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Having Gina at the ranch and lodge was harder than he’d thought. For some reason, he’d thought he could wall off his heart to the woman. Todd had told him to do just that. Hadn’t he been doing it for twenty years, since she left Chestnut Springs the first time?
He had, though he hadn’t admitted it to Todd last night. They’d exchanged some words, sure, because Todd hadn’t told him about the conversation with Gina in the parking lot at the grocery store. Deal or no deal, he could’ve sent a text.
Blake’s fingers started to move over his guitar too, and the breeze added a little bit to the ambiance. They sat around the huge fire pit in front of the lodge, and several guests had gathered there after lunch.
Kyle could always be found where a gathering of their customers were. He ran all of the music and entertainment on the ranch. He played everyday for guests, he brought in bands and guest artists, and he put on the most amazing summer concert series for the Longhorn Ranch. Because of him, they booked out every first week of August a year in advance, as that was when Kyle organized a huge guitar festival.
Blake didn’t play then, but Kyle did. He could’ve been a professional with any band, touring the country and making big money. Instead, he’d chosen to stay right there in the Texas Hill Country and work for their family ranch. Blake admired him on a lot of levels, only one of which was his rich, tenor voice as he started the song.
Blake’s deeper bass would come in soon, and he bent his head and focused on the strings. He didn’t want to think about the mountain of work on his desk. He didn’t want to consider eating lunch with Gina every single day. He didn’t want to obsess over which hike to take her on first.
He wasn’t going to “take her” anyway. They’d meet at the trailhead like they’d done in the past, and they’d walk single-file to some destination in the hills. He wouldn’t tell any of his siblings about it, and it wouldn’t be a big deal.
As he started to sing, weaving his voice with his brother’s, he knew anything he did with Gina—including sitting on top of a picnic table in the shade a stone’s throw from the lodge—was a big deal. They hadn’t said much, and Blake wasn’t sure why that was. They had twenty full years of catching up to do. Shouldn’t he have a few questions for her?
The truth was, he didn’t. If she wanted to share the things she’d done in her life with him, she would. He knew her well enough still to know anything he asked might or might not get answered. She’d grown up. She’d changed, he was sure. She still looked like her, with shiny blonde hair and those pretty blue eyes. They held more wisdom than he remembered, and he supposed his did too.
He and Kyle finished their song, and the crowd who’d gathered started to clap. Kyle absorbed energy from other people, but Blake just wanted to go back to his office.
“One more?” Kyle asked, and Blake glanced at his phone on the bench beside him. He had another half-hour until the taste-test began. He could do another song, so he nodded.
Kyle grinned and reached to retrieve his pick. “This last one’s going to be a real boot-stomper,” he said. “So feel free to spread out, grab the person next to you, and get ready to swing ‘er around.”
He launched into a guitar riff that would’ve blown the roof off a barn had he been hooked up to an amp—or they’d been inside a barn. As it was, the wide open sky absorbed the sound and sent it heaven-ward.
“Yeehaw!” Kyle shouted. He stood and put one foot up on the bench where he’d been sitting. Blake laughed and got his fingers moving over the strings too. He could add a marching under-beat to Kyle’s melody, and when his brother looked at him, they opened their mouths and sang together.
People clapped in time with the rhythm, and Blake’s spirits lifted at the joy surrounding him. He loved this life here, and he couldn’t imagine wanting to leave it.You should probably find out if Gina wants to leave Chestnut Springs again, his mind whispered at him. How the human brain could do so many things at once, he’d never know.
What he did know was that he was right. If he wanted to be her friend—and he did—he should probably find out if her time here in town was permanent or temporary. She’d told him she needed this job, but for how long?
“Up to heaven we’ll go, marching like the saints,” he sang with Kyle, and after they’d said it one more time, both of them at the upper limit of their singing register, Blake stilled his fingers and let Kyle finish the song with an epic guitar riff.
Whoops and hollers filled the air, and every face Blake saw as he got to his feet held a smile. His did too, because this music jam session had cleared his mind and lifted his mood. He set his guitar against the bench and clapped Kyle on the back, yelling, “Isn’t he great? Kyle Stewart, folks!”
Kyle shook his head, his laughter getting swallowed by the applause. He’d take the guitars to the music room in the lodge, the only room on the second floor that wasn’t for guests. He had a little desk in there where he planned out their events, and he’d probably spend the rest of the day there.
Once the clapping started to quiet, Kyle said, “We’ll be back here tonight, about seven p.m., after dinner inside. My sisters are doing their duets tonight, and then we’ll have the Boys From Boerne here at seven-thirty for their Longhorn Ranch debut. You won’t want to miss it, as we’ll have a hot chocolate bar as well.”
The crowed started to disperse, and Blake took Kyle into a hug. “You’re amazing, brother,” he said. He stepped back grinning. “All right, I have to go oversee a taste-test. Wish me luck.”
“With Gina’s desserts?” Kyle scoffed, and Blake should’ve known that everyone at the lodge and on the whole ranch would know about this taste-test by now. News sure did travel fast, especially if it was the kind Blake wished wouldn’t. “The only luck you’ll need is to not overeat. Then we’ll all have to listen to you bellyache about how sick you are.” He gave Blake a knowing smile and bent to start gathering his things.
“Sure, yeah,” Blake said in a deadpan, but he couldn’t really argue with Kyle. So he liked sweets. What red-blooded cowboy didn’t?
Inside, he nodded to Lowry at the front desk and scanned the area where the desks sat. Besides the Stewarts, the lodge employed about a dozen people to work in hospitality and grounds. Then they had the kitchen staff, which easily topped a dozen as well. They brought in outside entertainers and guests, as well as professionals who did demos with horses, on animal care, horseshoeing, and even rodeo roping shows.
If there was a way to give someone an authentic western experience, it happened here at the Texas Longhorn Ranch. A swell of pride for what his father had built moved through Blake. He wanted to maintain their family traditions and take the lodge into the future with as steady of a hand as Daddy had. He’d been learning and growing and working toward that for as long as he could remember, and now, all he could do was pray he could make his father proud.
The dining room sat in stillness, the lunch bins already cleaned up. Dinner service started at five and ran until seven, and the tables and chairs he walked by right now would be dressed in cream cloths by then. All the condiments would return, and the buffet bar would be set and ready ten minutes early.
He pushed through the swinging plastic door into the kitchen, the lodge remodel they’d done five years ago making so much sense to him. Before, the kitchen had been back in the administration wing, which was a long walk for the food runners, waitresses, and bussers. Now, it sat on the other side of that wall, an easy few steps in and out.
Just inside the door, he paused. The scent of sugar hung in the air, but it was creamier than that. Frosting. Wow, Blake loved frosting.
Gina looked up, a piping bag with bright yellow icing in her hands. “You’re early.”
“I just came inside,” he said. “You don’t have to start right now.”
