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“I figured we could load up the truck tonight, get a good night’s sleep, then hit the road first thing in the morning.” With a wink, Matthew threw an arm around his bride. “That okay with you, son?”
“Yeah, sure.” Kellan glanced at his brother, the corner of his mouth ticking upward. “Suits us just fine.”
Tonight. Tomorrow. What’s the difference? She’d still be leaving in the end, so to Arien it didn’t matter either way.
“I think I’m gonna have another piece of cake.” Yeah, because sugar can fill up the hollow pit inside, at least for a little while. Not to mention, she had the feeling there probably wouldn’t be desserts that came anything close to this where she was going.
“Arien,” her mom began to protest, but Matthew covered her hand with his and stopped her.
“I love me a pretty girl with a hearty appetite.” Kellan slapped a huge slice on her plate. “No need to be counting all those calories there. We’ll be workin’ ’em right off you, won’t we, brother?”
“Do I look like a cowgirl to you?”
“Not yet.” And he grinned.
Leaning into her ear, Tanner squeezed her knee beneath the table. “He’s just trying to get a rise out of you.”
Arien looked at Kellan, and giving him the most saccharine smile she could muster, lifted a forkful of cake to her mouth. “Mmm.” She licked panna cotta filling from her lips. “So good.”
“Eat up, baby cakes.” His wicked gaze fixed on her. “We got things to do.”
She stood with her mother in the living room, watching the new men in their lives cart boxes stacked three high down the stairs, as if they weighed nothing at all. Being these boys probably threw bales of hay around all day long, moving their stuff must be an easy breezy walk in the park. Admittedly, Arien wasn’t exactly sure what cowboys, ranchers, or whatever they called themselves did. Except for what she’d seen on TV, and even that wasn’t very much.
Her mattress went out the front door. “Mom, they can’t take that. Where am I supposed to sleep?”
“The pullout sofa isn’t going anywhere—not until Goodwill picks it up tomorrow.”
“Okay, what about them?”
“Recliners?” Jennifer shrugged, then pulled her into her side. “It’s one night, Arien. Just make do. Tomorrow you’ll be in your beautiful new room, in a big, beautiful house, breathing the fresh mountain air.”
“Great.”
“Listen, sweetheart, I know this is a huge adjustment for you.” Her mom squeezed her tight. “It is for me, too, but Matt is so good and the boys are nice, young men…we have a family now, baby. Life is going to be wonderful, you’ll see.”
Biting her lip so she wouldn’t cry, Arien nodded. She’d never seen her mom this happy, and dammit, she deserved to be. So, she was going to suck it up and put a smile on her face. For Mom. It was only nine months out of her life, right?
An hour later, with the truck loaded up and their parents tucked away upstairs, the boys kicked back in front of the TV. Kellan aimlessly scrolled through the channels. Tanner patted the empty space between them. Armed with her pillow and a blanket, Arien took it.
“What are we gonna watch?” Making herself comfortable, she folded the old, lumpy pillow in half and tucked it under her arm.
His gaze remaining on the screen, Kellan shrugged a shoulder and passed her the remote. “Pick somethin’.”
“Fine, Hallmark Christmas movie it is.”
Kellan snatched the pillow from her, playfully swatting her with it. “See if I ever let you have the remote again.”
“Hey,” Arien squealed, looking from one brother to the other. She couldn’t help but compare the two. Their subtle similarities. The stark differences. Her fingertips brushed the dirty-blond strands that had fallen into his brown eyes. “You must take after your mom.”
“Guess so.” His gaze returning to the TV, Kellan tossed the pillow to her lap.
Tanner leaned in against her shoulder. “She died when he was just a baby.”
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry, Kellan.” Arien took his hand and squeezed it. His calloused thumb, sandpaper on petal-soft skin, slowly traced the pulse at her wrist. She turned her head toward Tanner. “Wait a minute…”
“Kellan and me don’t have the same mama.”
“Oh, you’re half-brothers then.”
