Chapter 16 - Lennon
SIXTEEN
LENNON
“I think we should take them out to Grizzly River,” Devlin says as the four of us sit in the living room at Dark Skies. “At least there, we’ll all be together, and Lord knows we’re gonna have to be there anyway.”
I’m listening to Devlin and Carson talk about how they want to handle the next couple of days while we might be having weather. Atlee turns to me, raising her eyebrows.
“Sounds like this is going to be way different from what we dealt with in town.”
“Yeah, no shit.” I laugh, trying to pay attention as Carson and Devlin volley sentences back and forth to each other.
Shawn left a little while ago, and no matter what happens in the next few days, I’m prepared.
I have a lot to work on, and if I’m being honest, I’ll relish the time if we’re snowed in.
It’ll give me an excuse to stay holed up, and I’m kind of looking forward to it being with Carson, our families, and our friends.
“So y’all go pack a couple of bags. We’re gonna head over there now,” Carson says. “That way we’ll be there as this all starts.”
Devlin holds his phone up. “Jesse said bring over what food we have. They’re sending Cookie home, but with the extra mouths, we’re gonna need the food.”
Now that we all have a job for the plan that’s in place, we all head to our separate parts of the house and get going.
An hour and a half later, I’m sitting in the passenger seat of Carson’s truck. Devlin and Atlee are behind us as we caravan to Grizzly River.
“Is it bad that I’m kind of excited about this?”
“No.” He shakes his head, a boyish grin on his face. “It’s always kind of exciting for me too. I love snow, even if it’s the dangerous kind. Getting out in the elements? It’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s how we learned to take care of animals and ourselves when we were kids.”
I turn in my seat to look at him, watching the way his hands sit easily on the wheel, comfortable the way he always is behind the wheel of this truck. “Tell me about that. When you were kids, and the snow came.”
He glances over at me, something warm moving through his expression.
“Jesse was always the one in charge. Even then. He’d have us up before Mom and Dad sometimes, already checking on the horses, making sure the water lines hadn’t frozen.
Devlin hated it.” He laughs, low and deep.
The sound causes goose bumps to pop out on my arms. “He’d be out there complaining the whole time, but he never once didn’t show up. ”
“And you?” I ask because I need to know about this man I’m starting to really care for.
“I loved it.” He grins as if it’s really just that easy. And maybe it is. Maybe we all complicate everything too much. “Still do.”
I face forward again, watching the landscape roll past the window.
The sky has that heavy look to it, as if it’s completely full of moisture and it’s ready to come down on us.
The clouds are sitting low, and the air, even from inside the cab of the truck, feels like it’s calmed down just to gather its strength to really get going.
“I’ve never ridden out a real storm with other people besides my sister before,” I say. “With Atlee, it was always just the two of us, and we’d lose power sometimes and just pile onto the couch under every blanket we owned.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It wasn’t.” I smile a little at the memory. Back then, I’d been so worried about us freezing because our parents didn’t care. Looking back now, though, I can see we did just fine. “But this is different.”
“Different good or different bad?”
I think about it for a second. “Different good. Definitely different good.”
He reaches over and finds my hand on my knee, covering it with his without taking his eyes off the road. I turn my hand over and lace my fingers through his, and we ride the rest of the way to Grizzly River like that, while the clouds roll in overhead.
Grizzly River Ranch is something else. I’ve been here before, briefly, but pulling through the gate with a storm rolling in gives it a different feeling entirely.
The main house is big and looks like it’s weathered a few of these in the past. The barns are lit from the inside, and I can see a couple of ranch hands moving between them, finishing up whatever needs doing before the weather hits.
Carson barely has the truck in park before the front door swings open and Aubree comes down the porch steps at a pace that’s just short of running. I’m out of the truck fast enough to meet her, and she wraps both arms around me and squeezes hard.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she says into my shoulder.
“Me too.” I hug her back just as tightly. Aubree makes you feel like you’ve known her longer than you actually have. It’s the first thing I noticed when I met her.
She pulls back and holds me at arm’s length, looking me over the way a person does when they’ve been worried but didn’t want to say so. “You doing okay?”
“Getting there,” I tell her, and she seems to accept that for what it is.
Behind me, I can hear the truck doors closing as Devlin and Atlee pull up alongside us. Jesse has come out onto the porch now, and he comes down the steps like he has all the damn time in the world. He heads to the guys and stands in front of them, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Glad you made it before it starts dumping,” Jesse says.
“Wasn’t gonna miss it.” Carson grins. “When’s the last time all three of us rode out a storm together?”
Jesse thinks about it. “That bad one, what? Six years ago? When we lost the section of fence on the east pasture.”
“Devlin cried.” Carson laughs, tagging Devlin on the chest.
“I did not cry,” Devlin says, throwing him a glare. “I was emotional about the fence.”
Jesse laughs as Devlin grabs Carson by the neck. “Same thing.” He looks over at Atlee, and his expression shifts friendlier. “We’re glad for y’all to be here.”
“I’m happy to be here,” she says, and I can tell she means it.
Nora and Truett appear in the doorway then, and Truett holds the door open while Nora comes down to join the group.
“We’ve got rooms set up,” she says, cutting straight to the practical, which I appreciate. “And Truett already started sauce, so we figured spaghetti for lunch while we wait.”
“Best thing I’ve heard all day,” Devlin says, already heading for the door. “I’m starving.”
The kitchen at Grizzly River is big enough to hold all of us without anyone getting in each other’s way, which is saying something. It’s the biggest kitchen I’ve ever been in. Truett’s sauce has been going long enough that it fills the whole room like it’s an Italian restaurant.
We separate all the tasks so that everything can get done.
Aubree and I end up side by side at the counter, buttering bread and putting garlic on it while Nora handles the pasta and Atlee sets the long table in the dining room.
The men are in and out, checking their phones, looking out windows, like they’re fucking soldiers ready to go to war.
“He checks the weather app every four minutes,” Aubree says quietly, nodding toward Jesse without looking up from the bread.
“Does he know you’ve counted?”
“He does not.” She smiles, wrinkling her nose.
I laugh, and it feels good. Better than a lot of things have felt lately.
Lunch ends up being loud and warm and exactly what I didn’t know I needed—all seven of us around that big table, passing the bread, arguing about whether the sauce needed more garlic, Devlin eating two full plates before anyone else had finished their first. Carson sits beside me, and every so often, his knee finds mine under the table, just resting there.
The touch is everything I’ve always wanted, but never really knew I needed.
By the time we’re cleaning up, the first flakes have started coming down outside. Not heavy yet, just the beginning of it, the kind that drifts more than it falls. Everyone crowds the kitchen window for a minute like we’re all twelve years old, and then Jesse sighs.
“We probably need to go check everything out there. Make sure we’re ready. That barometric pressure will make these cows go into labor.”
The guys groan, but grab their jackets and get ready to go outside.
While the others settle into the living room or follow the men out to the barn, I slip away down the hall.
I’d noticed it earlier when Nora was showing us around, a small room off the back of the house that looked like it had been used as a ranch office at some point and then mostly abandoned.
There’s a desk, a decent chair, and an outlet. That’s all I need.
I set up my laptop and spread out the notes Shawn left me with, plus everything I’ve been compiling on my own over the past few weeks.
I sit down with everything in front of me.
A bunch of printed pages, handwritten notes, a legal pad with a timeline I’ve been building, and I’m still unsure of what that timeline will reveal.
I’ve arranged it the best way for me to see everything, in the way I learn.
Looking outside, I’m excited. The snow is coming down harder now. I can see it through the single window above the desk, the flakes thick and steady, coating the fence rails and the dark soil of the paddock beyond. It’s quiet back here, away from the noise of the living room, away from everyone.
I open a new document, pull my legal pad in front of me, and get to work.
Whatever Reagan thinks he’s buried, I’m going to find it. I’ve got nowhere to be, a storm locking me in, and something that feels a lot like purpose settling into my chest.
I’ve been fighting my own battles my whole life. This one’s no different, except it’s for a wife and child who can’t fight for themselves.