Brett shook his head. “That’s not it at all. I love the ranch. It’s all I’ve ever wanted and all I will ever want. So ask Dad for Mom’s ring. I think Maci would love it.”
“Once I ask her,” Blake said, “I’m going to have a question for you, too.”
Brett tensed again.
“I can’t imagine anyone else being my best man,” he said. All their lives Brett had been his best friend.
Brett blinked. “Liam might be offended.”
“Liam would expect me to ask you, too,” Blake said. Their younger brother knew how close they were and had often been jealous of that closeness until he’d fallen for Elise.
And now Blake had fallen for Maci.
But Brett was still all alone. Like Dad.
Maybe Grandma and Grandpa were getting to him, but Blake had the sudden urge to matchmake. He wanted his older brother to be as happy as he was, as Liam and Livvy were, too. But Brett was stubborn, so stubborn that he might prefer being alone to ever changing his mind about love.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
After his late-nightconversation with Blake, Brett wanted to make sure that their dad gave their mom’s ring to his younger brother instead of holding on to it for him. So after tending to the cattle the next morning, he made the drive into Willow Creek.
He found his dad alone in the building that had once been a cigar shop. Maci must have been working from home after her late night with his brother. Well, his dad wasn’t completely alone; Smokey, the kitten, lay upside down on his desk, her eyes rolled back in her head with just a touch of the green showing. He chuckled. “Someone’s asleep on the job already,” he said.
His dad rubbed the little furry belly that faced him. “Yeah, she had a wild night shredding the toilet paper roll, so she had to take a nap,” he said. Then he pointed at Brett. “Looks like you had a wild night, too, son.”
Brett chuckled. “I wasn’t shredding a toilet paper roll.”
“That’s good,” Bob said with a smile that quickly slid away again. “Looks like you weren’t sleeping, though.”
“You look a little tired yourself,” Brett replied with concern. He suspected that it wasn’t just the kitten’s antics that had kept his father awake.
Bob yawned and nodded. “Yes, I’m getting old.”
Brett shook his head. “No, Dad. You’re not old. Now, Grandpa…”
Bob laughed. “Don’t let him hear you say that. Even though we just celebrated his eighty-first birthday, he doesn’t seem a day older to me than he ever did.”
“He was always Old Man Lemmon,” Brett said, recalling his childhood in Willow Creek.
“Thanks to Sadie,” Bob said.
“Thanks to Sadie is why he doesn’t seem to be aging,” Brett said. “They seem really happy.” So was it possible to survive loss and mend a broken heart enough that it could love again?
Obviously, it had been possible for Lem and Sadie. But his dad looked every bit as lonely and tired as he had since his wife had died. Then he petted the kitten again and a smile curved his lips. “Yeah, they are very happy,” Bob agreed. “And I’m happy for them.”
“What about you?” Brett asked.
Bob tensed. “What do you mean?”
“Are you happy, Dad?”
Bob’s head bobbed in a quick, almost nervous nod. “Of course. Of course, I am.”
“Really?” Brett was skeptical.
“Yeah, I have a beautiful new granddaughter,” he said. “And a new daughter-in-law, and soon I will have a wonderful son-in-law, too. All of the family, really, is doing so well.”
“That’s the family,” Brett pointed out. “What aboutyou?”
