by Jaci Burton
Within a minute, she replied: I missed you, too. Can’t wait for the barbecue Saturday.
He smiled and felt a lot better.
Chapter 20
REID HAD BEEN working nonstop all week. Between meetings with the engineer and the city inspectors, not to mention having to tiptoe around the stiff requirements laid down by the historical society as far as what they could and could not do to the building, he’d been up to his eyeballs in paperwork and red tape—the parts of his job he hated the most. He had a multipage list from the society of what couldn’t be changed, and unless it was a code violation, certain standards had to be maintained to keep the building as close to its original condition as possible. Fortunately, that was his plan all along, so he and the historical society were in agreement on that. It was just getting there that was going to be a headache, and having bureaucrats breathing down his neck wasn’t going to be fun. He knew what he was doing and so did Deacon, and having people who didn’t have the first clue about renovating a building monitoring every step in the process would only put them behind.
He’d put in long days that had somehow fallen into early evenings. By the time he’d gotten back to the ranch, he’d managed to stuff dinner into his mouth, carried on mostly one-syllable conversations with Ben, Martha, Logan, and Des, and then had dragged himself off to bed to face-plant into an exhausted oblivion.
Today, though, was Saturday. He could have gone in to work to catch up, but that wasn’t going to happen today. He planned to drink a lot of beer and eat a metric ton of barbecued ribs.
And not think about work. At least not anything associated with the mercantile. Martha, on the other hand, had put them all to work early that morning getting the ranch ready for the barbecue. He, Logan, and the ranch hands had pulled the picnic tables from storage, scrubbed them clean, and made sure there was plenty of seating for everyone. Because when the McCormacks hosted their annual barbecue, hundreds of people attended.
Not My Dog followed him around all morning as he washed down driveways and furniture and prepped the multiple grills they were going to use for the ribs. Wherever he went, the dog was right next to him.
Like always. He was getting used to Not My Dog being an extra appendage.
When Luke and Emma arrived, Emma dashed into the house, and Luke found Reid. They’d brought their three dogs: Boomer, Luke’s German shepherd; Annie, the pit bull; and Daisy, the lab. Not that he blamed them. There was nothing better than letting your dogs run wild and free on ranch property. There was so much land, those dogs could roam for hours and miles and be exhausted by the time Luke and Emma brought them home tonight. Plus, they’d play with all the ranch dogs, which would further wear them out.
The dogs all sniffed and huddled around Not My Dog, who wagged his tail and played.
“Got yourself a dog, I see,” Luke said.
“Not My Dog.”
Luke laughed. “Yeah, I heard about his name.”
“I tried to disown him, but he seems to have attached himself to me.”
“Apparently he’s pretty popular in town.”
Reid rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I don’t know what’s more popular—the dog or the mercantile. But a lot of folks have stopped by the mercantile to visit the dog. And ask about the building. So maybe both of them.”
Luke walked in step with Reid as he headed toward the barn to grab a side table to put in between the two grills.
“How’s the reno going, by the way?” Luke asked.
“This week was a lot of red tape and paperwork, so a pain in my ass. Otherwise, it’s going okay.”
They carried the table out and set it between the grills. Luke started up the grills just as Logan came out carrying pans of ribs.
“More of these inside,” Logan said.
Reid nodded, and he and Luke went inside to grab the pans.
“Are you as hungry as I am for these?” Luke asked as they walked back outside.
Reid juggled multiple pans loaded with ribs. “Like you would not believe. I’m amazed I’m actually in town for this. It’s been years since I’ve been here for the barbecue. I actually have dreams about it.”
Luke laughed. “Hey, you know where the ranch is. You could come home more often.”
“Not as easy as it seems.”
“It’s as easy as you want to make it. All you have to do is buy a plane ticket.”
He waved his hand to dismiss his brother. “Yeah, yeah.”
Logan looked up from where he was placing ribs on the grill. “Why would you even want him to come back here for the barbecue, Luke? You’ve seen how much he eats. That’s just fewer ribs for you and me.”
“You make a good point, Logan.” Luke turned to Reid. “Never mind. Stay in Boston.”
Reid laughed. “You’re both assholes.”
“Like that’s a revelation,” Logan said. “Now grab some tongs and help me get these spread out on the grills. And someone needs to drag a cooler of beer out here.”
“I’ll get the beer,” Luke said.
Reid took charge of one of the grills. It felt good to be home again, to be cooking ribs with his brothers at his side. This had been a McCormack family tradition every year, going back to when his dad was still alive. His father and his grandfather had stood at the grills cooking together when Reid had been just a kid. He could still remember knocking around in the front yard with his brothers, the smell of those ribs cooking for hours while they threw the football around or played in the dirt.
As the day progressed, people would show up at the house bringing food. By late afternoon, Reid’s stomach would be growling from smelling the meat cook.
He was certain today would be a lot like that. Except for wrestling his brothers in the dirt.
“You must be thinking deep thoughts over there,” Logan said, “because you haven’t said a word.”
He slanted a look at his brother. “I was thinking about how long this annual barbecue has been going on, and how you and me and Luke used to play in the front yard all day, just smelling the ribs cooking and getting hungrier every hour.”
Logan’s lips ticked up. “And Dad and Grandpa would sit in their chairs, drink beer, and occasionally yell at us to break up a fight.”
Reid smiled at the memories. “Yeah.”
“And when Mom was around, she’d be pissed that we got dirty.”
Logan’s lips curved. “She was always pissed about something.”
“Don’t miss that.”
“Me, neither.”
That was one thing the brothers all had in common. They had loved their father, and had always stuck together when their mother had gotten riled up about something trivial—like young boys getting dirty.
Their mother hadn’t been happy being a ranch wife and mother. Fortunately, their dad had taken up the slack and loved them enough for two people.
And so had Martha and Ben. They’d had plenty of love and parental influence, so once their mother had divorced Dad and taken off, Reid figured they were all better off without her.
Which had suited him just fine. He sometimes wondered where she was, but he didn’t wonder enough to look her up. She’d remarried some guy and was apparently living her happily-ever-after city life somewhere on the east coast. That’s all he knew and he didn’t care to know more.
Some people just weren’t cut out to live life on a ranch. Or to be a parent. And that’s just how it was.
A car drove up, and Reid thought for a minute it might be Sam.
It wasn’t. It was Megan, who pulled up to the front driveway. Emma, Des, and Martha came out and helped her bring boxes into the house.
He saw Luke come out carrying a large cooler. Reid and Logan went and grabbed several chairs, then set them up while Luke and Logan flipped the ribs. They opened their beers and took seats.
Another car pulled up. Reid took a look, but it was one of Martha’s church friends.
“Waiting for someone?” Logan asked.
“No. Just
. . . watching.”
“Uh-huh.”
Reid ignored his brother and they spent time talking ranch stuff.
More cars pulled in. Several people from town arrived. Some of them wandered over to grab beers and talk ranch life, or anything in general.
“Mercantile’s coming along, Reid,” Walter Louis said.
“Yeah, it is.”
“Daisy and I are anxious to take a peek. We figure it’s going to be good business for our sandwich shop once you finish it and get tenants in there.”
“I figure it will be, too.”
“Speaking of our sandwich shop, Daisy and I have been thinkin’ of expanding, opening up another place on the north side of town.”
“Is that right? Business is that good, huh?”
Walter offered up a sly smile. “It’s decent enough. I was wondering if you had any pointers on where we might situate, and maybe you could think about drawing up some plans. Health food’s a big deal nowadays, and we have to compete with the chains as well. The current place is good for the downtown crowd, but we’d like to capture some highway business.”
Before Reid knew what was happening, he and Walter had pulled up chairs and Reid was talking architectural plans for a new sandwich shop. Walter had told him they had looked at some existing spaces, but didn’t really see anything they liked. But there was a vacant plot of land near one of the ice-cream stores they were interested in buying, and maybe Reid could draw up plans for the shop.
Walter had big ideas and just needed a boost. Reid had to admit it would be easy enough to provide sketches for him. He told him he’d try to work that in sometime next week.
After Walter wandered off, he took over grill duty while Logan went inside to refill the beer cooler.
“You know, if you lived here, you’d probably have a lot of business,” Luke said. “Especially since you’re both an architect and a contractor.”
Reid studied his brother. “I’ve got plenty of work to keep me busy in Boston.”
Luke shrugged. “Just sayin’.”
Reid knew exactly what Luke was saying. And he intended to ignore it.
“What did I miss?” Logan asked, setting the rolling cooler down.
“Luke’s trying to tell me that I’d have plenty of work if I moved back here.”
“He’s right. You’re good at what you do, and there’s a lot of growth in Hope right now. Plus you have a contractor’s license as well. You could stay busy.”
“Yeah. I’m ignoring both of you.”
“He doesn’t like us enough to want to move back here,” Luke said.
“That’s not what I meant,” Reid said, glaring at Luke.
“No problem, kid,” Logan said. “We don’t like you, either.”
Reid rolled his eyes. It was a familiar tune, and he knew both of his brothers were giving him a hard time.
He refused to entertain the idea, to think it might be appealing, because it wasn’t. He was settled in Boston. He’d built a stake there with his business. He had a great condo downtown. He had friends. He made damn good money.
He was content there.
Samantha pulled up, drawing his attention away from his brothers. He couldn’t help watching as she got out of the car. She wore jeans, those cute pink tennis shoes, and a long-sleeved shirt, wisps of her hair flowing in the slight breeze.
She went around to the passenger side, and he was happy to see that she’d brought her grandmother with her. Martha and Ben came outside and helped Claire into the house. Sam came back out a short while later and grabbed a bag out of the car. She looked their way as she made her way to the porch, then smiled and waved before she disappeared inside.
She might have waved to all of them, but he saw the way her eyes lit up when she made eye contact with him.
Just with him.
Everything in him tightened.
“Naw, he wasn’t waiting for just one person, was he, Luke?” Logan asked.
“Not at all.” Luke slanted a smirk in Reid’s direction and took a long swallow of beer.
“Which means he was totally waiting for Sam to show up,” Logan said.
Sometimes he wished he didn’t have any siblings, especially the kind that noticed every damn thing. “I wasn’t waiting for her.”
Logan and Luke exchanged knowing looks.
“What?” Reid asked.
“We’ve been there,” Luke said.
“Really. And where is that?”
“At the intersection of Love and Denial.”
Reid shot Luke a glare. “Definitely not in love. Not in denial, either.”
“Yup. He’s made the turn onto Denial Street,” Logan said, getting up to flip the lid open on one of the grills.
“I think you’re both full of shit. You know nothing about what’s going on with Sam and me.”
“You like her, don’t you?” Logan asked, his back still turned to him.
“Sure. But we’re just having some fun together.”
Luke got up to check the other grill. “I’ve played out this scenario before.”
“Me, too. It’s like déjà vu.” Logan turned to Reid, waving his tongs in the air. “ ‘It’s nothing serious. I’m just in it for the sex. I’m not looking for a relationship.’ ”
“ ‘I don’t want a commitment right now,’ ” Luke added. “ ‘Or ever. She’s not the right one for me. No woman will ever be the right one for me.’ ”
Reid crossed his arms. “You two are hilarious, really.”
“Not trying to be funny, just honest,” Logan said. “It’s obvious you were watching out for her. And when she showed up you nearly fell out of your chair trying to get a glimpse of her. That means something, whether you want to admit it or not.”
Reid shrugged. “It can’t mean anything. I’m not staying here once the project is over.”
“Yeah, and I wasn’t ever going to get married again,” Luke said. “Look at me now.”
“And I wasn’t ever going to get married, period,” Logan said. “So never say never, brother.”
Reid decided to ignore his brothers. Their stories were different. They’d found women who made them break their rules.
Reid had a long-term life and career plan, and nothing—and no one—was going to change that.
Not even Samantha Reasor.
SAM GOT GRAMMY Claire settled in next to a few of her friends who’d shown up early. The ladies had decided on the kitchen because, as Grammy Claire explained, everyone eventually made their way into the kitchen, and all the good gossip happened in there. Her grandmother had also said all the food and drink was in there as well, so they never had far to walk.
It made sense to Sam, and Martha said she’d spend most of the day in there and that someone would be constantly in there, so they’d keep an eye on her.
Sam intended to check on her grandmother frequently, but she’d felt a great sense of relief when Grammy Claire had told her she intended to accompany her to the barbecue today, which meant she was feeling a lot better.
Now that she didn’t have to worry about her grandmother, she fixed herself a glass of iced tea and wandered outside. She found Emma, Des, and Megan sitting at one of the picnic tables, so she wandered over to join them.
“Don’t you look cute today,” Emma said with a smile.
“Thanks. So do you. That maxi skirt and top are adorable, Emma. And I need to know where you got that cardigan. It looks so soft, and the color peach is gorgeous on you.”
“Thanks. I’m going for comfort today. Early fall means our weather is ever-changing.”
“Which is why I’m in pants and a hoodie today,” Des said. “Of course, that’s kind of my standard uniform on the ranch.”
Sam’s gaze switched to Des. “You could wear a potato sack and still be gorgeous, Des. Whether you’re all glammed up for a movie premiere or dressed like you are today, you’re still beautiful.”
Des smiled. “Thank you. The check is in the mail.”
; Megan laughed.
“You’re looking pretty hot today, too, Megan,” Des said. “Meeting a date here?”
“I wish. And thank you. I just bought a new shirt and decided to show it off.”
“Red is definitely your color,” Emma said.
“Thanks. Now I just have to hope I don’t get barbecue sauce all over it, because I intend to eat plenty of ribs today.”
“Don’t we all,” Des said. “I do love the big party the ranch throws on the Fourth of July with all the fireworks, but I have to admit that the annual barbecue is my favorite event.”
“I think we all love it,” Sam said. “Not only for the chance to catch up with everyone before the weather turns cold, but because the ribs are always fantastic.”
“And now I’m hungry,” Megan said. “Think we could throw rocks at the guys and make them cook faster?”
Des grinned. “I don’t know if it would make them cook faster, but throwing rocks at boys sounds fun. And juvenile.”
“The problem is, they’re a lot bigger than us, they run faster than we do, and I’m afraid of repercussions,” Emma said.
“I don’t think you have anything to be concerned about with your husbands,” Sam said to Des and Emma. “They adore you both.”
Emma looked at Des. “This is true. So we should throw rocks at them.”
Des laughed. “You go ahead. Logan has unique ways of getting back at me when I pull pranks on him.”
“I’m not even going to ask,” Megan said.
Samantha nodded. “Me, neither.”
“Speaking of us getting lucky with hot guys,” Des said, “I heard you’ve been spending a lot of time with Reid, Sam. How’s that going?”
Sam shrugged. “We haven’t been spending all that much time together. Just a little here and there.”
“What does that mean exactly?” Emma asked. “Are you not dating him?”
“I don’t know if dating is what you’d call it.”
“What she means is she’s just having sex with him.”
They all looked up to see their friend Chelsea take a seat. Chelsea was the outspoken, gorgeous bombshell of the group. And leave it to her to say what they were all thinking.
