The Long Ride Home (Cowboys & Cowgirls) Read online

  Joe laughed and lifted his cup of lemonade to his lips. “What are you going to do, break every guy that comes near her?”

  “Something like that.”

  “So, you don’t want her, but nobody else has a shot either?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Holt, man, it’s me. I know you love her.”

  Elena listened to the conversation without moving. She hoped that Holton would just admit that he cared for her, anything.

  “I don’t have to admit anything to you, Joe.”

  Joe laughed. “Man, you’ve got it bad and you don’t even know it. Listen, I’ve gotta get out of here now; think before you do anything stupid.”

  “I know,” Holton said dejectedly.

  Outside, Elena stood up to leave just when Joe was walking out of the barn. He caught her eye and they both stared at one another. Elena brought her finger up to her lips, silencing him. She closed her eyes and then walked toward her house.

  Joe followed her. “He loves you, Elena.”

  “Sure he does,” she said, smiling sadly.

  “He just has a lot of hang-ups for some reason.”

  “He has been breaking my heart for years, Joe. It’s time I do something about it.”

  Joe looked at her nervously, and then nodded. “Take care, Elena. I know how it is.”

  She nodded her reply then continued her walk to the house.

  ***

  At five o’clock, Holton was at her home and knocking on the front door, ready for dinner. Elena answered the door with a smile and led him into the dining room. The table was set with her mother’s fancy china. The aroma of pot-roast and potatoes and vegetables filled the air as Elena filled two glasses full of wine.

  “This is nice, Elena, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, Holton,” Elena said quietly as she took her seat. Taking a deep breath, she placed a napkin on her lap and filled her plate. “Did you get everything you needed to get done finished?”

  Holton looked up and nodded. “Yeah, it wasn’t too bad today. How ‘bout you?”

  “Yes…I talked to Jacob Weston this afternoon.”

  Holton froze. Jacob Weston was the manager at The First National Bank. “Oh?”

  “Yeah, I asked him about taking a small loan out for school this semester,” Elena said quietly. She reached over and took her glass of wine and lifted it to her lips. The amber liquid went down smoothly.

  “Why?”

  “Well, I go back to school next week, so I thought it would be a good idea to get things paid for before I go back, and besides, I don’t want to have to worry about coming up with the money once I get there.”

  Holton’s eyes widened and he put his fork down. “What are you talking about?”

  “School.”

  “I know, but I thought you were going to Dallas?”

  “No, I decided to go back to Sunnybrook.”

  “But…”

  “This is our last dinner together, Holton. I just wanted to thank you.”

  Holton looked over and just noticed that the box that held Elena’s engagement ring was to the right of her hand. Elena grabbed it and slid it across the table. “I shouldn’t have accepted this, and you shouldn’t have given it to me.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You. You were right, you aren’t ready, and I’m not going to be the one that you make a huge mistake with. You can have the land, Holton. I signed the loan papers today and my last semester of school is now officially paid for—well, on loan. I’ll pay it off once I get a job. I’m keeping the house—it’s all in the paperwork. If you just sign where the x is, then we can get this ball rolling. Could you please pass the corn,” Elena said with as much muster as she could.

  She handed over the paperwork and waited for him to pass the corn. His hand shook and he picked up the casserole dish and handed it to her. “Why are you doing this?”

  “I told you. I figured out a way to get what we both really want. I want to finish school, and you want my family’s land.”

  Holton flinched.

  “That’s not all, Elena.”

  “Holton, please don’t treat me like an idiot. I heard you today—in the barn with Joe. You don’t know why you asked me. You freaked out over a promise to my father, a promise you made to a dying man to appease him. It was a nice thing you did for Dad. He left this world thinking that his only daughter would be taken care of and loved. It’s okay that I’m not.”

  “Elena, no. That’s not at all…”

  “Save it, Holton. Just sign the paperwork. Do what you have to do in order to get exactly what you want. When I’m finished with school I am coming back here. I am going to get a nursing job close and I will get married someday and raise my children here in this house. I don’t want to fight with you. What I want is for us to continue to be friends, because it would be a damned shame if I couldn’t count on you to be there for me as family. You are all I have left. I don’t want the friendship gone, too; I just can’t keep fooling myself. I have been fooling myself for years. I thought…when I was 14, I thought for sure you and I were going to marry someday. And then again at 16…and then again at 18. My whole life, Holton, I thought we would be together. I have kept you in line and you have kept me on the line like a damn fish that you would eventually go back for. The thing is is that you were never interested in me that way. I am tired…tired of the whole thing.”

  Holton shook his head and let it fall into his hands. “I have screwed up everything,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “I just told you what is going to happen, Holton. I am done.”

  Holton looked up and, for a moment, Elena thought he was going to take back everything that happened…everything he had said, but he didn’t.

  “Well, I’m really tired. I think I am going to go to bed; please, finish your dinner and when you’re done, just put the dishes in the sink. I’ll get them in the morning. I didn’t get that much sleep last night.”

  “Elena—”

  “Don’t be a stranger, Holt,” Elena said and then stood up and left the room quickly, cutting Holton off from further conversation.

  ***

  The next morning, Holton went over to Elena’s to talk to her. As soon as he arrived he realized that she had already left. Her car was gone. She went back to school without even glancing back.

  Holton was immediately pissed. He went into his barn to do his morning chores and couldn’t concentrate worth a damn. Later that afternoon, Pastor Mike called and he had to tell him that they no longer needed his services. That, of course, prompted Pastor Mike into coming to the house and having a talk with him. Holton was now more confused more than ever.

  “Have you talked with her—actually had a conversation as to why she ended the engagement?”

  Holton nodded his head, feeling foolish. “She ended it last night. I thought she just needed to sleep it off, but then when I got up this morning, she was gone.”

  “Maybe she thought it best.”

  “Well, obviously, Pastor Mike, she did or she wouldn’t have left.”

  “Now, Holton, I know you’re upset, and I know I would too if the love of my life left me…”

  “Love of my life?”

  “Well, isn’t she?”

  “I hardly think that…”

  Pastor Mike shook his head and looked at Holton with an odd glare. “Now I know the problem. You don’t marry someone, unless you love them, Holton. You don’t marry someone unless you know them. You don’t know each other well enough.”

  “I think you have us mistaken for someone else. I’ve known her nearly my entire life.”

  “Yeah, you know of her, and you know of me, but you don’t know me. Don’t you think you should know the woman you are about to marry?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, tell me something about Elena…something personal.”

  “Why would I tell you that?”

  “Because I
want to know that you know your fiancé.”

  “She is no longer my fiancé; why does it matter?”

  “It matters if you are willing to try and get her back.”

  Holton stopped and looked at Pastor Mike. “I don’t want to do that. She is much better off without me.”

  “Then you’re an idiot.”

  Holton looked at Pastor Mike and couldn’t help but agree.

  “I don’t know what you want from me, Pastor Mike! I talked to Elena last night. She and I want two different things.”

  “What does she want?”

  “She wants to be married; she wants a family.”

  “You don’t want a family?” the pastor questioned.

  “I want a family, I just don’t want…”

  “You want a family, but you don’t want to get married?”

  “No, that’s not it.”

  “Then what is it, son, because you are awfully confusing.”

  Holton sighed, irritably, “I don’t want her to die. She can’t make that promise! I can’t have her dying on me, too. Everyone…everyone that I have ever cared about is dead. I am alone now!”

  Holton shook with fear. He couldn’t believe that just came out of his mouth.

  ***

  The next two weeks were much of the same. Holton couldn’t get any sleep; he kept thinking about how he left things with Elena and he thought of his conversation with Pastor Mike. He thought about the night when he gave Elena the ring. He thought about the kiss and then later that night about her legs wrapped around his waist as he pushed her up against the wall. The electricity was there in volumes.

  Holton looked at the clock on his nightstand; it read 10:00 PM. He couldn’t stop thinking about Elena. He picked up his cell phone and dialed her number.

  “Hello?” Elena answered, yawning. Who the hell would be calling at ten?

  “Elena?”

  Holton. Elena’s heart hammered in her chest. “Holt. Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, everything is fine. How have you been?”

  “I’m…good. School is going great.”

  “Like all your professors this semester?”

  “Yeah, everything is going well. How was the auction?”

  “We got good money for your Herefords. You should be able to make a big chunk of your loan go away.”

  “Those are yours, Holt. That was part of the contract, remember?”

  Holton took a deep breath and ran his palm down his face. He was exhausted, but talking to her was making him feel better. “How are you really doing?”

  Elena gasped. “What do you mean?”

  “Come on, I know you, Elena.”

  “I don’t think so…”

  Holton wished she was there with him. “Go out with me this weekend?”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Let’s go on a date.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want to take you out on a date. You say I don’t know you, I say I do. Let’s prove it.”

  “Why do you want to; why does it matter?”

  “It matters to me. Saturday at six. Wear something beautiful.”

  “Okay, but…”

  “Six. Elena?”

  “Yes?”

  “I miss you.”

  Elena swallowed. “I miss you, too.”

  Chapter 7

  The rest of the week went by in a blur, as all he could do was think about his upcoming date with Elena. He went online as soon as he finished talking with her and got a reservation for dinner and tickets for the opera. As his buddy Joe informed him, chicks like Elena digged the opera. Whatever the hell that meant.

  Holton went into the bunkhouse on his property early that morning and was greeted by two of the cowboys that worked for him. Jake Pierson and Thomas French.

  “Good morning,” Holton greeted as he came through the door. The two men were sitting at the table eating breakfast. “Lousie get you two some chow?”

  “Yeah,” Jake replied with a mouthful. “She’s been complaining lately though. She said something about Jessop Overton… you may want to watch out for that one.”

  “Jessop Overton?”

  “She’s sweet on him,” Thomas said, grinning. “She’s been trying to get on at his ranch for some time now.”

  What else could happen? Holton thought. “Well, isn’t that great. Any one of you cook?”

  “Hell no, cooking’s a woman’s job,” Jake said, laughing. “And the last time I looked, Mr. Dade, I ain’t no woman.”

  “Well, that right there answers the question as to why you aren’t married,” Holton replied.

  “What’s your excuse, Mr. Dade?” Thomas asked.

  “Stupidity. So, I’m heading out Friday afternoon to see Elena. I just wanted to let you two know that I won’t be back until late Sunday. So I won’t be around to check on things, and I need to make sure you two check the fence lines and a few more chores that I usually do around here. Also, the vet is supposed to be here Saturday morning to check on some of Elena’s Herefords. I need you, Thomas, to head on over to Elena’s Saturday morning to meet Elise Flannery.”

  Thomas’s face reddened. “Why not have Jake do that?”

  Holton looked at his ranch hand curiously. “You have a problem with Ms. Flannery?”

  “Yeah, he’s got a problem alright,” Jake laughed as Thomas sneered at him.

  “Shut the hell up, Jake. No, Holton, I can do it. Anything else?”

  “Just call me if anything happens…anything worth a phone call at least. Let Elise know where I am. She has my number if there is a problem, which I am sure that there is not. Anyway, if you two need anything just call. Oh, and Louise will be here for meal times. Please, for the love of God, don’t start anything with her. I need her. I barely get a good meal in half of the time.”

  “Will do, Boss,” Jake replied and Thomas nodded.

  “I’ll see you guys out there. I’m going to go out to the west side of the ranch. I need to repair a section of fence.”

  “See you later, Boss,” Thomas said as Holton left the house.

  Later that night, Holton called Elena again. She answered on the third ring.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey.”

  “Holton! What are you doing calling me again?”

  “Aren’t I allowed calling you?” he asked, amused.

  “I think this is the most we have ever talked consecutively…not counting when we were living right next to one another.”

  “I think it is. Why is that?”

  “Because you think you are so much more mature than I am.”

  Holton laughed. “I don’t think it, babe, I know it.”

  “Aw, so cocky. So how was work today?”

  “It sucked.”

  Elena laughed. “Oh, and why is that?”

  “You know that bull that I have? The one that I should never have bought?”

  “Yeah,” Elena laughed. She remembered the night he brought that monstrosity home. It was mean, ugly and foul tempered. It also was the reason why his last cook left.

  “Well, it nearly gored me tonight. Part of the fence was down and stupid ol me when to go fix it without checking to make sure old Howard was put away.”

  “You named that ugly thing Howard?”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Remind me to never let you name your children.”

  Holton smiled. He never really thought about kids before.

  “Aw, scared again?” Elena asked.

  Hell yes he was scared. “No, about what?”

  “Nothing.”

  “So, brat, how was school?”

  “Oh…sucked.”

  Holton chuckled. “Yeah, I imagine it does. I never had that luxury, though.”

  “You never wanted to go to school, though. You always wanted to be a cowboy. And you know what?”

  “What’s that?”

  “I always liked that about you. You always knew exactly what you wanted to be, e
ven when you were just a kid.”

  “You never knew me when I was a kid,” Holton replied. He pictured Elena scowling as he said that.

  “I knew you as a kid. I was a kid, too. I remember you always wearing your dad’s cowboy hats and you trying to rope that old steer that your dad had. What was his name?”

  “Fred,” Holton replied, laughing.

  “What is with you and your family and names?” Elena giggled. “That is terrible.”

  “So, I guess you think my name is terrible, too.”

  “No, not your name. Your mother was a Saint.”

  Holton smiled, thinking of his mother. “Yeah, she was. I miss her.”

  “I miss her, too, Holt. I remember when she taught me how to sew. My mother didn’t have a crafty bone in her body.”

  “My mother didn’t have a cooking gene in hers,” Holton chuckled. “Thank God we had your mother for that.”

  “Thank God I had your mother for the sewing. Can you imagine my mom coming up with an Angel costume for the Christmas play?”

  Holton laughed and remembered when his mother made her the costume she was talking about. “You were adorable in all that tinsel.”

  “I know I was. I remember when your mom made me that costume. I came over a lot. I also kept tabs on you.”

  “No you didn’t.”

  “The hell I didn’t. I told your mom one time that I left something in your room. Your mom saw right through me. She told me to go ahead and go in and look. She knew I wanted to see what it looked like.”

  “What!”

  “Yep.”

  “You little brat. I can’t believe you did that.”

  Elena was laughing pretty hard right now. She had tears coming down her eyes. “Yeah, I was. And do you remember that cowboy hat that you had that…”

  “The brown one?” Holton interrupted.

  “Yep!” Elena laughed heartily. “That’s the one.”

  “What did you do with it?”

  “I stole it. I took it home and wore it in my room and pretended I was a cowgirl.”

  “I looked for that thing forever. I got in a lot of trouble for that!”

  “Yep, and do you know why you stopped getting in trouble for it?”

  “Yeah, because my mom made me go to church and tell God that I was sorry I lost it.”

  “Nope,” Elena returned. “I told your mom the night before the Christmas play that I wanted something of yours.”