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Next came Joshua, Ty Jr. and Kaylee’s son. He reminded me of his father.
“You’re like my hero, showing up to meet the family drunk! Please do that on family game night. It will make it so much funnier!”
Stella shot her grandson a warning look before turning to another teenage boy. “And last but certainly not least, is Nathan, you met him already as well.”
I shook his hand. “Good seeing you again, Nathan.”
He studied me and asked, “I never asked you, but do you ride horses?”
Nodding, I said, “I do.”
He sized me up again and then said, “Welcome to the family.”
“That’s everyone!” Stella said as she turned to face me. “Welcome home, Beck.”
She hugged me, and I heard a few sniffles in the room. When I looked up, I caught Avery watching us. She wore a soft smile on her face.
When I drew back and looked around the room, I said the only thing I could think of. “I hope I at least get a study guide before that quiz.”
Apparently, that was the right thing to say, as everyone started to laugh. Smaller conversations broke out around the room as Morgan and Ryan brought Avery and me our plates. We both sat in the family room, eating while a rotation of people stopped over to talk to me. Most of it was questions like whether or not I liked Montana so far. What did I think about the snow? When was I going back to Texas? Would I ever consider moving here?
It was all overwhelming, and I got the sense that Avery was picking up on my anxiety.
“How did you like the spaghetti casserole?” Avery asked when there was a lull in people stopping by to speak to me.
“It’s amazing,” I replied, enjoying the quick break in conversations.
I was pretty sure the entire family had stopped by to chat. It wasn’t that I minded it, I enjoyed talking to everyone. Though I thought it might’ve been better to go to their individual homes. It wouldn’t have been so crazy insane.
Avery took our plates to the kitchen and told me to stay where I was. Blayze had approached and we’d started talking about my grandfather’s ranch in Texas. He was interested in the organic farming of our hay and feed, which I’d told him about two days ago. He also wanted to know more about our supplemental feeding program. Since we didn’t get winter weather like they did here in Montana, it was a completely different beast.
“How often do you move your animals to new pastures?” Blayze asked.
“We move them about every four months to rest them.”
He nodded. “If we get a significant amount of snow, we move the cattle to a winter feeding area where we start them on hay. Winter tends to not be as busy as the spring and summer months for us. We do need to make sure we keep ice chopped up and water supplies from freezing though.”
“It’s cold in Dallas, but nothing like it is here. The cattle ranch is pretty much the same year-round with our workload, unless of course we get a winter storm, and the temperatures drop below freezing. My grandfather doesn’t really like it when I go to the ranch and always has a reason I need to be in the office.”
Blayze grinned. “You know, Beck, we could also use another hand in the business. It’s a massive cattle ranch. My father’s pretty much retired, but he’s there if we need him. Uncle Tanner’s more focused on his horses, and Uncle Ty, I think, is exhausted from years of breeding bulls. Josh and Nathan have no desire to take over anything on the ranch. I mean, there may be hope for Nathan in the future, but Josh is saying he wants to be a firefighter. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Right now, it’s basically just me and Hunter.”
I nodded and rubbed my hands over my jeans. “I’ve got a life back in Dallas, Blayze. A home, a job, my grandfather. And Mother is buried there. I can’t make that kind of decision after only being here a few days.”
“I understand. I just want you to know if you ever want a place here on the ranch, it’s yours by birth, and we’d love to have you with us.”
I smiled at him. “I’m not sure I could get used to this winter weather.”
Blayze laughed, then looked over my shoulder. “Hey, Avery.”
Turning my head, I saw Avery standing there, a smile on her face that didn’t reach her eyes. She glanced at me and said, “I need to go and help Lily with something. You’re okay here?”
Something strange passed over her face and I couldn’t tell what it was. Smiling, I replied, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
She gave one quick nod then spun on her heels and walked straight over to Lily, taking her by the hand and nearly dragging her out of the family room. When I looked back at Blayze, he was looking in the same direction the girls had just gone.
