“Huh?”
“It’s a fishtail.Not really a braid.”
“See?I need a crash course in girl stuff.Please don’t make me beg.I mean, I will if I have to.I have no pride here.”
“But—I live in New York,” I stammered.
“Technically, yes.But you were living in the Carrington’s Park Avenue apartment,” Poet said.“You don’t have a permanent residence there since you quit.”
“My due date is Christmas.You aren’t going to go back to New York before then,” Hadley said.“You can’t miss Christmastime at the Ridge.”
“And if you’re staying for Christmas, then you should stay for New Years.And I’m due in February,” Salem added.“Might as well just stay through then.”
Poet grinned.“And I’m due just a few months after Salem ...”
“Look how that all worked out,” I muttered.
“Please, Wyn?”Archer asked, his voice low and gravelly.His eyes were earnest, pleading.
Could I really say no to him?To Lenni?
“All right,” I said, my gaze bouncing around the table and finally landing on Muddy, whose face was carefully blank.“I’ll take the job.”
“Thank you,” Archer said with a sigh of relief.
“There’s just one problem,” Brooks said.
“Just one?”I smirked.
“Where are you gonna stay?”Brooks asked.
“I haven’t had time to think about that yet,” I said.“I guess I can stay here, right?”
Muddy piped up.“Only room left in the house is the den.You’re welcome to stay here, but you’ll be sleeping on the couch, and you’ll wind up keeping ranch hours ...and you won’t have any privacy.”
“It might not be ideal, but Archer already lives on the ranch in his RV.Once Lenni moves in with him, you’ll all be in close proximity,” Poet said.
Archer shook his head.“No.I’m getting that kid a house.She’s had enough transition recently and the RV screams temporary.I don’t want her thinking we’re moving anytime soon.”
Grampy rubbed his jaw.“I’ve got an idea.”
“I’m all ears,” Archer said.
“I’m renting a furnished house downtown.It’s got three bedrooms and a few bathrooms.It’s too big for an old bachelor like me.Why don’t the three of you move in there, and I’ll crash in the RV?”
Archer let out a slow exhale.“You don’t mind an RV?Really?”
“I’ve slept in worse places,believe me,” Grampy said.
“You’re a lifesaver,” Archer said.
“Hang on a second,” I voiced.“I don’t need to live with you and Lenni.I can stay here.Or?—”
“Whywouldn’tyou stay with us?”Archer asked.“It makes the most sense.You need a place to live anyway and I’m going to have to head to the ranch crazy early.If you don’t stay with us, you’ll have to get up at the ass crack of dawn every day and drive to town before I leave.Do you even have a car?”
“No, but I don’tknowyou,” I stated.“I’m not living with a stranger.”
“You didn’t know Hadley and me before we moved into the New York apartment, either,” Salem pointed out.“We were strangers.”
