“Tear it down!” She gave him an almost dirty look and sounded absolutely appalled by the idea. “Why would you do that? It’s such a neat old house.”
That’s how the building inspector felt. Though he’d used a word other thanneatwhen describing it.
“My original plan was to build something new, but then I learned about the history of the original homestead and how the family that owned it lived here for a couple of generations until they moved out west to a bigger piece of property in Colorado.” Boone thought of his own family’s spread and the legacy his folks were building and couldn’t bring himself to end the legacy another family had started with this house. After determining the bones of the old place were solid, he’d changed his mind. “As you can see, I decided to keep the house and am doing some of the renovations myself.” He walked across the kitchen. “Right here, there used to be a wall separating the kitchen from a dining room.” He swept his hand sideways where the kitchen was open to the main space. “I knocked it down to open this up more.” He told her about the large master bedroom with attached bathroom he’d added to the main floor. “There’s another bathroom down here and one on the second floor, along with three more bedrooms. I can do most of the renovations, but I leave the plumbing and electrical to the experts. I don’t mess with that stuff.”
“You’re way ahead of me. I know nothing about doing renovations.” She slowly strolled around the kitchen, ran her hand along the dark brown, quartz countertop with flecks of gold and beige as she took in the natural pine cabinets. “I just love the choices you’ve made in here. The dark countertops are so pretty with the lighter cabinets.”
“Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit—my mom helped with some of that.” His mom knew him so well, and he trusted her to make design choices that suited his personality. “Here, I want to show you something.”
She followed him over to the doorway leading to the cellar and pointed at some pencil marks on the wood.
“Are those what I think they are?” she asked.
“If you think they’re height markings, then yes, that’s exactly what they are.” He’d discovered them when he was painting all of the trim. “From what I can tell, they’re from four different kids. I saw that and couldn’t bring myself to paint over them.”
“That’s so cool.” Luna leaned in for a closer look and straightened. “I love older homes. It’s like you can almostfeelthe people who lived here before you.” She looked out across the large open area adjacent to the kitchen. “I think it’s awesome that you didn’t tear it down. And I especially love that you didn’t paint over those marks.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He reached up to the top shelf, grabbed two acrylic wineglasses, and handed them to her. “Here ya go.”
“Wow, they look like glass.” She tapped her fingernail against the acrylic. “You sure you want us to use these?”
“Definitely. And I’ll have to take a picture to send my mom. She’ll be thrilled.” He chuckled as he closed the cabinet. “Dad teased her when she gave them to me, but she insisted I would need them someday.”
“And she was right.” Luna tapped the rims of the glasses together.
“She usually is.” Boone’s dad was always quick to admit when his mother was right and he was wrong. “I’m actually very lucky to be close to both of my parents.”
“That’s so nice.” She seemed to turn inward. “My mom suffered from migraines and manic depression—these days it’s called bipolar disorder. She was closed up in her room a lot,and on her rare gooddays, my dad would get her out of the house and they would be gone until late in the evening.” She blew out a puff of breath and focused on him. “My mother and father only had eyes for each other. So I never really knew either of them the way a child should know their parents. Dawn had to fill the giant parenting gaps they left behind.”
Boone moved closer to her but without crowding her. “Well, your sister did a great job, because you are an amazing woman, Luna.”
She laid her palm on his cheek. “Thank you.” Then she gave him a crooked smile. “Come on, let’s go see if we can beat those guys at cornhole.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Thatwasthebestfilet I’ve ever had.” Luna set her fork and knife on her plate, took a sip of water, and swiped her napkin over her mouth. “I’m assuming it’s from your ranch?”
“Yeah, but my dad likes to joke that it’s not my ranch until they’re both six feet under.” Boone grinned. “Clay Langston is sixty-three, and he’s a tough old bird who will probably outlive me. My mom, Evelyn, is the same age, and she’s no slouch either.”
“I don’t know anything about ranching, but it can’t be an easy life.” Lucas took a sip of his beer. He’d been nursing the same one since returning from their ride a few hours ago.
These guys all limited their alcohol intake, and Luna knew exactly why. Alcohol dulled the senses and slowed the body’s reaction time. They might be relaxed and having a good time, but they were always in alert mode because they never knew when they would need to jump into action.
“Like I was telling Luna earlier, it’s not easy, but it’s worth all of the literal blood, sweat, and tears.” He set his napkin on his plate. “What my folks have accomplished is pretty amazing, actually. They started with less than a hundred head of cattle and about fifty acres of land. Dad scraped together enough moneyto buy a thirty-foot camper, moved it onto the land, and they lived in it for about three years, until they could build the house of their dreams. That was about the same time they adopted me. Over time, they bought up more land and livestock, and now it’s one of the most profitable cattle ranches in the territory.”
The pride and affection in his voice whenever he spoke about his parents was so sweet to hear. She was certain they must feel the same way about him.
“How was it—having a mom, I mean?” Calliope was never one to mince words.
Her mom took off when she was about two. She only found out she had a half brother about eight months ago, when Boone called her out of the blue one night.
“Don’t get me wrong. My dad and granddad are incredible. They taught me survival skills, how to shoot, hunt, all that fun stuff. It was awesome. I loved growing up surrounded by nature.” Calliope grew up in a swamp in southwest Florida. Luna couldn’t even imagine such a thing. “But I’m just curious what it was like to have a woman around when you were a kid.”
“You were surrounded by snakes and gators, too, babe.” Lucas bumped his shoulder to hers.
He was so in tune with her that he noticed the hint of melancholy in her voice and wanted to lighten the mood.
“There was that, too.” She tilted her head and rested it on his shoulder.
