The Promise (Butler Ranch Book 1)

by Heather Slade

  It was sweet of him to remember she had to pick up her boys. Peyton looked at her watch. It was a little past noon, she still had plenty of time before she had to think about getting back to Cambria. “Feel like driving some more?”

  “If you’re asking me if I want to drive your car again, baby, I could drive that all day and night.”

  Peyton felt the heat spread from her neck up through her cheeks. Even her forehead felt as though it was on fire. He hadn’t meant it the way she heard it, of course, but damn, she couldn’t get the image of him driving her all day and night.

  “Did I say something wrong?” Brodie asked.

  “Not at all. Just a little warm in here. You ready to go?” It wasn’t warm at all, in fact it was chilly. The heat she was feeling had nothing to do with the temperature in the restaurant. She fanned herself for effect.

  “Sure, yeah. I’ll just take care of the check, and we can be on our way.”

  “That would be a good idea, wouldn’t it?” She laughed. God, she completely forgot about the check. Where was her mind? Easy answer—her mind was on Brodie Butler, and as hard as she tried, she couldn’t think about anything other than how good it felt to be with him.

  “Where to, pretty lady?” Brodie asked when they left Big Sky.

  “We could walk around town a little, since we aren’t in a hurry to get anywhere.” She missed being downtown, and all the cute shops she used to visit when she was in college.

  Thursdays were the best. That’s when most of downtown turned into a giant farmers’ market. It wasn’t limited to farm stands, there were booths offering ethnic foods, others sold clothing, and musicians busked on every corner. She couldn’t remember the last time she came down for it. The boys would love it.

  “You’re quiet, but it looks like whatever you’re thinking about is something that makes you happy.”

  “You know what? You’re right. I was just thinking I should bring the boys down on Thursday for the farmers’ market. Have you been? It feels more like a street festival.”

  “I haven’t been in years, but I’d love to join you, if you wouldn’t mind me tagging along.”

  Oh. Her boys. And Brodie. That wouldn’t work. Finn had already asked about Brodie spending time with them.

  “Hey, you know, now that I think about it, I wouldn’t be able to join you guys this Thursday. Maybe another time though.”

  “I’m sorry, Brodie. It’s just the boys—”

  He held up his hand, so she stopped talking. She felt horrible, though. He’d been nothing but nice to her. He immediately picked up on her discomfort, and let her off the hook.

  “I know we just ate, but damn, something smells good.”

  “That’s Mama’s Meatballs. You can smell their garlic knots from miles around, or at least it seems that way.” Once again being here today reminded Peyton how much she missed it. There wasn’t any reason for her not coming down here, it was only a half hour from her place in Cambria. She made a promise to herself to start bringing the boys down more often.

  “So…maybe…you and I…” he began.

  What would Peyton say? He was about to ask her out to dinner. No way she wouldn’t think of it as a date. How badly was he screwing this up? She was his dead brother’s girlfriend, and all he could think about was spending every waking moment with her, the sleeping ones too, not that he’d want to sleep if he was with her. He was seriously sick in the head.

  “Brodie?”

  “I’d really like to have dinner there sometime.”

  “You should. It’s amazing, and reasonably priced too.”

  “Peyton…I…uh, this is just so awkward.”

  “I know.” She sighed.

  Did that mean he wasn’t losing his mind? Was she feeling what he was feeling? Would she let herself, or was it just too damn weird?

  They were quiet on the walk back to the car. When they got close, Brodie wondered if she’d still want to go for a drive, or if she’d want to go back to Cambria. He pulled the car’s key fob out of his pocket, and raised his eyebrows in question.

  “Ever been on See Canyon Road?” she asked.

  “Not in years. You sure you want to take this baby on a dirt road?”

  “Why have an all-wheel drive car if you never take advantage of it?”

  Beautiful and badass. Once again Brodie appreciated why Kade fell in love with Peyton. “Which way should we go?”

  “It’s only worth it if you drive south to north, otherwise the views are all behind you.”

  “You wanna take the wheel?”

  “You’ve got this.” She smiled.

  Brodie drove through town, to the highway. “Can we go one more exit?” Peyton asked when they reached San Luis Bay Drive, the turnoff for See Canyon Road. “It’s been so long since I’ve been to Avila, and it’ll only take us a couple miles out of the way.”

  Brodie couldn’t remember the last time he visited Avila Beach either. “I used to stand on the pier while my dad tossed crab nets in the water, imagining one day I’d live in the Point San Luis Lighthouse.”

  “Really? Wow! Were the nets for Dungeness?”

  “The seafood feasts we’d have at my grandparents’ beach house were epic.” Brodie drove through the lush oak valley where most of the spas featuring natural mineral hot springs had been built. He pulled off Front Street, and parked her car near Avila Beach Pier. While it was still a commercial fishing pier, every time he visited the little seaside village it seemed there was another fancy hotel or oceanfront restaurant hogging more of the already small shoreline of the bay. Soon he expected the pier would be overtaken by tourist traps, as so many other piers along the central coast had been.

  “We were in Oceano most of the summer. Gramps called their place the Slough House, because it sat beside a slough. When we visited Scotland when I was a boy, I realized that the house was almost an exact replica of any you’d find in the fishing villages on the Isle of Barro.”

  “What happened to that house?”

  “Years ago someone who bought it and the house next door, demolished both, and built one massive house in place of the two.”

  Brodie wondered if Kade told Peyton about their grandparents. Being older, Kade remembered so much more about being there than Brodie did.

  “Heard these stories before? Don’t wanna bore ya.” He smiled.

  She shook her head. “I haven’t, but I want to.”

  “We’d arrive from the hot valley on Friday night, and the next morning two of us boys would go to Pismo Beach with my grandfather. We’d dig for those huge Pismo clams you can’t find anymore. The other two boys would come here with our dad. He’d toss the nets, and then we’d drive north to a place that was so secret, I’d never be able to find my way back there.” Brodie looked over at Peyton to see if she showed signs of boredom yet.

  “Go on, this is fascinating.” When she smiled at him, he almost forgot the next part of his story.

  “When we were little, we had to wait in the car. Dad would take a crowbar down to the rocks, and pry off abalone. Can’t find abalone anymore either.”

  “Mmm, I miss abalone.” Peyton closed her eyes, and put her hand on her stomach. “Sometimes they have it at the Sea Chest.”

  “One of my favorite restaurants.”

  “Mine, too. Sorry to interrupt you, Brodie. This is a great story.”

  “After the abalone harvest, we’d come back here, and raise the crab nets. If we were lucky, they’d be filled with Dungeness.”

  “You’re making me hungry again.”

  “We’d haul our take back to the house where Gramps, Dad, and all us boys prepared dinner.”

  “What did your mom and sisters do?”

  “Relaxed, which they never got to do at home. Especially my ma. My grandmother loved to talk to her about Scotland. Ma’s from a little village close to where Grandma Greer was born. The two would talk ‘home’ all weekend long, and then the next time we visited, reminisce about the same stuff all
over again. Which is why I asked if you’d heard these stories before. I got so I would tune them out.”

  “Not bored, Brodie.”

  “There was a huge tree stump in the yard where Gramps would take a rubber mallet to the abalone. While he did that, we’d clean the clams and separate them. Some were used for chowder, and the others we would fry.

  “While this was going on, there’d be a big pot of water heating on the grill Gramps built in the yard. It was made of stone, and a giant grate sat on top of it. Have you ever had fresh-caught lobster cooked outside over an oak wood fire? The best lobster I’ve had in my life.”

  “I haven’t, but I love oak-grilled artichokes.”

  “Right? Me too.”

  “I love seafood, no matter how it’s prepared.”

  “I remember hanging out with my friends after being with my grandparents for the weekend, and telling them about our feasts. So many of them turned up their noses. I didn’t get it. How could you not like clams and crab and abalone?”

  “I could eat fish and other seafood every day of the week. We already know I eat crab cakes for breakfast.” She laughed.

  “How about your boys, do they like it?”

  “Worst mistake I ever made was introducing my two eating machines to sushi. They can go through a hundred bucks of raw fish faster than my car goes from zero to sixty.”

  “I’m the same way. My ma isn’t a big fan, but my brothers, sisters, dad, and I can power through a hundred bucks worth each. It’s a lot different now than it was when you could spend a morning going out and finding it for free.”

  “Don’t I know it.”

  “It was a great childhood. I’m surprised Kade never told you about it.”

  “Me too, although Kade wasn’t big on reminiscing. Maybe he got as tired of hearing the stories as you did.”

  “Ready to roll?” It was just after two, and it would take them at least an hour to get over the pass and through See Canyon.

  “Sure. Know where you’re going?”

  Brodie smiled, and backed the car up. It was a short drive from Avila Beach Drive back to San Luis Bay.

  “Did you know Alex’s family was one of the first to settle here?”

  “I’ve always wondered if their name was a coincidence.”

  “They take native Californian to a whole other level.”

  When they reached the See Canyon turn-off, Peyton hit the audio button on the sound system.

  “Who’s this?”

  “A guy that lives not too far from here, in Ojai. I’ve been a fan for years. The first time I went on this drive, was the first time I heard his music. It’s been the soundtrack since. I thought I’d put an Amos Lee CD in, but I ended up liking this better.”

  “Does he still perform?”

  “Yeah, usually down in Ventura though.”

  “Not that far. Maybe we could drive down and see him sometime.” Brodie’s chest got tight when Peyton didn’t answer. He kept putting his foot in it, crossing the line from being the brother of her dead boyfriend, and wanting to be her next boyfriend. It was more than that, Brodie wanted to know everything there was to know about Peyton Wolf.

  “What’s his name?”

  “This guy? Syd.”

  “He’s good.”

  “The music fits, doesn’t it?”

  Yep, it did. It was perfect. Later, after he got home, he’d download it, and try to keep himself from listening to nothing else.

  The beginning of the thirteen-mile drive was deceiving, with the thick canopy of oak trees lining the paved road scattered with apple orchards and vineyards. Five miles in, the trees opened up, and the winding, paved road turned to dirt.

  “I can’t believe how few people know about this drive,” Peyton commented when the only car they’d seen since they began the drive passed, going in the opposite direction.

  “You’d think by now it would be on every map handed out to tourists.”

  Peyton rolled down her window and breathed in. “Can’t see it yet, but there’s no mistaking how close to the ocean we are.” The road switched back and forth through the rolling, golden hills of the coastal mountains, still miraculously untamed by developers.

  The blue sky was free of clouds, so the vistas from the summit extended from the miles and miles of unspoiled oceanfront to the west, all the way beyond the hills of Paso Robles to the east. When they were at the very top of the narrow strip of road, Brodie pulled off.

  “Everything okay?” Peyton asked.

  “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  “Did you bring me all the way out here so I didn’t have a choice?”

  “This drive was your idea, pretty lady.” He smiled.

  “Right. It was. The words ‘something I have to talk to you about’ fill me with dread, though.” What would Brodie say? Whatever it was, she knew instinctively she didn’t want to hear.

  “The box.”

  “That’s right, the box.” The one she didn’t want, filled with things that would bring her pain she didn’t want to feel anymore. “Brodie, I—”

  “This is the last time I’m going to bring it up. If you don’t want it, I’ll take it home, and stash it away. If there ever comes a time you change your mind, all you have to do is ask me for it.”

  Peyton opened the door, and climbed out of the car. She stood with her hands in her pockets, and took in the view of Morro Rock.

  Kade would’ve done the same thing Brodie was doing. He’d always been so easy on her, but he knew what he was doing. The easier he was on her, the more she wanted to prove to him she could handle whatever he was shielding her from.

  Brodie got out of the car and stood next to her.

  “You remind me so much of him.”

  “Thank you. That’s high praise. Lots of guys want to be just like their older brother, but for me, that really means something.”

  “I dream about him all the time, that it was just a mistake. I dream I’m somewhere in town, and I see him. That’s why I was so freaked out at Louie’s yesterday morning. I saw you walk in, and from the back you look so much like him.”

  “I’m sorry, Peyton.”

  She didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t stop herself. “In a way, being with you is like being with him. But it’s different, too.” Peyton walked back to the car and opened the passenger door. “Do you mind if we keep going?”

  “Of course not.” Brodie got in and started the engine. “I’m struggling, Peyton. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I find myself wishing you never knew my brother, that you’re just a woman I met on my own, that I’m attracted to. I want to go to the farmers’ market with you and your boys, and take you to Mama’s Meatballs for dinner, and go see the guy whose music we’re listening to.”

  She felt her chest constrict again. He was being so honest with her, could she be as honest with him?

  Neither spoke on the drive home. When they got back to Los Osos Valley Road, Brodie didn’t ask if there was anywhere else she wanted to go, he just got on the highway that would take them back to Cambria.

  “I enjoyed our day, Brodie,” Peyton said when he pulled her car up next to his truck.

  He had, too. He couldn’t remember having a day as nice as this one. When he got out of her car, he wouldn’t have any excuse to see her again. He promised not to mention the box, and that was his only reason for being with her. The thought of not knowing when he’d see her again hurt.

  She had his number. He got hers from his mother, and used it to text her this morning. “You take care of yourself, Peyton. If there’s ever anything you need, anything, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.” Brodie picked up the key fob and handed it to her. Her fingers brushed his when she tried to take it from him, making him want to pull her into his arms and never let go. He held the fob tighter, and looked into her eyes. “Peyton…”

  “Bye, Brodie.”

  He let go of the fob and got out of the car. “Bye, Peyton.”

>   4

  Peyton went around to the driver’s door, and waved as Brodie backed his truck up and drove away. She pulled out her phone and saw she had two voicemails and several texts. She hadn’t looked at her phone since they left Big Sky Café, and that wasn’t like her. It wasn’t responsible either. What if her boys needed something? Her heart raced as she checked the texts first. Both were from Alex, saying she was just checking in. If anything had happened to the boys, Alex was her emergency contact, she wouldn’t have just “checked in.”

  She didn’t recognize the phone numbers from the voicemails, and they turned out to be sales calls, which irritated her.

  “Well, hello there, where on earth have you been?” asked Alex when she answered her cell.

  “Wait, what? I thought you were okay with skipping our run.”

  “Settle down! Yes, I was more than ‘okay’ with skipping our run, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know where you’ve been.”

  “I’ll tell you later.” Peyton wasn’t ready to admit she spent the day with Brodie Butler, even to her best friend.

  “You’ve got to be kidding. First you give no clue as to why you canceled something you nag endlessly about, and now, after I haven’t talked to you all day, you’re still holding out on me?”

  “I said I’ll tell you later. I have to leave now to pick the boys up from school.”

  “When will you be home?”

  “I don’t know, fifteen minutes?”

  “I’ll see you in twenty, and have a bottle of wine open.”

  “Okay.”

  “Are you hungry? I can pick up take-out on my way over.”

  “I’ll ask the boys what they want and call you back.”

  “Sounds good, and I’ll see you soon. I’m warning you though, you’ll pay for torturing me like this.”

  “I’m rolling my eyes.”

  “As if you wouldn’t react the same way if the situations were reversed. You’d be worse, actually.”

  Peyton laughed and disconnected the call. Alex was right, Peyton would’ve been relentless if Alex disappeared for an entire day. Unfortunately for her friend, Peyton would be making her wait even longer. There was no way she’d tell her about her day with Brodie if either of her boys were still awake.