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Trey chuckled, waved back, and finished attaching the sign in his section. “Move us right,” he called to Ian, and then grabbed onto the side of the basket as it lurched. “Dude, slowly,” he muttered so only Lawrence could hear.
“He’s just mad, because Spur said he could learn a thing or two from you.”
Trey looked at Lawrence. “What?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.” Trey had moved back into the white farmhouse the very evening of the Sweetheart Classic. He and Beth had taken some great strides in their relationship, which was real as real could get. They talked every day about real things—kids and chores and allowances. Schedules and wants and dreams.
He’d learned that she didn’t own the land to the south of the ranch, and he’d figured out who did. He wanted it, because he wanted his own practice track. Bluegrass wasbusy, and he didn’t want to compete for the time his horses needed on the track. Once he’d learned who owned the land, he’d gone to Beth and confessed his desires to buy it.
He’d told her what he wanted his day to look like. Breakfast with her and TJ. Work at Bluegrass to keep up with the scheduling of their tracks. Pick up TJ from school. Work at The Triple-T, whatever that entailed, and training horses for the tier two and three races around the south.
She’d listened to him, her smile growing warmer and warmer with every word. She’d said, “You should have everything you want, Trey.”
“But are you fine with it if that’s what I do?” he asked. “It’s a lot of money. He seems to know exactly how much I want that land—and that I have the money to pay for it.” He wasn’t happy about that, but he wouldn’t miss the money, and he did want the land.
“Let’s think about it for a day or two,” she’d said.
He had. He’d prayed about it, but he hadn’t felt strongly one way or the other. He’d come to realize that that wasn’t the Lord ignoring him. It was the Lord letting him make his own choice, and that it honestly didn’t matter if he did or didn’t do it. He wouldn’t be harmed if he did.
Trey had put in an offer on the land two days ago. Burt Barnes only had eighteen more hours to accept it or counter.
He pushed away the frustration and focused on getting the left side of the sign attached, then the right.
Back on the ground, he stood back with everyone and looked up at the sign.
“It’s great,” Blaine said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Look at you, a new ranch owner.”
“I don’t own the ranch,” Trey said, unable to take his eyes from the sign. “I just belong here.” He wasn’t aware he’d spoken out loud until he started to feel the weight of so many pairs of eyes.
He looked away from the sign, where one of the T’s was for him. Blaine stood right next to him, with Lawrence only an inch behind him. He looked around at all of his brothers. Ian was still pretty sore at Trey for a variety of things, he supposed, but nothing was said as they huddled together, all of them lifting their arms and settling them on the closest brother to them.
“You do belong here,” Spur said. “You belong at Bluegrass too. All of you do.”
“We belong to each other,” Cayden said, his voice gruff. “No matter where life takes us, or how far away we go.”
“You’re turning into Blaine,” Duke said, and everyone laughed—except Blaine, who said, “Hey,” in a wounded voice.
Trey kept laughing and grabbed onto Blaine individually. “Don’t let them make you feel bad for your heart,” he said quietly.
“Okay,Mom,” Blaine said, but he hugged Trey back with equal tenacity.
“How’s it looking?” Beth asked, and Trey immediately stepped over to her. He slung his arm around her shoulders as she turned to look up at the sign. “Trey.” Her voice sounded like mostly air. “It’s beautiful.”
“Lawrence made it.”
Beth sniffled and stepped over to Lawrence to hug him. Surprise shone in his eyes, and then he melted into Beth’s embrace, his smile growing.
“Thank you all,” she said. “It’s amazing. I love it so much.” She returned to Trey’s side and gazed up at the sign again. After taking a deep breath, she said, “Okay, breakfast is ready, and TJ is so excited you’re all here for his birthday breakfast.”
She grinned around at everyone before leading the way down the driveway and into the house. Trey simply moved along with everyone else, listening to them talk to each other and laugh, the crunching of gravel under their boots. It was comforting to be with them, and while he’d felt like he belonged at Bluegrass Ranch, when he stepped into the farmhouse, he felt like he was coming home.
He wasn’t the first to arrive in the kitchen, and someone had stopped and clogged up the doorway. “What’s going on?” he asked, trying to see past Cayden and Lawrence, but they had shoulders as wide as his, and he couldn’t see anything but jackets and cowboy hats.
“You can’t just stop here,” Ian called from the back. “Some of us are starving.”
“You’re always starving,” Duke called back.
