Chapter 9 Sunrise #2
“That so.” His tone is still light and easy, but those eyes are narrowed in anger and challenge. “Because last I checked, growing up and turning into a miserable bastard aren't the same thing. But hey.” He spreads his hands. “What do I know. I'm just the baby bro.”
Slade's eyes move between us, icy and assessing. He's spent fifteen years on ice feeling this, the half-second before a fight breaks out. He looks almost interested.
Dad clears his throat.
He’s spent his life letting us brothers mostly work it out amongst ourselves. His rule used to be, “don’t come to me unless you’re bleeding.” Then it became “don’t come to me unless the blood is spurting.”
That’s life with three boys, I suppose. Four boys, if you count Rafe. Although he’s always been the only sensible one among us.
Dad says, lightly, “Won’t be no balloons or strange women or glitter getting tracked around Wild Rose. Scares the horses. Pollutes the ecosystem.”
Tanner snorts despite himself.
Just like that, the tension goes out of the room.
Slade turns to me. “How’s my nephew?”
“Jonah’s good. Really good, actually. Starting to read.”
“No shit?” Tanner chimes in. “How’d you get him over the hump?”
“Wasn’t me,” I say. “It was my nanny.”
I change the subject before Tanner can get his teeth into it. These are my brothers. They know me too well and see too much.
Besides, I don't have the right words for Sadie Sullivan yet. Or maybe I do, and they're all the wrong ones. Gorgeous. Sweetheart. Brat.
When they should be more like: Employee. Competent. Professional.
“Dad, did you see Jonah’s teddy bear?” I ask.
“Still in his room,” Dad says.
Whatever failings I have as a father, and I know there are many, Jonah has the Rhodes family filling in my blind spots. He’s got a grandpa who shows up without being asked. Brothers who are better uncles than I give them credit for.
Tanner’s made it his job to keep Jonah smiling since my son was small enough to fit in the crook of one arm.
He’d pull faces and talk in funny voices until he turned a meltdown into a giggle-fest. Now he teaches him rope tricks and lets him sit on his shoulders and tells him rodeo stories that get more embellished every time, the bull getting bigger, the crowd getting wilder, and Jonah eats it up.
Slade doesn't say much, but he's never once missed a birthday, and he has an inexplicable gift for finding exactly what Jonah wants before Jonah knows he wants it. Slade’s the one who got the fossil excavation kit that started the whole dinosaur obsession in the first place.
And then there’s Rafe, who’s a Rhodes brother in every way but blood, not that that’s ever mattered to any of us.
He started working at Wild Rose at fifteen and never left, and somewhere along the way he just became family.
He’s as much an uncle as Slade and Tanner.
He takes Jonah out on the ranch with Dad, answers his endless stream of questions like every one is worth taking seriously, and Jonah’s got a serious case of hero worship for him.
I just wish like hell Jonah could have met his grandma too. My mom would have loved him to pieces.
He’s got the other set of grandparents, of course, but they’ve got about as much interest in their Jonah as his mother does.
Which is to say, none.
When I come back outside, they’re all in the midst of talking about the ranch. I get pulled into the conversation for a few minutes. Dad ends it by reminding us, “Family dinner next Sunday. It’s not often I get all my boys back home at the same time.”
He makes no mention of Josie. I know how deeply it pains him, how rarely she comes back. I think there’s a part of him that keeps waiting for her to change her mind. To settle down back home.
But I’m not so sure Josie’s ever coming back to Wild Rose.
When we all head outside to go our separate ways, Tanner stops short. “Whose car is that?”
I follow his gaze to Sadie’s Explorer.
“My nanny’s,” I answer.
“I thought Margaret drove a minivan.”
“She had to go back to Europe. I hired someone else.”
“And you’re driving her car because?” Tanner prompts.
“Her tires were bald. I took ‘em to the tire shop to get replaced and balanced.”
Slade arches a dark eyebrow. “Really.”
“Yeah. I didn’t want her getting ripped off, so I took care of it.”
The two of them, along with Dad, exchange a glance.
Feeling a surge of irritation, I bite out, “What?”
Tanner’s green eyes dance with mirth. “This nanny of yours. She pretty?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” I say, at the same time that Dad says, “Very.”
Tanner’s smirk turns into a full-on grin. “Oooh. You’ve got a lil’ crush, big bro.”
“Fuck off,” I grumble.
“What’s her name?” he calls, as I get in the car.
I ignore him.
But Dad says, “It’s Sadie Sullivan. She was a grade below Josie in high school.”
Rafe’s dark eyes flick up at the mention of Josie’s name.
Slade still looks clueless, but Tanner’s eyes light up with recognition. “The one who’s friends with Cassidy? Red hair?” His eyes slide towards me as he clucks his tongue. “A little young for you, isn’t she?”
If looks could kill, my brother would be dead on the spot.
“She’s my employee,” I growl. “Nothing more.”
“You do special favors for all your employees?” Tanner’s white teeth flash. “Shovel the driveway for your favorite guitar tech? Take your roadie’s grandma to her podiatrist appointment?”
As I start the car up, I give him the middle finger.
“Bring Sadie to family dinner!” Dad calls out to me.