I lift my head and look at him in the lamp light.
He looks back with those steady eyes.
"Then tell me," I say softly.
He does and it takes a while.
It is worth every word.
We head outside and join the celebration.
Chapter twenty-five
After Forever
Beckett
Silver Ridge does not do anything small.
I know this. Pearl Bishop taught me this when she showed up at my ranch with forty years of fence line knowledge and left without explaining herself.
I have known it since Earl Bishop delivered feed with complimentary written across the invoice and drove away before I could say thank you. I have known it since Jolene sent enough brisket after the storm to feed the crew twice over and called it nothing.
I know Silver Ridge does not do anything small.
I was not fully prepared for what Silver Ridge does with an engagement.
It starts Saturday evening while Laney and I are still in the ranch house and the crew is at the creek bend celebrating with the energy of people who have been holding something in all day. By the time we come back outside the situation has escalated considerably. Wyatt has called someone. That someone has called someone else.
A truck I don't recognize pulls through the gate with a cooler the size of a small vehicle. Harvey's brother, who I have decided is named something beginning with D based on the one time Harvey addressed him directly, has produced a guitar from somewhere and is playing it with a competence that surprises everyone including apparently Harvey.
Remy has found string lights.
More string lights.
An amount of string lights that raises questions about where they came from and how long they've been on the property waiting for exactly this occasion.
"Remy," I say when I find him stringing them between the barn and the nearest fence post with the focused energy of a man executing a vision. "Where did these come from."
"I have a system," he says.
"What kind of system involves this many string lights."
"A prepared one." He climbs down from the fence post, steps back, and evaluates his work. "Silver Mesa needed lights. I acquired lights. This is called ranch management."
"That is not what ranch management means."
"Money Bags." He looks at me with complete sincerity. "You cowboyed up. Let me handle the ambiance."
I let him handle the ambiance.
The ranch yard transforms the way Silver Mesa always transforms when the people who love it decide to bring it to life. Tables appear from somewhere. Food materializes on them with the speed of a community that considers feeding people a reflex rather than a decision.
Jolene arrives at seven with reinforcements from the diner. Sets everything up, hugs Laney for a solid thirty seconds, looks at me with the maternal approval that I have come to understand is the highest available honor in Silver Ridge.
She goes back to organizing food with the efficiency of a woman who has catered every significant moment this town has had for thirty years.
Pearl arrives in her good hat again, which feels exactly right for a night like this.
