Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Jude
“It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.” Luna regarded me over her beer.
“You see me every day,” I countered, twirling mine on its cardboard coaster.
She and Mitch had dragged me out for an after-work beer at the small Lovelorn bar we occasionally frequented.
The two of them were in good spirits, relaxed because they had a babysitter for the night and were headed for a movie after this drink.
“You know what I mean.” Luna gave an airy wave. “When was the last time we did this?”
“It’s been awhile,” I hedged.
The last few weeks, I’d been particularly scarce, sneaking time with Carson in the evenings.
We hadn’t had another sleepover, but we managed a fair bit of shared meals, gaming, and plenty of sex on the nights we could see each other.
On the other nights, we texted, a pleasant string of contact.
I no longer had time to feel lonely, a welcome development.
Apparently, though, I hadn’t been as discreet as I’d thought if Luna had noticed me ducking her invites.
“Might as well take advantage of the slow season, right?” Mitch gave a hearty chuckle. He’d been married to a vet long enough to know our rhythms, the flurry of calving into foaling season, and the peaks and valleys of puppy and kitten arrivals for Luna.
“Hush.” Luna elbowed her husband. The two of them sat across from me in a small wooden booth near the bar. “No jinxing.”
“Point taken.” Mitch took a long sip of his beer.
I was nursing mine far more slowly. I might not be on call for any imminent births, but my one-beer limit was my own way of jinx-proofing my evening.
“So, tell us.” Luna leaned forward, elbows on the polished wooden table. “What’s new with you?”
“Uh…” A muscle twinged in the back of my neck.
Carson was the biggest new thing in my life, and I sure wasn’t mentioning that.
Even if I’d been inclined to discuss my personal life, which I decidedly was not, Carson and I had yet to revisit the whole “no one needs to know” agreement we’d struck in Fort Collins.
Instead, I pursed my lips, thinking hard.
“Truck is working out great. You were right about that.”
“Told you.” Luna gave a satisfied smile that didn’t last nearly long enough. “But what about you?”
“What about it?” I shrugged, fiddling with the label on my beer.
I didn’t have that many close friends these days, but if I were going to tell anyone about Carson, it might be Luna.
However, even hinting that I was seeing someone would open me up to a world of questions I wasn’t ready for.
Instead, I made my voice upbeat and reassuring. “I’m good.”
“You do seem happier.” Luna made a thoughtful noise.
“Maybe all it took was a truck.” Mitch chuckled.
And maybe all it took was Carson in my life.
I suppressed a sigh, not liking this double life I was leading.
I’d had plenty of casual things in the past that I didn’t share with others.
I wasn’t sure why this time was so different, but it was.
Further, there was nothing casual about how my insides melted every time we touched.
I was in over my head, but hell if I wanted out of the water.
However, that water got far hotter when Colt and Grayson wandered into the bar.
I’d been avoiding them as well. Like Luna, they were good enough friends that they might notice something was up with me, but Colt in particular was the last person I wanted to tell.
He might be my friend, but Carson was his little brother.
I didn’t want to be on the wrong side of his protective streak.
“Sheriff.” Mitch waved them both over. Crap. No amount of hunkering down in my seat was going to get me out of greeting them.
“Hey.” I saluted Colt and Grayson with my beer.
“Howdy.” Grayson nodded at the three of us before chuckling at me. “Look who finally made it out for a beer.”
“Better enjoy it now.” Colt joined Grayson’s good-natured laughter. “It’ll be winter calving before you know it.”
“Hush.” Luna shook a finger at him. “No jinxing Jude’s night off.”
“Fair.” Colt’s smile shifted to a more serious expression as he turned toward me. “Hey, I’ve been wanting to thank you.”
“Thank me?” I wrinkled my forehead. Colt was far removed from the veterinary business of the ranch, so I was stumped.
“You’ve done a great job getting Carson out and off the ranch.” Colt grinned like I was some sort of activities director. My frown deepened.
“Being his friend is hardly a hardship.” My tone was as pointed as my glare.
“Of course not,” Colt blustered. “But Carson does seem way more settled than when he first arrived.”
“It’s that horse,” Grayson’s tone was more soothing. “Working with Linus has done wonders for both of them.”
“He does seem happy with the horses,” Colt allowed.
“Kat growls at me when I try to take him away for other tasks.” Grayson chuckled. “She thinks he might as well be a horse whisperer. Wants him to think about being a trainer or something like that.”
“He’d be good at that,” I said thickly.
Carson could leave the ranch for other work.
I hadn’t considered that possibility. My stomach clenched.
I liked seeing him on my visits to the ranch, liked him close by, liked using him for assistance on certain cases.
But was I being selfish? If he had an opportunity elsewhere in the future, would I stand in his way?
“I worry about him overexerting himself.” Colt wasn’t done with the overprotective routine.
“You are such a big brother.” Luna half groaned, half laughed, a weary sound. “Let me tell you a truth as a little sister who moved half a state away from her three big brothers. If you smother him with concern, he’ll bolt.”
“I know. I know.” Colt held up his hands. “It’s hard to turn the worry off.”
“You need to try,” I said gruffly. I hated the idea of Colt’s hovering chasing Carson off, but Luna made a good point. Carson was over thirty now. He wasn’t going to put up with Colt babying him forever.
“Yep.” Luna kept her voice firm. “I know you had the added responsibility of your dad dying when Carson was so little, but you need to let him be an adult now.”
“Yeah.” Colt let out a defeated sigh, leaning against the side of our booth. “I only want the best for him.”
“Says every meddling big brother ever.” Luna laughed, but the shrewdness in her gaze remained.
“We should grab a booth.” Grayson clapped a hand on Colt’s shoulder, clearly itching to get him away from this conversation.
“Go get your beer.” I gave a friendly wave to disguise my own relief.
“Nice seeing y’all.” Colt followed Grayson over to the bar.
“How are the kids?” I turned my attention back to Luna and Mitch, preemptively heading off more questions about my life.
Luna was halfway through a story about the kids and soccer when my phone’s emergency ringer went off.
“I knew it.” Luna groaned right along with me. “We jinxed you.”
“Yep.” I readied some cash to leave on the table as I listened to the message from the answering service. “There goes my quiet night.”
“Good thing you stuck to one beer.” Luna reached across the table to pat my hand. “What’s the emergency?”
“Kat at Second Chance Ranch has a horse who came back from a trail ride poorly.” Horses were finicky creatures, and poorly could mean anything from the start of colic to dehydration to something more systemic. “She wants me to take a look, see what I think.”
“Good luck figuring it out.”
Luna tried to wave off my cash, but I stuck it under my coaster anyway before I headed out. As I walked to my truck, I texted Kat for more details, corralling my brain into professional mode. Didn’t matter that I might get to see Carson. I had a job to do, no matter how much my pulse thrilled.