“Is that somethin’ you learned firsthand or another of your many assumptions?”
Zane’s cheeks darkened, his anger bubbling up. “I called the Double J Ranch, Pop, so yeah, I know firsthand. They said he up and disappeared on them. Slipped out in the middle of the night.”
“Who said?”
“The owner.”
“Doug?”
Zane shook his head. “The daughter. Leah. She said Stone’s unreliable.”
“She happen to mention she wanted to marry him, and he wasn’t interested?”
“Marry him?” Zane’s shock was obvious. “What?”
“You might wanna talk to Stone a little more. Maybe get both sides of the story first.”
Zane huffed and shot to his feet. “It doesn’t matter, Pop. My answer’s no, and it ain’t gonna change.”
Curtis didn’t try to stop him when he stormed off. He knew his boy. Whatever this was really about would come to light soon enough.
Fifteen minutes later, Curtis strolled into the house.
“Smells good in here. Whatcha makin’?”
“Brownies.”
Oh, man. His wife knew that brownies were his favorite. Especially when she made them.
“I heard you two out there,” Lorrie said softly as he rinsed his coffee mug in the sink and tucked it into the dishwasher.
“How much of it?” He hoped she hadn’t heard the part about—
“I’m still a Jameson,” she acknowledged.
Curtis smiled. His beautiful bride’s eyesight might be showing the effects of age but not her hearing.
“I told him as much.” He leaned against the counter and dried his hands with the towel. “He’s usin’ thisus against themmentality as an excuse.”
“I know it.”
He set the towel on the counter. “Do you also know what’s really botherin’ him?”
Lorrie looked up, her pretty blue eyes shining with sadness. “Zane always thought Stone and CJ hung the moon.”
Curtis gripped the counter, watching her work.
“When they were kids, he followed those boys everywhere.”
Maybe he was getting old because he didn’t remember that. “They’re older than he is.”
“Not by much. And not enough that he didn’t hang around with ’em when he could.”
Since Owen was the youngest of her siblings, Lorrie had always been protective of her baby brother. Because of that, they spent more time with Owen and Deborah than they did with the rest of the Jameson clan, but back in the day, the kids had been close—all of them. It had more to do with living in a small town than their families being tight-knit, though.
“You think that’s what this is?” he asked his wife. “Or you think he wants the land and just didn’t tell us?”
Lorrie shook her head. “Not that. I asked him if he wanted it. He said no.”
