Commitment

Part 91

If she thought this discussion was over, she was wrong. He was a pace behind her and tracked her. She clearly was not going to just fall in with his plans, whatever they were, he thought. Best to cut the chase, Gray thought. He was pretty sure that was the only way he was going to get past her obstinacy he would have to be blunt. He yelled at her back, "What about, if this is made formal." A thought replayed itself in his mind: someone, like her, comes into your life, not expecting anything, but right there, in front of you, is everything you wished for. He had wrapped his plans in a veil of assistance, that he was going to offer her relief, that he could help, but his veil was ripped away when she refused his benevolence. It left his plans naked. It wasn't just about being kind, or concerned, he was desperate to find a way back to her heart. Sitting on her bed, talking to her, was the first time that he and she had an open, sincere, heartfelt chat. No pretence, no affectation, no simulation, no swagger. Just two people who didn't allow cautious to shield their real nature. It was something that surfaced over and over during his time away in the south island, the fact they shared, was authentic and sincere. And he knew he wanted that. Forever. Not just random opportunities. Sitting on her bed, talking to her, opened the flood gates, love is difficult to contain.

"What?" She turned around and practically bumped into him as he was still walking forward when she stopped. Again she allowed the spark to diffuse. Surely this would not go on.

He reached forward, placed his hands on her shoulder to steady her to stop her falling in to him. Steady, she lifted her arms and her hands pushed against his forearms and stepped away. But his hands moved down to her arms and kept her within range. She bit her lower lip, "Do you mind?"

He nodded. "Yes, I do mind!" He looked at her and made sure that she understood that he was not going to let this slide. "I am talking about a partnership." He said firmly. She snorted. Now that she was standing and not running, he moved his hand. He exhaled and said, "Me and you, partners!"

"Partners? Really?" She chuckled ruefully and shook her head. "Meaning what?" She sounded incredulous. He could not be serious.

"Lets go inside and talk about it." He gestured at the house.

She folded her arms. "Talk about it here, outside."

"You are so bloody stubborn!"

"Like you!" She quirked a brow and tucked her tongue into her cheek.  "And you want us to be partners?" He glared. Eventually, she said ruefully, "Really?"

"Yes." He remembered that this was not the best way to lure someone into a partnership. "You have various options. One, is that we could become partners." He paused, watched her face, trying to see if she had processed his statements.

She said nothing, just waited for him to continue.

"For example, I could buy you beef herd, you lease a part of your farm to me, I pay you rent for the land. You keep the dairy herd and any profits from the beef herd are mine and any profits from the dairy herd are yours." He had rehearsed that particular option in his head during his flight back.

She asked, "Partners? If I understood you, I will have a farm with dairy herd and lease my land to you?" She worked through his statements and frowned. "That is not my understanding of the concept of a partners. I guess we can add partners to the concepts that we do not share! Like charity! If we don't understand..."

"It was just an option. And I still don't understand your concept of charity! A loan is not charity. If it was charity, you would not have to repay it!"

"So how is your alternative, this me having a farm and you leasing land, different to you loaning me the money?" She threw her hands up in the air and looked at the sky, "What if I want the land back? What happens to the herd?"