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“It’s just strange,” Levi Langdon finished for his cousin, Logan. “I get it. It is strange.” Levi lifted the bottle to his lips and let the cold beer slide down his throat. As strange as it was to be back in his hometown after almost ten years, it also felt good. Really good. Like putting on an old sweater. Or in this case, an old pair of work boots to help Logan out on his family ranch. The ranch he’d grown up on and couldn’t wait to leave.
“But I’m not complaining.” Logan grinned. “I’ve missed you and it was good to be out there today. When was the last time we rode the fence line like that together?”
Levi chuckled and shook his head because they both knew the answer. He’d been twenty years old, Logan a year ahead of him, and they’d both been caught drinking Logan’s dad’s beers. Both were of legal drinking age in Canada, not that it mattered to Uncle Harold. They werehisbeers. An already hard man got even harder when someone took his beers. Especially his dead sister’s kid. For whatever reason, Uncle Harold had a special place in his heart for Levi. And it wasn’t a good one.
Their punishment had been to ride the fence line and repair some downed wire in the middle of the night. Of course, Levi’s punishment had also included a punch in the face that only narrowly missed breaking his nose, but he’d sported the shiner for weeks. It was the last time they’d rode the fence together, because it had also been the last time Levi had spent the night under his uncle’s roof.
He’d had enough. Besides, he was already living on borrowed time on the Langdon ranch. A fact Uncle Harold had no trouble reminding him of on a regular basis. He should have left years ago but he’d been trying to save up enough money to get an apartment in the city. Or at least enough to set him up. But leaving early couldn’t hurt. Hell, it would probably hurt a whole lot less.
At least that’s what he’d thought at the time.
Levi blinked hard and shook his head. Coming back to Glacier Falls was hard enough. He didn’t need to relive every goddamn heartbreaking moment.
“Right.” Logan lifted his own beer, obviously remembering that night as well. “Hey, about all of that.” He wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve. “I’m really sorry that my dad treated you like that back then. I don’t—”
“Want you to worry about it,” Levi answered for him. “It wasn’t your fault and you can’t own the actions of your parents. Hell, we’d both be in trouble if that were the case.” He hadn’t known his dad, but all accounts were that he was a deadbeat asshole who’d left his mom knocked up and alone. Levi didn’t even know what his last name was, having been given his mother’s family name. And it didn’t matter; he’d never cared to know who the man was.
Levi had nothing but love for his mother, what he could remember of her anyway. She’d died when he was only ten and he’d gone to live with her brother’s family in Glacier Falls. It had been a mixed blessing. Logan had been a cousin, best friend, and brother all rolled into one. Katie had been like a little sister to him, and Auntie Deb had done her best to love and protect young Levi from the unexplainable anger of her husband that only got worse the older he got.
Leaving them had been just as hard as it had been easy leaving Uncle Harold. But now Uncle Harold was gone, having died three months earlier from a heart attack. And Levi was back.
“Still,” Logan said. “I’m sorry he was such a dick to you. He never could explain it, and I know you don’t want to hear it, or you wouldn’t believe it anyway, but he really wasn’t like that with Katie and me.”
“That I do believe.” He took another long pull from his beer. “It doesn’t matter now,” he said again, meaning it. “I’m looking forward to catching up with you all. I’ve missed all of you.”
“Just us?”
If he hadn’t been on the other side of the shop, Levi likely would have punched his cousin or at least given him a shove. He hadn’t even been back for a full twenty-four hours. There was no need to stir the pot. Logan knew damn well that his family wasn’t the only thing he’d missed about Glacier Falls. Far from it.
“How is Hope?”
Hope Turner, the love of Levi’s young life. Or at least he’d thought she was at the time. With her long blonde hair and innocent blue eyes, he’d been completely wrapped around her little finger. He would have done anything for that girl.
Except stay in town.
As much as he loved her, he knew in his heart that if he stayed, Uncle Harold would slowly beat down his spirit—and his body—and in a small town, there was nowhere else to go. Leaving her had been the hardest thing he’d ever done and as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t ask her to go with him, because he knew her heart was in Glacier Falls. She loved her small town, and more than that, the ranch she grew up on. She was never leaving. He knew it just like he also knew if he asked her, it would break her heart to have to choose. So he’d let her go.
To his credit, Logan didn’t make a smart-ass comment the way Levi was so sure he would. Instead, he slowly put his beer down on the workbench he sat on and crossed his arms. “Ten years, and you’ve never once asked about her.”
Levi nodded. It was true.
“That must mean you’re finally over her.”
He laughed but didn’t answer right away. There would be a part of him that was never completely over Hope Turner. But he’d been a kid the last time he’d seen her. A lot changed in ten years. “It’s been a long time.”
“That didn’t answer my question.” Logan raised an eyebrow at him before hopping down off the bench and moving across the shop to the beer fridge. They hadn’t even been in the house yet, a fact Levi felt a little guilty for. But it was late and he hadn’t told anyone he was coming. He’d surprised Logan by joining him in the field earlier, but it was getting late now. He’d just have to surprise Aunt Deb and Katie in the morning. He accepted another beer from his cousin but paused before opening it when Logan said, “Hope’s killing it with her business. Turned her family ranch into a wedding venue, of all things.”
Levi laughed and shook his head but he wasn’t surprised. Ever since they were kids, Hope talked about the few weddings they held out on their property. She’d always been a hopeless romantic. “I’m glad it’s working out,” he said. “But I’m not surprised. She always knew exactly what she wanted.”
Again, Logan raised his eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. “She must be doing even better than last year.” He handed Levi his cell phone. “She just posted on Facebook that she’s looking to hire some help.”
Levi took the phone without trying to look too eager. He was pretty sure he failed, but he couldn’t help it. Talking about Hope had his pulse racing. He’d managed to avoid her on social media all these years, largely because he wasn’t on any social media, but it didn’t mean he hadn’t thought about how easy it would be to see what she was up to. Was she married? Did she have kids? Was she happy? All things he could know if he’d joined the Facebook phenomenon. Which was precisely why he didn’t. But that didn’t stop him from grabbing his cousin’s phone and looking at the familiar, yet different, beautiful face on the tiny screen.
Hope Turner.
She looked the same, but also so different. She definitely wasn’t the innocent girl he’d left. Although she still had the sweet look of complete trust in her eyes, there was also something else in her expression. Something deeper.
Levi forced himself to look away from her profile picture and scroll down on the screen to the post Logan was referring to.
