“I can’t stand the laugh tracks.”
“Me either,” she agreed. “What do you watch?”
“I’m a drama guy. I like to watch it and read it.”
“Luke never read anything. As a matter of fact, I wrote more than one of his papers during college because he hadn’t done the reading.”
“I think people who don’t read are missing out. My usual picks are thrillers and detective stories. I like them to be dark and fast-moving.” I was never without a book. There was usually one in my truck and a couple in my suitcase. I’d even been known to read at the arena while waiting for my event. My fellow competitors ribbed me about that,but I didn’t care. Reading was part of the household I grew up in and I enjoyed it.
“You have unexpected depths,” Amy said and this time, I laughed. She took a drink of her Coke and seemed to consider her next words before she spoke. “I’m curious, and I’m only going to ask this once. And please tell me to mind my own business if you like.” I felt a prickle on the back of my neck. What the heck was she building toward? “Would you like to meet your mother and your half brothers?”
I felt my face freeze. That had come out of left field.
Or had it? It would be natural to meet the family I never knew existed when I was in the same town as they were, I supposed.
“You don’t have to,” she said quickly. “I did tell Laura about you last night. I hope you don’t mind.”
I wanted to know if my mother had expressed an interest in meeting me, but I didn’t ask. I’d lived thirty-two years without knowing her and wasn’t sure it was necessary now.
“And there’s Henry, my son,” Amy continued. “He’s six, in first grade and way excited about it. I guess you’d be his uncle.”
“I’ll meet them,” I said. I didn’t know why it mattered that I know her son, but it did. I knew Luke had left behind a child—had read that in the obituary—and now I found I couldn’t say no to the opportunity of coming face-to-face with the little guy.
If I had to be introduced to the rest of my biological family, that seemed fair, too. It was a small town after all, and it was better to meet them in private and on purpose versus running into them on the street where everyone would stare. From what I’d read, one of my brothers managed the ranch and the other was the sheriff. I wouldn’t be able to avoid them at the rodeo, not even if I tried.
“I’ll set it up,” she said, seeming pleased. “I can’t promise what their reactions will be, but they’re good people, so I hope?—”
“I understand.” It wasn’t going to be easy for any of them to make my acquaintance and I felt the same way. Some things just came naturally, but meeting family you’d only just found out about? That was something else entirely.
SEVEN
AMY
Iwalked around the dining room table for the third time, straightening silverware and aligning glasses. I was nervous about what I’d put in motion. Asking Cal to meet the family was potentially disastrous, and I was still a little surprised he’d agreed so readily. Well, he’d agreed, but only after a moment of somewhat stunned silence.
And then I’d had to go home, have a private talk with Laura, and arrange a family conference after Henry went to bed to explain to the twins not only that they had a brother they didn’t know about but that I’d invited Cal to come to Sunday brunch, a Thorne family tradition. Stunned silence had greeted me from both Brian and Jake, but they’d agreed it was best to meet Cal sooner rather than later.
“Mom, I can’t find my shirt with the bucking horse on it,” Henry called loudly from his room.
Laura met my eye with a slight smile. I knew my mother-in-law was tied up in knots about this, but also excited. She’d been cooking since dawn and there was a dizzying amount of food in the kitchen.
“At least Henry’s not intentionally hiding.” Laura shot a look through to the courtyard area at the back of the house where Jake and Brian had retreated ten minutes earlier.
“Laura, I…” I almost apologized again for forcing them all to go through this.
“This is an opportunity I can’t ignore. I want to meet him,” Laura assured me. She seemed nervous but determined, and she’d dressed up in a shirtwaist dress in red cotton. “Go help Henry. Our guest will be here any minute.”
I went into my son’s room. His shirt drawer was pulled all the way out and he was rooting through his clothes. “I can’t find it. And it has to be that shirt because he’s a real rodeo rider, and I gotta look like a ranch kid.”
“You look like a ranch kid because youarea ranch kid, no matter what you wear,” I said as I started to re-fold the clothes. Henry loved everything about the ranch, which made the city girl in me a little nervous. I’d been okay until the broken leg over the winter. The doctor said it was healed and Henry could get back on his horse, but I wasn’t prepared to go through that again. Not yet. So, I’d told him he needed to wait.
Henry was getting impatient and I didn’t blame him, but how did you tell a six-year-old—who only wanted to be a little kid and ride his horse—that I was terrified he might fall again? Accidents happened around horses all the time, but at least with adults, they knew how to protect themselves, and they were less likely to take dangerous chances. Henry was far too much of a daredevil for his own good—or for my peace of mind.
“How about this shirt?” I offered a plaid shirt that buttoned down the front. “It’s the kind of thing that Uncle Jake wears when he’s working around the ranch.”
Henry pursed his lips and seemed to consider it before finally agreeing. “Okay. That’ll work.”
“And clean pants, young man.” I gave him his clothes and sent him into the bathroom to change. “Comb your hair and wash your face while you’re in there,” I called.
