Page 13 of Cowboy Heat

I mentally curse at myself.

I shouldn’t have lied.

I lie again. “Nothing that can’t wait.”

He nods and grabs a bottle of water from the counter in the kitchen. “I’m ready then.”

This time my eyebrow rises. “Didn’t you need some time to do something?”

Beau shrugs. “Nothing that can’t wait.”

There’s not a lot of fanfare in starting the tour. Beau gets into Wyatt’s truck, and we set off. I realize that’s something I appreciate about him. He doesn’t sit there and question everything—question me about everything. Beau’s quiet.

He’s thoughtful.

A lookeranda thinker.

Yet roundabout the old horse stable, I find that lack of talking means I’m not learning anything about him either.

And I want to.

“So five brothers, huh?” I start with a whistle. “That has to be hectic. You aren’t the oldest or youngest, are you? I’m an only child, but my best friend June is the oldest of her siblings, and she constantly lets me know it’s a tough gig.”

Beau seems humored by the question. “I’m second youngest of the six of us. Macy only beats me for youngest by a few months. Maximus is the oldest, and I can imagine that he regrets the gig from time to time.”

I’m not the greatest at math, but I get stuck on the lineup.

Apparently, I haven’t been the first.

“We’re not blood-related,” he adds. “We grew up together in foster care for the most part, and when each of us turned eighteen, we changed our last names to match Maximus’s. That’s why Macy and I are so close in age. The same with Jesse and Kilpatrick.” He’s got that light laughter again. I can feel the warmth in it. “We usually confuse a lot of people when we’re together. Even explaining it now, I can hear how wild it might sound.”

I shake my head and start to slow us down. We’re coming up to a decision for me to make to end our tour. I haven’t decided which ending spot will be the best highlight yet.

“Every family looks different,” I say. “It’s just part of living.” I see the nod out of my periphery and decide to take us down the next left turn.

“That’s a nice way to look at it,” he says. “I wish more people thought like that.”

The warmth he’s letting out is about to be met with the cold I try to keep tucked in. I don’t know why I tell him this now, but eventually he’ll find out, so I give in.

“Wyatt actually taught me that after my parents passed away when I was a teenager.”

He looks at me and says he’s sorry for my loss, standard stuff.

I decide to give him more, since that was a pretty big bit of information to drop without background. “I was lucky that Mimi could come back to Robin’s Tree to take care of me after it happened,” I continue. “Wyatt too. When I was older, there was a father-daughter fundraiser dance thing at school that really got me down, and Wyatt offered to take me. I told him he wasn’t Dad, and he looked me straight on and said, ‘No, ma’am, I’m not, but I’m family, and every family looks different.’ He’s said it every chance he gets since then. He’d be tickled to learn I finally said it to someone else.”

“He sounds like a good man.”

“He is.”

Beau readjusts in his seat. His hand fists and pushes across his thigh. I try to not look at him through my periphery again. I feel like I’m spying.

His voice is just as warm as when he spoke of his brothers. “Ryan, the man who left us this place, was a good man too. He was our foster father at one time or the other when he still lived in Alabama. None of us could stay too long with him, but he sure stuck with us. He was closest to Maximus, our oldest brother, after he aged out of care. I suspect he’ll be the last one to come back here, and I also suspect he won’t leave after. The rest of my brothers? Who knows.”

My heart squeezes at his words.

It seems Beau’s not as quiet as I once thought. He’s just laid out part of his life with apparent ease.

I make sure not to dwell in it, though.