McKenna’s voice rings into the barn from the yard. “Carli! What’s taking y’all so long?”
I drop my arms, flattening my palms on Cody’s chest and pushing him backward, he stumbles for a beat just as McKenna shows up in the doorway.
“Hey, you two.” She puts her hands on her hips. Her face scrunches up in confusion. “This isn’t even where we keep the livestock panels. What are you two doing?”
“We’re looking!” I say too loudly at the same time as Cody says, “Getting a tie-down.”
McKenna’s brow furrows even more deeply.
“A tie-down and … some feed for … the hogs … but actually … a mineral feeder, I mean,” Cody blurts the lies with more jangled nerves than I’ve ever witnessed from him in our lifetime.
McKenna shakes her head. “Tie-downs are also in the storage off the side of the barn along with the mineral feeders and the panels. What’s wrong with you, Cody? You’re going to make Carli late for work.”
“Work,” I mutter, mostly to myself.
I had completely forgotten I had a job or any obligations at all.
“Come on, Carli. Let’s get you what you need,” McKenna says, showing her ranching roots for the first time in a while. “You can come too, Cody,” she adds. “Be our muscle.” She turns and walks out of the barn and I start to follow her.
Cody’s hand lands on my arm. “We’ll talk. I promise.”
I smile back at him and say, “Or not.”
He chuckles, running a hand down his face. “Somewhere that’s not one of our family’s properties.”
“Good plan,” I say.
When our eyes meet my whole body lights up. We’re doing this thing—whatever it is. He’s not tapping the brakes.
“What is it with us and barns anyway?” I ask, turning to follow McKenna to the storage unit.
I laugh softly to myself and Cody’s laughter weaves in with mine.
Chapter 14
Cody
Aging is an extraordinary process
where you become the person
you always should have been.
~ David Bowie
McKenna,Luke and I stand side-by-side, watching Carli’s truck pull down the driveway and turn onto the main road. It took three of us to help her lift the items her dad has no use for up into the back of her truck. I’ll have to figure out how to get those back into storage without drawing attention.
“That went too quickly,” McKenna says with a sigh.
“Agreed,” I say, absentmindedly.
She turns and gives me an odd look.
“You don’t get enough time with your bestie,” I amend.
“I don’t! And now she’s working an honest to goodness nine-to-five job.”
I chuckle. Neither of our families understand whyMcKenna or I—or anyone—would choose a career outside ranching.
