But…
Yes, but. Backing Rex Sharpe in the bed-and-breakfast had been a stellar idea if he did say so himself. And now, who was to say an arcade couldn’t bring some life to this sleepy little town? Of course, Keegan was only considering it because his true dream couldn’t be realized yet. It had always been his goal to own a ranch, but without one available to acquire, that was unfortunately on the back burner.
“Well”—Keegan lifted his coffee mug, offered his brother a casual one-shoulder shrug—“I think it’s a smart idea. Think about all the things Coyote Ridge has goin’ for it. Just in the time we’ve been here, they’ve opened a toy store and a bookstore, right on Main Street. I heard they’re plannin’ to expand the bookstore to include a coffee shop. An arcade might kick it up a notch.”
“I get my coffee at the bakery,” Kaden retorted.
“Options, Kaden. We’re always open foroptions.”
“No. No way,” Kaden retorted. “I’ll admit, I doubted the B and B in the beginning, and it turned out all right, but I’m not at all on board with an arcade.”
“Okay, fine,” Keegan conceded. “What then? It’s not set in stone and the place is still for sale. We can snatch it up, put in somethin’ of our own.” He leaned in, lowered his voice. “For fuck’s sake, everyone else is doin’ it. Why can’t we?”
“If everyone else was jumpin’ off a cliff, would you wanna do that, too, Keeg?”
He grinned. “Damn straight I would.”
Those familiar steel-blue eyes glinted with incredulity. “You’re serious? You want…Us? You and me…?” Kaden exhaled with a sigh and shook his head. “Ain’t gonna happen, Keeg.”
Keegan chuckled. He happened to enjoy getting his brother riled. Especially first thing in the morning.
“I’ll come up with somethin’,” he told his twin. “You just wait.” Although he certainly wasn’t giving up on the arcade.
Kaden challenged him back with a simple tilt of his eyebrows upward.
Keegan knew that look. Kaden thought he was off his rocker. And perhaps he was, but hey, everyone else seemed to be making their mark on this town. Why couldn’t they?
Kaden leaned back, allowed the waitress to set his plate down in front of him. “Thanks.” He turned his full attention to Keegan. “Might I remind you, we’ve got enough on our plates.”
Keegan smiled at the waitress. “Thanks, doll.” He peered over at his brother. “What? With Walker Demo? That’s gonna be our claim to fame?” It was his turn to shake his head. “In case you didn’t notice, it just kicked over leadership again.”
Granted, that was because Reese Tavoularis had moved on to the governor’s task force, another brainchild of their cousin Travis Walker. In Reese’s place, Autumn Jameson—one of Travis’s many cousins on his mother’s side—had come on board to run things. She’d been in her new role for nearly a month, and to his surprise, she was doing pretty darn well. He was tempted to say she could pinpoint an issue with an engine faster than he could. But that didn’t change the fact that even the family business didn’t seem all that stable.
“What about the time we’re puttin’ in on the ranch?” Kaden asked.
“Key word there bein’the.Theranch infers that it doesn’t belong to us.”
As much as he enjoyed working on the Walker ranch, which belonged to Uncle Curtis and Aunt Lorrie, it had always been a dream of his to have one of his own. And yes, Keegan was keeping his eyes open for that opportunity. If it were to arise tomorrow, he’d drop every damn thing else and follow his dream. Until then…
Silence settled between them as Kaden covered his scrambled eggs in tabasco sauce. Rather than stir him up more, Keegan took a sip of his orange juice, stared at his pancakes. He always had pancakes. Every damn day. Why? At what point in his thirty-seven years had he gotten so damn … boring?
“Are you really serious about this? Openin’ a place of our own?” Kaden finally asked, his voice lowered.
“Hell, I don’t know. I’m just…” He met his twin’s eyes. “I’m tired of watchin’ everyone else doin’ their thing while we settle for bein’ along for the ride.”
Kaden sighed.
Keegan sat up straight, picked up his fork. “Tell you what. I’m gonna stuff my face with these pancakes and we can pretend this conversation never happened. Deal?”
Kaden’s blue-gray eyes locked on his face, but Keegan didn’t flinch. He knew how he sounded. Petulant, whiny, sullen. Take your pick.
In his defense, Keegan had always allowed Kaden to make the final decisions. Sure, he threw in his two cents, like where they were gonna put down roots. His choice had always been Coyote Ridge, and since they were metaphorically attached at the hip, where one of them went, the other followed. When they arrived here, they’d thought it would be a fruitful venture. Years later, although they’d technically settled in, they weren’t completely settled.
“Fine,” Kaden huffed, grabbing his coffee mug. “Let’s talk to Travis. Get his thoughts.”
Great. Go to the man with the plan and tell him what? That they didn’t have a plan? Yeah, no thank you. Their cousin Travis was not justpavingthe way here in Coyote Ridge, hewasthe way. Hell, after Travis’s daughter was kidnapped a few weeks back, a task force governing the state of Texas had been formed to search for other missing people. Thank the good Lord, Kate had been located and returned seemingly unharmed two painfully long days after she went missing, but still. Guy had some serious pull. Not to mention, half the town went to Travis for advice. Keegan didn’t want to be another in that long line.
Keegan sipped his juice, glared at his pancakes.
