Redemption

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“How do you think ole Carby’s getting’ along, Colt?” Jessie heard Doc ask to her left.

Colt grunted. “I don’t wanna think about it. No telling what she’s done to the place.”

“She’s probably fine, though,” Doc said.
“How long have ya’ll lived in that little place?” Jessie asked.

Colt ran the pad of his thumb along the line of his square jaw and pressed his lips into a thin line. “About two months, I guess.”

Jessie drew her eyebrows close together. “You don’t have a home?”

Colt shrugged. “Home is where the people you love are. It’s not a building, I don’t suppose.”

“Colt had quite a bit of money saved up for his own spread before he had to spend it on fixing that place up for his grandmother,” Doc put in.

“Shut up, Dawson,” Colt grumbled. “It wasn’t all of it, and I can easily earn it back.”

“Easily? It’s taken you the better part of your prime to save up that money,” Doc shook his head.

Jessie looked back and forth between the men.

“What else was I supposed to do? My parents couldn’t handle her anymore, and I’m the only one she half-heartedly listens to most of the time. She needed a place to stay, and that loft wasn’t gonna work,” Colt defended.

“You could’ve explained the situation to her.”

“That would have been nice. ‘Sorry, Granny. I can’t take you in because I don’t want to part with my money so you’ll have a roof over your head.’ Ain’t that just the picture of a trophy grandson?” Sarcasm laced Colt’s words.

“You know it wouldn’t have gone down like that.”

“I think it was a noble thing that Colt did for his grandmother,” Jessie interjected. “If a lot more men possessed his selflessness, the world would be a better place.”

The wagon jolted, and her shoulder brushed against his.

He sure was a solid man, but that empty feeling she got after she touched him was something she needed to keep an eye on.

She scooted farther away from him and closer to Doc.

“Ha! Hear that, Dawson?” Colt teased.

Doc waved off the words and looked the other way. “If a man worked that hard for the savings he had, he ought to use them for their intended purpose.”

Jessie looked over at Colt and wondered. How long had he been planning to get his own spread? Was is a lifelong dream of his?

She resisted asking the questions in her mind at the conversation was steered in another direction.

　

The campfire blazed that night, bringing peaceful warmth to the three people around it. Jessie had a terrible headache, but tried not to let on to the men. She had seen them act so carefully the last time she had been hurting, and didn’t want them fretting over her so much all over again.

Colt seemed distracted to her. He didn’t try to make conversation as usual, but he just sat there in silence. He had a faraway look in his pale blue eyes, like something was eating at him and he was trying to figure it out.

Doc slept peacefully - surprisingly - to his left, leaving the two of them awake alone.

“Is something on your mind, Colt?” she asked.