AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Summer: Nope and nope. We have this weird FWB thing going on, except we’re not really friends and we argue all the time, so it’s more like Enemies with Benefits.
Jenna: EWB? Gotcha. But is the hate sex good?
Summer: The best. But for God’s sake, don’t tell anyone that. Especially not B.
Chapter Eighteen – Brock
Snowberry Springs Ranch
Monday, July 19 (One month later)
“I forgot to tell you while we were saddling up,” Summer said as they rode away from the Snowberry Springs Ranch stables. “I heard from Geoff this morning. He sent me three different concepts for the dining room renovation.”
It was a beautiful summer morning with cloudless blue skies, and Brock was looking forward to this horseback outing.
After many busy weeks of work, Summer was finally taking him to the place she described as her favorite place on her family’s ranch. Their saddlebags bulged with the fixings for a generous picnic lunch, plus drinks, a large picnic blanket, and beach towels.
On either side of the dirt road that led up into the hills, cattle and bison grazed in wide green pastures that were slowly turning to golden hay under the summer sun. Ahead of them, forested mountain peaks rose, their tops still snow-capped despite the recent hot weather.
As he’d told Summer when she first mentioned the outing last month, it had been years since he’d ridden a horse. She’d picked out Scout for him, describing him as the calmest horse on the ranch.
Like all the horses on the Snowberry Springs Ranch, Scout was a Painted Horse, his coat a pattern of bold black blotches on white. He was a stocky, powerfully muscled gelding used for herding cattle and bison on the ranch’s most rugged upland pastures, where even ATVs couldn’t compete with a trained cow horse.
Summer rode alongside Brock on a lively white-and-chestnut Painted Horse mare named Ranger. She looked like a real cowgirl in her long-sleeved blue cotton shirt, faded jeans, and riding boots, a tan-colored cowboy hat perched on her head and a colorful bandanna tied around her neck.
It had been a busy month, with lots of changes at the diner, but things were finally settling into a routine.
Encouraged by the continuing popularity of the diner’s Friday night dinner service, Brock and Summer had added Saturday dinner.
Brock then promoted Marlene to general manager and gave her a raise. Summer was currently training her to fill the position Kenny had vacated.
Marlene was ecstatic about not having to be on her feet all day in the kitchen anymore. And despite Brock’s initial worry that her easily distracted nature might lead to another Kenny-sized mess, she was reliably managing the diner’s inventory and supplier orders, and providing calm but firm management to the wait staff and new barista.
After hiring and training, two new cooks were now running Sunday and Monday breakfast and lunch services.
At Summer’s urging, Brock took those days off, though he was always reachable by phone or text.
His relationship—or whatever it was—with Summer hadn’t stayed a secret for very long.
“So… you’re dating Summer?” Jason asked over pizza on Brock’s first Monday off.
Brock had to think about his answer. Dating to him meant something more serious, like auditioning for marriage. What he and Summer shared felt totally different. He shook his head. “Nah. It’s more like we’re having a series of one-night stands.”
Jason laughed. “Dude,” he said in a tone that combined disbelief and admiration.
But it was true. Brock and Summer continued to butt heads over changing things at the diner, and yelled at each other a lot. Lately, their biggest bone of contention was an automated point-of-sale system that would print tickets directly to the kitchen and also tie into an online inventory and accounting system. Summer just wouldn’t let it go, and Brock considered it overkill… especially when he looked at the price tag.
They didn’t do any of the conventionally lovey-dovey stuff, not even when they were alone at Brock’s place. They hung out, cooked together and talked, and then had great sex. But there wasn’t anything particularly romantic about it, though hewasbeginning to think of Summer as a friend.
Then Summer’s parents invited Brock to join the Snowberry family at their 4th of July barbecue on the ranch. It made Brock wonder what Summer had told them about him. Everyone in her family accepted his appearance as Summer’s date with only mild surprise, even Spring.
It had been a fun and relaxing day, which concluded by watching Bob, Priscilla, Spring, and Summer serve as flag-bearers on horseback in the town’s traditional Independence Day Parade. After sunset, they all enjoyed live music and the fireworks display in the town square park before going their separate ways.
Since then, Bob and Priscilla had invited Brock over for dinner every Sunday. He and Summer generally went back to his place for the night, then spent the day together on Mondays.
Spending time with the Snowberry family made Brock realize how much he had missed being part of a family. Gran had passed away two years after he graduated from high school, and all of his uncles, aunts, and cousins lived in other parts of the state.
Now, Brock looked forward to having Summer all to himself for an entire day. “Did Geoff send you an estimate for how much his plans would cost?”
