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“I’m positive. He finally admitted he hates sheep.” She laughed. “He’s ready to move on to the next stage of his life. He even wants to talk to you about gettin’ the resort guests involved. Maybe they can help with plantin’ and harvestin’. Athena’s over the moon about it. She wants to plant watermelons. So, in the spring, Brand will?—”
She stopped mid-sentence, scrunching up her face, looking off into space.
“What?”
“It just occurred to me. That movie. The Goonies. One of the character’s names is Brand. And my mama loved that movie. And my brother’s name is Brand… Huh. Never caught it before.”
I chuckled. “Then we should invite her to movie night.”
Abey sighed. “She’s bein’ more supportive, but I wouldn’t expect any miracles where she’s concerned. She still goes to the same church, the one that told her that her daughter is the spawn of Satan himself. Although the other night, she mentioned to Athena that she might try a new church. I hope the people at her old church aren’t givin’ her a hard time about me, but at any rate, I doubt she’d be up for hangin’ out with a bunch of gay teens to watch a movie.”
“You never know,” Devo said. She shrugged. “But we can still invite her. Maybe one of these times she’ll say yes.”
“Maybe. Anyway, Brand will be here next spring to start buildin’ the cabins for Bax’s new business plan. And he said it won’t be too much for him to throw up a house for us on the back of the property, too, as long as we can put up the money for the supplies he doesn’t already have, which we can. It’ll have a mother-in-law’s quarters for your mama, just in case she and Red ever break up.”
She laughed ’cause she knew how in love they were. Fat chance I’d ever get Red out of my life now.
“And he’s buildin’ another house for my mama and Dixon near the main house.” She rolled her eyes. “We’ll all be a happy family.”
Stepping around my desk, I stood in front of her and pushed up on my tiptoes into her space, winding my arms around her waist. “You sure that’s what you want? I mean, to live on the farm where your dad treated you like shit?”
She wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “Yeah. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, to be close with my family again. And Daddy’s gone. When the sheep are gone, his influence won’t be there anymore. We can all have a fresh start.
“Plus, where the hell we gonna get land like that for a better price? In the Tetons?” She shook her head. “Never gonna happen. All we gotta do is help Bax and Mama get the Lee Family Mountain Resort started. I don’t mind washin’ a few loads of sheets every week to help out. We’ll get to see Athena more, and we can teach her everything we learn about farmin’.”
“That makes it worth it for sure.”
I locked up my office, and she led me to her truck parked out along the curb in front of the center. Her blue and white plastic cooler sat in the bed.
“What’s that for?”
“You didn’t think I’d take you to the place we’re gonna live together without a picnic, did ya?”
I looked in the back seat of her truck and saw blankets, a pillow, and more food.
She winked at me through the truck’s windows. “I might also have other plans.”
The mid-November day was chilly, the blue, cloudless afternoon sky as beautiful as it could only be in Wyoming, and the sun warmed everything up.
“But it’ll be cold out there under the shade of the trees.”
She wiggled her eyebrows. “We’ve never gotten it on in my truck.”
I gasped and clutched at my neck playfully. “Deputy Sheriff Lee, I’m appalled. That’s dangerous behavior. It’s probably against the law to have sex in a county vehicle.”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” she mocked, arching an eyebrow as she opened her door. When we were both seated inside, she waited for me to click my seatbelt into place, then said, “I’m an outlaw. I play by my own rules.”
She started the truck, and Tay-Tay’s loud voice spilled out of the speakers.
“Oops!” She turned it down as a lovely pink blush spread across her cheeks, and I watched it travel down her neck.
“You play this song a lot. What is it?”
She turned her head, gazing at me as she hit the button on her dash to start the song over. “It’s my favorite. It’s called ‘I’m Only Me When I’m With You.’”
I leaned over to kiss her lips. “Who would’ve ever guessed Abey Lee was a romantic?”
“Seriously? The fact that I sit through an hour every week with a bunch of ladies swoonin’ over imaginary book boyfriends didn’t clue you in? And I actually read the books. Sam’s finally forcin’ us to read Pride and Prejudice. Do you know how old that book is?”
