“Yeah,” Deacon said.
“And you’d have some privacy over there,” Jane said. “Because there’s nothing else. Only fields.”
“Some of our best fields.” Deacon raised his eyes to her, then Tuck, then Hunter. “I only need about an acre.”
“You can have whatever you want,” Hunter said, and he meant it. “Deacon, it’s a few acres. It’s not going to matter in the grand scheme of things.”
“I want it to be fair,” he said. “And I want you all to know I’d build a house for you on the farm if you needed it.”
“But we don’t need it,” Tuck said.
“We like living a bit further away,” Jane said.
Hunter smiled at her. “Does Cord have Clint today?”
“He’s out at Gerty’s,” Jane said. “I’m taking them all French fries and we’re having an evening play date with the new chickens Opal got.”
Hunter nodded again, glad his family got along so well. He knew not every family had relationships like this, and he knew they took work to develop and maintain.
“I’d do the meadow,” Tucker said. “It’s close to the family farm, and the cowboy community, while still being wooded, and you’ll like that, Deac.”
“Yeah,” Deacon said slowly. “I don’t want to put in a bunch of new roads.” He tapped the map over by the admin barn. “This site is out.”
“I don’t even see the last one,” Hunter said.
“That’s because….” Jane suddenly folded the map. “It’s not a good one. The meadow site is the winner.”
Deacon blinked, and Hunter sat back in the booth. Tucker immediately reached for the folder. “I want to see the third site.”
Jane pressed her palm against the folder and glared at Tuck.
“Come on, Janey.” He grinned, and she released the folder to him.
He flipped it open, and Hunter could’ve predicted how things would go from here. Tuck would be all nonchalant, find the third site, and make a benign comment on it. This would drive Deacon insane, and Jane would roll her eyes.
Hunter, as the oldest—and sixteen years older than Jane—usually sat back and simply enjoyed the show.
“Huh.” Tuck flipped the folder closed and handed it to Deacon. “I see the potential.”
Hunter chuckled and shook his head. Deacon didn’t open the folder, but Ryder picked it up and opened it.
“I’ve got the Double Hammond,” Hillie said, interrupting them, and Hunter looked up to find her sliding a plate with his hamburger and French fries on it.
“Oh, boy.” Hunter reached for the fry sauce in the middle of the table as more food got passed out.
“Anything else y’all need?” Hillie grinned around at all of them, and Jane shook her head.
“Thank you, Hillie.”
“Just holler,” she said, and she left them alone again.
Ryder had set aside the folder, and he dunked one of his fries in a pool of ketchup. “I think remodeling the old hay barn is actually kind of genius, Aunt Jane.”
Hunter’s gaze flew to his sister, then the folder sitting closed on the table on the other side of his son. “The hay barn?”
“It’s out of the way,” Jane said, her voice pitching up. “It has a road to it already. It sits right on the border of the farm and has amazing views.”
“It’s decently close to the cabin community and family farm,” Tuck said.
