He blinked, and I watched his face go through the emotions of remembering just what I was talking about—right down to the slight shake of his head and the roll of his eyes.
“That contract has been null and void for a long time.”
“Listen…a lot of unfortunate things happened that night, but first and foremost, I had the most traumatizing first kiss imaginable because I was trying to helpyouout?—”
“Traumatizing for me!”
I went on like he wasn’t laughing at me. If I broke now, he’d consider it all a joke, and the more I thought about this, the more I needed it not to be a joke. “So you owe me.”
When he still sat there without saying a word, I added, “I cleaned out my closet at my dad’s house. I now have the paperwork to prove it.”
He stood and dumped the rest of his pop over the coals. The waning fire sizzled and steamed, breaking into the weird vibe I’d just placed between us.
“Sorry, Tuck. Can’t do it.”
“Jake…” I wasn’t above whining.
“Nope.” He called out to his daughter, “Soph! Time to go!”
“Jeez, you sneeze on somebody one time, and they just can’t let it go,” I teased, hoping it masked the rejection I felt at his immediate dismissal.
“That was pretty hard to forget.”
My face must have fallen slightly, because Jake’s eyes softened. “You’ll be fine. You just haven’t met the right guy yet. Practice with Briggs, and you’ll be golden.”
And then he gathered Sophie up in a bear hug, tickling her enough to make her squeal, tossed me a wave, and disappeared into his cabin.
6
JAKE
“Now don’t get usedto me coming every morning and doing half of your work,” Layne Marten said as he moved past me to set down another bale in the manger. When Layne pulled up this morning to drop off a load of hay, he found me feeding cows and decided to lend a hand. We had logged countless hours feeding cattle, fixing fences, and milking cows together, and having him here reminded me of days I missed.
“It’s just the first day of the season. I came to make sure those muscles aren’t just for show,” he went on, cutting the strings off his bale before kicking it to the cows, grunting in happiness.
“Half my work? You wish, old man.”
“You’ve gone soft since you last worked for me.”
“I’ve done at least four bales already. Is that just your first?” I goaded, hefting another bale to the manger.
“I did four before you’d had your breakfast this morning.”
I laughed as we delivered a back-and-forth reminiscent of my time working for him for all those years. When I noticed him picking up his pace, I did as well, hefting another bale of hay into the manger.
“Go faster, Daddy!” came Sophie’s voice from where she clung to my back, her legs around my waist and her arms wrapped around my neck like a vise.
“And wearing that cute kid doesn’t count against you. You’re not even thirty yet. When I was your age, I was practically hauling one-ton bales by brute strength.”
I laughed, leaning forward to scoot Sophie farther up my back.
“We’ll feed the cows a little lighter this morning, so around noon, you can show whatever guests have arrived by then how to feed them and let them try their hand at it. Give them a pitchfork. They’ll love it.”
“Is this why you bought the dude ranch? So you can have people pay you to do your chores?”
He grinned. “I’ve gotten a lot smarter in my older years.”
Layne was the hardest worker I’d ever known. I’d never tell him that to his face, but I had no doubt that at sixty years old, he could outwork me any day of the week.