Page 78

She looked in the direction of the truck and then back to Jeremiah. “Yes, sir.” She turned on her heel and marched away, and Jeremiah watched her go, her dark hair flowing behind her like a flag rippling in a gentle breeze.

Jeremiah tucked his hands in his pockets, wondering how to handle this. His general rule was not to do things that didn’t need doing, and perhaps this was one of those things. Thankfully, Squire and Pete arrived a moment later, and another round of applause lifted into the air.

A smile found its way onto Jeremiah’s face, and he moved forward to shake Squire’s hand. “Always the best time here,” he said cheerfully. “Thanks for having us.”

“Of course,” Squire said.

“I can bring my family to come help get the tents down in the morning,” Jeremiah said.

“Oh, our boys’ll have it done before breakfast, I’m sure.” Squire shook someone else’s hand. “Kelly’s feedin’ everyone in the morning too.”

“It’s amazing what food can motivate,” Jeremiah said with a laugh. He loved spending time in the kitchen and feeding family and friends, so he understood. “Always a great party. Tell Miss Kelly thanks too.”

“Will do.” Squire’s attention came back to him. “Hey, I still want to hear about how your new machine does.”

Jeremiah grinned. “Yeah, of course.” He’d bought a new thresher that was supposed to speed harvesting considerably, and he’d shared about it in one of their meetings. “We’ll catch up later.”

“Good to see you, brother.” Squire took his hand again and pulled him into a partial hug. “Drive safe on the way back to Seven Sons.”

“I will.” He headed to the truck, glad he’d taken a few more minutes before leaving. A lot of the traffic had already cleared out, and he got behind the wheel of the truck, he found Hattie sitting up front between him and Whit, with his older children behind.

For once, they weren’t fighting, though Jeremiah caught the glow of Clara Jean’s phone on her face as he pulled out—and the whole way home. He said nothing, because he and Whit required the kids to plug their phones in in the kitchen, and they got to check them at will.

So he’d see who she was texting soon enough.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Finn waited for Alex to jump down from the backhoe and for the growl of the machine to cut out. “Hey, I’m headed out,” he said as he took off his gloves. “I’ll stop by From the Ground Up on the way back and get your soil.”

“That would be great,” Alex said as he came closer. “Then that’ll be the last sinkhole.” He looked at the ground where they’d been working this week. They’d gotten the big rocks in the bottom. Then the smaller gravel, and then even smaller gravel. The geotextile had gone in after that, and that stuff looked malleable, but it took a very strong arm—and a strong will—to get it in place.

They’d just put the sand in, and Finn had spread it all around. All that remained for this final sinkhole, a wound in the land that spanned about twelve feet across, was the soil. And then the replanting, but Alex could handle that.

“Where’s this other place?” Alex asked as he uncapped his water bottle.

Finn’s frustration rose though he tried to stamp it down. “It’s out on the eastern highway,” he said vaguely. He already knew the ranch he was going to look at today—the fourth one in the past month—probably wouldn’t work out for him.

The list price was double his budget, but his realtor had said to just come look, that it had been on the market for a while, and that the seller was “motivated.”

“You’re not taking Edee?”

“She’s at lunch with Aggie,” Finn said as he shook his head. “I’ll tell her about it later.” Or he wouldn’t. He and Edith had still been seeing plenty of one another, but he still hadn’t told her why he was embarrassed of his family. The Fourth had been a couple of weeks ago now, and Finn had not taken Edith out to Three Rivers again.

She went to Courage Reins every single week, but that didn’t mean she spent time with his parents. If anyone, she was closest to Uncle Pete, and he’d said nothing about her. What was there to say?

Finn worked here at Coyote Pass. It made no sense to then bring Edith back to the basement at Three Rivers, especially if he wanted to spend time with her. Not only that, but Edith wrote after dinner. Finn left sometimes before dinner and sometimes after, but he never infringed on her writing time.

So bringing her out to Three Rivers would do that, and while a tiny pinch existed in his gut that his momma wasn’t getting what she wanted—more time to get to know Edith—Finn reasoned that Momma didn’t have to marry her.

After he’d gone into the farmhouse and washed his hands, and as he got behind the wheel of his truck, he asked himself, “Do you want to marry her?”

Finn had never been in love before. He’d actually never thought too much about getting married and having a family. He didn’t have older brothers or sisters who’d gone ahead of him, saying I-do, and having babies.

He didn’t have friends who’d done that. He felt isolated as he made the drive through town and then east, past Wilde & Organic to the highway that ran back north. He knew the ranches down here—the Golden Hour Ranch, where the Christmas Extravaganza happened every year, Seven Sons, Shiloh Ridge, and this one he was looking at today: Oak Hollow.

Max Booth owned the ranch and had for as long as Finn could remember. But his only child had passed away several years ago, and his wife had left after that tragic accident. Max was getting up there in years, and he had no family to pass the ranch to. So he’d listed it for sale, and as far as Finn knew, he’d already moved off the property.

Jerry Bozeman waited for him in his truck, his thumbs moving quickly over his phone. But the moment Finn got out and looked up into the blue sky, Jerry was right there, smile hitched in place, and a big laugh ready for Finn.