“Sounds great, thank you, Mommama.” Connor adored his mother, and it showed in his husband’s smile. “You’re good to us.”
“I love you all. My grandboys are my pride and joy.” Mommama hugged Jaxson close. “How do you feel about some time at the park, and then some goony golf?” She winked at Connor. “I promise no shenanigans.”
“That’s a pie crust promise, Mommama.”
Connor laughed. “You’ve already taken them to the barber, Mommama. Oh—did you meantheirshenanigans?”
“Daddy says tomorrow can be the train, Mamaw! The train!” Jayden bounced over, and one of the spoons went flying. Connor’s hand shot out, and he caught it.
“Good catch, Dad.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
They shared a soft laugh.
“You two eat.” His dad gave them a wink and ushered the boys and Mommama away.
Connor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Wow.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I feel like I’ve been wrapped in a wet towel and beat.” He had so much shit swirling around his brain, he couldn’t stop it.
Connor nodded and sipped his coffee. “We eat, then we deal with…everything.” Connor took a bite of his chicken.
Yeah. Everything.
There was a shitton of that. Early was sure of it.
6
By the time Demming was done explaining all the shit that needed to be decided on, dealt with, and provided for, Early’s head was swimming.
He didn’t know how he was going to deal with all this shit. There were the boys, Connor, the parents, Demming’s imminent retirement, the ranch, the bills, the taxes…
Everything.
And Early couldn’t decide if he was terrified or excited.
The boys were spending the night with their grandparents, and Early needed to either talk to Connor or get really drunk.
Possibly both.
As he approached the house, he found Connor sitting on the porch with a glass of wine. So, both it was, then.
“All done with Demming?”
“Yeah. That was intense. How’s it going?”I’m exhausted and worried, and I need a hug.
“Oh, fine. It’s barely five and I’ve opened the wine.” Connor stood. He wasn’t sure who moved first but he got his hug. “So, tell me.”
“Demming wants to retire in October. There’s a new set of mustangs coming to run the new BLM lease—don’t ask me why they decided to go after new BLM land when Rick was dying. There are twenty pregnant heifers and six pregnant mares. I need to hire a new foreman, I need to deal with taxes and accounts and…god, Connor. What am I going to do?”
Connor gave him a tight squeeze, then let him go. “It’s we, honey. It’s always a we. What arewegoing to do? And for starters, I’m getting you a drink. You sit.”
Early sat, and Connor came back with a glass of whiskey, filled slightly higher than was usually appropriate.
“Do you want the farm?”
“It’s a ranch, love.” He didn’t know how to answer that, because of course he did. He loved raising his boys, but they were in school all day, and he loved Connor, but his husband was at work all day. Not to mention he loved this land, he loved cowboying, and he didn’t know what to do.