AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They walked out of the classroom into the hallway in somewhat amicable silence while she was thinking of reasons to get out from another full day of practice. When they reached the stairs to exit the dance studio, Tristan said, “I could pick you up at your family’s farm and drive you home? I would love to see where you live. You can even set this city boy to work, mucking out a stall.”
She laughed. Her overprotective brother would pitch a fit if some stranger would come near his precious horses—or worse, near one of his five sisters.
She nudged her head to her father sitting in his truck, waiting in the street with a newspaper splayed out over the steering wheel in front of him, and said, “I have to go. How about staying longer this Monday after class?”
Tristan nodded. “Okay. We can grab something to eat in between practice?”
“Eh, sure.” She said over her shoulder.
“Cool! See you Monday, then.”
“Monday.” She waved him goodbye and walked over to Roger Moore, who quickly pulled up the window to disguise listening in on her conversation.
“Hi, dad,” she said after getting into the truck and kissing her father on the cheek.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Roger threw his newspaper in the back of the truck and waited for her to put on her seatbelt so he could join the bustling traffic in downtown Austin.
“So. Who’s curly?”
Teagan sighed. That didn’t take long for her dad to bring up Tristan. He hadn’t even turned on the engine yet.
“He’s just a guy from class,” she said and pulled out her phone to check her texts.
“Hmm-mm. Just a guy who wants to go see the farm and asks you out for dinner?”
Teagan’s eyes shot up from her phone. “Dad! At least pretend to be as slick in eaves dropping as your namesake. And we’re not going on a date. We’re just grabbing a quick bite before practice.”
Her dad, Roger Moore, not only carried the same name as the actor of the fictitious international spy, he’d also resembled the man looks wise—something her mom loved bragging about.
“Can’t fault a man for looking out for his daughters, sweetheart.”
Teagan felt an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t want their lighthearted conversation to turn for the worse by dragging her skeletons out of the closet.
She was well aware of how lucky she was being a part of such a loving family. If only they could leave the past in the past and allow her more breathing room now that she’d turned twenty-one. They were all still treating her as the baby of the family and it was getting real old.
“Is everything set for that reunion thing?” she asked to steer her dad away from Tristan. Their farm would be the setting for an early dinner where two families would meet each other after finding out the ten half-siblings all shared the same dad.
Roger nodded. “Yeah. You know how your mom gets. She’s got everyone pulling their weight for a smooth sailing. No doubt she’ll have a thing or two left for us when we get back.”
She watched the proud smile take over her father’s face. Her parents were still so very much in love.
The thirty-minute drive out of the city flew by while catching up with her dad about his day, and before she knew it they reached the first ranches nearby their own family ranch and farm. Teagan enjoyed spending time in the lively city for her part-time jobs at Errin’s dance studio and waitressing in her cousin’s pub. She enjoyed all the shops, restaurants and exciting places to go out for drinks. The best places were those with a dance floor—obviously.
But only whilst surrounded by these lush, green and hilly lands, she felt at home. Her dad entered the long and winding dirt road leading up to the ranch. She smiled when her parents’ dog, Rudy, jumped over the porch railing to get to her father’s truck, as he always heard it coming from a mile away.
“Hey, Rudy. Whatcha doin’, boy?” Roger said as he patted the mixed breed on top of his head.
“Hey, Rudy,” Teagan said while pushing the dog down as he welcomed everyone by slamming his two paws onto their thighs, getting Teagan’s black yoga pants under the dirt.
“Ah! There you are! We can use all the help we can get, sweetheart,” Teagan’s mother Shauni shouted from the open screen door in the middle of the wraparound porch.
Teagan smiled up at her dad as he patted her shoulder with a big grin on his face. “My wife obviously missed her calling as a drill instructor.”
“Don’t I know it,” Teagan joked.
She followed her dad into the side entrance of the kitchen and took a moment to decipher what they left to be done as her mother and four sisters moved around pots and pans like ants seeking sweets.
