“Exactly.It’s clear our mothers have a lot in common, and I’m glad they’ve spent some time getting to know each other.”Finn moved his Lisle-blue gaze from Tennessee to Dallas and back again.“It’s my opinion, and I hope yours too, that we might benefit from some getting to know you time that’s just our generation’s.To keep us on track with making sure we’re the happiest family that ever was.”
“There’s never been and never will be a family happier,” Tennessee said at once, making himself smile.A big, wide smile.
Then he kicked Dallas’s chair when he stared, his mouth open.Asshole.
“How about dinner tonight?”Finn asked, his gaze gleaming with what Tennessee was pretty sure was laughter of his own.“That pizza place across the street looks good.”
“It is good,” Dallas said then, still eyeing Tennessee like he’d gone a little rabid.“If you haven’t been already, you’re missing out.Those Bennett sisters know what they’re doing.”
“You don’t know Dallas well enough to know that’s high praise,” Tennessee said.
“And you really don’t know Tennessee well enough to know that he doesn’t normally speak this much,” Dallas retorted at once.“So yeah.We’ll rustle up Cat and convene the family.And I personally will dive face-first into all that family bonding.”
“That sounds uncomfortable.”But Finn grinned.“I’m here for it.Let’s choke ourselves on those ties that bind.”
And they were all kind of being dicks, Tennessee thought.But somehow, they all found themselves grinning at each other anyway, and that was something.Or it was the start of something, he thought.It had all been a little much last week, all of them stiff and formal and staring at each other in varying degrees of shock and discomfort across the old living room with its fussy, historic settees that their father had once tried to sell out from under them.Literally.
But that was the whole point.They had a unifying theme.Their father sucked.He’d hurt their mothers, lied his face off, had disappeared, and had been declared dead seven years after that disappearance.
No one missed him, as far as Tennessee could tell.
Therefore, the families he’d left behind would be best friends if it killed them.It was clear they were all unified on that.It was impossible not to think that this was a good thing, no matter how they’d made it here.
After Finn left, making that bell on the door jingle the way it clearly hadn’t when he’d walked in—which Tennessee could tell Dallas was thinking about the same as he was, and filing that information away—they were quiet for a minute.
“I think I like him.”Dallas rolled his coffee cup between his palms.“Though he’s a little too used to getting his own way.”
“Though, so far, using his power for good,” Tennessee said, considering that velvet hammer again.“Not a bad start.”
But he heard the bell from the other side, meaning someone had walked into the diner, so he clapped his brother on the back and got back to work.
He closed the diner in the early afternoon in winter and when it was all cleaned up, he headed out back.Tennessee trudged back across the little bit of land between the General Store and his house, taking the opportunity to breathe in deep the way he always did.
Because no matter how tired he was, he liked to take a moment to appreciate the Montana of it all—another thing he’d learned to do in opposition to his father, who’d made no secret of the fact that he hated it here.
Their family had been here in Montana from the start of Cowboy Point.And actually even earlier than that, according to the legends of the family.Ebenezer Lisle had tried his hand at mining wherever he could, but had settled here, winning the General Store in a much-disputed card game from notorious sore loser, Matthew Carey.
Lisles had been here ever since.Sometimes Tennessee thought he could feel that in his bones.Every single hard winter and the golden summers in between, one Lisle after the next somehow holding on strong.
He blamed Matilda for how intense all that history felt today.
He was used to not sleeping much.He’d learned how to get by on only a handful of hours.But not sleeping much and not sleeping at all were two different animals.
And he was irritated that he was thinking about animals as he walked into his house, into his living room that now smelled like the cute little puppies that she’d carted off—with his towels—to sort out medically, presumably at the vet down in Marietta.
Then he was really irritated, because he found himself missing those cute, round little bodies, all the heat they’d given off while they’d slept, and the way they’d stuck their little noses against him like he brought them comfort—
Damn Matilda Stark.
He made his way up the stairs and into his bedroom, where he stripped down and showered off his shift in the diner.
And he did not appreciate it, at all, when his imagination decided to come to play.It was doing entirely too much work conjuring up visions of Matilda before his fire wearing a whole lot less than she had been last night.
He clearly could not let himself go without sleep again.
Tennessee had a few hours before dinner, so instead of getting into his never-ending tower of paperwork, he texted his sister to make sure she knew she was expected to appear at dinner tonight.He then ignored her response, which suggested he should tryinvitingpeople to things rather thanorderingthem to attend.
Then, before he became a complete and total stranger to himself and started actually keeping a feelings journal that would currently be all about Matilda Stark, he got an hour or two of sleep.
