Epilogue
RYE
“Baby, hold on a sec. Me and Blue are havin’ a moment.”
“Yeah, sure,” Aubrey said in my ear. “I’ll just wait on the phone while you have a heart-to-heart with your horse.”
“Great. Thanks,” I told her, and I reached through the stall door to pat Blue’s shoulder. “Listen, buddy. I know this is weird. You were born at G&S, and this is a new barn, but you’re my number one guy. I couldn’t do this without you. You’re up for it, right? A new farm, new mares to suck up to.”
Blue chuffed his displeasure and went back to nosing through his hay.
The new barn had gone up in record time, thanks to the help of Bax, Brand, Aubrey’s cousin, Max, and some other local farmers and ranchers. Aubrey’s parents had even come out, and once her mama got over the shock of Aubrey dating a younger man, or any man at all, she warmed to me pretty quick. She was impressed by my parents, who’d surprisingly also come to see the new barn, and they’d already made friends.
Fall had arrived with its usual kaleidoscope of colors, and the nights were growing colder, but Blue and I were still living in the barn. He had a fancy, decked-out stall, and I had a tack room with a mattress on the dirty floor while I waited for my house to be built. I shacked up with Aubrey some nights and stayed out here the rest. If I needed food or a shower, Bax and Athena had opened their house to me anytime. They’d offered me their couch, but I liked being out on the land. She and I needed to get to know each other.
“I think I’m gonna stay here again tonight. He’s depressed.”
I swore I could hear Aubrey roll her eyes.
I hated leaving Blue, but it was necessary when I wanted a little alone time with my woman. Her boys were both staying out at my dad’s place while they worked and learned the ropes. My mama liked having kids to feed and spoil again. I tried telling her twenty-three-year-olds weren’t kids, but she doted on them all the same. She even let them stay in my brother’s and my old bedrooms in the big house.
Mama had taken on the role of the twins’ granny pretty quick, and since Aubrey’s parents lived a few hours away, and their dad’s parents lived on the East Coast, Benji and Micah ate that shit up.
The things the boys did that drove Aubrey batty seemed to be the things my mama enjoyed about having them around. Although, she had someone on the payroll to clean up their dirty dishes and clothes. But my dad had already started turning them into cattlemen, and no self-respecting cowboy let other people pick up his shit. They’d learned quickly not to need a maid to follow after them with a broom and Lysol.
“If you think that’s best,” Aubrey said. “But then, I dunno what to do with this delivery that just arrived.”
“Delivery? What kinda delivery?”
“It’s from this boutique I found online that specializes in leather bras and corsets?—”
“I’m comin’ right now. Pun intended.”
Taunting me, she said, “But maybe I should just put it away for now. You’re busy.”
“Woman, did you not hear me? I’m leavin’ right now.”
In addition to Aubrey’s and my house, Brand had teams of guys on the property all summer, Monday through Friday every week, finishing Bax’s cabins, Abey and Devo’s house, and a house for his mama and youngest brother, Dixon. The dude was fast. He’d had all the permits ready to be submitted and the blueprints done before I’d even formally bought the farm. Aubrey was in the process of selling her house, so as soon as Brand and his crews finished building?—
“Bax! Watch out!”
Brand screamed at his brother, and I ran out of the barn and right into the problem on the west side of the building when I found Bax pinned between it, the metal fence gate, and my new bull.
Bax roared in pain and slid down the side of the barn as the animal trotted off in a huff.
I chased after him, yelling and threatening to turn him into steak, and herded him into a holding pen. Thankfully, Athena and I had finished fencing it off the day before. That goddamn bull was a menace. If all our bulls acted like this dick, then I’d made the wrong decision in choosing to cross Herefords with Red Angus. They were supposed to have docile temperaments!
My phone was still in my hand, and Aubrey’s voice coming through the speaker sounded worried. “Rye! Rye? What’s wrong?”
“Sorry, darlin’,” I said. “I’m gonna have to take a rain check. There’s a problem at the homestead. Bax just had a run-in with the new bull. Call you later.”
I hung up as Brand and I both rushed to Bax, whose ass had landed in a puddle of mud lovingly created by the two straight days of rain we’d just had. His face was drawn from the effort of holding back another wail, and his right leg didn’t look exactly straight anymore, but his voice was eerily calm.
Through clenched teeth, he said, “Think y’all may need to call an ambulance.”
“Can you move?” I asked.
“Nope. Pretty sure my leg’s broken. Heard the bone snap.”
Fuck.
Brand got on his phone, and I stayed with Bax. I tried my hardest to occupy his mind, but after two minutes of me reciting a list of did-you-knows about the benefits of cow and sheep shit as cover-crop fertilizer, he let loose his scream at me.
“Shut the fuck up, Rye! Jesus!”
“Sorry, man.”
Athena came running from the big balsam poplar tree she’d been playing under with Figaro, my new German shepherd, and the cats I’d picked up from the local shelter to live in the barn and catch mice. She’d named them Factoid, Deltoid, and Altoid.
At nearly fourteen years old, she was so much like her aunt Abey, never afraid to get dirty or work hard. She’d helped me fence in the barn and pastures. The kid could handle an earth auger and a post-hole digger better than Bax, and she’d already driven my new skid steer. She’d been teaching me how to feed and care for the two orphaned lambs I’d picked up at a livestock auction, and I was teaching her how to rope calves on a roping dummy I’d pilfered from my dad.
“Daddy, are you okay?” she said, sliding down next to Bax in the mud.
“Careful!” he yelped. “I’m sorry, Road Trip. I didn’t mean to yell. I think my leg is broken. Just don’t touch me, okay?”
The nickname Road Trip had made me laugh, but Bax said Athena was so busy, could never sit still longer than a couple minutes. “There she goes again on another road trip,” he’d say when she ran off on one of her many adventures.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“No, baby. I’m sorry. It hurts, that’s all. Just be careful.”
“Ambulance is on the way,” Brand said, shaking his phone in the air. He came to stand in front of his brother with his hands on his hips. “Well, this sucks a d—” He stopped himself before he said the word “dick” in front of Athena. “I’m gonna have to call Sweetie, ask her to come out here to keep an eye on things for me while I’m gone.”
“Sweetie?” Bax looked a little green. He lifted his not-broken leg, bent his knee, and leaned on it, trying to act normal in front of his kid, though, I was pretty sure he was a breath away from another scream. “Not that ball-buster foreman of yours?” He fluttered his hand around his head, like he was caressing imaginary hair. “With the long, dark?—”
“Fore woman ,” Brand said. “You don’t like her ’cause she beat your ass at poker, but yeah. She’s the best, and it doesn’t look like you’ll be available anymore. We’ve got multiple builds goin’ up. I can’t just leave ’em unsupervised while I’m in Sheridan for that ridiculous court case. Where will Mama, Abey, and Devo live this winter if I don’t get these houses done?”
“Uh, did you forget somebody?” I asked.
Brand waved me away with a swipe of his hand. “You don’t count. We can just keep you in the barn with the horses.”
That made Athena giggle, which I hoped had been Brand’s intention.
Bax groaned. “Fuck, this hurts. Shit, sorry, Athena. I didn’t mean to cuss.”
She rolled her eyes. “Please, Daddy. Like I haven’t heard worse. Want me to call Granny?”
“God, no.”
Brand snorted. “Not unless you want her to pray the pain away. Besides, she’s at that retreat with her new church.”
Bax glared at his brother. He tried hard to keep Athena sheltered from curse words and her granny’s search for the true word of God. Poor kid had been born to the wrong family if he wanted her to escape unscathed.
We heard the sound of tires on the dirt lane leading up to the barn, and we all breathed a little easier. I had just been about to say “that was fast,” but then Abey’s truck came tearing round the bend, lights flashing.
She parked and jumped out. “What happened? I heard the call on my radio that there was an accident. The ambulance is about five minutes out.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Bax accidentally got caught between a bull and a barn.”
“You idiot,” Abey said once she’d determined that everyone was alive. Even though she was the youngest of the Lee siblings, she looked down at her oldest brother, her eyes shaded by her brown sheriff’s hat, but her exasperation was plain to see. “You know better than that.”
Bax leaned his head back against the barn and closed his eyes, still trying to act like he wasn’t in a massive amount of pain, but I could see his pulse ticking quickly in the artery on the side of his neck. “That damn bull is sneaky. I swear he was across the pasture when I turned to get the wheelbarrow. I checked.”
“Mm-hm,” Brand said. “Sure you did.”
Bax scoffed. “He’s gonna taste good after I roast him on my grill.”
“Uh,” I said, jumping into their argument, “that bull is a prized breeder. You eat him, you owe me seven grand.”
Athena jumped up to hug her aunt. “Where’s Devo?”
“She’s at the community center today.”
Athena frowned. “Oh.”
“I’m on duty,” Abey said. “I was on this side of town when I heard the call. You’re lucky too, ’cause if I hadn’t come, it would’ve been Frank, and he would’ve thrown your dad over his shoulder and stuffed him in the back of his truck to get him to the hospital.”
Bax grimaced at the thought, and Athena sighed and sat by her dad again.
Abey laughed. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you love Devo more than you love me.”
Athena shrugged just as a female voice patched through on Abey’s radio.
“Sheriff? You on site? Where the hell is this place?”
Abey rolled her eyes and pulled the transmitter off her shoulder to respond. “I’m here, Sylvia. Did you take the turn I told you to, off old Fish Creek Road?”
“Yep.”
“Then just keep drivin’ till you see my truck.”
“10–4. Got an assessment for me?”
“It’s my brother, Bax. Looks like his leg might be broken. He’s immobile, in pain, and cranky, but breathin’ and talkin’.”
“Gotcha. Be there in two. I think.”
Abey clipped her radio back onto her shoulder. “Well, who the hell’s gonna run this place now?”
“Poor Bax,” Aubrey said as she busied herself in front of Bax’s kitchen counter, preparing meals for him and Athena. “They said it was a clean break though?”
“Yeah.” I leaned back to sneak a peek through the kitchen door to check on Bax in his living room, where he’d passed out on his couch in a pain-medicine haze as soon as we got him home from the hospital, but my hands never left Aubrey’s hips.
I held my woman tight. Sometimes, I found it hard to believe she really was mine.
Letting go with one hand, I swiped her hair over her shoulder and whispered my lips over her neck. “He thinks the bull pushed against the gate hard enough so it clipped him at the perfect angle to snap the bone. They had to patch him up with a metal rod inside his leg. He’ll probably be cryin’ for a few days, but he’ll live.”
Aubrey loved my hands on her. When I thought she’d had enough and needed space, I’d pull away, but she’d grab me and guide my hands back to her body. She never got enough of my worship, and good thing, ’cause I had a lot of it to give.
“Well, I made them some turkey and veggie soup, and I separated it into containers so Athena can just pop it into the microwave and zap it. Lasagna’s next.”
Stepping closer, my chest touched her back. Her warmth made me smile, and I had just been about to slip a hand between her thighs when I heard Brand out on the front porch.
“Somebody say lasagna?” he asked when he kicked the kitchen door open with his boot, holding his open laptop.
A female voice sounded from the speaker. “Jeez. Are you ever not thinkin’ about food?”
“Can it, Sweetie.”
“Don’t call me that,” Sweetie growled through the computer. “My name is Bea. You know this. Fuckin’ use my name, man.”
Aubrey whispered, “It won’t be ready for dinner tonight, but y’all can bake it tomorrow.”
Brand gave her a thumbs-up and whispered back, “Thank you.” To Sweetie he said, “Yeah, but if I use your name, you don’t get mad, and makin’ you mad is the highlight of my day. So when are you gettin’ here?”
“Whatever. I’ll be there in a few days. I’ve got some stuff to finish up before I leave, but you don’t have to be back in Sheridan till Monday, right?”
“Right, but if everything here is good, I’ll probably head back Friday so I’ve got the weekend to get ready. Maybe Thursday if the lawyers need me early.”
Sweetie scoffed. I caught a glimpse of her on Brand’s screen just as she rolled her eyes and yanked her hair up, then tied it with an elastic band so it sat atop her head like some kind of black-brown fountain. From the little of her I could see, the woman looked fit. I’d assumed she was more of an “office” forewoman, but it seemed clear she did plenty of the physical labor for Lee Construction.
“They don’t think this douche can actually win his case, do they?” she said. “I still can’t believe we’re in this mess. I literally watched that asshole throw himself off the second floor of our build. He did it hopin’ for a payout. You better not let him get one.”
“The lawyers are confident,” Brand said. “They’re pretty sure they can prove he injured himself on purpose, but we gotta go through the whole rigmarole. Besides, this is why I pay for liability insurance and worker’s comp. I feel bad for the guy’s wife, though. She seems like a cool lady. I doubt she planned on her husband bein’ such a mooch.
“Anyway, one of the cabins is mostly finished, so I’ll recruit my niece and we’ll get it ready for you, and I’ll make sure you have Abey’s and Rye’s numbers in case anything goes wrong and you can’t get ahold of me.”
“Good deal,” Sweetie said. “I’m pretty stoked I get a free vacation.”
Now Brand snorted. “Vacation? You’ll work harder here than you ever have in Sheridan.”
“Hey! Where’s everybody at?” Bax called from the living room in a groggy voice.
“Kitchen,” I answered. I couldn’t help myself. I turned Aubrey and planted a kiss on her lips.
“Get a room,” Brand said, and Aubrey blushed. I felt the heat from her cheeks warm mine, but she didn’t stop kissing me. She reached up on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around my neck, careful not to touch me ’cause her hands were covered in tomato sauce.
Bax whined, “Somebody come help me. I gotta take a piss.”
Brand laughed. “I’ll bring you a bucket.”
“I ain’t pissin’ in a bucket!”
“Empty beer bottle?” I offered between kisses.
“Guys, c’mon!”
Aubrey laughed and moved out of my embrace, and Brand grinned at me.
“Just like old times?” he said.
“Oh yeah.”
Aubrey and I followed Brand as he carried his laptop into the living room and handed it to Athena, who’d just plopped down on the couch next to her dad when she heard him bellyaching.
She studied the little box on the screen with Sweetie’s face in it. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Sweetie said. “Is Bax your dad?”
“Yep.”
Bax peered over Athena’s shoulder and groaned when he saw his brother’s forewoman.
“You look like sh—crap,” Sweetie said to Bax.
“You’re really pretty,” Athena told Sweetie. “Why does Uncle Brand call you Sweetie?”
Sweetie didn’t respond to Athena’s compliment. There was an awkward pause, but she collected herself. “Because he’s dumb. My name is Bea.”
“Bee, like buzz buzz?” Athena asked. “That’s weirder than Sweetie.”
“No, B-E-A as in Beatrice Baker.”
“BB,” Athena said. “But I still don’t get why they call you Sweetie.”
“Because I’m not sweet, but your uncle thinks it’s funny.”
“Why aren’t you sweet?”
“Because I don’t let whiny men off the hook.”
“Huh?”
“She’s a battle axe,” Bax said, “and she’s mean.”
Sweetie’s bark of indignation echoed out of the computer. “Ha!”
Athena rolled her eyes. “Y’all make no sense. I’m more confused now than I was when we started this conversation.”
“Never mind,” Brand said. “Sweetie, I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Fine,” she replied, and we heard the little beep when she closed out the video call.
Bax’s leg had been wrapped groin to ankle in an unbendable brace. The doctors wouldn’t cast it until the stitches above his knee came out, so Brand and I converged on Bax. We both held out a hand, he pulled himself up onto one foot, and then we lifted and carried him toward his downstairs bathroom like the time he’d rolled his ankle on the football field and we had to lug his ass to the Wisper High locker room.
“If Sweetie’s stayin’ here,” Bax said, “you better tell that woman I got me a deck of cards with her name on it. I’m gonna whip her ass.”
“Yeah, that’s the pain pills talkin’,” Brand said under his breath, grunting under his brother’s weight. “Although, maybe if it’s strip poker…”