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“You finish the chores I gave you? You better not be thinkin’ about leavin’ if your responsibilities haven’t been tended to yet.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and thought about the heifer I’d just had to wrangle. She’d twisted her ankle earlier inthe day, so I soaked it in a salt bath and ran the cold hose over it for a spell. She was still limping though. If she wasn’t better by morning, I’d have to call the vet. My dad had never had the patience for the animal-care part of the job. He was better with numbers and the overall running of the ranch.

“Everything you asked me to do is done, on top of all the stuff I always do. That heifer’s still limpin’. If she ain’t walkin’ straight in the mornin’, I’ll call the doc. Until then, I’m off the clock, and I got a date so I’ll see ya.”

Mama gasped and touched her hand to her chest. “A date? Who with?”

Here we go. Time to plant the seed.

“Y’all remember Aubrey George from Wisper, used to go by Aubrey Abbott?”

“Ryder, she’s a married woman.” Mama huffed a breath, exasperated with me for something that wasn’t even true.

“No, Mama. She’s not anymore. Tommy died over ten years ago. You know this. You went to his funeral with Junior.”

Her shrewd eyes narrowed. “Well, isn’t she a little old for you?”

Jesus. Couldn’t I do anything right? She wanted me to find a woman. Now I had and the woman I chose wasn’t good enough, even though both my parents had adored Aubrey back in the day?

Damn. If I couldn’t get them on board now, my whole plan would be shot to shit, and Aubrey would have no reason to spend time with me anymore.

That would be a letdown of epic proportions. I just needed to try harder because I wasn’t sure how much kowtowing I had left in me. If things with my parents didn’t change soon, one of these days, I’d walk away and never look back.

“She’s in her forties. I’m in my thirties. What’s the problem? I thought you liked Aubrey. You just asked me about her not two months ago.”

“We did like her. But Rye, she’s a mother. She has two children. Are you sure you’re… capable of bein’ with someone who?—”

Wow. Really?

“Her boys are grown, Mama. They’re up at college in Bozeman.” At least half that statement was true. “And yeah, I think I’m well suited for Aubrey. We have a lot in common, actually.” And I could handle a couple college kids, right? We had their dad in common, and we all loved Aubrey.

Uhhh. Wait.I meant we were allfondof Aubrey.

Shit.

I couldn’t be in love with her. I barely knew her.

Technically, I’d known her most of my life, but I didn’t reallyknow herknow her. Not yet. But I’d daydreamed enough about her to convince myself what I felt was love.

Fuck.Everything was all messed up and chaotic in my head. I really did want to go forward with my plan, but wasn’t it just a means to my own end? All I’d ever wanted was Aubrey’s attention, but now that I had it, it didn’t feel like enough.

“I gotta go.”

“Don’t forget dinner tomorrow night,” Mama said. “It’s your birthday.”Oh, so they did know I wasn’t just their employee, and they hadn’t forgotten they had a third son.

That got my dad’s attention for a second. He had forgotten, and a little tic of his cheek was the only outward appearance of recognition.

I nodded. “I’ll be back late tonight, and I’ll be ready to work in the mornin’.”

Like I always am, with my mouth shut, my intelligence insulted, and my hope for the future of the ranch in the toilet.

“Hey, man,”my oldest friend, Bax, said when I called him on my way to pick up Aubrey. “Happy birthday tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

“How you been? I called you last week, but I never heard back. Thought you mighta dropped off the face of the planet.”

“Naw, I’ve been around.” Man, I missed the days when Bax, his brother, Brand, and their little sister, Abey, and I would ride out on our ATVs and get lost in mud and hills. They and their youngest brother Dixon had provided some of the best memories of my life growing up. “Just been busy and kinda stuck in my head. How are you and Athena? What’s she, like, eighteen already?”