Chapter 10
CHAPTER
TEN
Bryce Young’s thumbs flew across his phone screen, a knot of worry in his gut.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Codi said.
“I’m texting him right now,” Bryce said, barely glancing up and over to Harry. “Codi’s right. It’s Cash, and he’s making lunch and doughnuts. He won’t care if you and Belle come.”
“All right,” Harry said from where he sat on Bryce’s couch, his guitar in his hands.
He plucked chords lazily, which made Bryce’s heart happy.
Yes, his cousin was still wildly popular online, especially the video apps where he’d taken to releasing his and Belle’s music since they’d left their labels.
Harry and Belle had come to Dog Valley to check on their new house and recording studio. They’d been building for the past four or five months, after purchasing a property right on the border of the apple orchards and just inside Dog Valley city limits.
Harry couldn’t seem to do anything small, and he and Belle had hired a designer to do the house plans.
Soon enough, they’d have a fully finished and furnished six-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath house.
Two stories. Custom stone. Heated driveway, so Harry didn’t have to risk his musical hands shoveling snow.
And hey, for what Harry and Belle sold their songs for, they could afford it. Bryce had not been surprised in the least that Harry had left Coral Canyon for the smaller, more quaint, slower-paced life in Dog Valley.
After all, Bryce lived up here, as did his brother-in-law, and his best friend. Adam and Joey seemed to be thriving in their own right, with Joey’s bake-from-home business booming as the holidays had arrived.
In fact, Codi had ordered all their Thanksgiving pies from Joey, and Bryce had to go pick them up on Wednesday morning. They’d decided to join Kassie and Reggie, Uncle Trace and Aunt Everly and their kids, and Uncle Otis and Aunt Georgia and theirs at Kassie’s for the Turkey Day meal.
Bryce felt pulled in five thousand directions on a daily basis, and as he waited for Cash to respond, that sense of overwhelm definitely pressed down on him.
Despite things going well at Rising Sun, his horse rescue ranch, Bryce always felt like he could be doing more.
More within his family. More with his parents.
More with the older cousins. More as a dad.
He glanced over to Codi, who gave him a soft smile. They hadn’t told anyone that she was expecting another baby yet, and Bryce wasn’t going to say a word today either.
“Not until the New Year,” Codi had whispered to him, and he still couldn’t believe he’d gotten such an amazing, strong, faithful woman to believe in him, stand at his side, and love him.
He thanked God everyday for her and Matthew, the little boy currently climbing into Belle’s lap to show her one of his trains in a nice, up-close and personal way.
Finally, Bryce’s phone chimed, and his gaze flew back to it. It’s fine, Cash said. The more the merrier. Cole just texted and said he and Rachel might stop by for dessert, because they’re eating lunch with Uncle Jem and it’ll give them an out.
Bryce grinned and shoved his phone away. “He says it’s great. Let’s go.”
The guitar in Harry’s hands instantly silenced, and he set it aside as he got to his feet. “You come with me, Mister Matty.” He swooped the little boy out of Belle’s lap, both of them laughing.
Bryce watched as Harry stayed right by Belle, offering her a hand to help her off the couch.
And oh, he noticed as she lumbered to her feet and rested one hand on her stomach.
He immediately glanced over to Codi, who also stood in the kitchen, watching them.
She popped the last bite of her cheddar cheese snack into her mouth and turned toward him.
“Ready?”
“Did you see that?”
Harry and Belle were already leaving the living room in favor of the front door, and Bryce could only see their backs now.
“See what?”
Bryce shook his head. “It was nothing. Let’s go.” He went out the side exit from the kitchen and into the garage, Codi behind him.
“Are you taking Matty?” she called to Harry, who stood at his back passenger door, clearly strapping Matty into a car seat there.
“Yep, we got ‘im,” Harry called.
Not wanting to stand out in the cold any longer than he had to, Bryce quickly opened Codi’s door for her, and she hopped in.
“Thanks, brother,” Bryce called to Harry, who waved as he too hurried around the hood of his truck, bending his head against the wind. Bryce didn’t have to fight that, as he’d parked inside his garage, but he got behind the wheel and started the vehicle to get the heater blowing.
“It needs to snow,” Codi said. “It’s so…frigid.”
“One hundred percent.” He reached over and took her hand. “I know we’ve had people take Matthew before, but it feels weird every time.” He grinned at her and lifted her hand to his lips. “I love you, Codi.”
She leaned her head back and smiled at him, nothing but comfort and joy between them. “I love you too, Bryce.”
Behind him, Harry backed out, and Bryce flipped the truck into reverse. “So, you really don’t think Cash and Lark are dating?”
“If they are,” Codi said. “It’s new, and you don’t need to call attention to it.” Her eyes sharpened, but Bryce simply kept grinning.
“That would be interesting, though.”
“As if your life isn’t interesting enough.” Codi scoffed and then emitted a half-laugh. “Your horses act like toddlers, you have a real-life toddler, and your wife is pregnant. If that’s not interesting enough for you, you need an attitude adjustment.”
Bryce laughed, because his wife wasn’t wrong. “Sometimes I still can’t believe this is my life.” He grinned over to her. “And I worry about my adult cousins.”
“I know you do, baby.” Codi squeezed his hand. “But you can’t save them.”
No, he couldn’t, no matter how badly he wanted to. Bryce frowned out his side window, though he knew she was right. “I wish I knew how to make my heart harder.”
“No, you don’t,” Codi said in her soft, powerful voice. “Your heart is one of your best assets.”
“One of?” He grinned over to her.
She grinned right on back. “Oh, come on. You know how hot you are.” She laughed with him, and they completed the short twelve-minute drive to Cash’s house quickly.
“Looks like we might be the last to arrive,” he said as he inched along the street and found all the trucks parked in front of the house where Cash was living, house-sitting for the McClellan’s. “I’m going to miss him when he moves clear across town.”
“We have cars,” Codi said, and he could always count on her to be the level-headed, rational one.
“I’m going to pull in so you don’t have to walk in the cold.”
She didn’t argue, and Bryce pulled into the driveway and let his wife get out.
She bustled up the front walk as Bryce backed out and went back the way he’d come to find somewhere to park.
By the time he burst through the front door, the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees due to the increased wind and the sun ducking behind the clouds.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he scraped his boots on the mat inside the front door, basked in the heat blowing in the house, and shrugged out of his coat.
He added his to the pile on the back of the couch and moved past the formal living room toward the back of the house, where plenty of chatter and laughter greeted him.
Bryce paused in the mouth of the hallway and took in the Youngs before him, that big heart of his blooming and blooming and blooming with more love than he thought possible. Cash worked in the kitchen, of course, doing something with a rubber spatula and a huge tray of meatballs.
Lark, who Bryce had briefly met that morning, stood only a few feet from him, working a hand mixer in a giant metal bowl. Since Bryce knew the menu was sweet and sour meatballs and mashed potatoes, he knew what they were doing.
Harry and Belle had joined them, and they chatted with Lark and Cash while Codi had found a soft spot on the couch where she could keep an eye on Matt, who played with Savannah in the living room.
Kassie and Reggie sat on the same couch as her, while Adam and Joey cuddled on the love seat.
Adam tapped on his phone, and Joey grinned at the babies in her usual bright way.
Boston and Cora hovered near the island where Cash and Lark worked, participating in that conversation, and since they hadn’t started lunch yet, Bryce didn’t expect to see Cole and his girlfriend, Rachel.
He moved toward the kitchen crowd, his smile stretching genuinely across his mouth. “Howdy, guys.”
All eyes came to him, and while he’d once hated that, now Bryce adored his family, and he could answer questions for hours.
“Hey, you.” Boston smiled at him and moved around Cora to give him a hug. Bryce grabbed on tight and held Boston close to his chest.
“How are you?” Bryce asked. “Ready for Thanksgiving?” He pulled back and watched Boston’s eyes. “When are you moving into that ranch you bought?”
“Not until we’re married.” Boston’s eyes crinkled at the edges as his smile grew. He fell back to Cora’s side and tucked her against his hip. “But it’s comin’ along. You’ll have to come see it sometime.”
“I told Lark the same thing,” Cash said. “I think we’re going on Wednesday, Bryce, if you want to come.”
He watched Cash and Lark, who both continued to work on the mashed potatoes and meatballs. “All right,” Bryce said. “I’ll see if I can get away. I’ve got a farrier coming on Wednesday for some of my most stubborn horses.”
Cash glanced up, grinning. “Sounds fun.”
“A barrel of monkeys,” Bryce said, which earned him a smile from everyone in the group. “What do you need help with?”
“Nothing,” Cash said.
“You can put ice in the glasses,” Lark said, glancing over to him. “Hi again, Bryce.”
“I forgot I roped you into potatoes.” Cash grinned at Lark. “Ice in the glasses would be great, Bryce.”
Harry actually pulled open the freezer, as he stood on that side of the island, and he extracted the ice bucket from below the ice-maker. He hefted it over the island to Bryce, who turned toward the table.
“Are we ready to eat?” Harry asked. “Should I round people up and get them to the table?”
“Yes,” Cash said, and Bryce lost the thread of that conversation as he moved from one group to another.
“Howdy, Kass,” he said, leaning over the back of the couch and pressing his cheek to hers. “Hey, Reg.”
“Hey, Bryce,” they said together, just before Harry’s whistle split the air and caused several people to groan.
“Cash says we’re almost ready,” he called. “There’s no assigned seating, so come find a place at the table.”
“I want to sit by my wife and son,” Bryce said, quickly claiming a spot on the corner where he could put Matt’s booster seat and still see everyone. “Do you still have those boosters, Cash?”
“They’re in the garage,” Kassie said, and Bryce caught Codi moving that way to get one. “I saw them out there when we got here.”
He went around, jostling between cousins and their significant others, to fill the ice glasses. Cash set a plate of butter on the table, while Lark added salt and pepper shakers, napkins, and several bottles of fruity apple cider.
He noted the way they spoke in an intimate way, as if they’d been together for a long time. Perhaps it was because she’d grown up in this house, and Cash currently lived here, but Bryce definitely sensed something between them.
Conversations continued, booster seats got set up, children got strapped in, and Bryce returned the ice bucket to the freezer.
“All right,” Cash yelled into the fray. “We’re going to do buffet style, since there’s not really room for the food on the table.”
Everyone turned toward him, and Bryce stopped at the end of the island opposite of Cash and Lark.
Cash shone in a way Bryce had not seen from his cousin, ever.
He’d worried when Cash had moved back to Coral Canyon five months ago, during the height of rodeo season.
He’d given very little explanations, and then he and Boston had bought a dilapidated ranch on the east side of town and planned to live there and run it together.
But now, Bryce hardly recognized Cash as the same cowboy who’d arrived in town just before the Fourth of July. He looked older, more settled, happier.
“I just want to say how grateful I am that you’re all here,” he said, and a lump got pushed down his throat as he swallowed. “Our sermon today was about making sure the people around us know how grateful we are, and turning our feelings of gratitude into actions.”
Cash paused and looked at Lark, who gave him a quiet smile and a slight nod. There was so something there, and Bryce wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stop himself from asking Cash about it.
“I don’t really know how to do that, but Lark thinks me making lunch for twenty people counts.”
“It’s the doughnuts that show how much he appreciates and loves you guys,” Lark said, a certain glow about her too. “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen someone make a doughnut, but it’s a metric ton of work.” She gazed up at Cash. “And I’m really grateful he did that for me today.”
She cleared her throat and looked out at everyone else. Bryce did too, and he found wide, surprised eyes on Harry and Adam, but knowing in Boston’s and Cora’s expressions. So some of them—maybe just Boston and Cora—knew about Cash and Lark, while everyone else was just finding out.
“For all of us,” Lark said. “He had to set an alarm to get up this morning to get the dough made before church, and he’s been working for hours.”
“The pastor did say that it takes sacrifice to turn your gratitude into an action,” Cash said.
“And I guess I did sacrifice some sleep.” He chuckled and looked down at the food.
“But the doughnuts are for later. Right now, we have sweet and sour meatballs, mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies. If something is too salty or you don’t like it, don’t eat it. ”
He looked up and grinned at everyone, that throat working again. Surprise moved through Bryce, because he’d not seen Cash emotional like this before. His cousin looked over to him, pure pleading in those dark, deep, somewhat dangerous eyes.
Bryce took a step toward him just as Cash turned away. Lark turned with him, putting one hand on his back, and Bryce faced the rest of the family. “Cash asked me to pray,” he said, though no such thing had been done.
He swept his cowboy hat off his head and pressed it over his heart while he waited for the other men to do the same. Cash came to his side and linked his arm through Bryce’s, and he looked at him for a long moment before he bowed his head.
“Lord,” he said, and his own emotions shook and vibrated and balled up in his throat. He’d always been a sympathetic crier, and seeing his tall, tough, bull-riding cousin get emotional had just dislodged something inside Bryce he didn’t know what to do with.