All I could do was laugh. I swept forward, patting my sweet father’s cheeks and kissing him on the forehead. “No, I’ll be the one asking him to give me a chance! What a fool I’ve been!” I slapped my own face in sheer awe.
“So, you like him?”
I had to press both hands to my chest to keep my heart from flying away. It felt like it was spinning a hundred different directions. “I think… yes, I do! I mean, I don’t know if he’s everything yet, but…” I stopped, my breath heaving and a kaleidoscope of ideas exploding in my brain. “I think he could be. Yes, yes, I like him. A lot!”
“Good. Me too. Now, let’s get dinner on, so you can tend to your love life on a full stomach.”
Chapter 22
Dusty
Wehadafullhouse that night for dinner. Cody and Marshall had heard rumors of Meryl’s chuck stew, and Dad talked her into an encore. It was the first time we’d had both of them back with their wives around the table and Meryl sitting beside my dad. I’d forgotten the table would stretch out that far, but it did, with a little room to spare. The last time we’d had all the leaves in it was a couple of years ago, for Emma’s seventh birthday party. Did Evan remember that? He was pretty quiet this evening. I sat beside him, and we mostly ate our meal in silence. But we were the only ones.
The house was full of laughter and joy, female voices chorusing with ours for the first time in years. I didn’t have an appetite, but I couldn’t help admiring how Cody and Morgan held hands under the table and kept smiling at each other or how Marshall and Kelli teased each other until they were laughing. And the way Meryl had slid her chair close to my dad’s and was just leaning against his shoulder, enjoying the company with a smile of perfect peace. They were the lucky ones, the few who found someone to hold through life. And I couldn’t watch anymore—not tonight, not with my own failure so raw.
I pushed up from the table and asked Evan for his plate. “I’ll start washing up. Anyone else done?”
Cody held up a hand. “Oh, hold on, Dusty. I had something to ask everyone.”
I dropped slowly into my seat again. Was he going to tell us that he and Morgan were starting a family? Marshall had said something about that. Privately, I hoped they were. Cody would be a terrific dad. But that wasn’t what he announced.
“There’s a schooling show down in Paso Robles this weekend. I know it’s short notice, but I want to take Maserati and a couple of the new three-year-olds down.”
“Kind of early, isn’t it?” Evan asked. “Show season doesn’t start till April.”
“I know, but Maserati’s feeling stale. I have a theory that she’s a competition queen, and she’ll sharpen up when we get down there. Plus, I’d really like to just haul a couple of the younger horses out, get them some exposure. I have one colt that’s a freak of nature, he’s so talented, but he’s a little on the nervous side, and he needs some experience.”
Dad nodded. “Does that mean you’re leaving in the morning?”
“Crack of dawn.” His gaze slipped to Morgan. “And remember Emily Carson, the girl you hired when Brandon got hurt? I’ve had her loping some horses for me lately to warm them up, and she’s good. Great feel and timing on those colts, and she’s eager for an opportunity. I could use a solid assistant, and Morgan has to work.”
“I don’t like that,” Marshall said, crossing his arms. “You’re straight as an arrow, Cody, but you gotta think about appearances. You can’t take a nineteen-year-old girl down to California, just you and her. That’s no good.”
“That’s why I was hoping someone else could come with me. We’ll put Emily up in a hotel, and we can batch it in the trailer. Anyone?”
Everyone looked around at each other, and then Marshall piped up. “I’ll go.”
“You certainly will not,” Kelli objected. “You can barely push a wheelbarrow, and the last time you sat in a car for more than twenty minutes, I had to baby you for the rest of the evening.”
Marshall turned red and the rest of us snickered. “Did not,” he groused. “Who says I wasn’t putting you on?”
“Well, I guess you just can’t go out and play with Cody now, can you?” she teased as she kissed him. Luke and Cody hooted and catcalled them, but they were newlyweds. They didn’t care about anything but each other, and the louder the guys got, the harder Kelli kissed my brother and the tighter he held on.
That was all I could handle. “I’ll go,” I said above the din.
The table fell silent. All eyes turned to me, and my stomach tensed. I didn’t want to explain. Hopefully, they’d just accept the offer and move on. My gaze wandered the table and locked on Luke, who gave a tiny nod. I let go the breath I was holding.
“Sounds good, Dusty,” Cody agreed. “I sorta jumped the gun a little and loaded the trailer already. All the horses still have valid six-month Coggins paperwork, and Emily is packed to go. Nothing left to do but roll out in the morning. I was thinking of being on the road by four.”
Four. Which meant I’d have to be up a good hour and a half earlier to muck a few stalls and load the horses. That was even a little earlier than I usually got up. I wouldn’t have time to do anything else in the morning. Or talk to anyone.
Perfect.
“How long will you be gone?” Luke was wandering around my room, poking into things, opening drawers, and making a pest of himself.
I tossed a stack of folded shirts into my suitcase. “It’s only a one-day show, but Cody said he hooked up with a friend of his down there for some extra cow practice on Sunday and Monday. Sounds like I’ll be home Wednesday night.”
“So, almost a week.” Luke flicked on my desk light. Then turned it off. And back on again.