“Guess there are a lot of things that haven’t survived since then,” Mason said.
Chase’s expression shifted to one of sadness and pain, and he wished he could have taken back his cruel words, but in some ways, he was testing him. He wanted to know if it still hurt Chase the way it hurt him, because if it hadn’t, that would have been so much worse.
“So how do you like being a big Los Angeles boy now?” Mason asked.
“It’s fine. Busy with work, as usual. Not anything to write home about. Weather’s nice.”
“Not a lot of chances for snow out there, though.”
Chase chuckled, a familiar sparkle in his eyes. “Right?”
That took Mason back to a light snow day when they had played in the barn, when they’d been the only things to keep each other warm in a sweet passionate embrace that turned into so much more. He tried to shake it from his head, but it was still there, lingering.
The familiar sound of the truck engine came from outside.
Mason turned toward the sound. “I’m gonna get out there to help them unload—”
“I’ll help,” Chase offered, as quick to assist as ever. “Lemme change real quick.”
“Your old room’s still there, waiting on you,” Mason said.
“Okay, thank you. I’ll get my bags from the rental car and see you in a hot minute.”
WHENCHASE STEPPED OUT OF THE GUEST BEDROOM DRESSEDin an old tee and shorts, he heard Emery’s high-pitched voice call his name. Excitement raced through him as he hurried to the stairs, a broad smile sweeping across his face.
Emery’s blond hair glowed in the light emanating from side windows on either side of the front door. As Chase reached the bottom of the stairs, she lunged forward and hugged him.
“Oh God, I’m so glad you’re here!” She pulled away quickly. “You’ve beefed up, even from when I saw you in October.”
She’d spent two weeks with him the weekend before Halloween, which was one of the reasons he felt obligated to concede when she’d pressured him to spend some time on the dairy. He was never very good at saying no to her, and how could he deny her when she was so excited about celebrating her engagement with him?
Chase laughed. “Yeah. Been working out a bit more.”
Between the protein shakes and exercising on a regular basis to appear like the other hotties in West Hollywood, Chase had put on a lot of muscle since his breakup with Tristan.
And even though he’d never be the hunk of a man that Mason was, he wasn’t the scrawny ten-year-old who’d first come to help out on the dairy.
“It’s nice having you back here again,” Emery admitted. And he could tell that, even though it hadn’t been so long since they’d seen one another, she was most pleased with him being on the dairy again—and he had to admit that he was pleased, too.
He’d never had a sibling, but he’d found the closest thing to one in Emery. She was a ray of sunlight even in the darkest of times. After all the years, he would have done anything for her because he loved her so much, and because the bond they shared was so much deeper than he felt he could ever form with any friend since he grew up and the world became so much more complicated.
They chatted, catching up on little things as they headed out to the truck, which they rode to the shed with some of Pa’s farmhands.
Chase put his muscles to work as he helped unload crates and bags. Emery went on and on about the calves she was taking care of. That was the role she played at Finley Dairy since she turned sixteen and pushed Pa to let her handle the work.
“I’m stressed enough as it is,” she said. “And now I’m going to have to take on help to manage all the bottle calves we’ll have next year. I thought it was convenient when we finally got the cameras installed in the maternity pen so I could keep an eye on the girls, but a thousand cows? This’ll be a whole other sort of adventure.”
“Yeah, I don’t envy you guys,” Chase said as Timmy, one of Pa’s farmhands, handed him another box. “The dairy was plenty of work ten years ago. And this place keeps getting bigger.”
“But, Chase, you have no idea how much easier it is today. It was one thing when things started going digital, but even just a few months ago, we all got apps on our phones.”
“What?”
“That’s right,” Timmy said with a smile. “I get notifications and everything.”
A cute guy in a tank with broad shoulders and thick biceps, Chase had known since he’d first met Timmy that he was the kind of guy who could do well in LA. He had a sort of natural model look, including a crooked grin that made him look sexy as fuck.
“Everything can be gauged by a computer and sent to my phone instantly,” Emery explained. “And here we thought getting email updates was incredible. We can get all the stats. It’s kind of amazing.”
