Chapter Seventeen - Blaire
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Blaire
Rile Ranch without Kaylee turns out to be just plain awkward. At least with Kaylee here, there was someone who was happy to see me. But ever since the incident with Briggs, I’ve been avoiding the brothers as much as possible. And they seem more than happy to avoid me. I’m not sure what information they’ve shared among themselves, but enough to know that I haven’t grown up in the last five years I’ve been gone. I’m still the same girl who loses all brain functioning when a Rile brother gets close to me.
I’ve been keeping to myself a lot, besides sharing awkward meals with the brothers, continuing to help out around the ranch. I mostly text Kaylee and ask her about her chores, because I’d rather do that than be assigned them like some misbehaving schoolgirl from one of the guys. The rest of my time is spent working on the camper, exercising, or avoiding phone calls from essentially every person I know, but especially Patricia.
But now it’s the weekend again. And that means it’s time to try to track down my mystery mountain men. I’ve identified a few of their favorite hiking trails from the memory of our conversations, and even picked one out already for today. I burst into the kitchen, feeling a bit more light on my feet with a sense of purpose for the day.
The three brothers are gathered around the long oak table, and there’s a seat for me. It never stops surprising me to walk into the kitchen or the garden and notice that I’m still invited to join them. I expect the placemat and plate to be missing every time, thinking they’ve finally had enough of my company and our frequent awkward silences. But it’s always there.
“Morning boys,” I say as I slide into my seat. “Thanks for including me for breakfast.”
“You don’t have to thank us every day, Hollywood.” Colt says dryly, before he takes a sip of coffee.
“Well, I’m going to.” I shrug and smile politely.
I examine the layout in front of me. Briggs cooks almost every meal and I’ve come to realize he’s not just cooking for sustenance. The man cooks with love. He enjoys it and every meal is satisfying, albeit still laced with personal guilt. It’s not the kind of food I’m used to eating and I wonder how long I can get away with enjoying it before seeing it on my figure. At least Patricia isn’t here to point it out.
“Goat cheese omelette,” Briggs points to a steel pan as he describes what he made like he does every morning. “Local turkey sausage. Fruit salad.”
“Thanks, Briggs.” I nod. “It looks amazing, as always.”
The whole thing is formal. And that’s mostly how it’s been this week. Formal and a bit boring. But it’s given us all the chance to take a breather and step back, which was very much needed.
“Any big plans today?” Reese asks me, as he always does.
And I start responding with my same factory reset type of answer. “I’ll probably just work on the camper later.” I see their eyes wandering to their plates, probably knowing what I’ll say next. I sit up a bit straighter. “But before that, I actually might be going on a date,” I blurt out before my filter can stop me. I guess my inner drama queen can’t stay caged up longer than a week. It’s not technically a lie, as my goal is to go on a date. But the chances of it happening are probably about as slim as running into Bigfoot on the way to the bathroom.
Colt’s fork clatters to his plate and Briggs lets out a choked cough. Well, at least there’s finally some excitement around here.
“A date?” Reese clarifies as if I meant to say something entirely different.
“Yeah,” I realize I can’t provide much more detail, so I quickly change the subject before he can ask more questions. “But I really miss doing yoga, so I was also hoping to do some today. Do you guys know if there is a yoga studio in town? Or hell, I’d even take pilates at this p-”
“Back up, Hollywood.” Colt interrupts me. “Date? With who?”
I’m tempted to say, ‘ you, you dummy !’ , just to give him the scare he deserves. Because I swear that’s why his tone sounds like it does- he’s afraid he unwittingly agreed to date me. As if fucking me a week ago means he’s entered into some unspoken contract.
“Someone I met online.” I smile pleasantly. “We’re going on a hike at Cascade Falls.” I add that last detail in to at least make it all seem less like a lie.
Colt shakes his head and drags his hands down his face.
“Hollywood,” he sounds exasperated. “You don’t see any issues with meeting a stranger alone in the woods?” Then he looks down at his plate and shakes his head. “Thank god Kaylee isn’t here to witness this conversation.”
“I know it sounds sketchy. But he’s a really good guy.” I withhold the information that it’s actually three guys. That I don’t know. And I don’t even know if it’s true that any of them are good guys. They might not even be guys at all. Maybe I was being majorly catfished. Even though in my heart that feels impossible, I wouldn’t be the first person to feel that way, only to show up to an old guy named Hank who lives in his ex-wife’s basement.
The table is silent for a moment. I think I might have finally shocked the three of them into surrender. After all that the four of us have been through, I can’t believe this is what finally did it.
“Well, in this one case, it will be okay,” Reese says, stretching out his long body in his chair as he sips his cup of coffee. Of course, it’s Reese who couldn’t stay silent for very long. And his smug grin tells me he’s got an ace in that tight back pocket of his.
“And why’s that?” I say through glared eyes, sensing trouble from the original troublemaker himself.
“Because I’m also hiking to Cascade Falls this morning. I’ll give you a ride and make sure you’re safe when you finally meet this guy.”
“Oh, great.” I say with a tight smile, mustering all my acting skills into our eye contact. “Sounds just lovely.”