“Come on,” he urged, pulling her by the hand. “Let’s see if he knows how to cook.”
“If he doesn’t, I’m gonna feed mine to Jäger when he’s not lookin’.”
Jäger yipped, clearly on board with that plan.
As they were walking up onto the porch, the door opened, and Stone was there, looking good enough to eat. He was wearing Wranglers, boots, and a black button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal his muscular forearms. He’d shaved at some point, the stubble gone completely. It was a good look for him.
“I was startin’ to think y’all were gonna make out on the porch all night.”
“We thought about it,” Stevie teased. “But we figured we might as well invite you to join.”
Stone’s eyes heated.
“Of course, it depends on whether you can cook.”
He laughed. “And if I can’t?”
Stevie shrugged one shoulder. “I guess you could always watch.”
Oh, boy. She was sassy tonight. They might have their work cut out for them.
***
Curtis Walker carried two glasses of icedtea into the living room so he could join his wife on the couch. Lorrie was curled up with her blanket, her reading glasses on, and a book in her hand.
It was their Friday night ritual. She would read, and he would flip through channels, pretending he gave a shit about what was on the television. Truth was, he didn’t care. He would gladly stare at a blank screen just for the opportunity to sit in the same room with the woman he loved more than life.
He set one of the glasses on the end table near her. The movement had her looking up at him, a beautiful smile on her face.
“Did you talk to Travis today?” she asked, setting her book aside.
Curtis put his tea glass on the other end table and took a seat close to her. “I did. Why?”
Lorrie turned so that she could stretch her legs out on his lap. “Did you mention our conversation with Stone?”
“I might’ve brought it up.”
“What did he say?”
“He’s got other things on his mind.”
She smiled sweetly. “Understandable. But that’s not an answer.”
Curtis chuckled. “He said we should do whatever we want with it. He’s got no interest in the land.”
He didn’t bother to tell Lorrie that Travis mentioned he would have interest in other sections down the line, so he’d insisted that they not divvy up every acre and pawn it off on someone without coming to him first. Curtis had assured him that wasn’t the plan.
“He did ask why we chose Stone,” Curtis relayed, adjusting her feet on his legs so he could slide his hands beneath the blanket and touch her.
He loved touching his wife. Even if it was just to hold her hand or warm her ankles, as was the case now. Curtis had always felt calmer when she was near. He’d fallen in love with her long ago, back when she was just a girl and he an unruly boy who didn’t know what he wanted out of life. They’d been blessed. With sixty years of marriage, seven sons, and twenty-three grandchildren, they’d built a good life together, one full of love, laughter, and a tremendous amount of good fortune.
“It feels right to me,” Lorrie said, her arm stretched out along the back cushion, her fingers brushing over his shoulder.
“It does,” he agreed. “I know Deb and Owen’ll be happy if he sticks around. He can finally stop runnin’.”
“I don’t think he ran so much as he went in search of something.”
Because they lived in such a small town, he’d heard plenty of rumors over the years. Many of them about members of his family. He took each with a grain of salt andalwaysconsidered the source. There was plenty of speculation over why Stone had up and left fifteen years ago. One minute, he was there; the next, he was off trying to build a life elsewhere.
