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“Ah, yes, all grown up. Good job on that, by the way.” Finn earned a swift kick in the shin from Wyatt. “You still barrel racing?”
Grace’s eyes flicked over to me. “No, I’m not. Too much to do around here. Mom and Dad need the help.”
“Right. Speaking of which, where’s Noah?” Finn inquired.
“He and Dad are out with the cattle. They’ll be in for supper,” Grace informed us.
“Noah is her brother,” Wyatt leaned over to whisper to me.
I had secretly hoped she might mention a boyfriend, something to divert her attention away from Wyatt. No such luck.
“Do you still have Drifter?” Grace asked Wyatt. “I didn’t see him when we were at your place.”
“Oh, yeah, of course, but I retired him this year. He’s staying at Kinsley’s place,” Wyatt explained.
“Oh. That’s good,” Grace responded flatly.
“Well, this is awkward,” Grady remarked.
His observation was met with four sets of glaring eyes.
Chapter 30
Need You Now - Lady A
Wyatt
“Ihaven’t seen Jake in quite a while.” Ethan Harper, Alice’s husband, settled deeper into his recliner after dinner with a thoughtful look. “Kept thinking he’d pop up one day, you know? He had a knack for disappearing on one of his schemes, chasing after quick cash, but he’d always circle back eventually. Heard around town that he’d sold the farm. I had no clue it was even on the market. If I’d known...” He paused, a shrug lifting his shoulders as if to shake off the thought. “We all waited for someone new to take over, or for anything to happen. But nothing did. And Jake... He never came back.”
I squeezed Kinsley into my side on the couch. She had been quiet since meeting Grace. Not that I blamed her, but I didn’t want her to feel threatened. Grace and I had been over for a long time, but Kinsley and I hadn’t ever dealt with things like exes.
The dinner had been delicious. We ate like we’d been starving for weeks, which wasn’t that far from the truth. Life on the road was hard. Good meals were one of those comforts of home you always missed.
Home was getting to be a hard thing to define. I was home, but I didn’t feel it. Maybe once I found my dad and settled things, I could make it feel like home again.
I pressed my lips to Kinsley’s hair. We could make it feel like home again.
“If I were you, I’d swing by Rodeo’s End Tavern,” Ethan suggested, snapping me back to the moment. “Place has changed hands. Looks different now, but you’ll find some of the old guard still warming the stools. Somebody might know where Jake’s at.”
“Gracie, Noah, why don’t you take them? You two enjoy it there,” Alice chimed in.
Noah, baby-faced and barely out of his teens, perked up.
“Rodeo’s End, huh?” I turned to Grace, surprised.
The Grace I remembered was more likely to be buried in textbooks than hanging out in a bar. Last I heard, she was bound for Olds College, aiming for a degree in agriculture.
“Like my dad said, it’s different now.”
Memories of dragging my dad from that dive did not make me eager to go.
“I was planning on heading over there tonight anyway,” Noah said, his eyes lit up. “Can you fit two more in your truck?”
“I don’t see why we couldn’t take a second vehicle,” Grace complained from the backseat, squished between Kinsley and Grady, her voice muffled.
“It’s more environmentally friendly to carpool,” Noah said from the front passenger seat he’d snagged, his comment triggering sighs and eyerolls from the rest of us.
“There are four people back here and only three seatbelts. This is illegal, Noah,” Grace pointed out.
