Hayes took my hand and led me to an empty seat, then settled beside me. I was so pleased with how I was absorbed into this huge family. They welcomed me as one of them, the first barbecue because I worked on the ranch, this time because they thought I belonged to Hayes.
Maybe I did. The more time I was with him, the more I thought that maybe, just maybe, it would work out between us.
“You okay?” Hayes asked, whispering in my ear. He held a hamburger in his hands.
I looked at him. This close, his blue eyes sparkled. His face was clean shaven, his hair still long and untamed. I couldn’t help but smile.
“I am. I… feel like I belong.”
He grinned. “That’s because you do." He reached out, swiped his thumb over my lip. “Mustard.” Then sucked on his finger.
“–down near Cheyenne. It’s a huge spread,” Mike said. I’d missed the first half of it.
“Think your parents will come up to visit this summer?” Mrs. Wilder asked him. She’d handed off Clarabel and had baby Sage on her lap, using her free hand to eat.
Everyone was quiet, eating and listening. A baby gurgled.
“In a few weeks for the fair.”
“Grady, I saw your father at the Feed and Seed last week,” Mr. Wilder commented.
“He said he ran into you. My Gran said she’d love to drop by some of her huckleberry jam.”
“My favorite. She’s welcome anytime,” Mrs. Wilder said, then looked at me. “What about you, Cassidy? Would your family like to join us for the next barbecue?”
I swallowed the bit of potato salad I’d been chewing. Most people looked my way, others had their eyes on a baby or their plate.
I panicked. Shit. Shit! Hayes tapped my thigh under the table.
“Oh, um. No. I don’t really think–”
“You said you grew up around here, isn’t that right? You’re younger than this huge bunch, but I’m sure I’d know your family,” Mr. Wilder said. He passed a bowl of macaroni salad down the table when Lainey asked for it.
“I, um, lived in Devil’s Ditch when I was little, then my parents divorced. I moved to Denver with my mother, then went to boarding school after she died. So I doubt you’d have known me.”
“Ma and Pops know everyone,” Trig said, eyeing baby Sage in his mother’s lap.
“I’m sorry to hear she passed away,” Mrs. Wilder said. “But your family is still here?”
“Yes. My father and two older brothers.”
“Your last name’s Cove? I don’t know any Coves.”
Colt was sitting across from me. He’d been shoveling food in like he was a bear preparing to hibernate for the winter, but now his fork was still. His dark eyes were on me and I felt seen. Too seen.
I squirmed beside Hayes, then tucked my hands between my thighs so no one saw them shaking.
“That Jell-O is really good,” I said, although I had none on my plate.
“How old are your brothers?” Colt asked.
I took a sip from my can of soda, then said, “Um, twenty-one and twenty-four.”
His gaze narrowed fractionally.
“Dude, why are you staring at my girl like that?” Hayes asked Colt.
“I think you might want to ask Cassidy that.”
