Page 7 of Dandelion Sighs

He chuckled because, yeah, I was the quintessential fun uncle. I was single with no kids, not for lack of trying in my younger days. Years ago, my life had been on track toward marriage and the rest. I’d had a well-paying corporate job until I’d gotten laid off. She left not long after. Turned out the whole for better or worse thing wasn’t worth it for her. I wasn’t worth it. While I worked for the Knights, I’d given up trying to meet a woman who’d become a partner. Made the loneliness easier.

“I’ll be out at Bishop’s Landing,” I said, “doing handiwork.”

His dark brows ticked up. “That sounds…temporary. I heard they just changed ownership.”

“I ran into the new owner yesterday.” To say the least. I didn’t say the new owner had big brown eyes and curly dark hair. I didn’t say that I had gotten the ashes of the recently departed on me, nor did I mention that I had watched Sheridan scatter the rest in the park where her mom used to love to hang out. I’d been there for her during a really hard time.

I certainly didn’t tell him that yesterday was the first time I had felt like I had purpose. First, to cheer up the pretty but distraught woman who mourned her mom. Two, to help her fulfill her dream and prove her siblings wrong.

“She’s a Bishop too, right?” he asked. “The owner.”

“One of them, yeah. Sheridan Bishop. She remembers Lily.”

Those dark brows arched higher. “She’s that young?”

“What’d you think she was? Our parents’ age?”

He shrugged. “I guess the parents always seemed old to me as a kid.”

“Nope, she’s only a little younger than me.” I took a drink of my strong coffee. I got used to drinking it any way the cowboys made it. This cup could be filled with battery acid, and it wouldn’t faze me.

Alder’s gaze stayed glued to me. “And suddenly you’re switching careers to handyman?”

Defensiveness prickled over the back of my neck. “I’ve changed before.”

“Sure have.” He pulled out his phone and tapped into it. He narrowed his eyes and then flipped it around to show me the screen. A smiling Sheridan faced me from the profile window of some social media account. “That her?”

“Yes,” I said between gritted teeth, resisting the urge to grab it from him and study all I could about her.

“She’s changed her work status to ‘it’s complicated,’ and lists ‘not yet known’ as her place to live.”

“Snoop.”

“Yep. Daisy’s going to love this.”

“Your wife comes off placid, but she loves gossip.” I enjoyed gossiping with her.

“As long as she’s not involved in it, she’ll listen to it all day. So will our sisters.”

I shot him a warning glare. “Don’t you dare.”

“What?” he asked innocently. “I’m just telling them the good news. You got a new job.”

“Then they’re going to go out there to eat and be nosy.” What if Sheridan got upset and realized she didn’t need me around?

“They’d be supporting a local business.”

I couldn’t deny that Sheridan and Bishop’s Landing probably needed the customers. “Tell them to order appetizers and a dessert too.”

His grin spread wide. “Oh, it’s a plan.”

Now I felt bad for Sheridan. She had her own siblings waiting for her to fail. Mine were going to swoop in and make her feel like a sideshow. But their money was green, the resort had good food, and I had a lot of siblings. They would tell people and be excited and word would spread.

Sheridan needed it.

Bishop’s Landing too.

“When do you start?”