11. Bishop
bishop
. . .
“Oh man, that was great,” Lincoln said for what was likely the hundredth time since we’d sat down for lunch. The fucker hadn’t shut up about beating me, and it was grating on my nerves. If he didn’t learn to shut his mouth quickly, I’d teach him how.
“Lincoln, baby,” Josie warned, using that sickly sweet tone that turned Lincoln to putty. “No one likes a braggart.”
He turned toward his girlfriend, staring at her with big brown eyes. “Not even a little bit? You’re going home with a winner, darlin’.”
“Double or nothing next year,” I said, pointing my bottle in his direction. “It was an off day.”
Off day my ass , I thought. I knew exactly what had happened.
I’d taken one look at that smug fucker Carson Wells talking to Lennox and had internally lost my shit. He’d worked on the ranch several times, and I was grateful to see him drive away each time.
He did alright on the back of a horse, and his rope skills could get the job done, but he ran his mouth more than anyone I knew. Always went on and on about chasing skirt or his next big gig. I couldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
His presence surprised me since I’d told him not to step back on the property the last time he worked for us. He was far more trouble than he was worth. If Doug found out he was here, it’d probably cause a fight.
He didn’t find Carson’s antics funny when they often concerned his youngest daughter. The kid had a mouth on him and didn’t care who heard him talking about his latest bunkmate.
My gaze drifted to Lennox. She was sitting beside her sister, talking animatedly to a girl from town. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but Lennox spoke with her hands and made large gestures that kept gaining my attention.
So far, she’d nearly smacked Josie three times in the past five minutes. I told myself it was a safety hazard to look away. If I let her keep my attention, maybe I’d save a life or something.
But that seemed to always be my problem where she was concerned.
I was constantly looking when I shouldn’t have been.
No matter how many times I told myself I’d only been distracted because of Carson, I knew it was a lie.
The way he’d leaned in to whisper in Lennox’s ear, how he’d caged her in against the fence, had taken my focus.
She could handle herself. That was never my concern. What bothered me was the sense of familiarity between them and how she didn’t flinch in his presence like she did with me.
“Whatever you say, old man,” Lincoln chuckled.
“I’m not that fuckin’ old,” I muttered. “We’re only a few years apart.”
“Four,” he corrected.
“Same difference,” I countered. “I could still kick your ass in a fight.”
Lincoln held up his hands. “And I have no interest in finding out the truth, so I’ll let you have it. ”
Cleo, who Cook had been running ragged all day, groaned as she dropped into the chair beside me with a plate of food.
“God, I’m starving,” she said, digging her fork into a pile of potato salad.
“Remind me never to volunteer when Cook asks for help. I don’t know how anyone keeps up with him and his standards. He’s nuts!”
I laughed, taking a sip of beer. “Naw, I think you’ll still help. That’s just who you are.”
She blew out a breath and grumbled, “Well, maybe I don’t want to be that person anymore. Being nice doesn’t get you anything.”
I lifted a shoulder in a shrug. Cleo wasn’t wrong, but she wasn’t right, either. People often mistook kindness for weakness, and sometimes that got exploited. After dealing with the shit from her ex, I reckoned she was pretty familiar with that concept.
“You did a damn good job with this coleslaw,” I said, gesturing toward her plate.
Cleo stopped mid-bite. “Uh, thank you,” she said with a small smile. “How’d you know I made it instead of Cook?”
“I’ve eaten it enough throughout my life to know.”
“Guess you got me there,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that was one of the first things mom taught me to make just so she didn’t have to chop things anymore.”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t put it past her.”
“Neither would I! She hates it. That’s why there are like five of those easy-chop things stuffed in the cabinets. I swear, it was love at first sight whenever they came out.”
“Are you talking about me?” Ruby asked, sitting down beside Cleo. She reached over and snatched a piece of brisket off her daughter’s plate. “I won’t apologize for my love of those little choppers, and I won’t hear of you talking ill against them either! ”
“Oh god, I hate those things,” Doug said, setting his beer on the table. “They are a bitch to clean. I always cut myself.”
“They give you gloves!” Ruby said.
“Those are for cutting, not washing. It shouldn’t be that big of a hazard, and wearing gloves seems silly, Rubes.”
“Do you wear gloves when you work?”
“Well, yeah,” he said.
“Do they protect your skin when mending all those barbed wire fences?” Ruby asked, raising a brow. I laughed, knowing damn well she had him right where she wanted him.
“Yes…”
“Then why wouldn’t you wear them when handling sharp objects in the kitchen?” she asked, leaning back in her chair.
Doug sighed and closed his eyes. “Alright, honey. You’ve made your point. I’ll wear the gloves.”
“Oh, no. I think you should go without them now. Since they’re silly and all,” she said, dipping her chin.
He grabbed a chair and brought it over before sinking down into it. “Boys, if I could give you one piece of life advice, it’d be this… Never try to win an argument with your wife. It doesn’t matter how small it may seem. Just let it go. It ain’t worth it.”
“Don’t I know it,” Lincoln said, sipping his drink. “I tried arguing about the color of our bedding, which was the worst three hours of my life.”
“I don’t know why you don’t like the pink…” Josie mumbled. “It’s not neon or anything.”
“You know damn well it has nothing to do with the color and everything to do with the fringe at the bottom. It’s a pain in the ass in the washing machine.” Josie lifted a brow, and Lincoln sighed. “ Right , sorry.”
“Well, at least one of you can take that wisdom to heart,” Lennox said, returning to the group. “It’s not like Bishop will ever get to use it.”
“Lennox Rose,” Ruby said. “What has gotten into you? ”
She met my gaze, shrugging. Her claws were sharpened, ready to strike. “What? It’s the truth.”
“Yeah, it is,” I said, narrowing my gaze.
Ruby laid her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t mind her. She’s been in a mood for the past few months.”
Didn’t I fucking know it . I’d been waiting for the day when this tension between us would break, and we’d get back to normal. Never thought I’d find myself missing the days before I knew what it was like to kiss her.
“More like the past twenty-seven years,” I said back, trying to smile.
It was forced and felt wrong, but I did it anyway.
I hated remembering how old she was. How I’d woken up the following day at war with myself because what we’d almost done had crossed every damn line I’d ever drawn, and yet it’d felt so right at the time.
How could something like that possibly be bad? It wasn’t fair.
But I needed to remember that nothing had changed at the end of the day. I still prioritized my work and this ranch above all, and no one—not even the twenty-seven-year-old hellion across from me—could change that.
Ruby laughed. “True. All my children are stubborn, but that one is a step above the rest,” she said, looking toward Lennox. “Takes after her father more than I care to admit. He was hard to keep up with when we were kids, you know? Always on the go, always wanting more. I see that in her.”
“I dunno, Ruby. After what I just saw, I think she’s a little more like you than you think.”
“Y’all realize I can hear you, right? Like, I’m sitting right here,” Lennox said, leaning back in her chair. She tried to put on a tough front, but her eyes softened the moment her mom said she was like Doug.
All those girls had a soft spot when it came to their dad. He was the center of all their worlds, and I hated wondering what would happen when he wasn’t here. They were all strong enough to survive, but his loss would be a wound that’d never fully heal.
Hell, I didn’t know how I’d recover myself, and we weren’t even related. It never mattered when it came to Doug.
I’d learned early on that blood didn’t define family.
It was determined by who showed up for you day in and out when shit got tough, the ones who rallied behind you and lifted you up until you could stand on your own two feet.
I’d expected to be treated like an outsider here, but it’d never happened.
Instead, I’d been offered a seat at their dining room table and shown a kindness I wasn’t sure I had even deserved.
“I’m well aware, daughter of mine. But at least you know I’m not talking shit behind your back.”
“Mom!” Lennox exclaimed, laughing. “Is that supposed to make it better?”
Ruby shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s the truth,” she said, bringing her glass of wine to her lips. “What time does the band go on? I’m ready to hear some live music.”
It was around four in the afternoon now. We still had a few hours of sunlight left before the stars came out. People were already hustling back and forth on the stage to prepare for the show.
“Around seven, I think,” Doug said, turning over his shoulder to stare. “I dunno. It was all a little last minute, so I think they’re just making sure everything is good to go.”
“What do you mean, last minute?” Josie asked. “This thing has been planned for months.”
“The band I originally booked canceled like three days ago. Said they’d broken up a month ago. Guess our little shindig had gotten missed when they made their cancellations.”
“That sucks. You seemed excited about them,” Josie said.
“Who’d you get instead?” Lennox said, propping her elbow on the table and resting her chin on her palm .