"She's okay now, Kate. We need to be strong for her and she will get over it. The Williams genes are pretty resilient you know." He ran his thumbs under her eyes and wiped her tears away. "I think you could do with a cup of tea too."
She shook her head. "I have too much to do."
"Let me help you."
Kate smiled and shook her head again. "No, you need to be with your sister. I'll be fine." She broke away from him and ran out of the kitchen door.
Cade looked over at Essie, wondering what he was missing.
"I think the poor thing is probably remembering how she lost her parents. She had no one to hold her together apart from your father and me."
"Shit." Cade half ran and skipped out the back door to find her.
He looked toward the barn and Kate's cottage. She was crouched on the ground with her arms wrapped around herself. You poor kid. He hurried as fast as he could and dropped down beside her, pulling her into his arms. The gut wrenching sobs increased and she clung to him, her fists gripping the front of his shirt tightly as her tears soaked the cotton through to his chest.
Cade sat on the grass in the sunshine and let Kate sob away her grief. He couldn't imagine being alone, losing two parents whom you loved at the same time. It made him realise how closed off his life had been when he was playing football.
She sniffed and dug in her pocket for a tissue. "Sorry about that. I don't know what came over me."
"That's okay. What are friends for?" Cade held her away from his chest and looked into her bright green eyes. "Do you think you should take a bit of time to yourself? I think you're pushing yourself too hard. I can help you tomorrow with whatever is needed."
"Not really what I get paid for, is it? Having a meltdown, I mean." She heaved a great sigh.
"I won't tell if you don't. I seriously can't see Tory giving you a dressing down for taking some personal time anyway." He wiped a stray tear from her cheek and grabbed her hand. "How about the two of us play hooky together? We can take the new bike for a ride over the farm and you can fill me in on what you've been doing. I have a lot to catch up on."
"Why would you want to do that with me?"
Her breath was warm on his face and Cade was tempted to taste her lips and devour sweet Kate where they sat on the grass. Timing was going to be the key with her though. He had to convince her he wasn't the Cade she thought he was. "Because I want to see what's going on around here and I want to do it with you."
"Why? I'm not one of your groupies, Cade." She looked down at her hands and pulled at a stalk of grass at her feet.
"I know that and I've already told you the media portrayed me differently to what I'm really like. I want you to get to know the real me."
Kate lifted her head and looked at him long and hard before he saw the spark in her eyes light up. "Okay, but I drive the bike."
Cade laughed, the sound breaking the tension in his chest. "Fine then. Help me up please."
Kate stood and gripped his hand, pulling him up from the grass. He dusted himself down before taking her hand. Together they walked toward the shed where he’d parked his ute.
"How about I get this off from up here? You'll probably do more damage than good." Kate dropped the tailgate of his ute and grabbed a couple of long planks, setting them behind the tyres of the bike. When she had them lined up, she climbed up and held her hand out for the keys.
Cade got them from inside the ute, throwing them up to her. She caught them, grinned and straddled the bike before starting it up. Careful to watch where she was going, she reversed the bike down to the ground.
"Get on and hang on." Her tear stained face lit up as she revved the throttle of the bike.
Cade climbed on the back, swinging his sore leg over and getting it settled before wrapping his arms around her stomach. "Go, boss."
Kate laughed as she gunned the bike down past the barn toward the bottom paddocks where two farm hands were repairing fences. She slowed down when they reached them.
"How's it going?" She killed the engine and got off, leaving Cade sitting on the bike. "You seem to be doing a good job here guys. Thought I'd bring the new hand down to meet you and check out the rest of the farm." She turned to Cade. "Cade, this is Jeff and Tiny. Tiny, Jeff meet Cade."
They exchanged small talk for a few minutes before Kate climbed back on the bike. With a wave, they took off again down the fence line. "The cattle in this paddock will be ready for the sales in the next few months. I like to hold them closer to the house so I can keep an eye on them. We should do well this year." She slowed down when they got closer to the herd.
"You've done well, they look great. Good condition, fat. You should do well with them."
"That's what I thought too. Hang on, let's go see the mums and babies. Tell me what you think of them." Kate took off again and drove for a good ten minutes before they came to a gate.
Cade got off and hobbled to open it, standing back when she drove through. He locked it behind her and skipped over to climb back on the bike.
