Connor sighed. “Tired. It’s good to hear your voice. How was dinner with Momma and Dad?”
“Good. Ian made this boozy cake. Momma loved it.” He locked up and turned off the lights downstairs.
“Since when do landscapers bake cakes?” He heard a cork pop on a bottle of wine.
“I guess this one does? I sent it home with the folks. It wasn’t my thing.” He hadn’t the foggiest idea. He guessed everyone had hidden talents.
“Weird. So, I packed up another room today. The downstairs is all done except the kitchen.”
“Oh wow. Does it look strange?” He wanted to be there helping, but Connor said the boys were more harm in this case.
“It’s…odd? Kind of sad. It makes it feel even more lonely here. But I keep telling myself it won’t be forever.”
“It won’t. You say the word, and I’ll come out, and we’ll finish it up.”
“I’ve got a ton of work this week, but I’ll do the kids rooms next weekend and then I’ll have a better idea of when I’ll need you.” Connor sighed. “I listed it today. The house.”
“Yeah? Are you… Are you upset? Do you want to keep it?”
“There’s no reason to keep it, but…aren’t you going to miss it a little? It’s our first house.”
“Yes. We brought our boys home to that house. We taught them to ride bikes there. We have a thousand memories.” But he wanted to make a million more.
“Yeah. Yes. And I know we have tons of time to make new ones, but… I don’t know. I don’t turn on a dime well, I guess. I’ll get there.”
“I know. This place is my home, so I’m drawn here.” And he was going to fight to keep it, please Jesus.
“It is, I know. I just hate all this in between. This place is so empty. I need to get things wrapped up here and close this chapter.”
God, he didn’t want Connor to hate him, but the idea of going back to that house where he spent hours a day inside planning meals and looking for a job that allowed him to pick the boys up whenever they needed was enough to make him nuts.
Especially now.
“This is just hard for me, Early. I thought if we ever moved we’d discuss it, time it the way we needed to, I’d find a new job first…this just feels all backward to me.”
“I didn’t expect this either. I had no idea that Rick was planning this. None.” And he knew this was weird—it was for him too—but dammit, he needed help with the ranch, with the moving parts, and Connor was acting like he couldn’t do that.
“I’m venting to the wrong person, I know. I gave notice, honey. Three weeks. Just three more weeks, and I’ll be on my way.”
He almost offered to sell the ranch, to come back to Denver and go back to their old life, but he simply…couldn’t. He wasn’t meant to be cooped up in a perfectly normal house with manicured lawns and no dogs or horses or sheep.
His boys had chosen lambs of their own to show in the county fair next year. They were learning how to gather eggs, ride, swim for hours. Go fishing and raft. It was too good to walk away from.
“I know this is hard, darlin’. I appreciate that you’re doing it.”
Connor chuckled. “If I didn’t know that, I wouldn’t be. How are the boys?”
“Happy. Exhausted. I told them they had to wait for you to talk about getting their own dogs, which almost was a meltdown, but Jaxson held it together.” Which was a huge victory, as far as he was concerned. “I told them they had to write a pro/con list to show you.”
“Wow. That’s creative. I can’t wait to hear their lists. That will be fun. Not to worry, though, I like dogs. Puppies, I assume? What are you getting them?”
“I thought we’d figure that out when you got home. I need this to be our decision.” Right, like he’d just get them puppies. Jesus.
“Oh, okay. Great. I just figured you’d know what was best, since it’s your…thing. The animals.”
His thing. The animals. Fuck, he wanted… Maybe he needed to call a friend. Was Chayton in town? Any of the old crew? “Do you want to stay in Denver?”
At least he’d left all his old friends already. Connor hadn’t even started.