Page 12 of The Cowboy Who Came Home
He also took the phone first. “Edith Baxter, wow.”
“Shh.” Finn glanced over to his father, but the rain and river still dominated his—and everyone’s attention. In that moment, Finn realized how worried all the adults looked. His momma. His grandparents. His grandma on his dad’s side and her new husband, whom Finn had only met a handful of times. Malcolm couldn’t even be considered “new,” as he and Grandma had been married for eight years now.
He was simply new to Finn. So many things were.
“You’re flirting hard-core with her,” Henry said, his eyes glued to the phone and his voice nowhere near shh-level.
“Henry,” Libby said delicately, and she slipped the phone out of his hand. “I don’t think Finn wants the world to know about Edith quite yet.” She pocketed his phone, gave him a wide-eyed look, and turned to pick up a paper plate.
Relief coated Finn’s nerve endings, and he met Henry’s eye, then Mike’s, Paul’s, and Rich’s. John and Sammy chatted in the line behind them, and Finn figured they’d get drawn into the drama soon enough. They all would.
Paul grinned at him. “Edith was always really nice.”
“Yeah,” Finn said, as that was one adjective he’d use to describe her.
“Her brother bought a small place east of here,” Rich said. He and Paul were about eight years apart, and maybe Paul hadn’t known that. “Oh, I don’t know. Four or five years ago. Edith’s only been back for—I don’t know. Less than that.”
Finn hadn’t gotten to the part where he asked where she’d been living for the past decade. For some reason, he’d assumed she’d only just returned to town, same as him. “How long?” he asked. “Like, a couple of months?”
“No,” Rich said. “A couple of years, at least. She did a big event at the junior high when one of her books came out, and I was still there. She’d moved here then.”
So a couple of years. Maybe longer. Between two and five years, he told himself, his mind ever-working. He moved through the line while the conversation went on to something else. He still didn’t have his phone, and as he settled at a table with a full plate of food he didn’t remember getting and all seven of his siblings and cousins, he knew the topic of Edith would not be forgotten or dropped.
Libby had his phone discreetly beside her plate as she ate, and when she finished, she passed it to Paul. He started reading the texts while Libby asked John how his classes were going at TCU.
College talk bored Finn, and he kept his eyes on his device as it went round the table and back to him. By then, everyone had finished eating, and all their casual conversation had come to a close.
“Okay.” Libby leaned her elbows up on the table and clasped her hands together. “This isn’t too hard. You’re already talking to her. You simply find something going on in town that she’ll like, and you ask her to go with you.” She nodded like such a thing was so easy to do, and Finn reminded himself that he’d been out with other women before. In foreign countries. Who didn’t even speak his language.
Somehow, Edith felt as exotic as them, and he had no idea how to talk to her.
“There’s always a ton going on in the summer here,” Paul said. “Summer dances?”
Finn shook his head immediately. “We’re not in high school.”
“Some of the cowboys on the ranch go every week,” Henry said.
Finn gave him a glare that said, Yeah, those who still think they’re in high school. Henry laughed and held up one hand. “Fine, not the summer dances.”
“There are museums,” Libby said. “Tours. Historical sites. There’s plenty to do besides the summer dances.” She looked around the table at all the boys. “And you know what? It’s just occurred to me that none of y’all have a girlfriend, so maybe Finn shouldn’t be taking advice from any of you.”
“You’re not dating anyone either,” Paul said swiftly, and Libby’s fierce blue eyes jutted over to him.
“I am taking a break,” she said. “After that last disaster I called a boyfriend.” She folded her arms, her ire all up now.
Finn grinned at her, because he’d gotten the story of her Disaster Boyfriend via email. “What do you think Edith would like?”
No one said anything, which was why Finn couldn’t ask her out either. “I guess I’ll have to text with her some more to learn what she’d like,” he said.
“Or you could just ask her,” Henry said. “Why beat around the bush when you can go right through it?”
“Through what?” Uncle Pete asked, suddenly looming above them.
“Nothing, Dad,” Henry said. “Just a figure of speech.”
“You know what I don’t miss hearing now that you don’t live here?” Pete grinned at his son, who grinned right on back. “Nothing, Dad.” He mimicked Henry as he said it, and they both laughed.
Finn tucked his phone away, shot another look at his sister—who’d only be here for the weekend—and right then and there, they communicated that they could talk about this again later, without the rest of the boys around. And especially without Uncle Pete, Daddy, Momma, and Aunt Chelsea to overhear them.
