Chapter 11
B rigit tightened the wire stretcher along the portion of fence line getting sealed together.
Her breath puffed in front of her like she’d taken a long drag off a cigar.
The wind whipped at her coat and hood, the fabric crackling like paper from the frigid temps.
So much different than waking up in Caleb’s warm embrace this morning.
It was their third night together since he’d returned to the house Sunday.
Mom had asked if she was going to spend more time with Caleb, and Brigit had said that he was working Saturday and she’d see him later.
She also slipped in that Caleb hadn’t wanted to interfere with their time together.
The rest of which had been spent pretending Thursday and Friday had never happened.
After the long weekend, she and Caleb had started sleeping in the same bedroom. Justin acted like it was business as usual and didn’t comment on the new sleeping arrangement.
Justin crouched next to her. The section of fence they were repairing was almost done. “I’m glad we found this before the snow starts flying.”
“You don’t want to tromp through a foot of snow to chase down sheep?”
Justin grunted. “I hope it’s only a foot.”
“We’ve almost made it to December without snow.”
“Snow this time of year is better than in the spring, when lambs are coming.”
He finished attaching the new piece of wire and she took off the wire stretcher.
He piled the tools in his arms and stood. “You might want to get to Minneapolis sooner than later.”
Yeah. That. She rose and turned her back to the wind. “I know. Brock said he’d lend me a car and Josie would take care of the insurance.”
“Did you tell Caleb?” Justin asked. “Maybe he’ll go with you.”
“He works Friday.” But she’d thought of that, taking her cowboy to the city, watching him cause whiplash in city girls everywhere he went.
Justin cocked a light brow. “You’re on a knowing-his-schedule basis?”
“Shut up.” She opened the backdoor of his truck so he could set the tools inside.
“Seriously though. The weather might set in earlier than predicted. Think it’d be held against you if you got snowed in?”
She almost shrugged it off, but no, this job interview was important to her. It was for a good position. The manager she’d talked to was excited about her education.
We don’t get many loan officers with not only an ag background, but an actual degree in both business and ag .
The credit union that had called her was renowned for their work with farmers and ranchers, especially the big dairy farms dotting the Minnesota landscape.
She was perfect for the job. Not only that, they had several branches, which offered her plenty of upward mobility. She’d only live hours from Moore, as well as being an easy flight away from her parents, and she’d get to live in the city, where she could be blessedly anonymous.
“Think I should leave tonight? It’d be another night for the hotel.”
“My portion of the ranch will cover it.”
“Justin, you’re already feeding me and putting me up.” She was on the short route to thirty, but she was a charity case to her own family.
“Consider it payback for opening my eyes to the crazy that is Maisy.”
He’d been in a foul mood all weekend. She should’ve recognized it. Once upon a time, Maisy had caused the same swings in her. “She showed her true colors?”
He blew out a hard breath. “I asked her if she ever teased you while we were growing up. She denied it, but I said my twin wasn’t a liar.”
“And then she lost it?”
“No, still denied it. But I believe you and Caleb.” Since when did Caleb know Maisy had taunted her relentlessly? “I tried another angle. I mean, Maisy’s a good time, but I can’t be with her if she wears a mask around me. So I said you and I were twins. And that you’d always come first.”
“Oh God.”
He nodded once. “And then she blew. Went nuclear.”
“Hats off to you. I only know her cruel side. Her rage must’ve been blinding.”
“She hit me.”
Brigit gasped. “She did what?” All those missed opportunities to deck the girl and she’d walked away and let it fester inside.
“A slap, then that thing where she’s pummeling me with both fists while I hold her away.” His shoulders hunched. He rubbed his chest like he was bruised and it hurt.
“I’m sorry. You deserve better.” She meant it. Her brother might be guarded or aloof or seem cool and uncaring—and wow, didn’t that sound like herself? But at the end of the day, he was all about family.
Guess they were similar in that aspect.
“I’d like to think so, but the joke might end up on me.”
“Because the other girl got engaged?”
“No.” He looked up at the sky and for the first time in…ever…his calm fractured. His voice cracked as he said, “Maisy claims she’s pregnant.”
“Holy shit. She’s lying, right? I mean you haven’t been seeing her long.”
He let out a sigh and dropped his head. “I hope so, but I’ve been searching online and shit and… She could be. If she is, is it mine? I dunno.”
“What if… Shit, Justin.” Yeah. Her brother would want to be a part of his kid’s life. Hell, they all would. But Maisy would wield that kind of power with ruthless cruelty.
“I just… There’s nothing to do until one, I know she’s pregnant. And two, if it’s mine.” His face twisted with unseen pain. “But if she was okay pummeling me, how can I leave a baby to her mercy? I’ve heard Caleb’s stories.”
Ice crystallized in her veins. She’d only just started hearing Caleb’s stories about life with Adele.
She put her hands on his shoulders. “First, we find out if she’s pregnant. Then we go from there and you’ll have half the county on your side.”
He nodded, but she’d never seen him so defeated.
But he had all the support in the world.
And it reminded her that Caleb had no one.
She was leaving tonight to interview for a job that would take her away from him, and from Justin, and from all the family that was helping her out.
Leaving for an interview didn’t feel right.
Not when it was a precursor to leaving for good.
Maybe she would call Caleb and see if there was any way he could go with her.
It was weird to not drive the entire way, but Caleb was happy to be a passenger. Riding in a car instead of a truck was odd as well, but with Brigit driving, he’d hop in anything. She parked under the canopy of the hotel.
“I can go check in. Wait here.” Brigit slipped out, the sparkles on the butt of her jeans flashing under the hotel’s lights. She disappeared inside.
When it had been his turn to drive, she’d researched hotels while chattering with him, probably to keep herself awake. That part of his job was ingrained in him. If he was awake at night, he was up. Only when his head hit the pillow did he relax.
When he’d told her that he could go with her but had to be home by Sunday, she’d been delighted.
He’d barely managed to switch shifts, but once the guys heard he wanted to go out of town with a woman—and not just any woman, but Brigit Walker—they’d helped arrange the schedule despite his pleas that it wasn’t serious.
He could lie to them about it, but he couldn’t fool his heart. This felt serious. Waking up to her every morning this week had felt serious. Justin knowing that Caleb was sleeping with his sister rang with all kinds of serious.
Caleb stared up at the hotel. How different would his job be in the big city?
He had plenty of experience, he had the respect of his boss, but fighting house fires and grass fires and the occasional business’s false alarm was a little different than a building where the number of floors hit double digits.
Even the false alarms in this place would make his head spin.
It’d be cool to talk shop with some firefighters here. Was the job market competitive, would he have an edge up because of his experience, or would they laugh him out of the city?
What was he thinking? He still had his grandparents’ ranch.
His ranch. He had eighty creatures that relied on him to do his job so they didn’t suffer.
Being a rancher and a fireman meant he was more a part of the big world than the kid who’d been shut in a closet for the night so his mom could party.
He meant something to the food supply of the nation.
He meant something to the safety of the town he lived in.
When he was a kid, people looked past him.
Or they saw him and immediately looked away.
Now, when he walked through town, he nodded to folks all around him, exchanging hellos.
They either knew him as a fellow rancher—and a respected one—or they knew him from his work in the community.
Places where he helped inspect fire alarm systems knew him by name, and parents recognized him from the awareness carnivals his crew did for kids.
Local students passed him in the grocery store, saying, “Hey, I know you.”
His adult life was so different than when he’d been a kid, and yet it was the same town.
The anonymity Brigit craved in the city wouldn’t suit him. He’d worked hard to be known for who he was, and he’d surpassed that to become respected. A big leap for a kid with a mom the town thought was a good-for-nothing partier.
Brigit trotted out the door, snagging his attention, a piece of paper and a set of card keys in her hand.
She opened the car door on a swirl of cold air. “We’re on the seventh floor.”
There wasn’t a building in Moore with more than three levels. For work, he’d had to train with grain bins.
She parked, and they found their room. This place was nothing like the Moore-tel.
The faint smell of chlorine floated on the air underneath the chemical-laden floral scent.
His gaze strayed to the smoke alarms and the sprinkler heads.
Seventh floor. He might have the ear gauges and a different hairstyle than the rest of his crew, but he was more of a country boy than he’d thought.
Brigit opened the door to their room. He didn’t miss her soft inhale.
“Look at that.” She went straight for the window. The curtains were open. The sun set early this time of year, but the lights of the city spread across the horizon. “It’s gorgeous.”
Caleb stood next to her. The view did have its own appeal.
He preferred his front porch, back when he’d had a front porch.
More like, he preferred the view from the end of his driveway after he’d cleared the trees around his place, before he turned onto the road, when the fields stretched out before him and the sky was like a dome over his own personal paradise.
“It’s nice” was all he said.
Brigit glanced at him, but he couldn’t decipher her expression. “We should close the curtains. I doubt anyone can see, but I’d rather err on the side of privacy.”
“I don’t think we’ll wake up to any sheep eating the flower beds here.”
She laughed. “It’d be a shock if we did.” She flopped on the bed and stretched out. “That drive is too short for long stops but long enough to be uncomfortable.”
He sat next to her. “What are we doing tomorrow?”
“Justin paid me for my work.” She sighed, but Caleb thought reimbursement was justified.
When Brigit wasn’t applying for jobs, she was working around Justin’s place or hopping in with Caleb to do chores.
“I need a new outfit. I brought one that could work, but if I can get one that screams professional woman a little better, I’d like that. ”
“Shopping it is.”
She popped her head up. “And they have outlet malls close by.”
“Which are?”
Her forehead crinkled. “Brand-name stores for a discount.”
“Ah.” No wonder he’d never heard of them.
If he couldn’t find what he needed in town, he ordered it.
He glanced down at himself. Same old black cowboy boots, his nicer pair of blue jeans, and a Moore Fire Department T-shirt with Cruise in block letters across the back.
The clothing in his suitcase wasn’t much different.
But it wasn’t like he could do anything.
Buying a new wardrobe wasn’t in his budget.
There’d be meals out, and he wasn’t letting Brigit shoulder the whole trip.
He saw the guilt reflected in her gaze each time she mentioned Justin paying her.
She might want to make her own way in the world, but she enjoyed working with her family and hated taking money that could go back into the farm and ranch.
Or into the accounts of her cousins who had kids to raise.
She flopped back. “But we don’t have to worry about that until tomorrow. I don’t think they’re supposed to get as much snow here as home.”
“Sounds like only an inch or two.”
“So we’re ready to turn in, then?” Her sultry question pushed aside all thoughts of money and job interviews. He had Brigit to himself and he was going to make the best of it.