I glance at the fridge, then back at them. “You trust me?”
Mason grins. “You want to cook dinner, too?”
“I can.”
“You planning to poison us?”
“Only if you deserve it.”
Brookes’s mouth curves slightly. “We’ll take our chances.”
“Go shower,” I order, enjoying being bossy, and they do, nudging each other as they leave the room like the little boys they used to be, leaving me to rustle up my first meal for two hungry cowboys.
I opt for pan-fried chicken, potatoes, and whatever vegetables I can find. Mason and Brookes return to the kitchen with damp hair and clean faces and hover, moving around me easily, passing things when I need them, staying out of the way when I don’t.
It feels so natural to bustle around between them. So normal to be in this other world, so different from my real life. I smile as they snatch pieces of the warm banana bread, contrary to my warning that they’ll spoil their dinner.
“We should eat on the porch,” Brookes says. “Catch the sunset.”
I pass him his almost overflowing plate and follow him and Mason outside.
Conversation comes easily. Mason tells me about a ranchhand who nearly backed a truck into the water trough, exaggerating enough to make me laugh. Brookes fills in the details Mason leaves out, his dry tone cutting through the embellishment, making it even better. They groan and sigh over my cooking like it’s a Michelin-starred plate, not ranch-house kitchen cuisine.
The sun dips below the horizon like a glowing penny dipping into the ocean, and I find myself sinking back into the chair, my limbs loose, without realizing it’s happening.
After dinner, I clear the plates before they can stop me, washing them in the sink while Mason dries and Brookes puts things away. Buck scratches at the door, and I glance over.
“I’ve got him,” I say, shaking my hands and grabbing my boots.
Outside, the air has cooled, the sky stretching wide and starlit above me. Buck lumbers out beside me, taking his time as he sniffs around the yard.
I lean against the porch rail, so taken by the quiet and the freshness all around me. It’s beautiful, but more than that, it’s the kind of peace I didn’t realize I needed.
The screen door creaks again.
I don’t turn because I can sense Mason and Brookes behind me. Their energy shifts the air subtly but in a way that I’m growing used to. Mason settles against the post to my right, Brookes on my left. We stand like that for a while, in comfortable silence that carries comfort and hope in its warm confines.
My hand drifts, almost unconsciously, to my stomach again.
This place.
This land.
These men.
I glance between them, taking them in properly in the low light bleeding from the house windows. A strange, unexpected thought settles in my chest.
This is the kind of place where a child could grow up.
Room to run. Space to breathe. Animals to nurture. People who show up when it matters.
My throat tightens slightly because they’re the kind of men who would show up. They’ve shown up for me, a virtual stranger.
They’re the kind of men who would love fiercely and protect without hesitation.
But as the idea begins to take shape, another crowds it out. One of them might convince my mother of his worthiness, but two never will.
Chapter 13
