Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
“ T
rey?” Mark tapped at the door to his office. “Can we chat about Thanksgiving?”
“We can absolutely chat about Thanksgiving. Do you and Lisa have family you want to invite out?” He liked that, how he suggested Mark not leave him with the kitchen on turkey day.
“No. Just her and her wife.” Mark beamed. “I just need to know what kind of stuff you and Mr. West like for Thanksgiving. Or if there’s something the kids want.”
“Oh.” He blinked. “I need to ask West, I guess.” He and West had never really— the one Thanksgiving they’d spent in Seattle, they’d had Chinese food.
And he had a feeling that, while West loved cashew chicken, he didn’t think it was Thanksgiving food.
“Should we call a family meeting?” Mark asked.
Trey paused to consider that. A family meeting. With West.
“Yes. Let Lisa know?” Mark’s sister was an amazing nanny, and he was so damn glad he’d taken the chance on her.
And West and her wife were buddies.
“Excellent. I’ll make finger foods. That’s always so nice. Should I invite Ben and Nate?” Mark was so happy now that Lisa and Melinda were at the ranch. It was as if the young man was truly settled.
“Nate is going to New Orleans, but Ben? Yes.” Ben was his family, for sure.
“Good deal. I’ll text everyone. Zoe will be over the moon. She’s desperate to have a ‘fambly ting’.”
He nodded to Mark. “She has a book that Lisa reads to her where the rabbit and bear have a family meeting to talk about their problems.”
It was adorable.
“Oh, such a sweetie. Okay, so after Noah gets home then? We can do the munchies instead of his afternoon snack.”
“Sounds great.” He blinked, his eye feeling seriously scratchy. Ugh. Barometric pressure or some shit. “I’ll tell West.” West hung out after he brought Noah home from school, which he still did every day. So it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.
He took a deep breath, then let it out. And didn’t scratch his eye, which was burning like mad. God.
Trey shook his head, then tried to get back to work, but then he decided maybe he’d take a nap. He’d rest his eyes, and that way, he’d be good to go for the family meeting.
He laid down, closed his eyes, and he had no idea how long he’d slept when he felt West shake him awake. “Baby? Do you want to go get Noah, or should I just go on?”
“Hmmm?” Trey sat up, damn near cracking his head against West’s. “Shit, sorry. I’ll come with you. Damn. I swear, it wasn’t even noon when I came in to lie down.”
“I know. You missed lunch.”
“Shit. Is Mark upset?”
“No.” West kissed his nose. “Zoe was a little put out.”
“I bet she was. Is she coming with?”
“No, she’s making nibbles with Mark and Lisa. Something about a family meeting?”
“We’re having a Thanksgiving planning meeting.” He yawned, holding up his hands to get West to help him stand. He was totally muzzy-headed.
West hoisted him to his feet, then kissed him again. This time on the mouth.
Oh, that was nice. He grinned, and he dove into the kiss, willing and ready to let that distract him and wake him right the hell up.
When their lips parted, Trey grinned. “Good afternoon to you too, sir.”
West chuckled at him, one hand stroking his cheek. “Now that’s better. Now, if you’re going to come with me, you’d best get some shoes on. We got to go, and it is cold as a witch’s tit in a brass brassiere out there. So put on your good coat.”
“Will do.” He was looking forward to Christmas break where they didn’t have to do this drive twice a day. Not because he didn’t enjoy the time with West; he did, but the roads were bad every now and again, and it worried him. Not that he could imagine any situation wherein they would leave Noah at the school.
If they had to, West could take a horse up there and get his son.
He heard Valentine get up when he did, the pup’s tags jangling. The sheltie had decided, apparently, that his job was to protect anybody who was going outside.
Him, Zoe. West. Noah—it didn’t matter. His job was to make sure no one went outside without his presence. It was kind of adorable, if a little weird, but it was also kind of a comfort.
Mainly for Zoe, because she was so little, so curious, so damn fast. It wouldn’t take anything for her to slip out and get lost, get caught under the livestock, or in the stock tanks. He shuddered. He didn’t want to think about that too hard. So he stomped into his shoes, grabbed his coat off the hook by the front door. “All right, cowboy. Let’s go.”
They headed down the steps into the snow and made their way out to the truck. Trey could feel the little snowflakes hitting his face, one at a time. It was wild because he knew he must have felt this before, but he swore he could feel every one. That was when he realized he had his eyes closed. He was outside, and he was walking out to the truck with his eyes closed. Weird.
The truck was already warmed up and the seats were nice and heated under his butt.
He glanced over at West, trying to make out more than just shapes. “How was your day, man? Good?”
“Cold. It’s been damn cold, but everything’s solid and warm in the barns. Dogs are good, horses are good. The cows are out there being cows.” There was a pregnant pause. “And you just crashed out. Must be nice to be the boss.”
“Must be. My eyes were bothering me, and I just needed to close them for a minute. You know how that is, even if you’re not tired, if your eyes hurt and you want to close them and then suddenly you’re asleep.” And they were bothering the hell out of him.
“Yeah. I remember once when a horse turned around in his stall and smacked me right in the eye with his nose. I thought I was gonna die for at least a day. Doc was worried I had a broken orbital bone, so I got a compress on my eye. I was out like a light two minutes later.”
West’s chatter made him grin, and he leaned his head back against the seat rest, letting it wash over him.
“Kinda weird without Zoe, huh?” West asked finally.
“It is. But this is good. She’s feeling more confident with Lisa around. I’m glad.”
“Oh, me too. She’s such a hoot.”
“Lisa or Zoe?”
West snorted. “Lisa. She’s something else. I think she’s real good with Noah, too.”
“She is. She lets him feel like the older brother and like the capable one.” It had ended up well, because he thought Noah would be jealous that Zoe got to spend all of her time with Miss Lisa. But Noah still had that little teacher in kindergarten and all of his friends, so it worked out for the best.
“I think Noah’s going to turn out to be just fine. He had a hard blow early on, but he’s putting himself together.” West reached out and turned the radio on, the sounds of country music low on the air, making him smile. “Have you thought about what you’re going to get him for Christmas?”
“He wants a bike. Zoe wants a pony or a dragon.”
“Of course she does.” West’s laughter filled the air.
“I do think that you should teach them how to ride when it becomes springtime. I mean, if you have time, of course.”
“Why don’t you teach them?” West asked.
Trey shrugged. “I mean, I’ve been out riding since the eye thing. It’s actually easier than you think. Especially on Reaper. That guy knows exactly where it is that we ride, and he doesn’t have any problems, but I don’t know that I could teach.”
“I think you could, for sure, but we could do it together. If you want, you could take Zoe, ride her in front of you on Reaper.”
He chuckled softly. “You know, once upon a time, that horse was the scariest thing on this ranch. Nobody would have ever thought that he’d get old. And start being the stable, staid horse to ride that you could carry a two-year-old in front of you.”
“Three.”
“What?”
“She’s three. Don’t make that mistake.” West’s voice was dry as dust.
Trey cracked up. Yes, West had made that error and had gotten a dressing down by one little Miss Zoe, who was not two, thank you very much. She was three, and three-year-olds were older than two-year-olds, Miss Lisa said so.
“Yeah, no. You threw yourself on that sword so I didn’t have to,” he told West. “She was not having that.”
“I know.” West snorted. “But she would love to ride with you while I lead Noah’s horse.”
“Yeah, yeah. What do you think about getting her a pony, though? Seriously, I mean. We could do that…”
“Sure. I could get her a miniature horse or a Shetland pony. Whatever you want. She’s too young to bond with a colt, but Noah could…” West sounded thoughtful as hell.
Trey shook his head. “No. He asked Santa for a bike. He deserves his bike.”
“What if you got them both something to ride, and then we get them both a critter to start taking care of?” West sounded so thoughtful. “I mean, that’s one of the things that we want the kids to have, right? A sense of husbandry? There’s a ton of good lessons in?—”
West’s words cut off in a rush. “Trey! Hold on!”
Everything began to spin, and he braced himself against the dashboard, trying his best to hold on as West lost control. He heard the crash before he felt it, and when he did feel it, the pain was red, and then, blessedly black.