by Vivian Arend
By the time Jesse slipped into the room to say good morning, Dare’s cheeks were sore from smiling. His cousin had helped pass the time by spilling the beans on some of his exploits when he was little, most of which were embarrassing.
Dare laughed at Jesse’s expression when he realized what Tamara was talking about. “Your cousin knows all the good stories about you,” she teased.
Tamara stood at the foot of the bed. Today she wore pale blue scrubs decorated with floating clouds, and the frames of her glasses were rainbow-hued. She gloated as she eyed Jesse who had folded his arms over his chest and was pretending to glare at them.
“Lies,” he insisted. “Damn lies.”
“Damn entertaining lies,” Dare insisted.
“Truth is always stranger than fiction,” Tamara taunted.
About an hour later, Tamara had just helped Dare back into the bed after a pit stop when the door opened, and Ginny and Caleb stepped in.
Dare’s throat tightened at the sight of them. “I didn’t expect you to come this soon.”
Ginny raced across the room to offer a hug. “Are you kidding? After Jesse called they had to sit on me to stop me from driving up last night.”
Caleb moved slower, his gaze taking in Dare before a curse escaped his lips. He fixed his gaze on Jesse, murder in his eyes. “You bastard.”
Jesse rose to his feet as Caleb stormed forward, but Tamara moved the fastest, sliding in front of Caleb and slapping her hand against his chest. “Stop right there, cowboy. You want to tell me what’s got you itching for a fight?”
“How the hell did she get a black eye, Coleman?” Caleb demanded at high volume, ignoring Tamara.
“Stop, Caleb,” Dare ordered.
“Did you hit her?” Caleb pushed Tamara aside to get at Jesse.
Or he tried to push her aside. Even though Dare was watching, it was hard to see exactly how it happened. One minute Caleb was moving forward, and the next he was flying through the air then slamming into the floor with a body-aching crash.
Tamara stood over him, foot planted perilously close to his groin. Her rainbow and floaty-cloud outfit a stark contrast to her apparent danger-level. “I said back down, cowboy. No fights in this room, you got it?”
Caleb groaned, hand going to his head before he collapsed and lay there, winded.
“Fuck.” The strangled word barely made it past his lips.
Ginny stood at Dare’s bedside, staring down at the strange vignette in front of them. “Um, you got a bodyguard, Dare?”
“Looks that way. Caleb, nobody punched me. Well, not on purpose. My face got in the way when they were stopping me from hitting the ground. I don’t think you should go beat up the pastor’s daughter, so stop being a macho-jerk.”
Caleb made a noise. It might have been an apology, but Dare couldn’t be sure.
She sighed heavily. “Tamara, you want to let my brother up?”
“Your brother?” Tamara swore softly. “Jeez, I’m sorry.”
She held out a hand to help him up.
Caleb gave her a dirty look and ignored her fingers, rocking up to his feet. He glanced at Jesse. “Sorry for assuming.”
“I get it. Protective big brother. You did tell me you’d kill me if I hurt her.” Jesse was smirking, though.
Tamara elbowed him in the side. “Don’t be a jerk.”
Jesse turned on her, his amusement fading. “Don’t you step into the middle of a situation like that again. You could’ve gotten hurt.”
His cousin rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. Did you see him bounce?”
Caleb made another noise, this one decisively rude, but he moved cautiously as he passed Tamara en route to the bed. He slid his gaze over Dare and examined her closely. “Accidentally punched in the face? Really?”
“Yup,” she said. “Just like the time you and Luke went out after the strays and ended up—”
“—okay. That’s enough of that.” He held up a hand to cut her off before hugging her tight. “You scared us. You good?”
“I feel fine,” Dare insisted. “Buckaroo is moving like crazy. I was just tired, or something.”
“We’re taking good care of her.” Tamara had come up to the bedside and pushed past Caleb. “With that in mind, if I could get everyone to step back a little. It’s a big room. Dare gets her share of the space and then the rest of you.”
She was glaring specifically at Caleb, fists resting on her hips.
He didn’t move.
Tamara made a feint toward his groin, and Caleb twisted in defense.
She was gloating far too hard as she reached for the rolling side table, swinging it around and forcing him to back up another couple steps.
Dare watched the interaction with amusement. Caleb’s sense of humour needed a kick in the butt at times, but she was glad they were there. “Come and talk. Where’re the girls?”
Jesse interrupted to say goodbye. “I’ll give you a chance to visit. Regular visiting hours start at eleven, and I’m pretty sure my mom plans on stopping by, plus I don’t know who else.”
He covered up a yawn best he could, but Dare caught his fingers and gave them a squeeze. “Go get some shuteye. I’m not going anywhere.”
He nodded. “I’ll be back around five. You need anything?”
“Burger and fries? Or pizza—with the works.”
He glanced at Caleb and Ginny before deliberately leaning in and giving her another one of those addictive kisses. It was far too natural to let her arms rise up and wrap around his shoulders, fingers stroking through his hair, soft against her palms.
He pulled back, cocky grin firmly in place. “Be good.”
“Why should I start now?” she teased.
Ginny and Caleb settled into chairs as Jesse took his leave. Ginny twisted to watch him exit the room. “That was hot.”
Caleb’s face stiffened. “Ginny.”
“Well, it was,” she insisted, lifting her gaze to meet Dare’s. “So, your hot-cowboy visit is turning out to be an adventure.”
Caleb twisted in his chair, arms crossed at his chest. “Do you want me to leave the room so you can talk about hot cowboys?”
Ginny waved a hand. “You don’t have to leave.”
Dare snickered as Caleb let out a frustrated growl, but she was glad everything was normal.
Or as normal as it was able to get as Ginny turned thoughtful then placed a finger on her lips. “Okay, I’ll be nice, and we won’t talk about Dare’s sexy cowboy.”
“Thank you,” Caleb drawled.
Ginny clapped her hands together and rubbed them. “So, Dare. Tell me more about your bodyguard. Was that not an awesome move she pulled on Caleb?”
It was no use. The small bundle of warmth inside her grew and grew and now it bubbled up into laughter. The long-suffering expression on Caleb’s face just made it worse, and Dare let herself go, protected and surrounded by the lingering sensation of Jesse’s caring and her family’s presence.
Jesse picked up a few groceries before heading back to the trailer and stripping down. He took a quick shower and tossed himself into bed to grab a few hours’ sleep before heading back to the hospital.
His rumbling stomach woke him. He pulled on sweatpants before stumbling to the kitchen and tossing bread into all four of the toaster slots.
He had the frying pan hot and was cracking eggs when the door opened and ice skidded up his spine. What the hell had he been thinking, walking around half naked in his brother’s place?
“You making enough for two?”
Instant relief struck as Joel stepped to the counter beside him, eyeing the pan hungrily.
“That depends. Are you starving or ravenous?”
Joel reached in the fridge and pulled out another carton of eggs. “Definitely ravenous. I’ll butter this batch of toast and start another.”
They worked together in companionable silence for a few minutes. Jesse split the first set of eggs onto two plates before getting the second batch cooking
and settling at the table. Joel popped down two enormous glasses of juice and turned on the coffeemaker for after.
It didn’t bother Jesse that they didn’t talk while eating—they’d always agreed in the past it was pretty much a waste of energy.
But by the time the second servings were on their plate Jesse paused for long enough to offer Joel a grin. “I’m still a better cook than you.”
Joel looked at him, one brow rising slowly. “Do you really want to start this battle again?”
Being obnoxious about each other’s cooking skills and teasing the hell out of each other was exactly where Jesse wanted to be instead of the awkward chasm and distance he’d pushed them to.
Jesse leaned back in his chair and pretended to plot. “Chili cook-off?”
A snort escaped his brother. “You did not win that one.”
Jesse displayed his best shocked expression. “I could have sworn Dad and Blake said my chili was miles better than yours.”
“Because you stole a batch of frozen chili out of Jaxi’s and Mom’s freezers and mixed them together.” But Joel was smiling. “It was damn tasty.”
“Way better than the stomped chicken.”
Joel had just put a mouthful of egg and toast in his mouth, and he barely stopped in time from spewing it over the table. He gave Jesse a dirty look as he licked egg off his fingers. “We promised to never talk about that.”
“No. We promised to not tease each other in public.” Jesse looked around. “It’s just you, me and the chickens here now.”
His brother laughed as he demolished the rest of the food on his plate. “I never did hear Mom complain that she’d found a giant snowball in her freezer.”
Sixteen-year-old hellions. In the dead of winter, they’d had the brilliant idea to save a massive chunk of snow in the freezer so that on some hot summer day they could haul it out and surprise their brothers with well-timed snowballs.
Only the specially packaged do not touch wrapped-up paper they’d hauled out of the freezer on the hottest day of the summer and then jumped on to get at the snow turned out to be not what they expected.
A soft chuckle escaped Joel.
Jesse could tell he was picturing that moment when the two of them realized that under their boots they’d been crushing not a firmly packed bundle of snow from the previous winter but one of his mom’s frozen chickens.
“Do you remember how much hell that was to buy a new chicken and sneak it back into the freezer?”
“Didn’t we have to bribe Mrs. Larsen at the Mercantile? So she didn’t spill the beans to Mom?”
Joel nodded. “I still feel guilty every time I see her. I make Vicki do the shopping there.”
Jesse didn’t answer for a moment.
It was funny how much things had changed. Oh, he felt weird around Vicki, but the last couple days with Dare at his side had been pointing out to him that life should be a whole lot more about looking forward than looking back. It was as if he was awkward because he’d felt that way for a long time, not because he had any real reason now for it.
He glanced up and caught Joel smiling. “Am I in trouble? You usually looked like that when I was finally going to get in shit for something I did.”
“Really? Huh.” Joel shook his head. “You know, you’re right. There were times it was a relief when the hammer fell on whatever nonsense we pulled, but I’m sorry if you felt like I was happy for you to take the blame. I was just thinking it feels good to have you back. Even with the lingering moments where I want to haul you up behind the barn and burn off some frustration.”
Jesse nodded. “It’s weird. There are moments when I feel as if I never left. There are times when I know I fucked up so bad it’s going to be a long hard road.”
Joel reached over and grabbed Jesse’s plate. “One good thing,” he offered, stuffing the dirty dishes into the machine. “If you’re on the right road and walking, you’ll eventually get where you want to go.”
There wasn’t much Jesse needed to say to that. Instead, he glanced at the clock. “I’ve got to get dressed and head to the hospital for a while.”
“I was going to pick up Vicki from work and take her over. You want a ride?”
Jesse shook his head. “Thanks, but Blake’s got me in the barns tonight. I should take my truck so I can go straight over after visiting hours.”
His brother nodded and headed out without another word, but as Jesse dressed and got in the truck, it was the closest to normal they’d been since Vicki had come on the scene and Jesse had lost his mind.
As long as he was on the right road—he just needed to keep walking.
Chapter Twenty
Blog post: Look Deeper
Sometimes I wonder what I’m not seeing that’s right under my nose. When you live on a ranch in Alberta you get a reminder of this every spring as the crocuses come up, and a field that was barren and brown is suddenly dotted with purple.
Teasing us with a fresh reminder that what we see on the surface is not always all that’s there.
The weekend passed in a blur. Jesse made sure he was at the hospital first thing in the morning before official visiting hours, and he stayed late as he could in the evening before taking off to complete the tasks Blake left for him.
In fact, once enough visitors had shown up that Dare was entertained, he’d slip away and head back to the ranch and do whatever he could to keep himself busy for a few hours.
Somewhere in there he slept.
He was in the middle of scrubbing all the milking equipment when Travis stuck his head in the door. “Hey, asshole.”
Jesse pushed the brush against the inside of the bucket harder, but his lips curled into a smile. “What, buttface?”
A soft snicker escaped his brother. “I heard Blake gave you some jobs. I wanted to see if you remembered how to do this thing called work.”
His brother’s jerk-ish behaviour made Jesse feel a hell of a lot more welcome than if he’d tiptoed around. Jesse gestured to the chair beside the sink. “Go ahead, you lazy ass. Best seat in the house if you want to watch.”
“Actually, I wanted to ask if you’ve got time to go for a ride?”
God, yes. The temptation was strong, but Jesse glanced at his watch. If he indulged, he wouldn’t make it to the hospital on time to have dinner with Dare.
He shook his head reluctantly. “I’d love to, but I need to finish this before stopping today. Sorry.”
Travis marched in, pulling a second scrub brush from behind his back as he reached for the next set of buckets. “Right answer. I’ll give you a hand so you’ll have time for a short break before you go see Dare.”
Jesse stopped, slightly shocked as his brother began scrubbing. “You don’t need to do that.”
“I know, but I want to go for a ride, and Cassidy is taking care of Ashley, and you’re the only other person I know who’s willing to do the gully with me.”
Jesus. “Do you have a death wish? The rains last year made that impassable.”
Travis offered a huge grin. “Chicken?”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. It wasn’t only Dare’s eighteen-year-old brother who had an issue. “Really? Did you revert to childhood while I’ve been gone?”
“I’m kidding.” His brother laughed. “Runoff this spring changed the landscape all over. There’s a new route you need to see. You game?”
“Hell, yeah.” It was a bizarre sensation to be back here where his life had been for so many years, scrubbing down equipment with Travis, fingers getting wrinkly as they worked together. Plans for trouble pushing them forward. “But I need to be back on time.”
His brother chuckled. “Good to see you’ve lost your mind over a girl. I didn’t think this day would ever come.”
Jesse aimed the water a little off angle so a spray accidentally splashed Travis in the face. His brother ducked but kept working. “I guess I saw you lose your mind, and it didn’t seem to make your balls shrivel up too much.”
“Oh, my
balls are just fine these days, thank you.” Travis hesitated. “My balls are fine, but my heart’s ready to jump out of my chest, especially when I get thinking too hard about the baby.”
“I try not to think too hard about the baby,” Jesse admitted before hurrying on. “Not because the kid’s a bad thing, but it’s like my brain can only handle so much.”
Travis didn’t answer for a minute. Instead there was a quiet scratch of the stiff bristles against metal bouncing off the wooden walls to accompany the country music playing from the overhead speakers.
“It’s weird getting to this stage.” Trevor spoke slowly, a lot less brash than Jesse remembered him. “Before Ashley and Cassidy came into my life, it was about getting the job done and moving to the next thing that would bring me pleasure. Now I find getting the job done is a kind of pleasure all in itself. It’s like I don’t have to go to the extreme to be happy anymore.”
“Which is why you want to run the gully with me. Because that’s nothing extreme,” Jesse teased.
“It’s a challenge,” Travis corrected him. “You’ll see what I mean when we get there, but seriously, I don’t think less of you for being freaked out about having a kid on the way. But maybe you’re going to be okay once he comes along. If you’ve got being an asshole out of your system.”
“I don’t know. Does being an asshole ever really leave someone’s system completely? I mean, look at you.”
Jesse stumbled against the counter with a laugh as Travis smacked him with his shoulder, walking past to hang up clean equipment on the wall.
They worked quickly, discussion moving to the things that had changed on the ranch while Jesse had been gone. He listened most of the time and let Travis talk.
It seemed there’d been a lot of changes to the Six Pack ranch, including combining efforts with the rest of the clan. A movement toward taking the four separate ranches and recombining them into the best use of resources.
It sounded complicated, but as Travis described it, Jesse could see the benefit. The increased ability to improve stock lines would make any geneticist drool.