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“She always says that.” Emma dropped her cheek into her palm and sighed. “And she never wants to do anything except type on the computer. How come you don’t sleep at home anymore, Pa?”
Daryl’s face flushed, and concern for his brother spiked inside Heath. Daryl and LeAnne’s nine-year marriage had problems from the start. Lately, Heath woke to find Daryl sleeping on the ranch’s sofa rather than in his family’s cabin. They hadn’t spoken about it since Daryl, like all Lovelands, valued his privacy, but his suffering was clear.
“The drought has dramatically expanded recently,” the weather reporter droned on. “Thursday’s drought monitor indicates that more than ninety-eight percent of the state is in a drought, up from only ten percent at the start of the year. That’s a dramatic increase from just three months ago.”
“How come it never rains?” Noah scooped the fudge circling his melting ice cream and dumped it back over the top.
“And it didn’t snow at Christmas, either.” Emma’s face pinched. “Are we going to die like the polar bears? That’s what Jenny says.”
“Don’t listen to foolish talk.” Daryl accepted the bowl Heath passed him and dug in.
Heath eyed his niece’s and nephew’s wide, fearful eyes, clicked off the radio and slid a sundae toward Sierra. “We need to do a rain dance.”
“I want to do a rain dance!” Noah hopped off Sierra’s lap and clapped his hands. “What’s a rain dance?”
Heath stowed away the ice cream carton. “It’s a sacred ritual Native Americans do to ask for rain.”
Noah’s body practically vibrated with excitement. “Can we try?”
Heath shook his head. “Well, we can’t do a real Native American rain dance, but we can do our own.” He grabbed a small pot and a spoon and handed it to Emma, then passed over two boxes of elbow macaroni to Noah. “Line up behind me.”
“She just pushed me!” Noah complained when the kids jostled for the spot directly behind Heath.
“Did not!” Emma cried.
“Did, too!”
“Enough!” barked Daryl, a hint of a humor lightening his tone. “Or the rain dance is canceled due to bad behavior.”
“Sorry!” Emma and Noah squeaked.
“What do I do with these?” Noah held up the boxes. “They’re heavy!”
“You shake them.” Heath demonstrated, then handed a box back. “They’ll make a rain sound to call the clouds.”
“I’ll take one.” Daryl dropped his spoon in his bowl, snagged the box and lined up behind his son.
“What’s mine do?” Emma gestured with her spoon.
“My guess is you’re going to bang the pan so it makes a thunder sound to call to the sky.” Travis, their brother and the local sheriff, stomped into the kitchen, doffing his tan hat.
Noah shivered. “I like thunderstorms, but only when Pa cuddles us.”
“Hey, Ginger and I want in on this.” Sierra joined the lineup behind Heath, their tabby curled in her arms.
“The more the merrier. Ready for the rain dance?” Heath glanced back and grinned at the sight of his niece’s and nephew’s expectant faces. What was so bad about pleasing people? A moment ago, they’d been scared, and he’d made them forget those fears.
“Ready!” Emma and Noah shouted.
“Let me grab something!” Travis scrounged in the utensil drawer and grabbed a cheese grater and a butter knife. He sawed the flat end of the blade against the jagged holes. “All set.”
Heath sang Creedence Clearwater Revival’s song “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” as they marched around the long, dark pine kitchen table dominating the cozy space. Macaroni rattled inside the boxes Noah and Daryl shook while Emma banged her pan and Travis sawed on his grate. Sierra added a meow here and there. All in all, not half bad for a family band. One side of Heath’s mouth kicked up.
“Hey, what’s this?” asked Pa as he entered the front door.
“We’re making it rain!” shouted Noah, blasting across the open living space to throw his arms around his grandpa’s legs.
“And thunder.” Emma clanged her spoon against the pan for emphasis.
Pa hung his hat. “Well now. We sure could use it.”
A wire tightened across Heath’s chest, constricting his breath. Time to tell Pa about his Nashville tryout before he bailed like Clint predicted. “There’s something important I need to talk to you about, Pa.”
Pa nodded. “Let me just get a cup of joe first.” His normally broad shoulders drooped, and the grooves of his weathered face appeared deeper, his skin slightly gray.
“What’s wrong, Pa?” Sierra set down Ginger and hurried to their father. “You don’t look good.”
Pa ran a hand over his brush of silver hair, then jerked a thumb at the screen door. “Cole’s the one who’s not doing good.”
Travis ducked outside.
“What happened?” Heath measured out coffee grounds and dumped them in the coffee maker. Since his brother Cole’s ex, Katlynn Brennan, left after taping a segment for her cable show about the Loveland-Cade family feud, he’d been even more withdrawn than usual.
“Hurt his arm.” Pa opened the door and ushered in a hunched Cole, his left arm in a sling, followed by Joy and Travis.
Air whooshed out of Heath’s lungs as if someone had just drop-kicked him in the chest. If Cole was laid up, their make-or-break herding season went from daunting to near impossible.
“Are you okay, Uncle Cole?” Emma tugged on his plaid shirt.
Pain edged Cole’s smile, and dark unease filled Heath. “I’ve had better days, but your pretty smile sure makes things better. That and some Percocet.”
The unease turned into balls of dread, settling heavily in Heath’s stomach. Cole never took pain medication. His arm must be seriously injured. Water overflowed the coffeepot Heath held beneath the faucet before he switched it off.
Emma giggled. “You always say that, Uncle Cole.”
He lightly tapped the tip of Emma’s nose. “That’s because it’s always true.”
“Can I draw on your cast?” Noah tugged Cole’s sling. The dread exploded in Heath’s gut like buckshot, and his gaze dropped to the white plaster encasing Cole’s left arm. He’d broken it. “Josh has one and he let everyone sign it but me.”
“He’s mean,” Emma griped. “Who wants to sign stupid-head’s stupid old cast anyway?”
“Be nice,” Sierra chided, her raised hand hiding her smile.
As Heath stared at Cole, his heart cracked open. What did this mean to his Nashville tryout? He poured the measured water into the back of the coffee maker and flicked on the machine.
It was a selfish thought. Shameful...considering his brother was hurt. Heath breathed in the brewing coffee’s rich roasted aroma and strove to settle his racing pulse. He opened the fridge and paused before pulling out the milk, letting the cool air wash over his flushed face.
“What happened?” Sierra retrieved mugs. When the gurgling coffee maker quieted, she filled them and added milk.
Cole’s stance appeared casual, but he was coiled tight, hiding the pain. “Wasn’t paying close enough attention while fixing the bull pen fence. I got pinned when Diesel charged.”
Heath winced. Few survived the force of a two-ton raging bull. With a grateful nod, Pa curled his fingers around the warm mug Heath passed him.
Daryl whistled. “Could have been a heck of a lot worse.”
Cole accepted Sierra’s coffee and dropped into a seat. “Pa pulled me out.”
“Why were you in there, anyway?” Travis clasped his hands behind his back and frowned.
“Thought Diesel was secured in his pen. Must not have latched the gate last night.” Cole dropped his head in his hand.
“I’m just so thankful you’re both okay.” Joy reached across the table and managed to pat both Cole and their pa. Despite the late hour, their new stepmother looked stylish—and matching—as always in a blue polka-dot blouse tucked into a blue skirt that complemented her silver bob and hazel eyes.
“How long do you have to wear the cast?” Heath’s temples were starting to ache. The scalding coffee burned his tongue, but he kept sipping anyway.
“Six weeks.” Pa’s expression was pale and strained.
“Which is why Joy and I are canceling our honeymoon.”
Heath’s jaw hit the floor. Coffee splashed over the rim of his mug when he set it down. They needed every hand, but Pa couldn’t cancel his special trip with the woman he’d waited for all his life. They had to figure out a way to make this work. “Daryl and I can handle things, Pa.”
Pa shook his head, lacing his fingers with Joy’s. “We need at least three full-timers. Maverick’s on his bull-riding tour. Travis used up his vacation last week for the wedding, Sierra’s running her practice, and we can’t afford to hire another hand.”
A weight landed on Heath’s shoulders as he rubbed his fingers along his temples. He couldn’t leave his family ranch when they needed him. Couldn’t try for the record deal after all. The feeling that his dreams were slipping through his fingers cut deep into him, making misery of his bone and tissue.
Heath clenched his jaw and dragged in a deep breath. The contract was a long shot anyway. No sense pining for it. Instead, he’d work around the clock to ensure things ran smoothly during their cattle drive while his father honeymooned. Staving off foreclosure mattered most. Heath’s life had never belonged to him anyway; it’d been stupid to think otherwise, even for one night.
Cole lifted his head slowly. “Sorry, Pa.”
“Stop me if I’m overstepping, but...” Joy’s mouth pursed. “Maybe one of my kids could lend a hand? We have plenty of help with my nephews visiting this summer. We could spare someone experienced.”
Everyone sat perfectly still. No one spoke or even appeared to breathe. A Cade working Loveland ranch? Unthinkable...yet they had to consider it.
“Forget it.” Joy pulled off her frameless glasses and cleared the fogged lens with a napkin. “I shouldn’t have interfered.”
“You’re part of the family, darlin’.” Pa smiled tenderly. “It says Joy Loveland on our marriage certificate, don’t it?”
“Yeah.” Sierra threw an arm around Joy. “You’re one of us. I’m proud you’re my stepmother.”
“Me, too,” Heath, Daryl, Travis and Cole chorused.
“And our grandma!” shouted Emma and Noah, whose simultaneous attempts to climb on Joy’s lap went from shoving to a WWE match before Daryl banished them to opposite sides of the table.
“Sorry, Joy.” Daryl stared down his kids until they apologized, as well.
“After raising six kids, five of them boys, I don’t break easy.” Joy’s hands shook as she wiped beneath her eyes. “I couldn’t be prouder to call you my stepchildren and grandchildren. Hopefully, once the trial’s over, we’ll all become a real family, too. I want that more than anything.”
Heath spied his doubt in his siblings’ eyes. They’d never get along with the Cades, not with so many years of bad blood between them, no matter how the feud started, especially with their face-off in court next month. Joy was the exception.
In the week since she’d moved in, Heath had noticed subtle improvements. Family dinners happened every night. Baskets of freshly laundered clothes appeared on their beds daily. And the moment anyone mentioned a food preference, the item materialized in the fridge the following day.
Is this what having a mother is like? Heath had caught himself wondering since the wedding. He’d devoted his childhood to pleasing his real mother, to smoothing things over and making others happy. Having someone else take care of him and his family left him unsettled...and feeling almost unneeded, if that made any good sense.
“Let’s not talk about the trial for now,” Pa said, gruff. “Joy, who should we ask to help?”
She tapped her chin. “Jack’s working across the state as a sheriff’s deputy. James is ranch manager, so we can’t spare him. My nephews are learning the ropes and don’t have enough experience. Jared’s touring with Amberley so that leaves either Justin or Jewel.” No mention of Jesse, of course, the son she’d lost to violence related to his opioid addiction.
“Justin?” Cole exclaimed. “Heck no, not unless you want the place burned down. Remember the Fourth of July when he decided to light fireworks from the church steeple and set the roof ablaze?”
Joy smiled widely at that, and Heath’s stomach plummeted. If not Justin, then the rancher assisting him would have to be...
“Who would you pick, Pa?” Daryl wiped fudge from Noah’s chin.
“I’ll let our range boss decide. He’s in charge of ranch operations while I’m away.” All eyes turned Heath’s way.
Heath’s stomach twisted something awful, and he opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say. Jewel’s dogged determination to free the spare, her no-nonsense efficiency in mounting the new tire and her dry, quick wit had impressed him.
Her challenging, irritating and obnoxious personality, not so much. She was a tough, experienced, capable cowgirl, whose mouth would be a constant source of aggravation. Kelsey had given him until summer’s end to agree to a wedding date, and he needed time, space and peace on the open range to stop bucking his future...something he’d never get riding alongside the brash redhead.
Worse, the connection he’d felt with Jewel last night, the way his thoughts kept straying to her today, warned him of trouble ahead if they spent too much time together.
“Heath?” Pa prompted.
Time to pry his tongue off the roof of his mouth. There was nothing for it. “Jewel.” Heath scraped back his chair. “If you’ll excuse me?”
He trudged to the porch and leaned over the railing, soaking up the fresh air. Twilight was still at the stage where it was more lavender than onyx, with the fireflies just beginning to turn on and off in the yard. Standing there with the birds chirping in the trees, the crosscut-sawing of the crickets and a cattle dog snoring at the top of the stairs, was usually restful.
Heath shoved his hands in his pockets, yanked them out again, then laced them tightly behind his back, unable to settle his mind. Spirit. Heart. All around him, broad-shouldered mountains rose, penning him in, pinning him down.
Goodbye, Nashville.
He squeezed his eyes shut as a burning knot of emotion formed in the back of his throat. Without other prospects, he’d have to accept Kelsey’s father’s offer to become a partner in the supply business.
He’d have to set a wedding date.
Give up gigging.
Music.
He sucked in a sharp, stinging breath, then blew it out. He heard a fluttering overhead and then the hoot of an owl, which for some reason struck him as menacing.
At least his new, lucrative job meant he could help keep Loveland Hills on secure financial footing. It wasn’t the life he’d dreamed of, but it was the one he’d been dealt.
Best he accepted it.
Besides, he loved Kelsey...didn’t he? They’d been together for so long he wasn’t always sure. Their relationship was comfortable, like a pair of worn slippers...and just as boring. But that was typical of people who’d been together as long as he and Kelsey had, he’d heard.
The door banged open behind him, and Pa clapped him on the back. “Jewel will be a whole lot easier on the eye than Justin.”
