I pulled onto the jobsite, unsurprised to find it a blur of carefully crafted chaos with heavy machinery booming and men hollering to each other.
I found my brother pouring over plans laid out across the hood of his work truck.He looked up when he saw me, accepting the coffee I handed him.
“Thanks, Hud.”
“You bet,” I replied, surveying the scene in front of me.“It’s coming along.”
“Not fast enough,” he grumbled.
“You always say that.”I chuckled.
“It’s always true.”He shrugged.“You coming to family dinner tonight?”
We all tried to get together at least once a month for dinner, though we saw each other a lot more often than that.My mom always made enough to serve an army, and we pretty much ate as much as one.
“I’ll try.I’ve got to spend some time in the studio.I’m behind.”I winced.I could do most of my work from the home studio I’d paid a shit ton to have built.But I’d likely need to head to Nashville for a bit at some point to put the finishing touches on the album.
The thought no longer held the same appeal.I found myself increasingly reluctant to leave Green River.I loved the town where I’d been born and raised and appreciated that, with the exception of some tourists and the occasional local, I could just be myself—not the country star the rest of the world saw me as.
Ri raised a brow.“You writing again?”
I grimaced.“No.”Words weren’t coming as easily as they used to, at least not lately.
He clapped me on the back.“It’ll come.It always does.Want to give me a hand for a bit?You never know, it might knock something loose.”
I chuckled.“Doubt it, but I welcome the distraction.Put me to work.”
Early that evening, I found myself driving up the long dirt road toward my parents’ property.After a longer day than I’d intended on the jobsite, I couldn’t turn down my mom’s lasagna.
I parked in front of the expansive mountain home my dad had built for my mother ten years ago—expanding on the home we’d been raised in.
He’d intended to do it sooner, but the joke that the contractor’s homes came last apparently rang true.
I parked alongside Griffin’s truck with Riley pulling in behind me as my parents’ two collies bolted to our trucks to greet us.
I greeted them both affectionately, thinking I should have brought Ranger, my lab mix I’d adopted a few years back.
“Well, three outta four kids showing up ain’t bad,” my dad said, grinning from the front porch.
“Two of your favorite sons are here at least.”Riley grabbed Griffin in a choke hold as I punched his arm.
“Boys, Jesus, can we not have broken bones today?”my mother hollered, the same plea she’d had for the last thirty years.
“Sorry, Ma.”Riley chuckled as we crested the porch steps and greeted them both.
“Hales couldn’t make it?”Griff asked, referring to our sister.
“Not this time.She has a big exam she’s studying for,” my mom replied as we stepped into the foyer, heading for the kitchen where the majority of any activity in the Carter household took place.
My stomach rumbled as the scent of lasagna and garlic bread hit me, and I realized I’d skipped lunch.
I snagged four beers from the fridge, handing them out to my dad and brothers.
“So, what’s going on with my boys?”my mom asked as she leaned on the counter, assessing us.
“Well, Hudson has a crush on a cute little blonde that rolled into town recently,” Riley shared.
I reached over to smack the back of his head.He’d been with me when I’d seen Lucy at Goodie’s and hadn’t stopped giving me shit since.
