Play It Safe(99)

One and a half weeks later…

Like the last time I hit Mustang, it happened and it happened quickly.

I found my place easily.

Slotted right in.

And that place was with Gray on his land and it was being the me I’d come to be.

So there I was, in the grocery store in Mustang in my classy, high-heeled sandals, my designer jeans and a sophisticated but casual top. I’d dumped my big, designer bag in the child seat in the cart. I had makeup on, had spritzed with expensive perfume and my hair was long and wild like Gray liked it.

And I was in this getup perusing the grocery shelves in a small town on the plains of Colorado because this was me.

And there was a new part of me coming out seeing as all things to do with the ranch didn’t involve horseshit.

First, I took over feeding the horses. This wasn’t tough. I was getting to know the horses so I knew which to feed what but it did take time. Time Gray was glad he could use doing something else.

Second, once Gray taught me how, I took over releasing them from their stalls and leading them into the big paddocks Gray had so they could get some sunshine, walk around and be free.

Third, Gray restarted my horseback riding lessons and did it by taking me riding with him when he rode the ranch, further helping him keep the horses exercised but also helping me learn the lay of the land.

Fourth, he’d called Macy and released her from cleaning duties and I took over that, grocery buying and cooking.

Fifth, I took over the phones. Gray got a lot of calls about his peaches, his horses and his stallions who he loaned out and charged stud fees. He started telling folks who called his cell to call the house, gave me a crash course in breeding and peaches. I took to it easy as I took to everything easy and I dealt with them.

Sixth, I took over paying the bills and doing the ranch accounts. I had a head for figures and I had the time and Gray didn’t so he had no problem relinquishing this to me so he did.

And last, Gray taught me how to drive the small riding mower he had so I also took over mowing the front lawn and the areas around the house.

I’d also taken the time to clean out Gray’s truck and I was right. He hadn’t tidied since I left, or if he did, he did a half-assed job, and I had the date on an old receipt as proof.

I threw myself into my new rancher’s stylish girlfriend role and loved it. I could wear my high heels into town, my western duds while out with the horses and work on my tan by wearing one of my bikini tops and short-shorts while on the riding lawn mower.

Gray loved it too (especially me wearing my bikini top on the lawn mower).

I knew this because his days went from being ten hours long to eight. I knew this also because I made Gray a blueberry cobbler that I served warm with gourmet ice cream and he told me it was the best thing he’d ever eaten. I further knew this when he walked by the vase of flowers I’d put on the cabinet under the window in the kitchen, stopped, looked at it awhile then looked at me grinning.

And I knew this because he told me so.

The more I learned, the more we lived together, the more I settled. I knew where my new place would be in Mustang – at Gray’s side, doing my bit to work the ranch. And, if we could swing it financially, that was where I’d stay making sure my man got what he needed while doing my part.

I loved it.

Every second.

So, surprisingly, green acres was the place for me.

The only blight on the last week and a half was the Tuesday after Gray and I had our first fight. After he was done working, he took a shower and we got takeaway pulled pork sandwiches from The Rambler and took them to Grandma Miriam.

Although Gray again tried to calm me, I was anxious about seeing her. I left Gray but she had one son who was left behind by the love of his life and then she had a grandson it happened to too. She loved Gray and I figured Grandma Miriam might not be forgiving even after what I’d done to save the land.

But when we made it to her room, my anxiety disappeared and something else far more difficult to deal with took its place.

Because there was a reason Gray had to put his Gran in a home and one look at her, I saw it.

The seven years had not been kind to her. She’d lost weight, she’d gained wrinkles and the flash of matriarch bossiness in her eyes had disappeared. Gray had told me that time had marched fast for Grandma Miriam and it had done it marching all over her and he hadn’t lied. She had pain from her spinal injury and that and age just wore her down. She started losing strength and having more and more troubles doing things for herself.

But even knowing this, I was not prepared for just how frail she was. How the life seemed to have seeped right out of her and seeing it, it knocked me emotionally to my knees.

I hid it because the other thing I noted instantly was that she was far more anxious at seeing me. So much so she appeared terrified.

And this was because Gray told her everything. She knew he and I had been played, she knew what I’d done to save her and the ranch and seven years ago, she put the phone down on me five times. She knew we’d been played but still, she felt responsible for keeping us apart by being stubborn and ornery.

It took awhile to talk her around, make her understand that I didn’t blame her, I got it that she, like Gray, was flashing back to Gray’s Mom and this taking so much effort hurt too. Because the Grandma Miriam I knew would let this sink in, snap back and then start being bossy.

She didn’t.