Page 17 of Under an Oklahoma Sky

She sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, they should be fine. Benji will alert us if anything is wrong. Thanks for helping me save the horses.”

“No thanks necessary. I’m just glad we made it in time.”

A few hours later, after the lights in the main house had gone out, Adam leaned against the fence, watching the horses settle in for the night. Holding his cell phone to his ear, he gave Shane the number for the local lumberyard Evan had supplied him with.

Their foster parents had named both of their longtime charges as beneficiaries in their will, and as executor, Shane kept Adam’s inheritance in a separate account. They’d arranged it that way because the church’s medical insurance for its priests and friars provided little in the way of long-term care. If anything ever happened to Adam, Shane would have access to the money and could make sure he received the best treatment and doctors available.

Adam had never imagined he’d need the money for anything else. Now, he was glad he had access to it.

“So, besides the fire, how are things in Rosewood, Oklahoma?” Shane asked.

He took a deep breath and blurted, “I kissed her.”

“What? Who?” Shane sounded as shocked as Adam felt.

“I kissed Sage.”

There was an extended pause on the other end. “And?”

He chuckled, taking a moment to enjoy drawing out the suspense he knew was killing the other man. “And what?”

“Come on, Adam,” Shane huffed. “This isn’t the eighteenth century, and despite being a modern-day friar, it’s not the first time you’ve kissed a member of the opposite sex. Wait. That’s all it was, right? A kiss? Or more?”

“Just a kiss.” But damn, how he’d wanted more.

This time, the pause was even longer before Shane spoke again. “You’re not going to ask me for pointers here, are you? I mean, I love you, bro, but that would be just too weird.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’m not going there with you. I think I can remember the basics.”

“Well, just remember to use protection.”

“Yes, Harry.” He loved to tease Shane when he started sounding like their foster father.

“Ah, hell. The baby’s crying. I’ve got to get her before she wakes up Nicole—she was exhausted going to bed earlier. I’ll take care of that stuff first thing in the morning. Love ya, bro.”

“Love you, too. Kiss my pretty niece and the rest of the family for me.”

Shane was already making cooing noises to little Melanie before he disconnected the call, and Adam smiled. His brother had offered to let him stay with them when he’d first gotten out of prison, but Adam couldn’t do that to them. Shane and Nicole had two boys, ages four and six, and Melanie had arrived two months before his release. He’d only stayed with them for a few nights before hitting the road, not wanting to intrude on them any more than necessary.

Strolling back to his cottage, his thoughts kept bouncing between the fire in the barn and the one Sage had ignited in him. He couldn’t stop thinking about kissing her—or how much he wanted to do it again.

Sage woke to the sounds of banging, men’s voices, and the beeping of a vehicle backing up. She glanced at the clock and was shocked to see it was ten minutes to nine.

Throwing off the covers, she hurried to the window and opened the blinds.

What she saw was controlled chaos, and she tried to wrap her still-slumbering brain around what was happening in her backyard. More than two dozen men were clearing away the remains of the barn and loading the debris into huge dumpsters, while a backhoe handled the larger pieces. Those not involved in the cleanup were on the far side of the wreckage, hammering together pieces of lumber into what she assumed would be the back wall of her new barn.

“Holy cow!”

Grabbing some clothes, she quickly took care of business in the bathroom before rushing to the kitchen, where she found Maddie, Ashley, and two other women, Sarah Pickler and Jess Donahue, cooking up a storm.

Ashley spotted her first. “Well, it’s about time you joined us. How could you sleep with all this racket? Oh, and don’t worry about the kids. Matthew is at my place with Toby. Chris’s mom is watching them. And Jenna is over at Cara Albertson’s for the day. She said to call her later and let her know if you want Jenna to sleep over.”

Her friend shoved a fresh mug of coffee into Sage’s hand as she eyed all the food the women were preparing. It was enough to feed the small army outside. “Um... What’s going on?”

Maddie chuckled. “A good, old-fashioned barn raising is what’s going on. Adam and Evan got the ball rolling last night, and everyone started showing up at the crack of dawn.”

Tears filled her eyes. This was one reason she loved living in a small town. Despite everyone knowing everyone else’s business, they always pulled together when one of their own needed help. She’d lain awake for a while last night, exhausted but unable to sleep as she tried to figure out where she would get the extra money to rebuild the barn.