Page 8 of Shattered Hearts

Cole breaks out into a wide grin as he rubs his hands together, and from this movement alone, I can already tell that this is going to be bad. “So, you know how you have been contemplating for a while—”

“Contemplating… strong word,” Sawyer mumbles under his breath, and I huff out a laugh.

Cole ignores him. “About what to do with the bottom pasture at the dam.”

“Yeah…” Reid drawls cautiously.

We shut our months in anticipation.

“I think we should level it out and make a karting track.”

I’ve never seen Holden howl with laughter as fast as he does right now. Sawyer smiles widely, showing off his one dimple, and Reid shakes his head, trying to contain a chuckle.

“Do you really think that’ll be a good idea?”

Cole shrugs. “Think about it. I can practice here instead of going to Rafter’s Falls—”

“That’s true.”

“And we could let kids come to learn here.” Cole snaps his fingers, and my face cringes, knowing that this is about to be the pinnacle of his absolutely horrendous idea. “Aspen could learn—”

“Definitely not!” Holden steps closer, all amusement wiped from his face, his protective dad mode back in position. “You are not letting her near cars, or karts.”

“But—”

“No buts!” shouts Holden.

Sawyer snickers, and his twin aims a glare in his direction as he squeezes out, “You said butts.”

Holden’s shoulders slump. Cole chuckles. “Not that butt. Ugh, you’re both idiots.”

“Hey, that’s not nice!”

“It’s true, though,” I add, copping the bird from Cole.

Reid steps in, standing between the two of them. “All right. Thank you, Cole, for sharing your idea. Grayson and I will take it into consideration.”

“You’re considering it?” splutters Holden.

Looking at me, I quickly shake my head before Cole notices. “Yeah, sure. We have to look at the numbers, though.”

“Sick!” shouts Cole, and I roll my eyes.

“All right, back to work. These stalls aren’t going to clean themselves, you know.”

Cole’s eyes widen, and I brace for another genius sentence to come from his mouth. “That would be epic. Maybe we should make those too. Self-cleaning horse stalls.”

Reid and Holden sigh, tiredness taking over their features. Sawyer shakes his head.

“You’re full of all the great ideas today,” I murmur, before pulling him into a headlock and ruffling up his hair.

Cole pushes me away, laughing, as the others disperse and start on this morning’s duties.

“But do you really think that the track is a good idea?” Cole asks as I reach for the wheelbarrow tucked in the corner.

Exhaling, I put it back down and lean against the wall. I decided to let him down easily. “Honestly, Cole, we might not have the budget for it. The ranch is expensive, and we might need to hire one or two people now that Dad is retired. It’s a lot of work keeping this place up and running. Not to mention that Holden’s place is under construction now.”

His body slumps a little, resting on the broom, and I cup his shoulder gently.