“Really?” Hunter pulled open the glass door and cocked his eyebrows. “If you didn’t mean to be late to dinner, you’d be on time. If you didn’t mean to cause us grief over your girlfriend, you’d break up with her. If you wanted your mother to worry less, you’d feed the chickens, pick up Lisa and Charlotte on time, and clean out the stalls you’re being paid to clean out.”
Ryder glared at him now, and he’d just started past Hunter when Tucker called, “Hey-o, boys.”
Hunt grinned at his younger brother. “Hey, you.” He laughed as he detoured over to Tucker and hauled him into a hug. “You live so far away, and I feel like I haven’t seen you in so long.”
Tucker laughed too, and he hugged Hunter hard. He possessed all of their daddy’s height, just like Hunter, and they grinned at one another as they parted. “We’ve been really busy with that agricultural specialist we hired. She’s got us doing all kinds of soil tests and water purification.”
He looked over to Ryder and hugged him too. “Hey, buddy. You’re not in school today?” Tuck stepped back and looked at Hunter.
“He has three weeks of school left, and apparently, none of it is important.” Hunter shot Ryder a look, who smartly kept his mouth closed.
“Jane’s inside,” Tucker said. “Deac texted to say he was running a minute or two late.”
Hunter nodded, then turned and led the way into The Burger Babe. Sure enough, he found Jane holding down a big corner booth by herself. She sat on the very end of it, and she glanced up as if sensing her brothers’ arrival.
They’d met for a late lunch, so the place wasn’t terribly busy. Hunter suspected he had about fifteen seconds before Hillie would be out front, causing a fuss over him, so he leaned against the half-wall and called to Jane. “Did you order?”
“Sure did,” she called back.
Hunter lifted his hand in a wave and continued toward the ordering kiosk. He’d just tapped when he heard Hillie’s laughter.
“Look at you, young man,” she drawled, and Hunter glanced over to find her pulling Ryder into a hug. His son knew to go along with it, and in fact, everyone loved Hillie.
“Howdy, Hillie,” Ryder said, and Hunter had to abandon his order to hug her hello too.
She hipped him out of the way and tapped with the pad of her finger, her long, red fingernails not getting in the way of her use of the kiosk. “You want the beer-battered fries, baby?”
“Yes, please,” Hunter said. “I was putting it in, Hillie.”
“Yeah, you sure were,” she said. “Tell me what to add, now.”
Hunter nodded to Ryder, who came closer and gave Hillie his order. Tucker followed suit, and by then, Deacon had walked in.
Hunter waited out of the way, and once Hillie had tapped in her code and made their food free, he was able to grab onto his youngest brother and hug him. “Hey, is everything okay at the farm?”
“Yeah,” Deacon said. “It’s just busy this afternoon as we’re getting all the equipment out.”
“Sure, yeah,” Hunter said, though he’d never really run the farm in a full-time capacity the way Deacon did. He’d been theCEO of the family company, HMC, in downtown Denver for seventeen years, and he was now enjoying his retirement at the farm.
They joined Jane in the booth, and she immediately flipped open a manila folder. “At Deac’s request, I’ve made an assessment of the farm, and these are the top three places for his new house.” She gave him a quick smile, and love filled Hunter from top to bottom.
It beamed through him, because he loved his siblings, and he loved watching them interact. Of course Jane had made a map. And of course, Deacon had asked her to. And of course, Tucker frowned as he peered at the map, as if he cared where Deac built his house.
Deacon cared, though, and that was what mattered. Hunter had told him to pick anywhere he wanted, and Deacon had rolled his eyes. “Just because I own the farm doesn’t mean it’s mine,” he’d said.
And he’d wanted everyone’s input for the location of the second family home on the farm. It had never needed one until now, though Momma and Daddy hadn’t moved back from Coral Canyon yet.
“This is a great spot,” Tucker said, pointing to the map.
Hunter looked at it and found Tucker’s pointer on a cute cartoon clipart of a cabin at the top of the meadow.
“We could put in a short road that leads to the driveway for that one,” Jane said matter-of-factly. “And it’s out of the way, which I think Deacon will like.” She tossed him a look, but Deac wore a fine frown line between his eyes.
“We’ll still have plenty of room for our family parties,” Hunter said, as the picnic area and pavilion and grills stood down on the other side of the meadow. “Great shade up there.”
“Yeah,” Deacon said. “I like that spot.”
“The others would work too,” Jane said, and Hunter spotted another cabin on the other side of the red administration barn. “For this one, we’d put a road curving left where it normally only goes right. Just past that pine tree?”
