Midnight in Montana - Chapter 5
Cass
How was it possible that a man she hadn’t seen in almost a decade could still affect her this way? Cass did her best to ignore the pull she felt toward him, forcing herself to remain very still.
“If you insist,” she retorted, well aware of how stiff and awkward she sounded. She glanced over at the veterinarian, Hope Alvarez, who was finishing up with the bull. “But let’s go somewhere more private.”
She wasn’t sure how long she would need to remain in Silent Spring, Montana, and it was imperative she stay on the vet’s good side. Even if that meant spending this lunch hour alone with Emilio.
Ten minutes later, seated beside him in his truck cab, Cass noticed the scenery change as they left Kingsland and pulled onto an access road beneath a faded sign for Wild Horses Ranch. Up ahead, she could see a wood-and-stone home surrounded by work vehicles. The scent of sawdust wafted on the breeze just as the sound of a buzz saw reached her ears.
“Where are we?” she asked a moment later as Emilio steered off to one side of the dirt drive, close to a windmill standing sentinel over a small pond
“I just bought this place,” he explained, gesturing expansively as they exited the vehicle. “The main house still needs quite a bit of work, but the stables and barns have all been updated.”
“You bought your own ranch?” She did a double take, unable to hide her surprise. “There was a time you couldn’t wait to leave Montana.”
Emilio reached into the cargo bed of his pickup and withdrew a woven basket. A picnic hamper, she realized. He carried it toward a pavilion near the windmill, where big wooden chairs flanked a teak table.
“You’re right,” he confirmed as he set the hamper on the table and began to unload the contents from a blue-and-white checked cloth. Cheeses, a baguette, an assortment of sandwiches cut into small portions for sharing and a bunch of purple grapes. “And I traveled a good bit after I aged out of the foster program.” His eyes flicked briefly to hers, the memories of their shared past hanging between them. Then he continued, “But it only reinforced that I belonged here. Working a ranch.”
Cass tried to help him set up the meal, her brain buzzing louder than the saw humming in the distance. He waved her toward a chair to take a seat before dropping into the one opposite her.
“I’m happy for you,” she said haltingly, remembering all too well the naive plans they’d made to see the world together before Emilio abandoned her. She’d awoken one morning to discover he’d been moved to a different home and he wouldn’t be returning. His phone number changed too, so she couldn’t even call him. She swallowed back some of the old bitterness to keep her voice light. “You’ve realized a lot of your dreams already.”
For her part, Cassandra had struggled hard in the years since she’d turned eighteen. Some states waived college tuition for kids raised in foster care, but Montana was not one of them, so she’d busted her butt just to afford a two-year degree.
“Not the most important ones,” Emilio replied, shifting in his chair to face her, his expression grave. “I didn’t get to travel with you. Worse, I never even got to say goodbye.”