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“Yes,” he said. “As much as I can. Sometimes there are minor emergencies I can help with.”
“If you can,” she said, tipping up to touch her mouth to his. “Thank you, Blake.”
“Of course, sweetheart,” he murmured. Then Gina turned and walked away from him while he still stood under the bald cypress. Layer upon layer of guilt stacked on top of one another as she drove from the ranch to the downtown park to meet her family.
She knew how to make cake layers stable, how to cement them together so the masterpiece she’d spent hours on wouldn’t collapse, and as she parked her car and looked out the windshield at the activities and children in the park, she had a feeling that she’d never be able to knock down the walls of guilt forming inside her.
“What do I do?” she prayed to know. How did people balance their relationships with their family obligations? Gina had never been very good at balancing, and the truth was, shewouldrather be with Blake’s family.
She had things in common with Holly and Sierra, and she liked listening to Kyle talk about the band members he knew. Todd had a way with animals, and he had a kind heart that Gina had seen several times.
The stormier brothers—Adam and Jesse—smiled when she entered a room, and Nash told her every single day that the ranch was better because she’d come to work there.
In her family, all she saw was ruin and missed opportunities. No one ever asked her about her job or expressed gratitude for the desserts she brought to family dinners. Her mom barely remembered that Gina was back in town, and Ella had been lecturing and making Gina feel insignificant and not good enough since she was twelve years old.
“You can still apologize,” she said out loud, and then she cut the engine and got out of the car to go do exactly that. She did love the Stewarts, because she felt like she belonged with them. They’d accepted her and taken her right into their midst, but that didn’t mean that Gina couldn’t try to get along with her siblings and spend more time with her parents.
She could. She would. Starting today.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Todd whistled for Azure to leave the cows where they were, and the dog came trotting toward him. “Good boy,” he said, bending down to pat the blue heeler. “Let’s go see what Kyle has for dinner.”
If Todd was lucky, there would be food in the cabin. He and Kyle—and everyone on the ranch—had been working long hours this summer. Kyle’s summer concerts had begun, and that meant he worked late nights, every single night.
There definitely wouldn’t be food at the cabin, and Todd pulled out his phone and tapped to call his brother.
“Yeah, go,” Blake said instead of hello.
Todd’s hunger almost had him barking back. “Dinner tonight? What are you doing?”
“It’s pizza night at the lodge,” Blake said. “I meant to send a text about that, and I’ve been up to my eyeballs in guest requests. I haven’t been in my office for hours.”
Todd wouldn’t go to the lodge right now then. “Wow, I’m sorry,” he said.
“Where are you?”
“Heading in from the pastures,” he said. “Azure and I got the fences fixed, all the pastures rotated, and the sprinkler programmed.” He’d rather work out on the farm, even if the jobs never ended, than deal with people and their demands.
He swung into the saddle on Bronco, the horse he’d ridden out to the fields and pastures that day. “Do you need me at the lodge?”
“No,” Blake said. “Just one moment, ma’am.” A couple of seconds passed, and then Blake said, “Actually, maybe. There’s something going on with Nash and Jesse, and Adam just broke up what was a near-fight.”
Shock coursed through Todd. “Really? Nash and Jesse?” He got Bronco moving, but he didn’t spur him to go very fast. “Cornhole?” His brothers also shared an office, and sometimes they grated on one another’s nerves.
“I don’t see how,” Blake said, his voice dropping in volume. “Jesse and Starla are no threat in cornhole. The girls are going to win anyway.”
Todd didn’t mind doing the family tournament, but he didn’t take it as seriously as some of his other siblings. “Besides, it’s Adam who’s the most intense about cornhole. He broke up the fight?”
“Near-fight, but yes.” Blake let out a sigh. “Something’s going on there, but I’ve asked both of them about it, and neither of them will say.”
Jesse acted as the second at the lodge, so Todd certainly couldn’t advise Blake about what to do. He realized as he plodded along that Blake didn’t need professional advice. He needed a brother for support. He needed an ear to vent to.
“I’ll come over,” he said. “See what I can do.”
“Holly bustled Jesse out of the lodge, so it’s diffused now,” Blake said. “I just wish…I know we’re all busy, and I’m trying not to be a jerk or whatever, but we need to get along.”
Todd cocked his head, trying to hear the true meaning behind Blake’s words. “How’s Gina?”
