She’d called me the night before saying they needed extra hands to work cattle today. But I knew better. They were panicked about Holden. I was the first woman he’d tried to have a relationship with in years and they were afraid if I walked away completely that he might be alone for the rest of his life. I knew because Jenny had called me, frantic, after she found out we had broken up and told me exactly that.
Silas nodded toward the house. “We’re still waiting on Ashton. He’s running a little behind. So we’re eating lunch first. Mom made a big roast for everybody.”
I nodded. “Cool.”
They led the way and I was happy to fall in step behind them. I didn’t know how these people dressed for working cattle. I mean, Silas was in Wranglers and his cowboy boots. But Lemon was currently wearing a jade green sundress. I felt kind of weird in my jeans, cowgirl boots, and a T-shirt that said “I’d rather be roping cows.” This was what I wore in Wyoming when I helped at our ranch, but I’d never worn ithere and it felt like I was trying to be something I wasn’t. To make it even more awkward, I was pretty sure, from the nervous glances Silas and Lemon kept giving each other, that Holden didn’t know I was coming.
Jenny met us at the door and plowed through Silas and Lemon, arms shimmying them apart to get to me. You would’ve thought I was the queen of England and not the woman she’d called “a mess” at the beach this past summer.
She pulled me into her arms, not caring one bit that my hands were stiff-straight at my side. “Thank you for coming, Christy. Really. It means so much.” Then she cupped my cheeks in her hands. “You just have to give him some time. He’ll come around. You’ll see.”
“Oh my gosh, Mom. Stop. You’re freaking her out,” Silas said.
Still with my cheeks in her palms, she tsked. “She’s not freaked out. See, she looks fine.”
All three of them were staring at me, waiting for me to let them know that I indeed was not freaked out. I gave them a quick but stilted smile. That’s the best I could do with Jenny smashing my face like a panini press.
Jenny grabbed me by the hand and pulled me through the living room and into the kitchen. Anna and Blue were already at the table, along with Tally. Tally’s presence surprised me but also squeezed my heart. Anna had taken the whole friend thing to the next level. Tally’s eyes darted around the room as if she were taking everything in. With her sitting at the table, her tummy tucked underneath, you couldn’t even tell she was expecting.
My gut tightened to see three of my students. Oh, what they must think of me.
Anna’s head snapped up. “Coach!” She jumped up, ran around the table, and smashed me in a hug. “Oh my gosh, I’vemissed you.” And for the first time since I put my truck in park I felt myself relax a little.
We weren’t at school. This was a family thing. So I wound my arms around her back and pulled her tighter. “Hey, I’ve missed you too.” She gave me the first sincere smile I’d seen in a week. No sadness, no pity. Just a good old-fashioned “I’m so happy you’re here” smile. “How’s volleyball?”
“Okay, but we all miss you. Uncle Holden is fine but he’s been a little intense with you gone, ifyouknowwhatImean.” She hooked her arm around mine and led me to my seat. Were they assigned?
I lowered into the wooden chair, across from Tally and Blue. Blue was grinning, but I think that was just because he was enamored with Anna. And Tally was still taking in the room.
Blue stood, leaned over the table, and offered me a fist bump. “What up, P. Thorn?”
I snorted and shook my head. “Really?” I’d heard a rumor that some of the students referred to me as P. Thorn. But no one had ever done it to my face.
In response, his grin widened.
Anna plopped onto the edge of the chair next to me. “Listen, I know you probably think everyone at school is horrified”—she wiggled her fingers and wobbled her head—“at that picture of you and Uncle Holden, but they’re not.” She leaned in closer, her eyes darting to Jenny who was mixing up a bowl of mashed potatoes on the counter, and said in a hush, “They think you’re fie-uh.” She sang the word fire. “Ming said that she wishes she were enmeshed with Uncle Holden so he’d be all over her like that.” She waved that thought away. “But she can’t because she’s jailbait. And because he’s at full love-haze level with you.”
My mouth was open and I didn’t know whether to laughor gasp. Silas had walked in at just the right time to hear everything about Ming.
His lips pursed into a bloodless line. “Anna, are you kidding me right now?”
She gestured at me. “She should know we’re not freaked out about it.” She held her hands up. “I’m just sayin’.”
“Well,just sayyour way over to your side of the table. Kids over there. Adults over here.”
“Pfft. I’m not akid,” she said as she hopped up. She walked around and plopped down in her chair between Tally and Blue. “I have a boyfriend,” she chirped and then leaned over and pecked Blue on the cheek. He beamed.
Silas glared at them. Lemon two seats down, snickering, reached out, grabbed Silas’s hand, and tugged him to his seat.
Bo, the family patriarch, walked in from the hallway and sat at the head of the table. “Hey, Christy. Good to see you.”
I hadn’t missed the fact that I was flanked by two empty chairs. The foot of the table to my left and another chair to my right. Was I in no man’s land? Or had they invited me over just to banish me during the meal as some weird form of punishment? The thought was almost funny until I realized everyone had gone quiet.
I looked around trying to figure out why.
Oh.
Holden was standing there behind Bo, staring at me like someone had kidney-punched him. Hard.
