Him & I

Cowboy Take Me Away

I wanna walk and not run
I wanna skip and not fall
I wanna look at the horizon and not see a building standing tall
I wanna be the only one for miles and miles
Except for maybe you, and your simple smile
Oh, it sounds good to me
——Cowboy Take Me Away, Dixie Chicks

October 7, 2018

Cait watched Chitana fussing over Connor like he was the prodigal son.  But she supposed that was exactly what he was. 

It was good to be back at the ranch.  She and Connor had arrived before dinner the previous night.  And Connor had been having a blast exploring the place. 

He had his own suite of rooms already. Chitana had gotten right on that and converted one of the guest suites into teenage boy heaven. Cait was a little concerned that Grayson would prefer that to her suite the next time he visited.

Connor had found the trophy room and stared in awe.  Then promptly asked Jack how he was going to expand it to accommodate his soccer awards.  Jack had grinned and told him that he'd get the architect right on that.

And this morning, Cait had taken him out to the stables and given him a riding lesson on Guinness.  He'd seemed to really enjoy that, especially after she told him that Grayson refused to get anywhere near the horses.  Connor was looking forward to giving him grief about that.

Cait also filled her father in on Connor's visit with Gillian.  It hadn't been easy for Cait not to show any animosity toward Gillian, so she had suddenly understood her father's reticence about taking Connor.  There'd been plenty she would have liked to have said to the woman, but she hadn't for the sake of her brother. She was proud of herself for resisting those urges.  Maybe she was finally growing up.

Cait was headed back to Salt Lake City right after lunch. She wanted to be back to watch Grayson's game that night.  And she needed to get ready for his birthday.

But getting ready for his birthday involved one thing before she left.  She'd finally thought of a gift for him. She climbed the step stool to a box that she kept on the top shelf in the back of her walk-in closet.  She took the box down and sat on the floor, box of tissues nearby.  She lifted the lid slowly, her fingers lovingly moving over some of the items inside, as tears appeared.  But finally she found the one she wanted. 

*****

Back home in Utah, Cait stopped at the store and went through her list, before heading home to watch Grayson's game.  She'd decided to give him a whole day for his birthday.  He had the day off, since they were playing in Portland and then traveling.  And she wanted the two of them to spend it together.  No interruptions.

She made his cake herself. Even though cakes weren't her forte, she was adept enough. And she packed them a picnic lunch for the next day.  And got things ready for dinner the next night. 

She finally sat down to turn on his game, with a soft rag and some silver polish and got out the item she'd retrieved from her closet in Colorado. She polished it as she watched the game, before wrapping it and leaving it on the dining room table.

*****

After not playing in the first half, Grayson got in the game for a substantial part of the second half.    He played 14 minutes and scored eight points on 3-5 shooting.  Not too bad.  And he played some point.