He’d gotten his kid brother out of bed on purpose to see if he’d respond to an early morning text and agree to come down to the barn for a chat. If he was as ripe for a challenge as Auntie Kat had said, he’d make the effort.
He’d arrived in record time, a very good sign. He’d been groggy at first but once he’d heard the proposition, he’d become excited, even emotional, about the idea. He’d promised to work his ass off to become, in his words, an assistant horse whisperer.
But Rio didn’t say all that now. His announcement was more straightforward. “Luis is giving me a shot at becoming his assistant.”
“No shit.” Monty sounded incredulous. “I mean, I’m sure you can?—”
“No, you’re not.” Rio’s matter-of-fact response wasn’t the least bit defensive. “I’ll bet Zay feels the same as you. I’m the last person you’d think of for that job.”
Zay cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t say that, but?—”
“Look, he shocked the hell out of me, too. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Maybe it won’t work out. But I think it will.”
Luis decided some embellishment was in order. “You two will be interested to hear that when I texted him at five a.m. he got out of bed and came down to the barn without asking questions.”
Zay whistled in surprise. “That’s amazing. I wouldn’t have.”
“Me, either.” Monty laughed. “Unless a horse was in trouble I would have had several questions.”
“But see, I knew he wouldn’t text me at that hour if it wasn’t important. And it was.”
“I apologize for my initial reaction.” Monty grimaced. “Not cool.”
“No worries. It’s just that everybody has their thing. Adam works with Mom on ranch stuff, Mila and Claudie have H&H, Greta’s opening a coffee shop in the bookstore, you’re a vet, Zay has his artwork. This could be my thing.”
Luis felt Jordan’s gaze on him. He glanced over at her but couldn’t read her expression. Had she guessed this had something to do with her? If so, she’d be right.
He’d had two reasons for acting immediately on last night’s suggestion from Auntie Kat. The timing was ideal. The wild horse barn was currently empty, which meant he and Rio could start fresh next week with a new set of two or three recruits.
But his other reason was all about Jordan. Despite what he’d said to Auntie Kat, he’d harbored a fantasy that ultimately she’d agree to take that job. This morning he’d deep-sixed his impossible dream by offering it to Rio.
As they reached the outskirts of town, conversation in the back seat turned to who from Rowdy Ranch would be at the bookstore when they arrived.
“I can’t wait to meet Kieran’s Irish granny,” Rio said. “Kieran says she says more Irish stuff than he does, and he cracks me up with those sayings of his.”
“I’m looking forward to the McLintock grandkids.” Monty laughed. “Can you picture how they’ll react to the second floor? I would have loved it when I was a kid, especially the tunnel and the revolving bookshelves.”
“Hell, I love it now,” Zay said. “I’m going through that tunnel and you can’t stop me.”
“There’s a tunnel on the second floor?” Jordan glanced over her shoulder.
“Oh, right,” Monty said. “I keep forgetting you haven’t seen any of it. The second floor is all books and stuff for kids. Stuffed animals and puppets?—”
“Don’t forget the puppet theater,” Zay broke in. “There’s bean bag chairs and several child-sized rockers, and an entire wall is painted with chalkboard paint so they can draw on it.”
“And it feels right that the upstairs is for kids.” Rio leaned forward again. “I don’t know if Luis has told you, but we used to play up there when we were little.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Wait’ll you see it. There are four bedrooms and now there’s a tunnel between the two on the right side of the hall and a revolving bookshelf between the two on the left.”
“Wow. I might have to crawl through that tunnel myself. And draw on the chalkboard.”
“Yeah, the chalkboard’s my idea,” Zay said, “but Adam gets credit for the tunnel. That was genius. Angie came up with the revolving bookcase.”
Jordan turned toward the backseat. “Who’s Angie?”
“The head of the crew that did the renovations. Also Desiree McLintock’s only daughter.”
