Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Kendall
A few weeks later
I yanked a brush through my unruly curls and twisted them into a messy ponytail. Step one of my usual day.
“Travis!” I called.
He finally came galloping back to me. He’d been running around in the snow, his favorite place to be. He did the usual husky chatter, little yips with occasional half-howls, as I finished getting ready.
“We’re going, dude,” I said.
A few minutes later, we were driving through the dark morning.
“I’m going to have to forget about what happened the other day,” I said to my dog.
He let out a sound that almost sounded like, I know.
My headlights arced through the darkness, reflecting on the icy road.
“Jude isn’t for me. He’s my friend,” I added.
When I quickly flicked my eyes toward Travis, he was staring at me intently. He knew Jude’s name because Jude was his favorite human.
“See, even though I know if some miracle happened and Jude and I ended up together, you’d be the happiest dog in the universe. I can’t ruin our friendship.”
My hands tightened on the steering wheel as I let out a quick sigh. “It was nothing. So Jude caught me when I fell? And, so I got an up-close and personal feel of his totally hot bod? And so… so what?” I mused aloud in my car.
Jude was my best friend, and there was no sense in ever sharing my feelings with him. Ever.
It was January, smack in the middle of winter, and still dark when I arrived at work.
My breath left icy puffs in the air, and the dry snow crunched under my feet as I walked into the barn.
Travis cantered along beside me as I went about the morning.
He even knew how to open some of the gates and had my routine memorized.
He let the goats out, the elderly horse, and opened the gate for the pigs, although they were perfectly happy inside their stall. I loved this time of day here. It was quiet and peaceful. Just me and the animals.
I had just finished the morning routine and walked to the windows, peering outside to see glimmers of light above the mountains. The sun would eventually come up, but it wouldn’t actually be for a few hours.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I made the mistake of answering it on my watch. “Hey, hey.”
“Kendall,” my only and older brother croaked.
“Blake?” Weariness instantly slid through me.
“I need a ride.”
“Now?” I prompted, trying, and utterly failing to keep the dismay out of my voice.
My brother’s sigh was ragged. “Yeah.”
“Where are you?”
He was quiet long enough that I thought I knew where he was, but I wasn’t going to offer it up. He was going to have to tell me.
“I got a DUI last night.” He mumbled something else that I couldn’t decipher.
“Blake!” My tone was sharp, and I didn’t even care.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, Kendall. I know I keep fucking up. Mom and Dad aren’t answering.”
My teeth almost cracked from how hard I clenched my jaw. I loved my parents, and I loved my brother. My brother had a gilded childhood until it all fell apart, and now he was an alcoholic. I glanced at the time on my watch.
“I need to finish up here and take care of the animals, but I can be there in about an hour. I can’t get there sooner,” I added.
“Understood.”
I moved my thumb to tap to end the call, but my brother’s voice stopped me.
“Kendall?”
“Right here.”
“I’m sorry.”
My throat ached at the sound of tears in his voice. “It’s okay, Blake. I’ll be there in about an hour.”
After the line went silent, I took a shaky breath. Travis had come over and was leaning his head against my hip.
I reached down and scratched behind his ears. “I’m fine. You don’t need to worry, bud.”
His stunning blue eyes held mine, and he let out a worried whine. “We’ll finish up here and go get Blake,” I explained.
Travis let out a sigh. I hustled through the rest of my chores. The last thing I did before leaving was check on the rescue moose who’d arrived here recently. Some fool had tried to raise a moose calf, and it didn’t go very well.
She’d tried to escape and injured herself on the fence. Now, we had her. She had a deep gash on one of her sides. She was fairly docile and definitely accustomed to people. She didn’t mind me checking on her and even nuzzled me with her head. “Hey, sweet Mabel.”
Her big ears rotated forward, and she let out a soft snorting sound as Travis came over to greet her. They were turning out to be friends, which amused me. Whenever I was here for longer days, I’d find him asleep in the paddock with her.
“The vet’ll be by to check on you later, Mabel,” I said after checking on her gash, which was healing nicely. She snorted again.
I took care of the feed for everyone, broke the ice on the water out in the pasture, then whistled for Travis. I was walking down the wide aisle in the barn when the side door opened.
I didn’t even have to look over to know who it was. A familiar hum of awareness buzzed through me.
“Hey, Jude,” I called over. “What are you doing here so early?”
“Saw your car, thought I’d pop in to say hi.”
I stopped walking, willing my pulse to behave itself. My pulse ignored me. It was like a pony let out to pasture, kicking up its heels, squealing, and running around.
“Are you leaving?” he asked. His eyes skated over my face, dipping down to the keys in my hand.
“Yeah.”
“Where are you going at this hour?”
“Firehouse Café,” I hedged. “I could use a cup of coffee.” This was true.
“You want company?”
Of course, I wanted company.
My heart—my hopeful heart that had been half in love with Jude since high school—would jump at any chance to spend time with him. But that was complicated because I was going to get my brother, and Jude had opinions about my brother. Valid opinions.
I paused just long enough that he tilted his head to the side. “Did Blake get arrested again?”
I leaned my head back, staring up at the beams crisscrossing above, and let out something between a groan and a sigh. “Yeah. Another DUI.” I leveled my eyes with Jude’s again.
“Didn’t he lose his license?” His tone was pointed.
“When has the law ever stopped Blake from making poor choices?” My tone was dry as ash.
“Kendall,” Jude admonished.
“Jude, he’s my brother. I love him. I know he’s a fuck-up.”
“Yeah, he is. He also hasn’t always been that great to you,” Jude pointed out.
I thrilled to the protective sound in his voice. “I know, and he’s apologized six ways to Sunday for that.”
Jude nodded. “So, how about I ride with you?”
I hesitated. “I’d love some company,” I admitted.
When Jude smiled, my belly swooped. “Let’s go,” he replied.
When I tried to insist that I drive, Jude shook his head. When I pressed, he said, “I have four-wheel drive. You don’t.” He wasn’t wrong on that, so I shrugged.
Travis was so excited to see Jude, he was practically vibrating with joy once we were in his truck. “Hey, my main man,” Jude teased when Travis rested his chin on Jude’s shoulder.
Once we were driving, quiet fell in the truck cab, and tension wound through me. My belly was fluttery, and I was nervous. This was what I didn’t want with Jude. I didn’t need to be nervous around him. He was my friend. He would always be my friend.
“Did he tell you what happened?” Jude’s question cut through the quiet.
“Just that he got a DUI last night and he couldn’t get a hold of Mom and Dad.”
“I see.”
“You don’t need to give him hell when we pick him up.”
Jude startled me when he reached over, catching my hand with his and giving it a squeeze. He had big hands. Strong hands. Working hands. And, I loved him touching me.
“I just worry about you.” He squeezed one more time before releasing my hand.
It was all I could do not to reach back over and hold on tight. “I’ll be okay, I always am. I’ve come to peace with my messy brother. Family isn’t perfect, and he’s the only brother I have. Unlike you, I don’t have five to choose from,” I teased.
Jude’s chuckle rumbled over my nerves, which were drawn tight from his presence.
“True enough. Do you want coffee before or after?”
“Before. Because if we get it after, Blake’ll be broke, and I’ll feel like we need to buy him a coffee. That’ll make me resentful.”
“Proud of you, Kendall-girl,” Jude said, his tone light.
When I glanced over and he caught my eyes with a smile, my belly spun in a flip, and it felt like sparks scattered through me. I needed to get over this crush on him.