to your original question, what are we doing here? I’m here to do what I do every month, I’m going to go hang out with those amazing kids, teach a yoga class, and try and give them some tools to cope with the horrors that they’ve faced and will face in their lives. And you, you’re here to stop feeling sorry for yourself and get over it. You have your entire life in front of you. You could do anything you want, and you have enough money in the bank that you have time to figure it out.
“One of your brothers trains rescue dogs to be therapy dogs for soldiers with PTSD. I have a camera in the backyard, I’ve seen you with Channing. You could go to work with him training dogs. Your other brother started this rescue for kids who actually need rescuing. You could get off your ass and go help him out. Or you can stay in the car and pout. It’s up to you.”
My hands were shaking as I grabbed my mat from the back seat and got out of the car. Channing hopped out behind me. I’d gone completely off-script. I hadn’t meant to say everything I had, I hadn’t planned it. But when I’d seen all the kids, it had just sort of poured out of me. Maybe I wasn’t so bad at confrontation after all.
Chapter 29
Holden
“Don’t walk ten miles into a forest and expect to get out in five.”
~ Maggie Calhoun
“We’re home.”
Olivia’s sweet voice drifted into my consciousness. I opened my eyes and saw that we were parked in front of the duplex. I sat up and rubbed my face, only to discover that I’d drooled on myself.
“Shit, how long have I been asleep?” The last thing that I remembered was getting in the car to come home.
“You were out before we made it off the ranch property.”
“Damn, I must’ve been really tired.”
“You should be. You had a big day.” She smiled brightly, clearly proud of herself for the intervention she’d done on me.
And she should be. I couldn’t believe how far my head had been up my own ass; I’d been so focused on myself. After her speech in the car and spending the day with kids that would love to have the problems that I have, I’d realized I’d spent all my life being self-centered.
I’d competed in a sport that didn’t have a team. It was just me. I’d always put myself first, which was fine when my career depended on it. But that time in my life was over. This truly was a new chapter and it wasn’t going to be about me. For the first time in a long time, I was excited and looking forward to the future and I had one person to thank for that.
We got out of the car and I followed Olivia up the steps of her porch.
She put her key in the door and looked over her shoulder at me. “Are you coming in?”
“If that’s okay. I was hoping we could talk.”
She nodded and opened the door.
Without saying a word, we fell into the routine that we’d picked up over the month that we’d shared together. I let Channing out and she went upstairs to put on her pajamas. My ears and other parts of my body perked up when I heard the shower running. I was instantly at half-chub. When we’d been hanging out, whenever she took a quick shower before putting on her pjs, I’d known what the night had in store. She liked to feel fresh before sexy time.
But that wasn’t what was going on tonight. I tried to relay the message to the head below my belt, Inigo Montoya Princess Bride style, that I didn’t think that shower meant what he thought that shower meant. But just like Vizzini, my dick did not listen.
I did my best to distract myself by feeding Channing and pouring Olivia a glass of wine. I tried to think about today at the ranch. After the yoga class, we’d stayed and helped with another program. I’d talked to some kids that were going to be horseback riding for the first time. Some of them were scared because the horses were so big, so I talked to them about energy and how it’s the way animals see you and relate to you. They don’t care what you look like or what you say, they only see and hear energy. And it doesn’t matter how