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“Tonight has been so much fun,” Ellie said, dreamily.
“The best.” Jackson reached over and threaded his fingers through Lexi’s. She startled, and glanced across, and he could see the questions in her eyes. Questions he’d be dealing with as soon as his siblings went to bed. Which reminded him. “Hey, Coop. How long are you planning on staying?”
“A few days.”
“You know you’ll be staying in the bunkhouse with me, don’t you?”
“What? Why?”
Jackson gently squeezed Lexi’s fingers. “Because I as good as promised Lexi’s parents there’d be no unmarried men staying in the house while she’s here.”
“Are you serious? My bed is in the house.”
“If it’s too much trouble I can always stay in the bunkhouse,” Lexi said quietly.
“No way,” Jackson said.
“Nope. Mom needs you nearby,” Ellie said.
And the ranch hands certainly didn’t need a pretty young woman sleeping alone next to them. “Coop, if you’re planning to stay here, then you’ll need to bunk down out here with me,” Jackson said firmly. “Come on. It’ll be like old times.”
“We never had old times like that,” Coop protested. “Not that I can remember, anyway.”
“Don’t you remember Granddad used to let us stay out some nights, back when we were small, and pretend to be the ranch hands?”
“Nope. I blotted that from my mind.”
“How old were you?” Lexi asked Jackson.
“Maybe five.”
“And you want me to remember when I was three?” Coop scoffed. “Look, I’m sorry Lexi, but I drove a long way today, and the one thing keeping me going was thoughts of my bed. I really don’t understand what anyone thinks I might do.”
“It’s not about what you might do,” Ellie said. “It’s about what others might say.”
“Like who?”
“Just … others.”
“Who’s gonna know?”
Good question.
But judging from the way Lexi slid her hand from Jackson’s and shifted in her seat, she held her own reservations. “I think what they’re trying to say is that Jackson doesn’t want anyone at church thinking he’s stashed a girlfriend in his house,” she said quietly.
“It’s easier to say there was nothing going on when we know it never looked that way,” Jackson said. “That’s why I’ve been staying in the bunkhouse since she came.”
“Wait. I didn’t think you two were …” Coop’s voice faded into the night. “Are you?”
Given the uncertainty Jackson felt now, he wasn’t about to make this easy on his brother. “Are we what?”
“Together?” Coop finally asked. Jackson sensed Ellie’s gaze, her nose sure to be quivering as much as any fox scenting prey.
There was a beat, then Lexi cleared her throat. “No.”
“No. Not yet,” Jackson added. “But that could change if you two decided to go catch some zzz’s.”
“I’m not that tired,” Coop protested.
