Chapter Three #2
When Nathan was determined to do something, it took an act of the Almighty to change his brother’s mind.
Blake came to stand next to Jonas, his expression as shocked as Jonas felt. “So, what did you do?”
“I took what money I could scrounge up and bought a Rangerbred mare. I had to use both straws for the pregnancy to take. She didn’t have papers, but I thought after her foal was born, I would figure out how to register her.
Then the mare died giving birth to Duke and everything else started to fall apart.
Since there was nothing more I could do but try to keep the Triple L afloat, I let it go. ”
“And you didn’t think to tell us?” Jonas couldn’t keep the disbelief out of his voice.
Blake reminded Jonas, “He couldn’t tell me. I wasn’t here.”
“Yeah, but later, when we were trying to figure out a way to save the ranch—” Jonas insisted, rare resentment boiling in his gut.
How could his dad do that to his mom? Get so far into debt gambling that he’d nearly lost their dream?
He and his brothers were still paying the price.
Nathan crossed his arms across his chest. “Like I said, it wasn’t my story to tell. I haven’t told anyone, not even Izzy. And I didn’t want either of you to feel bad about the folks or blame them for—”
“For what?” Jonas’s anger faded as quickly as it had flamed. “Being human? We all make mistakes, Nathan. We just have to decide where we’re going from here.”
Blake clapped Jonas on the back. “Exactly. You don’t have to be the one carrying this load, Nathan.”
Nathan let his arms drop. Sucking in a shaky breath, he said softly, “I’ll leave Mom’s box on the table so you can read the letters if you want to.”
“I don’t know if I will, at least not right now,” Jonas said. “I’m going to be busy working on getting Duke, the younger, DNA tested and registered with the CRHA.”
“And I’m heading back to my wife, who’s packing for our honeymoon.” Blake grinned. “We’re leaving tomorrow morning.”
Jonas frowned. “Who’s watching the kids?”
“Izzy,” Nathan said, the tension fading away. “I’m her backup.”
Blake was out the door before Jonas could blink. He should have paid closer attention to their honeymoon plans, but... well, he didn’t have a good excuse. “Where are they going?”
“A little town on the Oregon Coast. Angel Point. For five days, I think,” Nathan said as he put their half-empty drinks on the kitchen counter. “I’ve got to get going. Izzy’s making lunch.”
Sloane would be there too. Suddenly, Jonas wished he’d been invited.
He immediately dropped the idea. “In case you’re thinking of butting in, I don’t have time to date.
And I’m not worried at all about who Sloane dates.
” Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but Nathan didn’t need to know that.
His brother could get into all kinds of trouble if given the opportunity to stir the pot.
“She can go out with whoever she wants.”
“Coward.” Nathan laughed as he headed for the door. “Come on. I know the hostess. I’m sure I can get you an invite to lunch.”
He shouldn’t turn down a chance to spend an afternoon with Sloane.
Especially if he wanted to convince her that no matter what she thought about his current bachelor status, he was still her friend and would do whatever he could to help her achieve this dream of having a family that would stick with her through the good and bad.
After all, he had experience. He’d learned a lot of how to do that from his brothers.
“After you.” Jonas shoved his hands in his pockets, not wanting his brother to know he’d just made his afternoon.
Nathan smirked. “I thought you’d be interested.”
“Why?” Jonas stared at his brother’s back.
Nathan tossed a wink over his shoulder at Jonas. “Just a good guess.”
Before he could challenge Nathan’s assumption, his brother was knocking on the cottage door.
Brothers. They were a real pain in the—
His future sister-in-law opened the door. Nathan leaned in to kiss his fiancée. A pang of envy washed over Jonas until he let it roll off his back.
Over Nathan’s and Izzy’s shoulders, Sloane stared at him. Her lips twisted, but not into a welcoming smile.
So, he was still in the doghouse. He’d better fix that quickly. His best friend abandoning their friendship was not how he wanted to start his new life in Strawberry Ridge.
Nudging the happy couple aside, he made his way to Sloane, where it looked like she was setting up a workstation at the table. Keeping his eye on Nathan and Izzy to make sure they were adequately distracted, he said softly, “I’m sorry I was rude yesterday.”
“So, you admit you were rude?” she asked, as if his determination to corner her about how she was dating was something he did every day. The starch left her shoulders as she braced her hip on the table.
Determined to do better, he simply confirmed, “Yeah, I was.”
Before he realized the happy couple was done being distracted, Izzy was beside him, Nathan’s arm draped around her shoulder.
“Please tell me you weren’t telling Sloane who she could date, Jonas Lohmen,” Izzy teased.
Jonas arched his brows at Sloane, appreciating she was having trouble keeping a smile reined in.
“He was fine.” Sloane moved to the other side of the table, putting too much space between them. She smirked. “I can handle Jonas.”
He silently moved his lips. “You can handle me?”
She grinned. His pulse took a tumble.
“I’ll bet you can.” Nathan laughed, then said to the women, “I invited this oaf for lunch. I hope that’s okay.” Nathan nudged Jonas’s shoulder and, under his breath, treated him to some unwanted brotherly advice. “You snooze, you lose, bro.”
“You’re more than welcome to join us, Jonas.” Izzy had slipped from under Nathan’s arm and gone into the kitchen. She pulled a plate from the fridge. “I hope you like egg salad sandwiches.”
“I love egg salad sandwiches. Can I do anything to help?”
Sloane shook her head, but Izzy smiled sweetly. “You can set the table in the backyard. We’ll eat out there. Here, take these.” She handed him plates, napkins, and silverware, and Sloane the plate of sandwiches.
The table sat in the shade of a giant oak. Their friendship wasn’t a hugging one, but after seeing Izzy wrapped in Nathan’s arms... and the smiles on both their faces... maybe it should be.
“So, how does your Perfect Match app work?”
“Why? Do you want to sign up?” Nathan asked behind Jonas.
Sloane’s brows shot up. A smile curved the corners of her lips. “I would love to see your profile.”
“It’s just a question,” he said firmly as he sat next to her. “Not a pledge to check the app out.”
“You bring up a good point.” Izzy settled on the far bench.
Even though she’d taken the job offered by the mayor to manage Strawberry Ridge’s community revitalization grant, she couldn’t let go of being involved in bringing the Triple L back into the black.
Being engaged to his brother kept her in the thick of things.
“Maybe it could be a moneymaker for the ranch. We could offer matched couples a weekend of camping or riding lessons at a reduced price. What do you think?”
Nathan sat beside her and took her hand, raising it to his lips. “How about I take you camping, and we talk about it?”
“Who do you think will win that discussion?” Sloane whispered, leaning into Jonas’s shoulder.
Distracted, Jonas wasn’t sure who he would bet on. His future sister-in-law made his brother happy. From where he was sitting, it was clear that Nathan had found the one woman who would walk through fire with him for the rest of their lives. He whispered, “I’m betting on Izzy.”
“Me, too,” she whispered back. “They’re cute together, don’t you think?”
Cute was a girl’s word. Her breath brushing his neck short-circuited his brain until Jonas admitted, “Um, yes. Very cute.”
Sloane laughed, patting his arm. “You should see the look on your face. I think you’re just figuring out what love looks like.”
“Maybe,” he agreed slowly. Or maybe he just liked to hear his best friend laugh.
That had not changed from the first day they met in sixth grade and became study partners.
He needed help with reading. She’d advanced a year before moving to Strawberry Ridge and was a reading champion.
Even better, she didn’t cut him any slack when he wanted to give up.
To repay her, he didn’t let the other kids bully her because she was younger and smarter than most.
She still liked to take charge. Most of the time. So did he, which made for some interesting conversations. Especially since she didn’t mind ruffling his feathers when she thought he was on the wrong track. He had to admit, he appreciated that Sloane knew her own mind.
“How long do you have to keep going back and forth between Denver and Strawberry Ridge?” she asked, reaching for a sandwich. “Are you getting enough new clients?”
“It’ll be a while before I build up a substantial client list here. In any case, for now, my primary client is the Triple L.”
Her brows snapped together. “Does the ranch need a lawyer? You’re not being sued, are you?”
“No, but we need a standard contract if we decide to host weekend camping or trail rides. There’s also The Wedding Cottage contract and filing for an LLC.
And I’m investigating putting the ranch into a trust fund.
” He shrugged. “Then there’s the horses and riding lessons.
Anyway, there’s a lot to keep me busy for a while.
In between, I can fit in paying clients.
” He grabbed the other half of Sloane’s sandwich.
Undeterred, he said, “Your turn. Why a dating app?”
He didn’t know why over the years he hadn’t told her he thought she was beautiful.
Maybe because he was afraid of what that would do to their friendship, which surprisingly, he needed, probably more than she did, especially once they graduated from high school.
By the time he realized he might have stronger feelings for his best friend, she was dating a bronc rider, and he was heading off to college.
Then his parents died. After that, he was a city boy, and she was a country girl.
He’d considered inviting her to stay with him in Denver—as his best friend—when he opened his office there, but Strawberry Ridge was her home, and working in the garage with her dad was more important than following him to the big city.
He completely understood. By that time, even though he wondered what it would be like to take their friendship to something more romantic, he didn’t want to rock the boat.
So, he left things as they were. He’d missed his chance, so he’d stayed in touch with Sloane as much as his work allowed and buried himself in building his law firm.
Her gaze met his. “If you must know, I want to get married and have a family. I’m determined to find my Mr. Right this year. Hanging out in bars doesn’t do it for me, and since no one in Strawberry Ridge has struck my fancy, I’m trying out Perfect Match.”
He almost said, I live in Strawberry Ridge , but yeah, at the moment, he wasn’t looking for a wife.
“What if this guy doesn’t live in town?” He had to ask, right?
She shrugged. “He could be from anywhere, but hopefully once he sees Strawberry Ridge, he’ll want to move here.”
He loved... er, liked... how she did that, a gentle up and down of her shoulders. Despite being a heavy metal mechanic, she had so much grace. Once he met Sloane, this mysterious guy would move heaven and earth to live in her town.
BFF, remember?
“You guys ready to cut flowers?” Izzy butted in.
For the second time in his life, Jonas felt completely unsettled.
The first time, he’d watched his mom slowly slip away, only to find out he was helpless to relieve her grief or stop her passing.
He’d thought burying himself in his work would make things better, and it had for a while, but the distraction didn’t last long.
It took moving back to Strawberry Ridge and spending time with Sloane for him to realize how mistaken he was.
Being single had suited him just fine. Now he was starting to wonder.
And not just because Sloane had decided to find herself a husband.
The ranch and the chance to pick up where his father had left off with the Triple L’s Rangerbred horses called his name.
And it wasn’t just that. Spending more time with his brothers and their families had become more important than being a high-powered lawyer in an uber-successful firm with clients who paid well in Denver.
He stood. “This has been fun, but I have some of that pesky paperwork to get done at the office.” He put his hand on Sloane’s shoulder. “Maybe now that I’m living in town, we can go fishing or something.”
Jonas winced. He wasn’t intentionally pointing out that he was a Strawberry Ridge guy. Shoving his hands into his jeans pockets, he said to Nathan and Izzy, “I’ll see you later.”
On the way to his office, after realizing that if Sloane was serious about the dating app thing—and it seemed that she was—then she wouldn’t stop just because he argued against it.
Not until she got what she wanted out of the endeavor, which was, as she hadn’t hesitated to tell him, a husband and family.
Pressing his mouth into a straight line, he turned the music up loud enough to drown out his growing disappointment.