“I’ll be able to recoup any lost business by using half the alcohol he did.”
She grinned and gave me another side hug. “Thank you for coming.” She gave Teller a pat on the shoulder. “You too.”
He stood and gave her a hug. “Keep making my brother crawl out of his hermit shell.”
“Only on the days I don’t want to be curled in there with him,” she said.
When she was gone, Teller squeezed my hand. “You wait here.”
He helped Tate and Gideon move tables. Myles and Tate fiddled with a set of speakers with Chance.
Tate clapped his hands together and the shop fell quiet. “As the oldest Bailey, I told my siblings that I get to introduce the new couple. Tenor—you might cast a shadow over me, but you’ll always be my little brother. And, Ruby? I can’t imagine a better employee turned sister.” Everyone laughed. “Alone, you are each amazing individuals. Caring, hardworking, and smart as hell. Together, you make each other even better. An impossible task, in my humble opinion, but you do it.” He lifted a tumbler with Solemn Summit, the only bourbon available tonight. “To Tenor and Ruby. May forever be too soon.”
I lifted my glass with the others.
Teller tinked his glass against mine. “To the sale,” he said only loud enough for me to hear.
“To the sale.” Should it go through.
“Like she did for the rest of us,” Tate continued, “Junie wrote a special song just for the couple.”
He nodded toward Chance, the DJ for the night. A slow country melody carried through the speakers. Tenor took Ruby’s hand and twirled her into him. She curled into his chest and he bent over her. Their sister’s voice carried through the shop, sweet and bright and pure. The tenderness made my chest tight. Teller stroked my shoulder.
Once the song was done and another sweet but slow country tune poured through, Teller grabbed my hand. Tate was pulling Scarlett to the dance floor. All the couples were breaking. Kids were running the perimeter or spinning on the dance floor.
I was in Teller’s arms, just like I’d been at his house. His movements were so easy that I forgot I could barely dance. We wove through the other couples. My world was centered on Teller, but I was also a part of this night, a part of these people. Maybe there was a place in Bourbon Canyon for me after all.
Teller
Stars scattered across the sky like one of my nieces had taken a handful of glitter and blown into it. My headlights cut through the night and bounced off trees. Before my driveway, I pulled to a stop.
Madison frowned out the window. There was a small clearing out her side leading to the gate in the fence. We didn’t often need this end of the pasture, but if the cattle got out, we wouldn’t have to drive them down the road and around the trees to the valley.
I killed the engine. The headlights would stay on for a few minutes. “Wait here.”
I jogged around the pickup. The smell of impending rain hung in the air, but there was no lightning.
I opened her door, and I held a hand out. “My lady.”
She laughed. “What are you doing?” She slid her warm fingers into my palm and got out of the pickup, smoothing her dress down.
“Taking my girl dancing under the stars.” I tugged her to me just like we’d been on the dance floor. “Not sure what else to get a millionaire.”
She looked away. “It’s not really my money. I’m the executor of it.”
“You can do more than be the executor.” When the headlights lit the crease in her forehead, I placed a kiss in the middle of it. “I’m not going to pressure you. Just give you something to think about.”
Her identity was being a Townsend, and that wouldn’t change overnight. Her family had shrunk her world so small, she saw no way out, even when presented with millions of dollars.
I didn’t bother with the radio. I did a slow side to side with no other music than what the night had to offer. Crickets and frogs sang around us, and she laid her head on my chest, her arms hooked around me.
“Today was wonderful,” she said. “I keep feeling like I’m going to wake up back in Missoula, working nights and wondering if my husband has toworklateagain.”
“Tomorrow, you’re going to wake up in Bourbon Canyon, and you’ll still be working nights, but I’ll be working late with you.”
“Full circle.”
“But it’ll be different for you.”
