She cocked her head to the side and gently closed her car door, and the heels of her fancy boots sank into the earth as she walked toward the back.
“Need help?” I offered as I watched her pull out heavy bags from her trunk. My offer went unanswered, but I took the luggage from her grasp anyway and hauled them up to the front porch.
“Thanks. You didn’t have to help me.” Her words were equal parts polite and curt as she brushed dark hair from her eyes. Dakota leaned back into her car and retrieved a purse, a notebook, and a Styrofoam cup of coffee. “You ready?”
Massaging the back of my neck and squinting toward her as the sun held a spot just above her head, I laughed. “I’ve got to clean out that barn over there first. Go on inside and get changed.”
“Changed?” She stared down at her pointy city boots and ran her hand down the frilly pink blouse she’d decided to wear to the ranch that day.
“You can’t walk around here in that.” I lifted my hat and ran my hand along the top of my head before replacing it. “Looks awfully expensive. Probably don’t want it getting dirty.”
“I’m not doing farm work, Beau,” she said. “I’m here to interview you.”
“Can’t we catch up first? You used to like watching me do chores.”
“Don’t you have people you can pay to clean out your barn?”
I pursed my lips and shrugged. “I like doing it. Makes me feel like me again. At the end of the day, I’m just a salt of the earth guy, Kota.”
“Fine,” she said, squaring her shoulders as she scanned the view over the rolling hills that surrounded us. “I’ll throw on some jeans. But I’m not shoveling manure.”
“Not a problem. No animals have lived here in years,” I said.
She scrunched her brow as if to ask for an explanation. Back when we were together, Mason Ranch was one of the biggest in the tri-county area. My father farmed corn and soybeans and raised Angus cattle and bred horses and chickens on top of it all.
“Dad died two years ago. Mom sold the livestock. I bought out the acreage. I can go on, but you’ll probably want some of this for your interview.”
“I-I had no idea,” she said, blue eyes softening just a tad. “I’m sorry about your father.”
Dakota and Dad were close once. He looked at her as if she was his third daughter, calling her his bonus kid. She never knew her dad, so he was the closest thing she’d ever had. The day he died, I tried to find her to let her know, but all my searches for “Dakota Andrews” came up empty. I’d always chalked it up to her not wanting to be found, and a part of me never could blame her.
“Did you do any research before you came up here?” I wiped my brow with my forearm. “On me?”
She shook her head. “Didn’t have time.”
“I see.”
I retrieved my pitchfork as she headed inside, coming out a short while later dressed in fitted blue jeans and a faded University of Kentucky t-shirt. Her long, dark hair was swept up off her neck and piled high on top of her head as if she was trying to convince me she wasn’t trying.
“Go Cats.” My lips tugged into a smile. I liked this version of her – the one without the fancy clothes and stick up her ass. She lifted a digital recorder in the air and held her thumb over a red button.
“Ready?” she asked. Even dressed down, she was the epitome of professional. It appeared as though she didn’t have an “off” switch anymore.
A thousand times I’d imagined what it would feel like seeing her again, but looking at her now was like staring into the eyes of a stranger. Someone who reminded me of a woman I used to know.
“Fire away.” My hand slid up the worn wooden handle of the pitchfork as we headed back toward the horse barn. I happened to be in New York doing a show the year before when I woke early enough on Saturday morning to catch some network morning show. That’s when I saw Coco Bissett. My Dakota. Hidden in plain sight all these years.
“What are you doing with this thing anyway?” she asked as we stepped inside, peering into stall after empty stall.
“A few months from now, this’ll be a fully operational horse farm.” I glanced through the dust-specked streams of light, envisioning how it might look when it was all fixed up. “Going to breed some Tennessee Walking Horses. Maybe some Morgans and Fox Trotters.”
“What’s Cybil up to these days?” Dakota asked. She and Mama never hit it off that well, though it was nothing personal. Mama was too protective of her only son, and Dakota was too damn sensitive. All she ever wanted was for everyone to like her, and she never believed me when I told her most people didn’t even like themselves.
“She’s living in Louisville with Calista,” I said, referring to my oldest sister. “Calista’s married to some corporate attorney now and has a bunch of kids. They keep her and Mama busy.”
“How’s Ivy?” Dakota asked, tilting her head to the side as a two-second sweet smile claimed her mouth. Ivy always made everyone smile. “She and Addison sort of lost touch over the years.”
“Ivy,” I drew in a hard breath. “She’s hanging in there.” I glanced down at the worn toe of my boot. “She lost her husband in Iraq last year.”
Dakota’s face fell as she covered her heart with her hand, taking a step back.
“She’s a single mom now. Two kids. Miles and Gracie,” I said, scooping up a pitchfork full of stale, rotted hay and depositing it into a wheelbarrow just outside the barn. “They still live here in town. They come over quite a lot.”
Whether we liked it or not, we had a history that spanned most our lives. Our past was interwoven and tangled. Messy and complicated. She could act like she didn’t give a damn all she wanted, but I knew better.
“How’s Addison?”
“She’s getting married in a couple weeks,” Dakota said.
“You approve?” I cocked my head her way, lifting an eyebrow. Back in the day, Addison never did anything without Dakota’s consent. And Dakota governed over Addison’s life choices like the mother hen she was always forced to be on account of their own mother’s detached style.
“She’s a big girl. She can do what she wants.” Coco stepped carefully toward a rusting gate and took a seat on one of the paint-peeled bars. “I like him. He’s good for her. His dad’s a realtor here in Darlington if you ever need one.”
“Thanks for the recommendation, but I’ll be living out the rest of my days right here on this ranch.” I scooped up the last of the hay and leaned the pitchfork against the wall of the barn, dusting my hands across the thighs of my jeans before heading back outside.
“Where are we going?” She followed behind, watching carefully where she stepped the way she used to do. Old habits died hard.
“Inside for a glass of iced tea,” I said, striding toward the house. For every step I took, she took two. I’d forgotten how small she was compared to me.
I pulled the screen door open and held it for her, reaching down to greet old Ruby, who was sunbathing on the front porch. “Hey, girl.”