“I suppose I’m as ready as I can be,” nodding to Hunter, I grabbed my wallet from the small table next to my hospital bed.

“You're not allowed to walk out. Dad will kill me if he sees. So take a seat,” he patted the top of the wheelchair and I sighed softly, sitting in it, “I know,” he gently touched the top of my head, “a few years ago, my horse Ridge bucked me and I shattered my ankle. It was humiliatin' to be pushed out of the hospital in a wheelchair.”

“Well at your size, I’d think so. I look like a child. Most people think I am actually. You at least look like an adult.”

“People think I’m older than I am usually,” Hunter laughed, pushing me out of the front door of the hospital and locking the chair, “gotta go get my truck.”

He jogged off to the parking lot and I sat there, fiddling with my sleeves. A small hand fell on the top of my head and I looked to my left to find Hazel.

“Hi,” she giggled softly, “I can’t believe you didn’t hear me come up.”

“Lost in thought,” I smiled.

“I’m sure you’re overwhelmed,” she hugged me around the shoulders, “I realize now those thoughts of “is this family going to kill me?” are probably going through your head.”

“Are you going to kill me? Am I walking into a horror movie?”

“What? Of course not!” she snorted, “we all need help. I need a friend, Mama needs a day off at the library. She’s worked it alone for 30 years. She’s tired. Hunter… I know he told you not to cook, but he won’t eat or only eat fruit if a hot meal isn’t waiting. I did it until I went to college. Now I live with my wife and can’t take care of him.”

“Oh… your wife?” I looked at her surprised.

“Mhm. Her name is Robin. You’ll love her. We used a donor for our baby,” she gently rubbed her stomach.

“I… can’t wait to meet her,” smiling, I gently patted her hand.

Hunter pulled up in his truck and I stared at it surprised. It was brand new, a deep royal blue with black rims. I knew nothing of trucks, but I knew that it wasn’t cheap.

Hopping out, he came over to me, whistling softly, “alright. I just realized you’re goin’ to need help to get in until your arms get better. Just lean on me and I’ll help.”

“Thank you,” clearing my throat, I slowly got up, my entire body weak, “God I’m tired.”

“You were in bed for two days. You lost a ton of blood. That’s not surprising. Make sure to get up and move a little bit every day okay?” Hazel called after me as Hunter helped me into the truck.

“I promise,” I smiled.

“You’re adorable,” she sighed happily and walked into the hospital.

No, I’m not.

Why did she say that?

Hunter climbed into the driver's seat, a gentle smile on his face, “it’s a bit of a drive. I’m kinda off in the middle of nowhere. Until you can get a new vehicle, I’ll take ya into town with me for deliveries so you can get whatever ya need.”

“Thank you… but I have no money…”

“I know,” he rubbed my arm softly and started the truck, pulling away from the hospital, “I’ve got you, don’t worry. I have more money than I know what to do with. The farm was my Grandpa’s. I own it now. Property is paid for in full other than my taxes and that ain’t much. Most of the money goes to repairs, the house is kinda old, but I’ve done a lot of work on it. Central heat and air, internet, TVs in all the bedrooms and the living room. My library. Everything’s been updated. New appliances, nice showers, and bathtubs. All that. I put a lot of work into makin’ it a home. Did it all myself. There ain’t a lot I’m good at, but runnin’ the farm and buildin’ stuff comes naturally to me.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Anythin’,” he smiled at me before turning down a long dirt road.

“What’s the date? I haven’t been able to keep track.”

“Ah. It’s April 12th.”

“Oh. Right okay,” nodding, I looked out the window.

“Why?”

“Tomorrow… tomorrow is the anniversary of when I lost my mom. That’s all. I thought I missed it.”

“Where’s she buried?”

“North Dakota. I had them bury her next to my Granddad. So they could be together.”

“That was kind of ya. I’m sorry you lost her.”

“It’s okay. It was sudden but… but I promised to never give up to honor her memory. That’s why I was still trying to push through on the streets. Parking my car in parking lots overnight until the police made me leave and I had to find somewhere else to go. My car got stolen the one time I wasn’t in it because I was showering at the gym. That… ruined everything. Sleeping in the freezing snow with two blankets and a large jacket… wasn’t fun. I got sick a lot.”

“No more,” shaking his head, he pulled down a different road. There were fences on either side of us and we passed under a sign that said Hope Ranch EST. 1925, “I won’t let that happen. You can stay here as long as ya want, Gray. I need help and company.”

“I’m sure there'll come a day you get a lovely wife and then I’ll have to go. But for now, thank you, Hunter.”

“Wife? No,” he shook his head, “why do ya think my parents are so acceptin’? They got two gay kids.”

“Huh?” my eyes grew wide, “I’m sorry… I just assumed.”

“It’s fine,” he shrugged, “I can see how you’d think that. I’m huge, run a ranch, and am a bit gruff. It’s not that surprisin’ to me.”

“I don’t think you’re gruff,” I shrugged, “you’re gentle.”

“That’s the first time anyone has said that to me,” he laughed softly, “I don’t talk to people. I think this is the longest conversation I’ve had outside of Hazel.”

“I like to talk,” shrugging, I gasped softly as he approached the farmhouse, “oh.”

The home was a single story, with a wrap-around porch surrounding the entire thing. It was made of redwood, with a black shingle roof. On the porch itself were two white rocking chairs and a double-seater porch swing that faced the mountains in the distance. Attached to the right side of the porch was a gazebo made of the same wood and roof. There were large trees dotting the land around the house and behind it, I could see all his animals roaming through their pens, clearly happy and well-fed.

“Hunter,” I whispered, “this is amazing.”

“Oh,” he smiled, “really? Thank ya. I had to redo the entire porch and I built the gazebo a few years ago.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask because I can’t figure it out. How old are you?”

“24,” he smiled and climbed out, coming around to help me out.

“That’s it? You’re running all this, taking care of this many animals at 24?”

“I’ve been doin’ it since I was a kid. I got the farm 6 years ago. Grandpa left it to me. Most of the older animals were already here. I’ve had Ridge,” he pointed to a beautiful deep brown horse with a white stripe down his nose, “since I was 14. He’s 10 now. Fawn,” he pointed to the horse trotting along next to Ridge. She was white and brown with a long, black tail, “is 8. They just had a foal actually. If ya look, you can see him followin’ Fawn around. I haven’t named him yet.”

I carefully stood on my tiptoes and finally noticed the foal following after Fawn. He was tiny, deep brown with no other markings and he was kicking his legs, making quiet huffing noises as the grass tickled his nose, “oh my God he’s so cute! Hm… Teddy.”

“Oh. I like that. Why?”

“Teddy Roosevelt,” I laughed, “president at the rise of the Wild West.”

“Alright. Then his name is Teddy. Thanks,” he nodded, “come on. You're not supposed to stand this long right now.”

Hunter helped me up the steps of the porch and into the house and I couldn’t resist looking around.

The interior of the house was completely open, with wooden support beams separating the rooms. The door opened to the living room, and to the right of that was a massive kitchen. Every wall was a soft eggshell white, counterbalancing the red wood of the support beams. The kitchen was filled with stainless steel appliances and the dining room was next to that at the back of the house. I gasped softly when I noticed that the entire wall for the dining room was made of windows, minus two glass doors to the deck that ran the entirety of the back of the house. Sitting in the middle of the dining room was a long, rectangular table, made of the same wood as the support beams and matching chairs. The living room had 2 beautiful gray cotton couches one in front of the coffee table and the other to the right, pushed against the wall. They faced a massive brick fireplace with a TV mounted above the mantel. Off of the living room was a long, wide hallway, with 3 doors on the right side of the hallway, and 4 on the left.

“Holy… shit,” whispering, I ran my hand along the back of the couch, “I… I’ve never stayed somewhere this nice before. Are you really sure I can stay here?”

“Yes. Absolutely,” he gently touched my lower back and a shiver ripped through me at the warmth of his hand, “I need help. You’ve been on a farm before, ya know what to expect. I need company too. I’ve enjoyed talkin’ to ya already. It’s nice. We have plenty of time to get to know each other so don’t worry.”

“Okay,” taking a seat on the couch, I felt pain shoot through my arms, “fuck,” I gasped.

“Grayson?” panic filled Hunter’s voice and he rushed around the couch, sitting next to me, “what’s wrong?”

“Everything hurts. That’s all,” a tear rolled down my cheek as I clutched my fists.

“Your pain meds from the hospital are wearin’ off. Lay down.”

I laid on my back and he grabbed a thick blanket from the other couch, laying it on me.

“I have your meds hang on,” he ran into the kitchen and returned with the medication from the hospital and a glass of water, “take those. Get some rest. I need to go move the cows to the barn and the horses to the stable. Check on the chickens. Then I’ll come back and finish dinner. Just sleep. If ya need me,” he grabbed a walkie-talkie from the top of the fireplace, “I keep the other on my hip in case Zee comes by and I don’t realize it because I’m out in the pasture. Just click the button on the side, say my name and I’ll ride back over here. Rest, Gray,” he ran his fingers through my hair, “you’re safe here.”

I watched him leave and cuddled further into the blanket, clutching the walkie-talkie to my chest as I started to cry.

I’m safe…

Finally safe.

Thank you, Hunter.

The pain medication took time to flood my system and as soon as it had, I drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

What’s that sound?

Oh.

Hunter must be back.

Slowly opening my eyes, I realized that it was dark in the house and I sat up carefully, looking around.

“Hey you,” Hunter called softly and I turned to find him in the kitchen, slowly stirring something in a pot, “how are ya feelin’?”

“Confused. You just left,” clearing my throat, I ran a hand through my hair, my fingers catching on the deep knots in my waves.

“I was gone for 2 hours,” he laughed, coming over and squatting behind the couch, resting his chin on the back of it, “it normally don’t take me that long, but a few cows were bein’ stubborn. It’s supposed to snow tonight. It’ll be really cold for ‘em so I had to set up heaters and lock up the barn. They should be okay. I wanted you to keep sleepin’. Ya need it to heal.”

I reached over and twirled one of his curls around my finger, “I sleep in short bursts. A few hours here and there. I had to because I was moving around so much. You’ll probably find me awake at odd hours of the night until I adjust. So don’t worry too much. I’m okay. Well, my body is sore, I’m hungry and would love a shower but other than that,” I was still playing with his hair and smiled, “your hair is soft.”

“I… I uh take good care of it,” he cleared his throat, a faint pink across his cheeks, “dinner is done. Do ya think you can make it to the table?”

“Mhm,” nodding, I let go of his curl and slowly got to my feet, pain shooting through my thigh and I hissed, “am I allowed to be angry that this happened to me?”

“Absolutely. I’m angry. I saw the car pullin’ away right before I found ya. It’s deathly quiet out here, any odd noise gets my attention. I wish I had Bear and Moose last night. They woulda found you before me. Protected ya.”

“Bear and Moose?” I looked at him confused as he brought dinner over.

“My dogs,” he smiled, taking the seat across from me, “Bear is a Great Pyrenees. He’s massive, fluffy, and white but gentle. He thinks he’s a lap dog. On his hind legs, I’d say he’s almost your size actually. Moose is a Bernese Mountain Dog. Black, brown, and white. He follows me everywhere. He can keep up with Ridge. But they both love to cuddle and explore the forests around here. I take them on hikes a lot. They’re the only companions I’ve had for years.”

“Where are they?” taking a sip of my soup, I wiggled happily, “oh it’s so good!”

“Thank ya,” he laughed, his eyes twinkling in the hanging light above the table, “the vet. They’ll come home tomorrow when we go into town. Needed shots for Moose and Bear got bit by a bullsnake. I wasn’t able to keep it clean so he needed the vet to clear out the wound properly. He can’t be out in the pasture for a week, I think, so he’ll stay in here with you while ya heal. The backyard is gated off so just let him out there to explore. He has so much energy and since he can’t work the cows, I’ll have to take Moose.”

“He can keep me company,” I smiled, “how long are you out there for?”

“I get up at 4. Head out there by 5, milk the cows, check for eggs, then let the cows out to roam. Clean up the fields and the pastures and stables. I come back in around 4 pm. Usually, ride around on Ridge while I do that but if he needs a break, I got my 4-wheeler. I got two actually. I’ll teach ya to ride the smaller one Zee was usin’ til she got pregnant. I won’t let her on it anymore.”

“You’re a good brother,” I smiled, “do you know when she’s due?”

“Oh… hm,” he looked up at the ceiling, thinking, “around August… I think the 22nd?”

“Oh! My birthday is in August. How fun!”

“What day?”

“The 16th.”

“I’ll remember that,” he nodded and finished his dinner.

“When’s yours?”

“May 19th.”

“Oh, that’s so soon!”

“It ain’t a big deal. My parents always have me come to their house for dinner. Give me gifts. Then I usually just sit here and drink bourbon, watching the stars. I don’t really care.”

“It’s a big deal to me,” I whispered, “I love birthdays. I never spent mine with anyone. Mom always worked. She’d leave me a single slice of cake and a small gift if she could afford that. Granddad would send me small toys he’d made. I never got invited to birthdays as a kid either. So I want that chance to celebrate for once. At least your birthday.”

“Right… I’d like that. It just ain’t meant anything cause I’ve only ever had my family. I didn’t go to public school. Mama homeschooled Hazel and me. Zee went to nursin' school and I took over the farm.”

“Well… it means something now. You have a friend.”

“I do?” he looked at me confused.

“Yeah,” I giggled softly, “me. If you want.”

“I’d love that.”