Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Tate wrapped both hands around his mug. It wasn’t his first cup.
That one he’d drunk in the dark, looking out at the property.
His parents had left the whole place in his hands when they retired, bought an RV, and set off to see the country.
They turned up here and there. The rest of the time the family was Tate’s.
It wasn’t terrible. The house was big enough for him and all four of his siblings to stay where they’d grown up.
No one had moved into their parents’ room because that was just weird.
Tate and his twin had started a business shortly after graduating from high school where they trained children and adults to compete in the rodeo.
His life was good. A house, a job he’d built, and a family that stuck together.
What more could a man want?
Apparently, everyone around him had their own answers. His younger sister included.
Faith had found the love of her life and married him, and none of it had stopped her treating this house as hers. Tate didn’t mind. It was good to have her coming and going as though nothing had changed.
Because Heaven knew things around here were changing far too much for comfort. All his friends were getting married and having kids while he felt stuck.
Maybe that wasn’t the best way to describe it.
His reasons for being stuck were no one’s fault but his own.
And while he didn’t have any regrets on the matter, he couldn’t help but feel like there was a shift in the atmosphere.
Something was coming. He didn’t know what, but there was a definite change on the horizon, and he wished he could tell if it was good or bad.
Jason charged in.
That was different.
Jason was the calm one. The twin who took a room in from the edge of it and went off on his own when he needed his head clear. Nothing rattled him, and he’d never once needed to say so.
His twin slammed a crinkled flyer onto the table, his palm cracking the air with the sound. “Did you see this?”
Tate arched a brow and brought his eyes down from his brother’s face to the paper. A notice for a town hearing. A plot of land, up for rezoning.
Tate reached for it. Jason stayed planted by the table with his fists on his hips, and there was heat coming off him. Jason didn’t run hot over much. Whatever was on that paper had earned it.
There it was.
The map put the parcel hard against near a third of the Dennison property. He brought it up closer and read. “A developer’s buying the land next to us.”
“So, you didn’t know?”
Tate cut his brother a look. Jason angry was rare enough to mark on a calendar, and here it was.
“It’ll be fine, Jase. It’s a meeting. They’ll put it to a vote and it won’t pass.
People try this on towns like ours all the time, figuring there’s money in what we’ve got for free.
I’d bet that developer has a picture in his head of a country club where folks pay to pretend to be a cowboy but in luxury with a spa and a gourmet chef. ”
Jason went still. “I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I. And neither will anyone in town. You know them just as well as I do. Remember when those sisters moved back from California? Up at Twisted Rivers Ranch? They weren’t even going to build anything up there.
They just wanted to live here, and the people had their pitchforks ready to run them out of town. ”
Jason rubbed his thumb across his lower lip. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“You know I’m right. It’ll be fine. But if it makes you feel any better, we can go to the meeting. See what it’s all about. That’s what these things are for.”
His brother nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He blew out a breath as if he’d been holding it this whole time.
Then he pulled out a kitchen chair and slumped into it.
They were near spitting images of one another, but Jason cared more about grooming.
Both had brown hair and rich brown eyes.
Tate sported scruff on his jaw. Jason kept his clean-shaven, squared away enough that he looked like he visited the barber quite often.
Even their builds were similar. It was a wonder the people in town could tell them apart when Tate bothered to put gel in his hair and shave.
A hat was going to cover whatever he did to his hair, so he’d stopped doing anything to it.
“You hear about the Black property?” Jason said it to his coffee.
Tate huffed. “You’re a treasure trove this morning, aren’t you?”
“Can’t help it. I was at Salon 406.” He winced. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. Christine must have seen me coming up the sidewalk and she pulled me inside.”
Biting back a laugh, Tate lifted his mug to his lips again. “I bet you got all the dirt on what’s happening in town, huh? This whole developer fiasco. And now the Black property? What’s going on there? Someone finally moving in?”
Jason sighed. “Nobody knows. There’s no record of a sale. Just a crew out there the other day. Cleaners, I think.”
Tate nodded. “Makes sense. I’ve only ever seen a few maintenance people out there every so often. It probably needed a good cleaning. Did you know it’s still furnished?”
“News to me.”
“Yeah, I went over there to check it out after we graduated from high school. It’s eerie.”
“You ever think of her?” Jason whispered so low, Tate almost didn’t hear him.
“Who?”
“Rylee.”
And just like that, Tate was swarmed with a memory.
“I’m going to marry you one day, Tater.”
Tate scrunched up his nose. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am. Dad says I have to marry my best friend.”
“You’re not my best friend. Jason’s my best friend.”
“Then I’ll marry you both.”
“You can’t do that,” Jason said. “You only get to marry one person. That’s the rules.”
Tate hadn’t thought about the little girl from his childhood in ages.
At one point in his life, the daughter of the farmer next door had been a daily nuisance.
She’d followed him and Jason around everywhere.
She’d even figured out how to climb the tree to get into their treehouse without the ladder.
He’d hated it.
Until he didn’t.
It turned out she was nothing like his sisters or the other girls in town. She wasn’t scared of getting dirty or touching bugs. She was a fast runner and she didn’t cry when she fell down and scraped her knee.
And the day the class bully leaned on Jason over a snack, it was Rylee who punched him in the nose. Tate got there in time to see to it the boy didn’t try again. Rylee and Tate were suspended for a day. The bully got a week.
“Tate?”
He jolted and glanced back to his brother. “What?”
His twin was looking at him with an idea of what he’d been thinking about. Or who. They hadn’t talked about Rylee much after she left. She’d been a friend and then she’d been gone, and they’d both got on with it.
Now, he wondered what happened with her.
“Do you think it’s hers?” Jason finally broke the silence.
Tate considered it for a moment. “Doubtful. Why would she come back after all these years. Besides, her father passed away. That’s why she moved.
Would you want to come back to those kinds of memories?
” He knew he shouldn’t have asked. Before he’d let the whole question free, he already knew the answer.
“Yes.” Jason didn’t have to think about it. “I like the connection I have to my family.”
Figured. “Regardless, it’s been fifteen years. Whoever is moving in—”
“Whoever is moving in, where?” Lydia came into the kitchen and went straight for the refrigerator. She was the sister nearest Jason in age and near enough as level-headed as Faith, except about men. She fell fast and she fell hard.
Tate cut his brother a look while Lydia’s head was in the refrigerator. Jason missed it.
“The old Black farm. There were a few people out there cleaning it up.”
“Wasn’t there a kid you guys used to play with over there?”
“Yeah. But Tate doesn’t think it’s her. Could be someone new.”
Tate dragged a hand down his face. Lydia didn’t need to know any of this. Technically, it shouldn’t matter but if some new bachelor moved in, she would be the first to head over there and stake her claim.
As expected, Lydia perked up. “We should take them something. A housewarming gift. I can make cookies.”
Tate shot his brother a dark look. Jason shrugged. “I’ve got work to do, and so do you.” He held Jason’s eye until it landed. “We’ve got new clients coming for a lesson and we need to check in with Brent. He’s had enough time off since the wedding.”
Jason took that. Then he glanced at the flyer on the table and swiped it. In seconds it was crumpled and tossed in the garbage. “Do you think Brent will want to take on some clients of his own?” Jason asked as they exited the house.
Tate glanced at him. “I don’t know. I suppose he might. He’s always been good with the younger group.”
“Yeah, I thought so too. It’d be good for him, right?”
“Sure, and I suppose we could fill the gaps with older clients. Jacob said that even seasoned rodeo competitors would benefit from working with us. We have all the equipment.”
Jason went quiet. It wasn’t unusual for him to mull an idea over before he spoke about it, but for some reason this felt different. When Tate looked over at him again, he got the distinct feeling that Jason wasn’t saying something that needed to be voiced.
Tate stopped and faced Jason fully, hands on his hips. “Something you want to say?”
Jason shook his head. “No. I’m good.”
“Really? Or are you just saying that so you can get me off your back?”
His twin scratched the back of his neck. “No. I’m good. Promise.”
Tate searched his face. Getting Jason to say a thing before he was ready had never once worked, and Tate had a lifetime of attempts on the record. “You know you can talk to me, right? Same as I know I can talk to you.”
Jason nodded. “Yeah.”
He meant it, too. That was the trouble with his brother. Jason would answer any question you put to him, honestly, all day long, and never once tell you what you hadn’t thought to ask.