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“Doesn’t feel like it.”
“We see it, kiddo,” my uncle says.
Dad pulls me into a sweaty hug. “I’m proud of you, Livvie.” I hold on when he tries to pull away, just needing another few moments. He grips me tighter. “You ok?”
I take in a long breath, then release him. “Yea. I’m good. Thanks for another torturous morning.”
He chuckles and rolls his eyes, the gesture a copy of when I do it. It makes me smile.
My uncle pulls me in for a quick hug, too. I remember spending a few Christmases and summers with him growing up, but we were never close. That’s changed over the past few months. He’s about eight years younger than my dad and a perpetual bachelor.
They look similar, but my uncle is about two inches shorter with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. They’re both in incredible shape for their age, especially my dad. He’s quite popular in town. Whenever we’re running errands, at least three women come up and ask me about my dad. How he’s doing, who he’s dating, why he hasn’t settled down yet. They’re relentless. But Dad has no interest in dating. After Barbara, part two, I don’t blame him. He’s polite to his admirers, but always resists their offers for dates. He brushes me off when I tell him he should say yes. “You’re the only woman I’ll ever need in my life,” he says, earning an eye roll every time.
Barbara still lives in town, but by some minor miracle, I haven’t run into her. Dad says he called her when I moved out and made it clear that she was to leave me alone. She must have listened, which only makes me hate her more. It’s not that I want to see her, but she didn’t even fight it. The town is small, so I can only assume she’s seen me and kept out of sight.
My uncle has a revolving door of women that come to the ranch house. My favorite is the one I see most often. Charlotte is a spunky forty-five-year-old who doesn’t take shit from anyone, including my uncle. She’s also my boss at the animal shelter where I work part-time.I’m convinced he’s in love with her but is too emotionally stunted to realize it.
My dad hates it when the women join us for dinner, but I love it. Garrett and I take mental notes and discuss afterwards. I’m pretty sure my uncle is Garrett’s hero.
Uncle Mike heads inside and the three of us return to the house down the lane. “Do you have time to help me with the tractor this morning?” my dad asks Garrett. They’ve bonded over their love of cars and engines, and tinker around together with the machinery on the farm.
Garrett looks at me. Where I go, he goes. I nod and smile.
“Sure.”
My dad claps Garrett on the shoulder as he passes us and heads upstairs to shower, even though he’ll be just as sweaty in about two hours. Garrett smiles up at him and my heart warms. Garrett’s stepdad, the only dad he’s ever known, passed away about a decade ago. My dad has adopted him in all but name, and it makes me so happy.
It especially helps us convince people in town that I’m related to Garrett. Not that it’s difficult. People just assume we’re siblings and we don’t correct them.My dad and uncle go along with it, knowing it keeps the small-town busy bodies satisfied. Nobody needs to know that Garrett is my bodyguard.
Garrett heads to the kitchen to make protein pancakes. I cut up some fruit and brew the coffee. My dad comes down ready for the day as we’re plating the pancakes. Uncle Mike comes in a few minutes later and we all dig in. The sun is just below the horizon when Dad and Uncle Mike start their day.
Garrett helps my dad with the tractor for a few hours, then we head to the barn for our workout. Brando insisted on sending me a workout plan and I didn’t have the heart to say no. He checks in with Garrett once a month and they adjust my plan when necessary. My uncle was thrilled to convert part of the barn into a gym. We had large fans installed, so we didn’t die of heat exhaustion, and we learned to keep the door open. As we approach,Paranoidby I Prevail blares through the whir of the fans.
“Charlie must have the day off,” Garrett says.
Charlie Bennett has been working for my uncle for the past year. He drives the big tractor they call “the Stripper,” but he’s also the handyman. He lived with my dad but moved into the small apartment above the garage when Garrett and I moved out here.
Once I got overhis dark hair, blue eyes, and charming dimples that made me forget I’d sworn off men for the foreseeable future, we became friends. He’s kind and hilarious, a lethal combination to most libidos, mine included. But Charlie makes it easy to ignore that and be friends. He never flirts with me and treats me like a kid sister, even though he’s only a year or two older. He and Garrett are buds, and I’m glad that he has someone to hang out with besides me all the time.
When we walk inside, Charlie is doing bicep curls with eighty-pound weights. It’s probably his warm-up. He looks up and freezes when he sees us and grabs the remote to turn the music down. “Sorry y’all. Didn’t realize you were coming in. I can change it to something else.”
“It’s all good man, we’re not picky,” Garrett says.
He smiles at us and turns it back up. I put my hair up in a ponytail and watch Charlie out of the corner of my eye. While I’m resting between sets, Charlie hops up on the pull-up bar with metal weighted plates attached to his waist with canvas cords. He’s still wearing his shirt, but it leaves nothing to the imagination as it clings to him. Garrett pops my mouth closed with his finger under my chin.
“Quit being a pervert. It goes both ways, you know,” he admonishes, and I blush. I ignore his grin and return to my workout, keeping my eyes away from Charlie as best I can.Charlie and I can be nothing more than friends, but that doesn’t mean I can’t admire his strength. I’m only human.
Garrett sets me up on the squat rack. “I forgot to grab the heart rate monitor. Brando wanted another reading. I’ll be back,” he says and jogs out the open barn door. I glance at Charlie and find him on the row machine, facing away from me.
With a sigh, I decide to get in a set while I wait for Garrett. I position the bar across my shoulders and lift, taking a few steps backward. I plant my feet and do my first squat, but when I straighten, I’m thrown off balance as the weights slide off the bar. A looming presence appears behind me, and everything stills. Charlie’s arm span is so wide he’s holding the bar on the outer edges, keeping the weights in place. His warm body presses against my back and I freeze. A few moments pass as my heart beats in my ears. It’s then I realize in the months I’ve been out here, I’ve never been alone with Charlie, and I’ve never been this close to him. Then why does he feel so... familiar?
“I got it,” he says, and my face flushes as I step out from under the bar. He sets it on the rack and grabs the clamps, sliding them on either end of the bar. “Garrett forgot the clamps. Make sure you check next time, so you don’t hurt yourself.”
“Sorry. Thanks for the assist.”
He nods and returns to his weights while I facepalm. Why am I such a spaz around men I find attractive? I got lucky with Luke. He liked my brand of spaz. I shake it off, reminding myself that it doesn’t matter.
Garrett returns and hooks the heart rate monitor around my chest and connects it to the app that Brando can access. Thirty minutes later, we start our cool down. Charlie is on the other side of the barn. He’s at a work bench with his shirt off, cleaning a pistol and instead of cooling down, my body heats all over again.
