At the barn, Cade unsaddled his horse and rubbed him down. He gave him some hay and headed for the house. There he bathed and dressed. A trip through the house assured him that everything was in order, so he headed to town for a meal and a night out. It wasn't something he looked forward to in the beginning. It was something he felt he needed to do. Already people referred to him as a hermit. It wasn't that he didn't like people. He simply preferred the open range to an office. Granted, since his mother's death he had pretty much severed contact with the rest of the world. Grief and guilt had haunted him long enough, though. It was time to rejoin civilization, even if it was only in the form of a meal at the diner once a week. It wasn't something he wanted to do...not at first. Each time Cynthia came to his table with a bright smile and spoke to him, he warmed a little more to the idea. After a while he began to entertain the idea of a maid in his home. It would be nice to come in from the range to a hot meal and a smile. It wouldn't be like his mother, who felt obligated to stay at the ranch. Hired help could leave any time they wanted if they found the place too depressing. He'd even give them the run of the ranch and the loan of a horse to do it. He'd have to find someone who liked that type of thing, though. He wasn't sure why he thought Cynthia was a good fit for the job, but he'd find out before he hired her. He wasn't going to make the job sound like fun. The house was cold and the only form of entertainment was a wall full of books. He had always found them more entertaining than a television. An occasional trip to town to see a movie was all the socializing he could stand for a couple of months. People were up and down the aisles constantly going to the restroom or buying huge buckets of popcorn and candy. Sometimes he wondered whether they came to see the movie or eat. Then there were the parents who dropped their boisterous kids off so they could have an evening alone. Did the kids act that way at home? He'd rather take a long ride through the hills of his three thousand acre ranch. Nothing on that big screen could compare to its beauty, and the quiet country was soothing. He always slept well at night after a long day of work on the range.