Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 69468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Might as well take advantage of the slow season, right?” Mitch gave a hearty chuckle. He’d been married to a vet long enough to know our rhythms, the flurry of calving into foaling season, and the peaks and valleys of puppy and kitten arrivals for Luna.
“Hush.” Luna elbowed her husband. The two of them sat across from me in a small wooden booth near the bar. “No jinxing.”
“Point taken.” Mitch took a long sip of his beer.
I was nursing mine far more slowly. I might not be on call for any imminent births, but my one-beer limit was my own way of jinx-proofing my evening.
“So, tell us.” Luna leaned forward, elbows on the polished wooden table. “What’s new with you?”
“Uh…” A muscle twinged in the back of my neck. Carson was the biggest new thing in my life, and I sure wasn’t mentioning that. Even if I’d been inclined to discuss my personal life, which I decidedly was not, Carson and I had yet to revisit the whole “no one needs to know” agreement we’d struck in Fort Collins. Instead, I pursed my lips, thinking hard. “Truck is working out great. You were right about that.”
“Told you.” Luna gave a satisfied smile that didn’t last nearly long enough. “But what about you?”
“What about it?” I shrugged, fiddling with the label on my beer. I didn’t have that many close friends these days, but if I were going to tell anyone about Carson, it might be Luna. However, even hinting that I was seeing someone would open me up to a world of questions I wasn’t ready for. Instead, I made my voice upbeat and reassuring. “I’m good.”
“You do seem happier.” Luna made a thoughtful noise.
“Maybe all it took was a truck.” Mitch chuckled.
And maybe all it took was Carson in my life. I suppressed a sigh, not liking this double life I was leading. I’d had plenty of casual things in the past that I didn’t share with others. I wasn’t sure why this time was so different, but it was. Further, there was nothing casual about how my insides melted every time we touched. I was in over my head, but hell if I wanted out of the water.
However, that water got far hotter when Colt and Grayson wandered into the bar. I’d been avoiding them as well. Like Luna, they were good enough friends that they might notice something was up with me, but Colt in particular was the last person I wanted to tell. He might be my friend, but Carson was his little brother. I didn’t want to be on the wrong side of his protective streak.
“Sheriff.” Mitch waved them both over. Crap. No amount of hunkering down in my seat was going to get me out of greeting them.
“Hey.” I saluted Colt and Grayson with my beer.
“Howdy.” Grayson nodded at the three of us before chuckling at me. “Look who finally made it out for a beer.”
“Better enjoy it now.” Colt joined Grayson’s good-natured laughter. “It’ll be winter calving before you know it.”
“Hush.” Luna shook a finger at him. “No jinxing Jude’s night off.”
“Fair.” Colt’s smile shifted to a more serious expression as he turned toward me. “Hey, I’ve been wanting to thank you.”
“Thank me?” I wrinkled my forehead. Colt was far removed from the veterinary business of the ranch, so I was stumped.
“You’ve done a great job getting Carson out and off the ranch.” Colt grinned like I was some sort of activities director. My frown deepened.
“Being his friend is hardly a hardship.” My tone was as pointed as my glare.
“Of course not,” Colt blustered. “But Carson does seem way more settled than when he first arrived.”
“It’s that horse,” Grayson’s tone was more soothing. “Working with Linus has done wonders for both of them.”
“He does seem happy with the horses,” Colt allowed.
“Kat growls at me when I try to take him away for other tasks.” Grayson chuckled. “She thinks he might as well be a horse whisperer. Wants him to think about being a trainer or something like that.”
“He’d be good at that,” I said thickly.
Carson could leave the ranch for other work. I hadn’t considered that possibility. My stomach clenched. I liked seeing him on my visits to the ranch, liked him close by, liked using him for assistance on certain cases. But was I being selfish? If he had an opportunity elsewhere in the future, would I stand in his way?
“I worry about him overexerting himself.” Colt wasn’t done with the overprotective routine.
“You are such a big brother.” Luna half groaned, half laughed, a weary sound. “Let me tell you a truth as a little sister who moved half a state away from her three big brothers. If you smother him with concern, he’ll bolt.”
“I know. I know.” Colt held up his hands. “It’s hard to turn the worry off.”