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Blaine had the biggest heart and showed the most emotion. Duke, Ian, and Conrad were the loudest, always jockeying for a position of attention in the family. Lawrence was a mix of Cayden, Trey, and the younger boys, and Cayden got along really well with him.
Cayden felt like a black sheep in the Chappell family. He wasn’t overly emotional, but he did feel things deeply. He didn’t have to be the center of attention, but he didn’t mind speaking his opinions either. He wasn’t a natural-born leader, but he did possess a level of charisma that made him the natural choice for the public face of the ranch, something he’d been doing for twenty years now.
Trey had told him that he was the brother TJ talked about the most. He asked when Cayden could come over, and whenever Beth and Trey were going out, TJ asked if Cayden could watch him.
Cayden wasn’t sure if that made him likable or pathetic.
“Do you have the invite?” Trey asked, stepping around Beth to the fridge.
“You need to go change,” she said. “We’re eating there.”
“I have the invitation,” Cayden said, reaching into his inside jacket pocket. “You guys can just take it.”
“It says right on it that the person it was sent to has to be there. Guests are encouraged,withthat person.”
Cayden had read it a hundred times. He knew what the postcard said. When he’d gotten it at the homestead, he’d been two seconds away from tossing it in the trash. Trey had seen it, and since it had a glinting diamond taking up the entire front, he’d grabbed it.
He and Beth were in the market for new wedding rings. Rather, he and Beth were going to buy theirfirstwedding rings. Since they’d gotten married last fall in an unconventional way, they didn’t have a lot of the same things a more traditional couple would.
Cayden could see how much they loved each other, though. He wanted that same kind of giggling, doe-eyed woman in his life. He’d used to not care if he had a girlfriend or not. He was focused on his career, and as one of the only brothers with a college education, he was determined to prove to everyone that it mattered.Hewanted to matter.
“Maybe once this is over, you two will be able to get your schedule to line up,” Beth said, and Cayden’s mind returned to that thought he’d stalled on before TJ had distracted him.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Is texting hard?”
“Have you texted her?” Trey challenged.
“Go change your clothes,” Beth said, her irritation plain on her face. Trey nodded and headed down the hall, leaving Cayden alone with Beth and TJ.
He didn’t want to hear more about what could maybe happen with Ginny at the event. He met Beth’s eye and said, “I’ll go wait outside,” he said. They’d asked him to drive and everything, and somehow Cayden had said yes.
He went back the way he’d come while Beth said something to TJ. Several minutes later, everyone was in the truck and Cayden was following his map to her father’s house. She ran TJ inside and returned to the truck less than a minute later.
“Ready,” she said, exhaling heavily.
“Let’s do it,” Trey said.
Cayden could make the drive to Sweet Rose Whiskey in his sleep, and he let Trey and Beth talk amongst themselves as he navigated them across town. The parking lot was fairly full already, as the event had started about ten minutes ago. It was an open house, so it wasn’t like they’d needed to be there exactly on time.
He turned right and went toward the huge field adjacent to the lot, as he drove a big truck and could handle the rougher road. He parked and handed the postcard to Trey, who promptly pushed it right back at him.
“You’re coming in,” he said. “Just get us through the door.”
“No,” Beth said. “He’s coming in, and he’s staying. He’s our ride.”
Cayden wanted to argue with her, but he said nothing. He got out of the truck and took a deep breath. The evening had started to darken and cool, and Cayden loved the slower, quieter evenings in the country.
He knew what the event inside would be like, and he inhaled the calm before the storm. Before he knew it, he was stepping up to a gentleman at the door and handing him his postcard.
“Evening, Mister Chappell,” the man said. He looked up and met Cayden’s eyes, and Cayden’s breath stuck in his throat. He knew this man. He’d parked his truck at Ginny’s New Year’s Eve party.
“Evening,” he managed to say.
“Two guests?” he asked, glancing at Trey and Beth.
“Yes, please,” Cayden said, slipping into his more formal personality. He hated that, and he pulled himself right back to his cowboy roots. If Wendy Winters was going to think him unworthy of her daughter, he might as well act like the heathen she thought he was.
Cayden had never been much of a rule-breaker, though, and his natural instinct was to please people. His mother. His teachers. Spur. Ginny.
