It’s beentwo days since our night together in my pickup truck, and I haven’t seen Carli again. My truck still carries the faint smell of cocoa—and her. We’ve texted a lot—checking in on how her day is going, her sending pictures of baby piglets, me sending photos of me working out in the station gym, which I can’t believe I did. Our schedules haven’t lined up in a way that made it possible to see one another face to face.
Luke and I are working on preparations for McKenna’s wedding this morning. And then I’ve got some actual ranching to do. With calving season, we’re as busy as the Buckners are with farrowing, only we have more hired hands, so the work doesn’t always fall on us Lawson boys, though mybrothers and I usually find something to make ourselves useful.
I pull my phone out to check for a text from Carli.
“What’s got you checking your phone like a teen girl?” Luke teases.
“Oh. What? No. I’m just … work. It’s a work thing.”
“On your day off?”
“Captain’s got something he’s been running by me.” Not a lie—not exactly. But David wouldn’t text me on my off day to pester me about applying for his position.
“You seein’ someone?” Luke sets the saw down on the wood splayed between the workhorses we’ve put up in the barn.
“Wouldn’t you know if I were?” I ask.
He studies me. “I don’t know. I’ve dated women in town without announcing it at breakfast. Sometimes a man needs a little space to see if something’s going to work out before he brings his whole family into the mix.”
Exactly.
I just nod, pulling out the tape measure to mark the next plank we’re using to assemble an arch that matches the one McKenna pinned online.
Ranch work first. Was that really necessary? I could have made that rule a little less stringent. As it is, I might not see Carli again until … who knows when. Still, the ranches come first.
“What time do you have to leave?” Luke asks.
“I don’t have to be at the school until after lunch.”
“I’d love to be a fly on that wall.”
“To watch me read to children?”
“To listen to the things that come out of their mouths.”
“Yeah. They can be pretty unfiltered.”
“Local Hero Day,” Luke says, smiling over at me. His voice is half taunt, half pride.
“Yeah. They look at us like we’re straight out of a Marvel movie, too. We’re just normal guys.”
“You are,” Luke says. “But,” he pauses and looks me dead in the eyes. “You’re also kind of a hero.”
My phone rings before I can deflect my brother’s compliment.
Would Carli actually call? We’ve been texting to keep things on the down low.
I pull my cell out of my pocket, holding my pointer finger up to Luke. “Hang on,” I tell him.
One glance at my screen and my heart stops galloping. “It’s Jace.”
“Hey,” I answer.
“Hey. You busy?”
“Just building McKenna her vision for the wedding. Luke and I are on arch construction today. What’s up?”
“We just had a power surge in the farrowing barn. Blew four heat lamps. Do y’all have any extras?”
