Then another thought hits me.
Me: Sounds like a family thing.
The response comes almost instantly.
Cabe: What do you think you are?
A second text follows.
Cabe: Now get your ass over there.
I laugh out loud.
It’s ridiculous how much that simple message warms something inside me because I love family. Even though mine is small and nothing like the loud, chaotic, sprawling force that is the Storm-Trust clan.
Yet, somehow, they’ve made room for me.
I stare at the closet for a minute before selecting a dress over jeans.
I pull my hair into a high ponytail and slip into a Western-print tank maxi dress. The fitted bodice hugs my waist while thesmocked back keeps it comfortable in the June heat. The skirt falls loose around my legs with a slit running up one thigh.
I add cowgirl boots, a pair of small gold hoop earrings, and a delicate necklace to finish the look.
The evening air is warm as I walk toward the ranch house, and long before I reach the front porch, I smell fresh bread baking.
My stomach growls.
Cabe didn’t mention what we were eating, but whatever Evelyn is cooking is sure to be delicious.
Gravel crunches behind me.
I glance over my shoulder as a truck pulls into the driveway.
Matty waves from the back seat. Her husband, Caison, is behind the wheel, and an older woman I don’t recognize is riding shotgun.
Matty climbs out, holding a platter covered in plastic wrap. “Perfect timing,” she says.
I hurry over. “What can I carry?”
“The eggs.”
She hands me the platter of deviled eggs. “Careful. Grandpa Earl will cause bodily harm if anything happens to them.”
“Noted.”
Matty laughs.
The older lady exits the truck.
“Jovie, this is Caison’s mother, Marcia,” she says.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Marcia says as she retrieves a casserole dish from the seat.
The smell of cheese drifts through the air.
Matty opens AJ’s car door and lifts him from his car seat while Caison grabs an enormous diaper bag, and we head toward the house together.
Caison swings the front door wide and holds it open for us to file inside.
