When they should be more like:Employee. Competent. Professional.
“Dad, did you see Jonah’s teddy bear?” I ask.
“Still in his room,” Dad says.
Whatever failings I have as a father, and I know there are many, Jonah has the Rhodes family filling in my blindspots. He’s got a grandpa who shows up without being asked. Brothers who are better uncles than I give them credit for.
Tanner’s made it his job to keep Jonah smiling since my son was small enough to fit in the crook of one arm. He’d pull faces and talk in funny voices until he turned a meltdown into a giggle-fest. Now he teaches him rope tricks and lets him sit on his shoulders and tells him rodeo stories that get more embellished every time, the bull getting bigger, the crowd getting wilder, and Jonah eats it up.
Slade doesn't say much, but he's never once missed a birthday, and he has an inexplicable gift for finding exactly what Jonah wants before Jonah knows he wants it. Slade’s the one who got the fossil excavation kit that started the whole dinosaur obsession in the first place.
And then there’s Rafe, who’s a Rhodes brother in every way but blood, not that that’s ever mattered to any of us. He started working at Wild Rose at fifteen and never left, and somewhere along the way he just became family. He’s as much an uncle as Slade and Tanner. He takes Jonah out on the ranch with Dad, answers his endless stream of questions like every one is worth taking seriously, and Jonah’s got a serious case of hero worship for him.
I just wish like hell Jonah could have met his grandma too. My mom would have loved him to pieces.
He’s got the other set of grandparents, of course, but they’ve got about as much interest in their Jonah as his mother does.
Which is to say, none.
When I come back outside, they’re all in the midst of talking about the ranch. I get pulled into the conversation for a few minutes. Dad ends it by reminding us, “Family dinner next Sunday. It’s not often I get all my boys back home at the same time.”
He makes no mention of Josie. I know how deeply it pains him, how rarely she comes back. I think there’s a part of him that keeps waiting for her to change her mind. To settle down back home.
But I’m not so sure Josie’s ever coming back to Wild Rose.
When we all head outside to go our separate ways, Tanner stops short. “Whose car is that?”
I follow his gaze to Sadie’s Explorer.
“My nanny’s,” I answer.
“I thought Margaret drove a minivan.”
“She had to go back to Europe. I hired someone else.”
“And you’re driving her car because?” Tanner prompts.
“Her tires were bald. I took ‘em to the tire shop to get replaced and balanced.”
Slade arches a dark eyebrow. “Really.”
“Yeah. I didn’t want her getting ripped off, so I took care of it.”
The two of them, along with Dad, exchange a glance.
Feeling a surge of irritation, I bite out, “What?”
Tanner’s green eyes dance with mirth. “This nanny of yours. She pretty?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” I say, at the same time that Dad says, “Very.”
Tanner’s smirk turns into a full-on grin. “Oooh. You’ve got a lil’ crush, big bro.”
“Fuck off,” I grumble.
“What’s her name?” he calls, as I get in the car.
I ignore him.
