in a place this barren in my life. I was raised a city boy all my life until coming out here.”
Huh. I don’t get the big city vibe from him, but maybe that explains Tobin. He must’ve come from Bismarck, Minneapolis, maybe Chicago.
“Why’d you move out here if you hate it so much?”
“Early retirement,” he tells me.
“Retirement?” I give him a puzzled look. “How old are you? You look way too young.”
“Thirty-three. You?”
I rake him up and down slowly with another slow, suspicious look.
It just keeps getting weirder.
How can some farm boy retire in his early thirties?
“Twenty-five,” I say quietly.
“Sweet age for a lot of things,” he muses, smirking to himself.
Ugh. I feel like I’d have an easier time with ancient Greek than deciphering this dude.
“While we’re playing twenty questions, how about you tell me what you’re doing in the middle of North Dakota, pulling Rosie and Stern through a blizzard, with a charmer like Dickless Pete on your heels?”
I try not to burst out giggling at his nickname for Pete.
“That’s...kinda a long story.”
“We’ve got the time. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re barely moving five miles an hour in this mess.”
I nod slowly. Maybe so. But my stomach practically eats itself at the thought of confessing our whole dilemma to a total stranger.
“Well, I would, but...it’s not my story to tell.”
“Your father’s?”
“Right.” I hold in a breath, not really wanting to direct him at Dad either, especially in his weary state.
Ridge’s gaze remains fixed on the road, staring through the billowing snow that’s coming down at a faster clip now than it was before.
“Fair enough. You’re lucky he’s still around,” he says. “My old man died when I was eight. Not that I’d seen him a whole lot before then—busy man, big company, maybe you know how it is—then my mother died a few years back.”
“So did mine.” I bite my lip.
I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
What can I say? There’s just something about riding through a dark, wintry night with a handsome stranger who just saved your bacon that brings out awkward confessions.
All the more reason why I need to remember to keep my mouth shut.
“I’m sorry,” he grinds out. “Never an easy thing losing family.”
I swallow the anxious boulder in my throat. “I’m sorry, too. Heartbreak hurts us all.”
He turns off the highway, wheeling the old truck onto a narrow road.
“Hold on. This could get a little rough even though we’re moving like a snail,” he says. “This road likes to drift over.”
I can faintly make out a set of glowing red taillights a short distance ahead. I’m grateful the dual tires of that huge truck with Dad and Tobin inside are breaking a neat path for us. Well, neatish.
The old Ford wouldn’t manage in this without the dually in front of us. “Who else lives at your ranch?”
“Just three of us, darlin’. Me, Tobin, and old Corny himself.”
“Cornelius,” I say, mainly so that I won’t laugh out loud.
“You’ll see which name fits when you meet him,” he tells me.
Shaking aside another laugh, I ask, “How can you call it a ranch if you only have a single rooster?”
“I can and I do. It’s a work in progress.” He chuckles, again with that deep, rich masculine vibration. “I always planned on buying more critters, or livestock, or whatever the fuck...maybe hire on a few ranch hands to help with the upkeep. Tobin and I are learning as we go. We’re still pretty close to ground zero.”
“Why’d you buy a ranch, then, if it’s such a hassle?”
“I want the hassle, lady.” He shrugs, flicking his eyes briefly over to me. “Something to do. When I decided to move out to the sticks, I knew I’d need to keep the mind and body busy. Even with a place like mine, the winters out here are maddening enough. Think I’d wind up such a dull boy I’d be hallucinating ghosts by now if I didn’t have spring to look forward to soon. Allegedly.”
I smile at the obvious nod to The Shining.
It’s hardly out of place considering the creepy introduction we’ve had with Dickless—okay, I’m stealing his crude nickname, sue me—while everybody on this side of North Dakota has their status set to snowed in.
The odd tone in his voice says there’s something more to his move, too.
I wonder what, but I’m not in any headspace to fire off questions that might risk upsetting the guy who’s promised us a place to crash for the night.
Then we pull up