beautiful...
“He was in earlier for a cup of coffee. Said he was gonna tack up some of the horses today and take ‘em for trail runs. I mean. One at a time. He can’t ride them all at once. Although it’d be hilarious to see him try... Just lay flat across all those saddles and hold on for dear life!” Jessie cracked herself up, and I shook my head, smiling. I’d never understood the dynamic of Payden and Jessie’s friendship, but I figured one of its pillars had to be the fact that Jessie could make Payden laugh under any and all circumstances. Payden didn’t laugh much when Jessie was away at school. Payden didn’t laugh much – period.
“Alright. Well, maybe I’ll run into him later. I met someone that I wanna tell him about –”
“Oh. Someone. That sounds intriguing,” Jessie grinned widely, clasping her hands together and resting her chin on them. She obviously wanted me to spill the beans – assuming there were any beans to spill. Ranch life was a wonderful thing, but it could be rather lacking in the excitement and/or gossip arenas.
“Ha. You have no idea,” I agreed, strolling calmly to the door.
“You’re not going to tell me anything? Come on, Penn!” Jessie’s blonde hair swung around crazily while she stood to protest. I’d told Payden once that Jessie had hair just like the horses. It had only been an observation, but Pay had punched me on the arm incredibly hard for saying it.
“Have a nice day, Jess! Let me know if ya need any help up here!” I didn’t even look back at her – just left the office and busted out laughing once the door shut. She would most definitely be attacking Payden for any and all details later on, and that was just fine with me.
I didn’t intend to keep Anne a secret. She was stunning, and stunning things were meant to shine. There was no way in hell that my family wouldn’t take notice of her Saturday night, so I’d already determined that I would prepare them all. They were going to have the pleasure of meeting Miss Anne... whatever her last name was.
Dammit. I should have asked her. But she was already a little freaked out.
My family was careful – years of experience had taught us to be so. We didn’t welcome just anyone into our inner circle. It had nothing to do with money – none of us had ever been like that, and again, with the exception of Preston (Pres always seemed to be the exception), we were all embarrassed of our wealth for the most part. It was fine when it was just us hanging out in the house. But the second you brought in a new person, you were reminded of your ridiculously extravagant lifestyle by the sheer wonder in their eyes.
I hated that look – that look that first-timers always got. It shouted “Oh my God you’re rich. Oh my God we’re not equals. Oh my God I can’t be normal in the Hardick house because it is, in fact, a fucking mansion.” People always got weird immediately after that. No matter what kind of connection you’d made with them – work, friends, romantic – they seemed incapable of being the same person once they realized who the Hardick’s really were.
The main problem with that logic being the money wasn’t who we were at all. We were people. We wanted friends and family and love just like the rest of the world. Dollar signs seemed to muddy up the clear line between what we had and what we were.
So, even when you found someone that you trusted and wanted to bring home for whatever reason, there was the additional factor that simply being a part of this family would, or at the very least, could, ruin everything from the get go. That was why I’d never told any of my college buddies about the mansion and the money. That was why I had never even attempted to bring a girl home since high school.
There were only so many times that I could stand to watch someone I really liked turn into a completely different version of themselves within the first five seconds of entering my house. Eventually, it just had stopped seeming worth the effort.
But now – Anne.
It was most important to me to speak with my father. At this point in his life, he was almost always in the same place – his study.