Chapter 3 #2
It was Sunday evening, and as I walked into my childhood home, I could hear the commotion coming from the back of the house, where the large living and dining spaces were.
It looked like we had a decent-sized group for this Sunday’s dinner.
My sister, Ava, was here already, along with Theo, Walker’s barn manager, and his wife, Olivia.
Then there were Mr. and Mrs. Williams, the owners of the best coffee shop and bakery in town, called PrimCup, and my mom’s best friend, Liz King, along with her husband, Jackson, and their five kids that we grew up with—Grayson was Weston’s age and best friend, Farrah was my age and one of my close friends along with being Walker’s ex-girlfriend (a story for another time).
She also had the cutest two-year-old daughter, Hadley.
Aria was Ava’s age and best friend, and then the twins, Nate and Nolan, were the youngest of us all.
The Kings lived only fifteen minutes down the road, in the neighboring town of Forest Park.
My two brothers couldn’t make it this time, as Weston was still in the Navy SEALs and stationed in Virginia, and Walker was in New York playing in the ALCS.
Walker had a travel day back to Texas, so he insisted on FaceTiming me so he could say hello to everyone.
Ava forced Weston to FaceTime with us on her phone as well.
We got the two phones set up at the end of the table, facing everyone.
“Hey, everyone! How’s it going?” Walker smiled into the camera.
The group collectively said hello and congratulated him on a great start to the series.
Walker pitched game one and shut out New York.
His team unfortunately lost game two by a one-run margin in the eighth inning, but they played a great game.
“Hey y'all, I won’t be able to stay on long. I’ve got to head out soon, but Ava forced me to jump on, so here I am,” Weston said dryly, and everyone laughed.
When Weston said he was heading out, it was code for he had to go on a mission and could not disclose where he was headed or for how long.
It always made our family nervous, not knowing where he was and anxiously waiting until we heard from him again to know he was okay and back home.
Everyone said their hellos to West, and we chatted with him briefly before having to let him go.
Walker chimed back in. “So, I heard that the new vet in town has made quite the impression on our sister, Adds,” he teased. Always the shit stirrer. I choked on my water, not prepared for that segue.
“Shut up, Walk. Just because I’m on a first-name basis with the guy at his insistence does not mean he made an impression.” I was already over this conversation.
“You know, now that you mention it, Walker, I did see sparks fly between the two of them at the farm yesterday.” Theo, the traitor, smirked.
“Wow, Theo, now you are on my shit list. Anyway, he’s just helping me out by going with me to do the PPE on that mare I told y'all about,” I said, trying desperately to change the subject of this conversation.
Thankfully, my dad helped to divert it. “Sounds like a good guy to me. I was telling Adds earlier today that Dr. Davis couldn’t say enough good things about the guy. I’m looking forward to meeting him myself.”
“He came into the coffee shop the other morning, and let me tell you, if I were thirty-five years younger, I would climb that man like a tree,” Mrs. Williams said as Mr. Williams barked out a laugh along with the entire table.
“Good luck, Addi. I don’t know if I could handle being alone in a truck with him for a couple of minutes, let alone a couple of hours.
That is one good-looking man…and I hear he’s single.
” She waggled her brows at me while taking a sip of her wine.
Mr. Williams grabbed her wineglass and said jokingly, “Okay, Grace, no more wine for you tonight.” She quickly grabbed it back from him, and everyone at the table laughed.
I felt my cheeks heat at her comments and hoped no one noticed. “I think I’ll be fine. I just got out of an engagement not even six months ago. Men are the last thing on my mind,” I said as I grabbed my wineglass to take a much-needed large drink after this conversation.
“Noah was a douchebag,” Ava and Walker said at the same time, causing even more laughter from the table. I just shook my head and couldn’t help but join in.
Luckily, the conversation turned to everyone asking me about my plans for the hunter/jumper training facility I wanted to open, and after that, I seemed to be out of the hot seat.
We had all started eating dinner and continuing casual conversation around the table when I found my thoughts drifting off to Dr. Dean Adler.
He had the kind of easy confidence that made people trust him before he even opened his mouth.
And of course he had to be good-looking—annoyingly so.
I’d forced myself to look away more times than I cared to admit during his farm call.
I hadn’t even unpacked my life yet, and my energy belonged to one thing: getting my business off the ground.
I’d lost myself in a man once before, and I wasn’t making that mistake again.
Not when everything I wanted was finally within reach.
The last thing I needed was to start eyeing the town vet like he was anything other than what he was—essential for my horses, and completely off-limits.
Noah:
Are you just never going to speak to me again?