Chapter 13
With the dog days of summer fast approaching, the bunkhouse begins packing up shop, preparing for the annual move to the summer pasture.
Late July is when it starts to get real—when the heat becomes less of an annoyance and more of a safety hazard.
Left to roam beneath the blistering sun, the cows could suffer a multitude of temperature-related maladies: dehydration among the mildest, and heat stress—which can lead to infertility and decreased milk production—among the most lethal.
Because of this, most ranches have a designated place where they set up camp for a brief period, somewhere near the summer pasture, which is typically more shaded by trees or hills.
Halcyon is no different from any other ranch in this regard.
But aside from the obvious upgrades in equipment, tents, and toiletries compared to Braxton, there’s one feature in particular that sets this summer camp apart: About a quarter mile east, nestled within a ring of lush oak trees, is a watering hole.
This piece of Eden is the first place they go after dumping their things at the campsite and tying up the horses.
When Grace walks up to the water’s edge, she’s flanked by Mikey and Alec—who are hastily stripping off their shirts and bolting past her.
Grace laughs at the scream Mikey lets out when he nearly trips on a branch, and then she looks to her left to find Cooper jogging lightly to catch up with her.
Once at her side, he slows, panting. “Hey, Grace.”
“Hey, Cooper,” she says, looking sidelong at him curiously.
“How are you?”
Grace’s brow furrows slightly. “I’m…great. A little hungry. How are you?”
He nods, but it’s animated, a bit over-the-top for small talk. “I’m hungry, too, yeah. Forty’ll start cooking dinner soon, right? Want me to ask him what’s on the menu?”
She barks a laugh. “That’s all right. I’ll wait and be surprised.”
“Right,” he says, a little deflated.
A moment of awkward, loaded quiet sits between them, and then Grace decides to show him some mercy.
The guy doesn’t seem to know how to voice whatever it is he’s after.
And he’s clearly after something. This is the most they’ve spoken in all the time she’s been at Halcyon.
“Was there something you needed, Cooper?”
His hand flies to the back of his neck, and he rubs at it nervously. “Yeah, um—listen, I was wondering…”
They come to a stop at the edge of the pond.
The water looks absolutely divine. It sparkles, dancing glimmers of light that skip to and fro atop the concentric ripples.
The trees are tall enough that it’s perfectly shaded, a guarantee it will be like dipping into euphoria after a day spent in the heat.
The guys are already splashing around, standing thigh-deep in just their briefs.
They’re like children without a jungle gym, the way they crawl and hang all over one another.
Grace turns back to Cooper, who seems to be mustering up the courage to finish his sentence. She helps him along with a soft, “You were wondering…”
He nods quickly, like he’s finally, sufficiently psyched himself up. “I was wondering if you’d happen to know if June is seeing anyone.”
A smile erupts on Grace’s face. After their dance at Clint’s party, she might’ve predicted this would happen, but seeing it play out in real time—being even a small part of it—fills her up with warmth and affection for them both.
“I don’t think she is,” Grace says honestly. Smirking, she adds, “We don’t get a whole lot of time to socialize, if you haven’t noticed.”
“Right.” Cooper’s eyes fall shut on an embarrassed exhale. “Duh. Of course.”
A game of chicken is happening in the pond, but it’s quickly ended when Raymond topples over into the water from atop Pierce’s shoulders, and the opposing team of Mikey and Caleb are cheering at the quick victory, wading around the pond with Caleb’s ankles hooked into Mikey’s armpits.
Alec is readying himself to duck so Bryan can lift up onto his shoulders, and Forty is adamantly shaking his head when Harrison tries to bring him into the mix.
Cooper sighs loudly, dramatically—like a Caldwell—and says, “Do you think she’d be interested in going out with—”
Then a voice echoes across the pond, familiar and mischievous. “Oh, boys…”
Cooper’s mouth snaps shut, and all the surrounding chaos quiets at the melodic, sultry sound.
Like they are puppets tied to strings, every single head lifts upward to find the blonde sitting on a branch, nearly to the top of the highest tree in this little patch of forest. June’s feet swing back and forth, dangling absently, like it’s not absolutely insane that she’s twenty feet above a waist-deep body of water.
“Guess we know who’s taking the record for highest climb this year,” she says with a grin, then starts to unbutton her shirt with one hand.
“Holy shit,” Cooper says under his breath. Grace rolls her eyes.
June dangles her shirt outward once it’s off her body, and everyone continues to stare up at her, dumbstruck. She lets the shirt fall, and Mikey catches it just before it hits the surface of the pond. He wraps it around his neck and looks back up. “Cowabunga, Junie,” he calls.
“Cowabunga, indeed,” June parrots with a laugh.
“June,” Forty cuts in. “If there was a trophy for highest climb, I’d hand it to you, fair and square. Now c’mon down before you break your goddamn neck.”
June considers this dramatically, tapping her chin with her index finger. “I suppose I could try to climb down the way I came.” She looks down, grimacing as she stares at the path down the tree. “I don’t know. Seems more dangerous than just jumping in.”
Grace and Cooper glance at each other, then both take a step forward, looking frantically among the men in the pond and waiting for someone—anyone—to argue that statement.
Forty, the most rational of all, has already stated the danger—why isn’t he screaming for her to shimmy down the trunk until she can get to a reasonable height?
Anyone who has ever climbed a tree knows that’s the safest way to get down.
June doesn’t make any moves to do so, and instead looks down at the watering hole, surveying. Cooper shakes his head, aghast, and cups his hands around his mouth to call out when someone sidles up next to them.
Crew’s arms are folded over his chest, the navy blue T-shirt he wears doing nothing to conceal the heft of his biceps, the sinewy lines that run across his muscles.
Grace is startled at his sudden appearance, partly because of the unexpected gun show, and partly because she has no idea where the hell he just came from.
“Are you seeing this?” Cooper asks, pointing upward to where June is now carefully getting to her feet, using the branch as a balance beam and relying far too much on its sturdiness. She’s bafflingly steady and graceful, almost on her tiptoes as she takes tiny steps toward where the limb drops off.
“Mm-hm,” Crew replies, now looking at his phone. “They bring the toilet paper?”
It’s Grace’s turn to be aghast now, and her mouth falls open in shock and horror that he’s thinking about something as inane as toilet paper when June is at risk of breaking a bone, or worse.
“What? Yes! Raymond did—you need to get her down, Crew. She’s going to get seriously hurt if she jumps from that height. ”
Crew huffs, attempting to do something with his overly large thumbs on his phone and apparently failing. “You’re probably right. Be a real shame.”
Cooper’s eyes widen. “Crew, what the fu—”
Grace gasps. “Oh my—”
They’re both cut off by June’s scream, and they whirl around to see her lithe form heading straight for the water, arms tucked at her sides and her feet pointed down.
A zinging bullet aimed perfectly at a target.
She’ll break her ankles like that. Maybe fracture her hips. It’s going to be catastrophic—
But then she dips beneath the surface like a hand sliding into a glove, the water parting and swallowing her all the way up.
Grace is dumbfounded, the panic and anxiety and pure confusion hitching her breath.
A heartbeat later, June jumps up, hair plastered to her forehead and undergarments drenched, a beaming grin on her face.
Cooper is so relieved it looks like his knees are about to buckle.
Despite the misplaced shock and horror, Grace can’t help the little squeeze her heart gives at the sight.
“You fuckers will never top that,” June yells, and then she’s moving, whipping her arms as quickly as she can, splashing every one of them with a wall of water.
The guys groan and fight back, and soon, it’s an all-out brawl as water flies in every direction.
Mikey dunks Alec under the water; June makes a show of diving beneath the surface only to emerge with someone’s boxers in her hands.
Caleb’s cheeks have gone perfectly pink as he slinks toward her, sheepish and—apparently—naked as the day he was born.
Cooper eventually decides to join in the mania, stripping off his clothing as he stomps into the pond.
Grace turns on her heel to find Crew still behind her. Smirking. Now finally deigning to give her his full attention. “There’s a submerged cave,” he tells her, pointing to the back corner of the pond where June had jumped. “Nearly a hundred feet deep.”
Her eyes pinch together in suspicion and irritation, because how hard would it have been to just tell her that before she nearly had a panic attack?
Grace scoffs, stomping off, away from the pond and Crew.
Her tent needs to be set up, and she may as well start gathering everything she and Forty will need to make supper.
A self-satisfied laugh rumbles from behind her, and Grace whips her head around to see Crew’s shoulders bouncing, his head shaking. All too pleased with himself. Dick.
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