“I don’t know whether to be envious or feel sorry, if I’m honest.”
I laughed. “Me either.”
All the siblings that were in the area or lived on the ranch came to introduce themselves to Tony and me separately. They told me there were… okay, I wasn’t sure. Two to four of them were absent. My math on that was shaky at best.
After most of us had eaten, Russ ambled to my side at one point and chuckled in his raspy voice. “If you need an escape, I can feign being tired and need a chaperone to walk back. Just say the word, son.”
“Noted.” The relief that washed over me must’ve been obvious, because he patted my shoulder before going to some of the hands for a chat.
Eventually, one of the three kids that were not Demi’s approached Tony. She was a bit older, maybe seven or eight, and seemed a bit more serious than the two rowdy boys that looked to be about six.
“Hi, I’m Alanah. You must be Tony?” she said, smiling a bit.
“Uh, hi. Yes. I’m Tony. Nice to meet you.” He sounded so formal and flustered that I commended her for not laughing.
“Do you wanna go see if there’s ice cream yet?”
He looked at me for confirmation, then took her offered hand and went to the dessert table with her.
“He’s safe with her. She’s Lovett’s kid.” Crew pointed his bottle of beer toward a dark-haired man who was laughing at something. “He’s one of our oldest employees. Lives in town with Alanah and Diana, his wife.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t noticed Crew joining the party, but now that he was here, it was obvious he was a bit late to it.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
“I’m fine. Overwhelmed, really. We….” I frowned.
He waited for a moment, then asked, “You…?”
“We haven’t had people in a while.”
Crew nodded, taking in my statement. “You’ll get used to it. He will, too.”
We watched Alanah fish out a popsicle from a cooler to hand to Tony. She must’ve said something funny, because suddenly the sweetest sound on earth carried to me; he was laughing his butt off.
Crew chuckled. “See?”
I cleared my throat, trying to remember when I’d last heard him laugh like that with a virtual stranger. “Yeah.” If the word came out a bit choked, I didn’t care. I wasn’t that type of man.
Jenn walked to us and smiled. “So, tomorrow morning, you can drop him off at the house before you go find this one.” She pointed her thumb at her son.
“Sounds good. Thank you so much.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m sure he’ll make a good helper or we can figure out something else for him to do.” She was so damn warm and reminded me so much of my mom that it hurt a little.
Crew cleared his throat. “Eight sharp good for you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s perfect.”
“If you need more time, just text me. I’ll be in my office in the broodmare barn. I thought we’d go ride around a little so you can familiarize yourself with the surroundings.”
Chuckling, I said, “I took a walk with Tony earlier today, doing the same with the immediate area.”
“That’s smart,” Jenn commented approvingly.
Suddenly music started to play from somewhere. Another Wren Paxton song. Emery groaned for some reason, and Crew and Jenn looked amused, as if it was some sort of an inside joke.
Russ got up from where he’d been sitting and started our way. Jenn squeezed his shoulder and went to one of her daughters—Gemma, maybe?
