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Tyler put his arm back around my waist as the elder Griffen stepped forward. His dad looked so much like him, tall and strong, except he had a brown mustache peppered with gray hairs, and his tanned face was full of wrinkles.
“Jack,” he said as he shook my head. “Glad to have you on the farm.”
“It’s stunning,” I said. “Tyler’s told me all about it and how much he loved growing up out here.”
Deidre smiled. “He was a good kid when he wasn’t hiding in the trees, trying to get out of doing chores.”
I laughed, remembering Tyler telling me about that. “There are more places to hide out here than there are in the city.”
“One of the many benefits,” Tyler said.
Deidre shook her head with a smile. “I thought Tyler, Rhett, and Liv could take you on a tour of the farm while Jack and I get dinner ready. We have some Griffen select steaks we’d love for you to try.” She glanced at Tyler. “She does eat meat, right?”
“As if I’d bring home a girl who couldn’t house a steak,” Tyler said.
Olivia laughed. “He knows better than that.”
The banter between them made me smile. I’d only ever seen Tyler around my family or on his own, but seeing him so close with his siblings and parents brought out another side of him that only made me love him even more. I’d always wanted to be with a family man, and Tyler delivered that and so much more.
Deidre asked, “Do you need to get freshened up before you go out?”
Tyler said, “Let me show her the room and bring our bags in.”
“Good idea,” his mom said.
“I’ll get the bags,” Rhett offered. “Are they under the shell?”
Tyler nodded and then led me toward the stairs in the corner of the living room. They had a beautiful oak railing, and as we walked up, I imagined all the mornings Tyler had come down these stairs, all the touches that had worn this rail smooth. It was like the house had a history all its own.
“Are we staying in your old room?” I asked as we crested the stairs.
“We are,” Tyler said. “I hope my mom hid my ‘unmentionables.’”
I elbowed him in the stomach with a laugh. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all of those already.”
The wood floors creaked under foot as we walked down the hall. Tyler tapped on one door, opening it to a bathroom that had clearly been remodeled with black and white floor tile and a walk-in shower backed with pretty green tile. “This is the bathroom. You can imagine it was fun to share before school with four kids.”
“Just about as fun as ours was to share,” I said. I loved that we both had big families, so we understood each other in that way.
He stopped at the bedroom at the end of the hall and pushed the door open. “Home sweet home.” I stepped through the doorway, taking it all in, from the full-size bed on a wooden frame to the west-facing windows that gave him a stunning view of the barn and everything that lay beyond it. You could see forever here, and something about that set my heart at peace.
Tearing my gaze away from the view, I saw mostly bare walls. “Where are all the posters of naked ladies?” I teased.
Tyler leaned against his wooden dresser and said, “I told you it’s not much.”
He must not be a decorator. In fact, I only saw a calendar from nearly ten years ago hanging by his dresser. It was open to a page of a boy standing with a calf on a leash.
“Oh my gosh, is that you?” I walked closer, grinning giddily at the little Tyler. “Oh my gosh, you were so cute! That plaid shirt was way too big on you, but you rocked those Wranglers!”
“I was fifteen and wore Gage’s hand-me-downs half the time,” he protested. “But I got on the calendar for winning grand champion with my bucket calf.”
“I only understood about half of that,” I admitted.
He folded his arms across his muscular chest. “It means I was the best.”
“Looking to replace Rhett with the cocky-brother title?” I teased.
“No way,” Rhett said, pushing in the door with two rolling suitcases and both of our duffel bags. “Plus, you’re losing at the strongest title.”