Chapter 18 #2
Grams and Gramps rose after pie and said they were heading off to bed. She left with the MacAlister tartan clutched to her chest, a soft smile on her face as they both bid their good nights.
Hannah rose to clean up with Reba, but Ben stopped her with a gentle hand. “You don’t need to help.”
He watched the hurt flash in her eyes, and he wanted to curse. He might as well have pegged her as a guest and not family, like she used to be. “Forget I said that.”
Cooper touched his leg, making him jump. “Dad, can I be excused? I want to show Hannah my room. Please.”
That meant she’d be coming home with them. What a great idea. Easier to apologize and talk to her after he put Cooper to bed. “If she thinks it’s okay…”
Hannah’s eyes narrowed. He rose and took her plate and his own, letting her talk to Cooper without his interference.
When he entered the kitchen, Reba set down the pot she was scrubbing on the sink’s edge. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
“What?”
She drilled him with a glare. “You know what. I invite Hannah over to help you, and also to show you that Neil fella is a good guy and no threat to you.”
Hadn’t he just concluded that himself? Why was she crawling up his ass? “How do you know he’s a good guy?” he shot back, loading the plates into the dishwasher.
“Besides Hannah liking him and my own eagle eyes?” She started scrubbing again. “Jolene told me when we had coffee. Her boys adore him, and you know how loyal they are to you. Especially Luke.”
With Hannah gone, he’d felt the need to look after the boys. He’d offered them work on odd jobs around the ranch, not only to give them some money but to give them some skills only a man could teach them. “I was coming to that conclusion,” he said.
“You giving him hell?” Charlie asked, hauling in the grill racks from the outside.
He stared at their long-term foreman, the man who’d taught him as much as his father and grandfather. “You too?”
He shook his head. “Ben, I almost interrupted dinner to tell you Will’s lumber delivery didn’t arrive tonight, you were flailing so badly.” He set the racks in Reba’s soapy water. “You’re supposed to talk to her.”
He was tired of everyone being on his back. “I was listening. Isn’t that what men are supposed to do more of? Look, there’s no manual for this kind of thing. I’m doing the best I can.”
“Try harder, Benjamin,” Reba bit out, splashing water on her dress. “Listening is a passive sport. Try doing something active. Now take the leftovers up to your house.”
“Thanks.” He picked the containers up and hustled out of there, only to stop short by the sight of his father, Will, and Neil drinking whisky on the front porch.
Had his brother and father shanghaied Neil to give him some time alone with Hannah? After the ear-blistering he’d gotten in the kitchen, he imagined the whole family had had a meeting about tonight with Gramps kicking off the ass-chewing and advice segment.
“Cooper took Hannah to see his room,” Will offered all casual-like.
“Good to know,” he answered with a polite nod. “Your lumber delivery didn’t arrive tonight.”
His brother’s brow wrinkled. “I’ll look into it.”
Neil nursed his drink, as quiet as that Valley of Silence his whisky was named after.
His father only stared at him before looking out into the inky-black night.
Ben took a moment to get his bearings. The moon rose over the curve of Wild Mountain, the crickets were loud as the dickens, as loud as the pounding in his head, and somewhere off in the distance, a coyote wailed, the sound as lonely as the beat of his heart.
He glanced over at his father. How many evenings had he wished him good night, sitting there with a whiskey in hand, stewing over all the thoughts he’d never tell a soul? Because he didn’t have anyone to share those special thoughts with, the ones you can’t trust just anyone to tell.
He didn’t want to end up on this porch, drinking his whiskey, alone like the man he feared he would never fully know.
Everyone was after him to convince Hannah to stay and give him another chance.
Would she? Is that what I want too? He wondered if he’d fully trust that Hannah would settle here, because wasn’t that the essence of his fear?
If she could leave once, couldn’t she do that again?
But then he thought about losing her again, and that was only after a handful of days of having her home. She fits here. She always had.
And I want her to choose this place as her own.
He figured he had to give her a reason to.
“Make sure to call the lumberyard first thing in the morning, Will.”
Ben told himself not to worry about the delivery not arriving on time. The problem was, he would. They were never late.
“I’ll say good night, then. Neil, thank you for the whisky and for coming.”
They shared a look before the man tipped up his chin. He caught the warning, but also a touch of approval. Otherwise, Neil wouldn’t be sitting here drinking. The man was giving him an opening.
Stepping off the porch, he planted his boots deeper in the ground before walking on. He remembered what his grandfather had told him about putting in the work and planting new seeds. Now it’s time to re-till and plant what you really want.
He’d better get started.