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Nash hammered in a nail, then looked back down at Mal. “As opposed to a cyborg, do you mean?”
She sent him a look that he loosely interpreted to meanwhat are you, eighty?
“She promotes cool products that are natural, and has just put out this new face oil, and it’s amazing. She’s not all fake and stuff, and she writes amazing posts about being strong and empowering women.”
“She sounds like a nightmare, and no one is what they portray themselves to be online, Mal.”
“Why are you so negative and grouchy? Honestly, Nash, Maggs is right. You’ll be single when you’re ninety!”
“I will not,” he said around a mouthful of nails.
“Will too.”
“So what’s she doing here, this Looni McKinley?”
“Ha ha, and it’s Luna. She’s just on vacation.”
“Someone like that is not ‘just’ on vacation. If Maggs knew she was coming, chances are she is here for a reason.”
“I asked her when I saw her, and she said she’s visiting a friend, but yeah, she’ll probably take lots of pictures of herself on the mountains and doing healthy things. It’ll be real good promotion for the town. Maggs said Ted’s happy she’s staying at the lodge. She’s got like a gazillion followers on FB.”
“A gazillion followers,” Nash muttered around his nails.
“Are you coming to Tea Total tonight?”
“Why would I be?” he asked.
“It’s that surprise party for Miss Marla that Mandy is putting on. We all gotta go.”
“Got to go, and I don’t. I don’t even really know the woman.”
The silence behind him was full of disapproval. He sighed.
“If I say I’m going to go, will you leave?”
“Yup. See you at seven, and it’s really important we support the sisters because of the chocolate place. They’re worried about losing business. Ted wanted to have the party at the Lodge, but Mandy said they love their shop, so it’s there.”
“This town drives me crazy,” he muttered as Mal hurried away.
“Maggs said to tell you we’d pick you up, so you don’t forget!”
“I will drive myself!” he roared, but she’d already left.
Nash worked for another two hours until thirst and hunger drove him down from the roof. Another vehicle arrived as he headed for the cabin. He watched his brother pull up beside his pickup.
“Call out the sheriff, my brother left the ranch,” he said as the long, lanky frame of Ford James Winter got out of his SUV.
Nash had a few pounds on his older brother, but they shared height. He had black hair cut short, not for style but practicality; you didn’t need it in your eyes when you were wrangling heifers.
“Yeah, well Mom said if I didn’t visit you, she wasn’t cooking any more meals for me,” Ford said, heading his way in that easy gait he had. He could work from sunup to sundown at that pace and not even break a sweat. They both could.
Nash took his brother’s hand and did the chest bump. There had been a distance between them lately that hadn’t been there before. He thought he knew why, and perhaps now Ford was ready to talk about it. Not that either of them was the type to bare their souls.
Ford exhaled loudly, a sure sign that what he was about to say would make them both uncomfortable. Neither of them were big on sharing feelings or participating in awkward conversations. But of the two of them, Ford was the better communicator.
“Is everything all right at home?” Nash asked, heading into the cabin.
“Peachy,” Ford said.
