Eli kicked Ash’s boot with his own. “Oh yea, twentysomething? Then why do you have a bag of ice on your knee?”
Ash winced and then nodded his head back toward Boone. “Because this asshole tackled me to bare, wet concrete in Holiday’s stall.”
Boone snorted. “You did go down pretty hard.”
“Oh yeah?” Ash retorted. “How’s that tailbone feeling?” Boone might have gotten him on the first tackle, but Ash took him down in round two. If there were actually rounds, which there weren’t.
Boone grumbled something under his breath and then readjusted his own ice pack where it rested just above his ass.
Eli laughed. “If this was twenty years ago, Dad would have ripped us a new one for almost flooding the stalls. It’ll be after dark before they’re dry enough to lay the bedding again.”
They were all silent for several moments as they watched the horses graze before Ash spoke again.
“I was always too young when you two would get into this kind of trouble. When I was old enough, Dad couldn’t work anymore. You were already in charge.” He toed Eli’s boot. “And this kind oftroubledidn’t really happen.” He hadn’t meant it to sound so somber, but Ash didn’t realize until right that moment that he’d missed out on some of the primebrotheringof his brothers.
“Because I would have been the one cleaning up the mess,” Eli replied. “And by the time you were old enough, you weren’t interested in anything other than that guitar.”
“Ouch,” Ash said, then took a long swig of his beer. “I mean…noted, but still…ouch.” Just because Eli was right didn’t ease the sting of the truth. “Because what used to be fun suddenly felt like barely keeping our heads above water. I needed something that made me feel likeme.”
“Cut the kid some slack, Eli.” Boone stretched his arms up toward the sky and let out a long sigh. “Theranch was always work, but I think we all got a little lost when Dad’s legacy became our responsibility.”
All three of them nodded in unison and then quietly tended to their beers. Despite his bruised knee and overall soreeverything—not that he’d admit that to his brothers—Ash was awash in contentment.
“So… Willow, huh?” Boone asked after several minutes of contented silence. “Is it for real this time?”
“This time?” Ash tilted his head back against his chair and let out a long exhale. “Shit. You waited a whole ten minutes before going there, huh?”
Boone laughed. “It’s noon. I waited fivehours.”
“How about fouryears?” Eli added. “You think it’s time to let us in on what really happened?”
Ash set his beer down on the ground and leaned forward, elbows on his knees as he hung his head. He’d sent Boone and Eli tickets to the show that night not only to see him play but so he could introduce them to the girl who had turned his whole world upside down, in the best possible way. They were the only ones who knew, when the marriage announcement hit the internet the next day, that it was total bullshit. And to protect Annabeth…and to hide his own shame…he’d pushed them away.
“Yeah,” Ash finally replied. “I think it is.”
Because more than the past twenty-nine years of his life, the past month had taught Ash theimportance of trust when it came to the people he loved. He should have trusted his brothers to have his back even when he made the biggest mistake of his professional and personal life. He should have, and he didn’t. But that was all going to change now.
“So…” he continued. “Here’s the story…all of it. And if you realize I’m the world’s biggest asshole when it’s done, don’t worry. I’m right there with you.”
***
Willow sat in one of Casey’s salon chairs, a black cape snapped around her neck and her wet hair hanging at her shoulders.
“Are you sure?” Casey asked, wiggling the shears at Willow in the mirror.
Jenna spun back and forth in the chair beside her. “We should have kept Lucy with us to help you decide,” she mused.
She could see Beth and Delaney sitting behind her in the mirror’s reflection. They nodded sagely in agreement with Jenna.
“It’s justbangs,” Willow insisted. “I don’t need a psychic hen to tell me whether or not it’s a good idea.”
“Ha!” Jenna cried. “So youdobelieve in Lucy’s talents!”
“That’s not what I…” Willow groaned and thentilted her head up at Casey. “I got that new dress at your friend Ivy’s shop, and we were looking at all of those fashion magazines at the bookshop. It just feels like it’s time to change something up, you know?”
Casey nodded. “The girl has a point. Remember when I singed my hair on my curling wand andhadto cut bangs to fix it? That was the morning I ran into Boone in my brokedown car in the middle of the highway, and now look where we are. All thanks to my bangs.”
Willow gasped. “You hit Boone with your car?”
