're giving me one," he said.
"Take it as a once in twenty-five years offer," he said with a chuckle. Hayden nodded, the smile still on his face, but he remembered the giant towering over him and that soured his mood. He just gritted his teeth and spat against the sand, then said nothing else.
CHAPTER EIGHT
"My father thinks that I should…. go away. He thinks that I should take a vacation or something, to clear my head," Hayden said to Leanne as she worked on her sketches. She looked up into the distance. She shrugged.
"I think he has a point; you know? I think that you should go away for a little bit. I mean, every inch of your ranch reminds you of him, and when you remember him, it is almost inevitable that you will remember what happened on that day, and that is one sad thing to remember, isn't it?" She asked him. Hayden shook his head and then leaned against the wooden wall.
"I try not to think about it, try to force it out of my head, but that doesn't work. It seems like that is the only thing that I can think about, and no matter how I try to tell myself that it is okay, that it is in the past, my mind keeps telling me that it is not in the past. Do you understand? My mind keeps telling me that this isn't over and there will be a time when I regret this tremendously. I just…I just hate what he did to me and how I feel about it," Hayden said.
Lenanee stopped painting and then looked at Hayden. She saw the light playing in his eyes and the way his shoulder tightened like he was trying to protect his center then she stood and walked to him. He looked incredibly handsome in the dimming sunlight.
"It must be very painful to be treated in the manner that you were treated by someone you love, and I know that you want to get even, but the truth is that I don't think that is what will help you. If you want, I can go with you on this vacation, and we can have fun and forget everything that has been happening. It would be good for you, for both of us, and I think that we will finally be able to put this in the past, and when you return to this place, your head will be cleared, and you will be able to put this in the past, once and for all " she said.
Hayden considered this, then came to squat beside her. He tilted his head to the side and cupped her cheeks.
"You're saying that you want to come on a vacation with me?" He asked, and she nodded.
"Yeah, I think that would be lovely. I mean. It would be fun and exciting. Unless, of course, you don't want me to come," she said with a raised eyebrow, and Hayden laughed.
"I don't want you to come," he said with a smirk. She punched him in the shoulder, and he burst into laughter then he held her shoulders and kissed her.
"Of course, I would love you to come," he said, staring into her eyes. Lenanee saw that softness in him again, that soft warmth that lived deep within him that had been going even deeper the more he let Austin get to his head. Now he was all smiles and handsomeness, and this was the side of him that she knew, that had started to die in him and she understood why.
†
There were few things that Austin truly enjoyed behind riding horses and a good hard day of work, but a decent hat wasone of them, and he stood there staring at the art collection, aware that the man behind him was observing him very closely.
"What is the matter? Haven't seen the one you like yet?" The man asked, and Austin raised a finger like he was about to point to one, then he shook his head.
"They don't have really good ones in this place, but there was this hat my father got me when I was twelve. It wasn't very pleasing to the eye, but it was solid enough, but I outgrew it. It didn't fade away, and I believe that, in some deep underbelly of trash. The hat still exists, sturdy as ever. That hat reminds me of it," he said, pointing to a brown hat in the distance. The man followed his finger and then shook his head.
"That isn't a hat. That's a sad and sorry attempt at making something that looks like a hat," the man said, and Austin shrugged.
"My old one wasn't pleasing to the eye either, but I'm feeling rather sentimental. Do you understand?" He asked, and the man shrugged and said nothing else.
"You're a strange man," Nicole said behind him. There were times when Austin wondered if all of this was necessary, if they really had to follow him around wherever he went, and he decided the best thing to do would be to ask Nicole.
