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It’s been a long day helping my brother Wyatt get the space behind The Gnarly Vine ready for his proposal to Marlow tonight. I got Pierre’s call right as everything was going down, so I’m missing the celebration. I don’t love big shindigs, but I love my family. If I have to miss being with them, I at least want to get some sleep. I get up while it’s still dark every morning, and I’ve already put in overtime with people today—I don’t have the energy to say much more.
“It’s just,” Ruby starts, “I’m not comfortable leaving her. If you give me a blanket, I’ll stay out in the barn with her.”
“No.”
“No?” she echoes.
I understand wanting to take care of my animals, but evenI am not gonna stay out in the barn sleeping with them. And it’s a fucking stellar barn.
“Come on,” I say, motioning for her to follow me.
“What? Where?”
“I’ll show you the barn. But you’re not staying out there. Pierre would kill me. You can stay in one of my spare rooms. You seem to have forgotten you’re in a wedding dress,” I add.
I glance back and even in the dark, I can tell her eyes are wide. But she doesn’t argue. She grabs a few blankets and a bag of feed from the trailer. I take it from her and she teeters on heels that appear to be—shit.
Even her boots are made out of fucking lace.
What is this?
“My ID is in my phone case, but…do you think everything else in the RV is okay?” She glances back at the RV with concern.
“It’s safe around here.”
I motion for her to step where I’ve walked so her legs and feet can stay drier and she and that damn emu follow. We walk to the barn and go to the side that’s the newest, the section of the barn I use for calving. Fortunately, it’s empty right now and I know Dolly will be left alone in here.
When we step inside the stall, Ruby looks around and Dolly walks around the perimeter. I set the bag of food on the ground.
“This is really nice,” Ruby says.
She takes the blankets from me and places them in the corner before opening the bag of feed, and then she pulls out a bowl from the bag and fills it with food.
I grab another bowl from outside the stall and fill it with fresh water, bringing it in and setting it on the floor.
“Thank you,” she says.
I nod and we watch as Dolly sniffs the bowls. She takes a drink and then goes over to lie on the blankets.
“I exercised her a lot on one of the stops and I think she’s a little shaken up from the change in scenery, so she should be pretty tired,” she says. “I really wouldn’t mind sleeping out here with her…”
She turns to look at me and gasps as she stares at me in what seems like surprise.
I’m surprised myself, seeing just how pretty she is in the light. Her big honey-brown eyes and light brown hair, and her full lips…damn. She’s beautiful. I smooth my hair back, wondering if it’s out of control or something. She blinks rapidly and her mouth parts before she clears her throat.
“Not happening,” I rasp.
I clear my throat too, suddenly conscious of how my siblings always nag me about how little I talk, how grouchy I am, yada-yada.
“The barn…it’s a no,” I add. “I can drop you at my sister’s place or my sister-in-law’s, if you’d be more comfortable there.”
She swallows hard and shakes her head slightly. “Uncle Pierre said I could trust you, and I wouldn’t feel right about leaving Dolly…so I’ll stay.”
I nod again and she gulps. Good God, am I that terrifying? I attempt a smile. It feels more like a grimace, but it must work because she smiles tentatively back at me.
Her eyes smile as her lips lift and it’s kinda nice. Without thinking, I humph. Her smile drops and I sigh.
“Come on,” I mutter.
