“You know, I never met your mother, but my son once told me that you only need to be in her presence for a few seconds to know she was special. And if it's okay to say, I think she would be very proud of you. And not for your handling of this situation, but for how you are with this ranch. This is who you are to your core. And I get to manage an entire team of people for whom ranching and raising horses is who they are to their core. And it makes me grateful and proud to be part of this family.”
Trip looks me in the eye, his cheeks turning slightly pink. “Thank you for saying so. It means a lot coming from the man who raised Sparrow.” He clears his throat and rises to his feet. “Well, with that squared away, we’ve got a ranch to run.”
I stand and reach across the table, grasping his hand in mine. “Let’s get started.”
26
WARWICK
Well, shit.
What was supposed to be a little pop-up pool party with me, my guys, Sam and Trip, ended up being a wholething. Sam told Desi, Desi told Wyatt, and then Joaquin wanted Sparrow and Luke to come over.
That was all well and good, but then Trip got a text from the Bash family next door. Apparently, they saw all the cars gathered and wondered if we wanted a couple of gallons of Anja’s sangria. Turns out they were having a dinner party to celebrate an anniversary or something, and just like that, there were a couple dozen people around the pool.
Nobody—and this includes me—complains when the twins show up wearing matching tiny green Speedos.
In a small-world sort of situation, it turns out that Luke and Sparrow know the gigantic wall of human called Thane. He volunteers at the gym they go to, and Thane’s married to Sam's friend, Ronan. Again, no complaints from this side of the pool.
Anyway. I need a map and maybe some hieroglyphs to understand all the family connections, but I suppose the most important part is that I’m in the pool flanked by Joaquin and Colt. The two other parts of my soul.
I know, I know. Puke City.
I would have been the first to make fun of my ass for believing that, but now I know better. Also, I’ve been drinking and officially don’t give a shit about anything, save for the fact that when the guy married to the long-haired twin…Omar, maybe? Anyway, when he shifts to the left, I get an eyeful of his hairy nut sack, and the world seems like a better place for it.
The three of us get a few surprised looks as people begin to put together our little triad, but not as many as I’d have guessed. And surprise or not, what we are receiving is a lot of support. People seem to love that we’re in love, which settles some of the lingering doubts I’ve had about going public.
Oops, the long-haired one—Anders—just caught me looking at his husband’s nuts. Omar rolls his eyes and adjusts his shorts, and I give them my sad panda face. They laugh at me, unmoved.
Joaquin smacks the back of my head. “You were too obvious.”
Colt, almost as drunk as me, bobs his head in agreement. “Ruined the view for all of us is what you just did.”
Before I can defend my honor, Desi swims up to us in his customary scrap of swimwear, beautifully flushed. Gotta say, the wedding ring on his hand looks good.
“You know, my sister would've been tickled by the three of you. She would've invited herself over to your little love shack all the time.”
“Truly?” Joaquin asks as Colt kisses his neck.
I nod in agreement with Dez. “Absolutely. She would've come up with a nickname for us, and it would've been insufferable. And you would've fallen just as much in love with her as—” I cut myself off. No need to go into that now.
Colt hugs me from behind. “As much as you loved her. I know we would've. I'm sad I didn't get to meet her.”
Desi smiles. “I agree one hundred percent. By the way, we were bringing out some stuff Wyatt had stored in the attic, and we found an early photograph that Sparrow took of Renée. It was a little cracked and faded, so I had a friend do some restoration work on it.”
“Really?” Huh. Somewhere along the line, I’d stopped thinking about what Renée looked like when she was healthy.
“I printed up the digitals and had them framed.”
I swallow hard. “Did you bring it?”
Desi nods. “We got here a little early so we could show it to Trip.”
“How’d he react?” I ask, knowing that, even if it was the worst picture of her in the world, I’d have teared up.
“He got pretty emotional, and so did Sam. But as soon as he saw it, Sam immediately knew where it should go.”
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of her,” Colt says, scratching his beard.
