“One horse was acting sick earlier; he just went to check on her.”
“How’s everything else going, though?” Since he’d built his house a few acres away from our parents and worked with them on the farm every day, he was the best person to ask about the farm.
“Good; Tess is finally going to ride her horse for the first time on Monday.”
“Uncle Nick,” Tessa called out from the kitchen. “Can you come watch me ride Boots?”
I gave her a warm smile. She’d learned early on that all of her uncles were nothing but putty in her hands. We would all do just about anything for her.
“Of course, T, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I looked at my brothers. “Are you guys coming, too?”
“Have you found a way to say ‘no’ to that face? Cause we sure haven’t,” Dean told me with a loud laugh.
“You think you guys got it bad?” Cody shook his head as he asked us. “Imagine being her father and having to say ‘no’ to her.”
“Well, that is your job,” Damien told him with an enormous grin. “You tell her ‘no’ and then we give her everything her little heart desires.”
“You guys are assholes.” Cody rolled his eyes at us.
I waited for my mom to reprimand him, but nothing came.
“What the hell, man? I cuss and I get the ‘full name treatment’, you cuss and she says nothing?” I didn’t really care; I just loved to give my brothers shit—especially Cody, who was just too serious sometimes.
“Well, he is mom’s favorite,” Damien said.
Cody rolled his eyes again. We’d had this same conversation more than a few times already.
“I am not the favorite.”
Dean added, “You gave her the first granddaughter; of course you’re her favorite.”
Cody laughed out loud, saying quietly, “Yes, that was my devious plan. Knock up my high school fling, have her leave, and then have to raise my child alone. All to become Mom’s favorite.”
“Man, you were never alone,” I told him. I was glad, though, that Cody could joke about the entire situation now. There were a few months where I was worried about my little brother, having to raise a baby fresh out of high school. At least he’d always wanted to help run the farm; he hadn’t had to give anything too big up for his little girl.
Our dad walked through the back door, interrupting our suddenly heavy conversation. “Nick, it’s good to see you,” he said as he toed his boots off at the door. We all knew the rules; if anyone got dirt onto our mom’s freshly mopped floor, we would be the ones to clean it up.
“Hey, Dad, how’s the horse?”
“Not good, but I don’t think it’s fatal, at least.” He walked to the kitchen, giving our mom a kiss on the cheek, ruffling Tessa’s hair, and squeezing his mother’s hand. “Is there anything I can do, sweetheart?” he asked his wife.
“It’s almost done, but thanks anyway, honey.”
Dad grabbed a beer out of the fridge before joining us in the living room.
“How’s everything at the station going?” I asked Dean. Dean was five years younger and had gone to work for the North Hills Fire Department as soon as he graduated high school, the same way I had become a police officer.
“Good, no big fires, though. Just a few flaming ditches.”
“God, you’re such an adrenaline junkie,” Damien said with a boisterous laugh.
It was true; out of the four of us, Dean was the one that loved the risk that came with his job.
“You know it,” Dean said with a smile. “Get any big contracts lately?”
Damien had his own construction company. However, he didn’t just do the town of North Hills; he serviced many of the neighboring areas, as well. He was known around southern Montana for his attention to detail and his ability to get things done in a proper time frame.
“Just a few remodels, nothing major.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “How’s Danielle doing?”
Danielle was Dean’s best friend. Anyone with eyes could see that the two of them were head over heels for each other, but Dean refused to see what was right in front of him.
“Shut up,” Dean said with a roll of his eyes.
Just a few moments later we were called to the table. My parents sat at the head while my grandmother sat on the left side of my dad; I sat next to her, Damien on my other side, Dean across from him, Cody in the chair next to him, and Tessa sitting across from my grandmother, next to our dad.
After saying grace, which our mother always insisted on, we dug into the mouth-watering food.
The only sound that broke the silence was our forks and knives scraping the plates, at least until our mother spoke up.
“You wouldn’t believe who I saw at Flour Power earlier today, Nick.”
“Who?”
“Elizabeth Porter.” The fork I’d been just about to slip into my mouth froze an inch from my lips.
It took me just a second to settle my scattered thoughts. That woman could unsettle me without even needing to be in the same room.
“I thought vampires couldn’t come out in sunlight,” I said dryly.
My brothers snickered, but my mom just gave me a serious look.
“You still aren’t over that little feud of yours?”
“She started that rumor, you know the one... about the donuts.” I didn’t want to say anything more about that particular rumor with innocent little ears listening in at the end of the table.
“God, that was classic!” Damien laughed out loud.
I rolled my eyes. “I had to deal with girls giving me side-eye looks if I even had a muffin in my hand. You guys didn’t help,” I gave my brothers pointed looks, “putting donuts in my locker every day for a week.”
“I’d apologize, but that was funny as...” Cody looked down at his daughter before grimacing, “...fudge.”
“Whatever.” I turned my attention back to my mother who was trying to hide her smile. “Unless that she-devil apologizes for everything she said about our family, then I will happily keep my distance from her. She’s probably only in town for a few days, anyway.” I took a sip of my drink to make my point.
I choked on the water when my mom said, “She’s actually moving back. For good, is what she said.”
I groaned out loud. “Thought she was married.” I added under my breath, “Even though I have no idea how she got someone to date her, much less marry her.” Damien snickered next to me.
My grandma spoke up on my other side. “I heard she left her husband.” Beatrice Wilder was the town gossip; she knew things about some people before they even knew.
My mom nodded in agreement. “She wasn’t wearing her wedding ring.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why are we even talking about this?”
“Well,” my mom spoke slowly, “I did always think the two of you would make a cute couple—”
“Hell, no, Mom—sorry—but I would rather stab out my eyes with this knife than be in a relationship with the she-devil.”
“Well, she’s a sweet girl. Maybe you’ll change your mind.”
I snorted into my drink. “I would never use Elizabeth Porter and ‘sweet’ in the same sentence. Did you forget how much she hated this family when we were younger?” I know I couldn’t be the only one that heard some of the stuff she had said about us. Was I just supposed to forget all that?