Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
“ I ’m so happy for you,” Mom gushed to Jude.
In the backseat of his brother’s truck, Weston rolled his eyes. He usually drove himself to church down in Jewel Lake, but Mom said she never saw him or Jude these days… which wasn’t a total lie.
“Thanks, Mom.” Jude flashed a smile across the cab. “I’m really excited about the opportunity.”
“I’ll miss you so much at the ranch.” Mom touched Jude’s arm. “But every mother bird knows her fledglings need to fly out of the nest on their own.”
Jude’s eye roll matched Weston’s. “Sad case for a joke, Mom.”
“I couldn’t resist.” She laughed and angled to look at Weston in the back. “How about you, son? Do you have a yearning to be a pilot, too?”
“Not a chance.”
“Anything else? You know your grandfather will help you make your dreams come true.”
“I don’t have any dreams. ”
Jude’s gaze met his in the rearview mirror. “Everyone’s got dreams, bro.”
Weston shrugged. “I don’t. Horses are my life. At least I’ve got them back.” He didn’t want to think about the years after Dad died and they lost the ranch, how he’d struggled to find places to board Ranger while working a soulless job in Missoula.
“There’s more to life than horses,” Jude said.
“For you, maybe.”
“I’d hoped you boys might find wonderful Christian women at Sweet River, like Tate and Graham have.”
Yeah, but they’re true Sullivans. Weston managed to bite back the words before they erupted. It wasn’t Mom’s fault she hadn’t known her father. Blame that on Nana for guarding her secret fiercely for over 50 years.
“We’ve met lots of nice Christian girls, right, West?” Jude smirked into the mirror.
“Sure. They’re a dime a dozen at the ranch.”
“Anyone special?” Mom sounded so expectant.
“Nope,” Weston answered just as Jude muttered, “Paisley Teele.”
Mom pivoted to face Jude. “You’re seeing Paisley? I did not see that coming. I always thought you might fall for Kaci Moore. You spend so much time together.”
Jude’s hands flexed on the steering wheel. “Kaci and I are just friends, Mom. I told you. Neither of us wants a relationship. Unlike Paisley, who definitely wants something from my big brother.”
Thanks, kid. Weston glowered at the mirror, but Jude didn’t look.
Mom swiveled again. “You and Paisley? I wondered when she packed that picnic for the two of you. She’s such a nice girl. So… bubbly.”
“So not my type,” Weston responded. “Besides, I’m not looking, either.”
Mom’s hands went in the air. “Why not? You boys aren’t teenagers anymore. Isn’t it time you married and gave me some grandchildren?”
Paisley said she wanted six kids.
“It’s not all about you, Mom.” Jude flashed an easy grin. “Although, you’re right about Weston. He’s a full two years older than me, and he really should think about settling down.”
“I’m settled,” Weston protested. “Since when does a guy need to be leg-shackled to be settled?”
“You complain all the time about your job,” Jude reminded him.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t like it.”
“Right, because you complain all the time. About everything. Get a life, bro. Mom thinks it’s all about her, but you think it’s all about you.”
“Jude, don’t antagonize your brother.” Mom tapped Jude’s arm. “I prayed you two would start getting along better as you got older.”
“We get along fine.” Jude’s jaw tensed.
Right. They got along fine so long as they didn’t spend a ton of time together. Jude working in maintenance in other parts of the guest ranch, far from the stables, was a good distance. Weston could still keep an eye on the kid and know he was okay, though he’d missed the bit about Jude and Kaci having talked enough to decide to be just friends. Was that really fine by both of them?
He’d been focusing too hard on avoiding Paisley to realize Jude was having relationship troubles of his own. But maybe Jude was telling the truth, and it seriously was okay.
“When are you going to see what a great catch Paisley Teele would be for you?” Jude asked blandly. “She’s certainly focused on you.”
The ball was back in Weston’s court, was it? “Don’t you think she’s a little over the top? Like, about everything?”
“She’s wonderful,” Mom gushed. “And she loves horses and kids. She couldn’t be more perfect for you.”
“She could be more perfect if she didn’t talk every single minute.” Hopefully, that wasn’t admitting to anything.
“Probably trying to fill the awkward silence that you wrap around yourself like a cloak,” Jude put in.
“Whose side are you on?”
Jude smirked into the mirror as the truck came to a stop at the bottom of the ranch road.
Yeah, that’s what Weston thought. Jude was on the side of anything or anyone deflecting attention from him in Mom’s presence. The guy should get back to raving about the pilot lessons Grandfather had signed him up for in Chicago over the fall months, when the flow of tourists eased.
“Marriage can be a really beautiful thing,” Mom said. “Your father and I had our challenges, but I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Well, Weston would, if he could. Yeah, his parents seemed to have reconciled in the months before Dad passed, but memories of Dad coming home drunk and rowdy were etched in Weston’s memory. It hadn’t all been stars, hearts, and flowers.
Was that what he thought marriage should be? No, of course not, but still. Watching a very imperfect one play out over his childhood hadn’t made him yearn for his own shot at it.
And then there’d been Rayna.
Weston locked that door in his brain.
Jude tapped the cruise control on the truck now that they were on the interstate. “Tate and Stephanie seem crazy happy, and they sure started out with a ton of challenges.”
Hadn’t they, though? Tate had custody of his toddler nephew and hired Stephanie to be Jamie’s nanny. They’d quickly decided to marry to stabilize the kid’s life. From where Weston sat, things had looked mighty bumpy for a few months there, but Jude was right. They seemed to have overcome those early hiccups, at least if their loving glances revealed the truth.
Not that loving glances were everything.
Yeah, tell that to Weston’s heart. Deep down inside, he wanted someone to look at him the way Stephanie looked at Tate. The way Cadence looked at Graham. Truth was, Paisley kind of did.
Why was he so set against allowing himself to fall for her? It wasn’t just her bubbly personality that grated him wrong. It wasn’t just the memories of Rayna knifing him when he least wanted them to.
But Weston wasn’t worthy of lifelong love. Rayna had seen it. Paisley would, too. And if he’d allowed her in, the realization, when it came, would cause more pain for both of them.
He was protecting her. That’s all it was.
“I love when Eli preaches.” Kaci slid into a booth beside the window at the Golden Grill after church.
Paisley settled beside her. “Pastor Marshall is good, too.”
“I’m with Kaci,” Cadence announced as she and Graham claimed the padded bench on the other side. “Eli is more relatable. They announced a Pot of Gold event at church. Is that an annual thing? I don’t really remember it from last summer.”
Paisley laughed. “You were totally preoccupied dancing around your feelings for Graham last summer. No wonder you didn’t have a clue about anything else.”
Graham and Cadence made eyes at each other.
Aw, look how adorable they were.
More people from Creekside Fellowship surged into the Golden Grill. A table created from a row of smaller tables ran down the center of the restaurant. Now the Cavanagh clan crowded around it, all swaggering cowboys and their beautiful wives and charming kids.
What must it be like to marry into a big, close family like that?
Because everyone there belonged. Paisley had never really belonged anywhere. Not with an absentee father and a mother who struggled with addiction, leaving three little girls to fend for themselves .
Paisley glanced at Graham across the table. He was an only child, but he was part of the Sullivans. He’d always belonged… but Cadence said he hadn’t always felt like it.
And Weston had made enough snide comments Paisley knew he didn’t feel part of his extended family, either. Maybe the Cavanaghs weren’t as perfect on the inside as they seemed from the outside, either.
Kaci cracked open her menu. “What’s good here?”
“Everything,” Cadence said at the same time as Paisley. “Seriously, you can’t go wrong.”
“What are you having?”
“The Reuben, I think.”
“Hmm.”
Paisley’s attention snagged on Weston following his mom and Jude into the crowded diner. The hostess seated them at a booth in the back corner. If Paisley shifted a smidge to the right, she could see past Adam Cavanagh to Weston settling into his seat.
“What are you ordering, Paisley?”
“Um.” She tore her gaze from the cowboy, who hadn’t seemed to notice her yet, and looked down at her menu. “Burger and fries, I guess. It’s always good.”
The middle-aged server took their orders, and Kaci relaxed against the seatback. “Whew, we got our order in before the crowd.”
“I’m glad we hurried over after church,” Cadence agreed. “Now tell me more about that Pot of Gold thing.”
“It’s a summer-long geocaching event hosted by Creekside Fellowship. Hundreds of people participate. Lots even come in from out of town.”
Cadence’s eyebrows tilted up. “Really? They come here ?”
“You make it sound like no one would want to spend a summer in Jewel Lake.” Paisley laughed.
“Eli started this like five or six years ago. It’s become quite popular.” Kaci chuckled and elbowed Paisley. “Lots of couples have met and fallen in love while searching for treasure together.”
“Who’s got time to drive down to Jewel Lake for something like that after a long day of work?” Paisley asked. “Not me. Not you… unless you’re looking for a guy?”
Kaci shook her head. “Not me. But I thought it might take your mind off Weston.”
Was Paisley that obvious? Probably. “I don’t think so.”
“And poor Maxwell. Heather left a few days ago. I think she’d hoped they might get together one of these days.”
“Then he shouldn’t have taken her for granted.” Paisley forced her gaze to remain on the people she was with, not roaming the café to see if Weston had noticed her yet.
“Who says he did?” Kaci countered.
“Can we not gossip about my cousins?” Graham shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“Good reminder,” Kaci said primly. “I don’t want anyone gossiping about me.”
“And your not-relationship with Jude,” Paisley muttered.
Kaci jabbed her with a pointed elbow. “Or we could talk about Weston, except Graham doesn’t want to hear gossip. Although it’s not gossip if you tell us, since it’s about you and not someone who’s not here.”
The server set glasses of water and napkin-wrapped flatware on the table.
“Or we could talk about the sermon,” Cadence suggested. “There’s so much richness in Philippians four that I’m not surprised he’s going to get an entire series out of that chapter.”
“Rejoice in the Lord always,” Paisley mused. “That verse has been my motto for the past few years.”
“I kind of figured.” Cadence smiled at her. “It seems like a scripture you’ve taken to heart.”
“And here I thought it came naturally to you.” Kaci glanced at her.
Paisley shook her head. “Mind over matter. I spent some time wallowing in the injustices of life, but you know what? That didn’t change the circumstances. It sucked me down until I decided no more. I knew God was in control, and I was going to act like I believed that.”
“Really?” Kaci arched a brow at her.
Paisley didn’t know Kaci all that well. She’d never told the head housekeeper all the sordid details of her upbringing. And there was no need today. “Yep. Really. You know the saying: choose joy. So, I chose joy. At first, I chose it a thousand times a day. It became easier as time went on, since I’d formed a habit.”
Kaci shook her head. “Who knew.”
“There are a few ways we can handle hard times.” Cadence glanced at Graham. “I ran from my problems, but eventually I had to face them. Thankfully Graham was there to hold my hand when I needed him most.”
“And God,” Graham prompted.
“Absolutely and God.” Cadence pointed at Paisley. “You cover up your troubles with happy thoughts. Graham submerges them and pretends they don’t exist. Sort of the same thing.”
“I do not cover them up,” Paisley protested. “I let light shine on them and then they disappear.” It was a nice dream, anyway.
Cadence looked at Kaci. “What’s your style?”
“Running. And changing the subject. Paisley, did you notice the Klines across over there?” She pointed.
Paisley shoved Kaci’s hand down. “Yeah, I saw. Didn’t your mama teach you not to point in public?”
“My mama taught me a lot of things I didn’t take to heart.”
Paisley frowned. What did she even know about Kaci? Not much. “Where are you from?” Because that accent was a blend that could be from nearly any part of the US.
“Texas. Oh, look. There’s our food.”
Was that real relief in Kaci’s voice, or was Paisley’s imagination working overtime? Because that was a distinct possibility.