Page 40 of Here With Me

Landen and Tripp burst out laughing.

“Can ya handle it, old man?” Landen teases. “We work hard durin’ the day but play harder on the weekends.”

I roll my eyes at his cocky tone.

Fisher chuckles. “I’ll be askin’ y’all that by the end of the evenin’.”

The boys hoot and holler as Ayden escorts them back into the barn.

“You don’t have to go,” I tell Fisher when we’re finally alone. “My brothers are...insane. They will get wasted until they can’t walk, and you’ll be babysittin’ them.”

“I can handle a few rowdy boys. Been ’round them for most of my career. Hell, I was one.”

“But you aren’t anymore,” I remind him.

He shrugs, bringing his focus back to Shelby’s hoof. “No, but nothin’ I can’t handle. You worried ’bout me?”

“I worry about what they’ll say to you,” I answer honestly. “They aren’t the biggest fans of Jase.”

“Ah.”

“They wouldn’t like any guy I dated, so don’t take that personally.”

“That just means they love you.”

I snort-laugh. “You just saw how we are together. Trust me, that’s not why. They just like to annoy the shit outta me every chance they can. I could marry a literal saint, and they’d still manage to find somethin’ wrong with him.”

“I imagine that was fun growin’ up in the same house together.” He smirks, then drags his tool kit to Shelby’s back leg.

“Ha! My parents kicked the twins out when they turned twenty-one and put them in the ranch hand quarters. I moved into my cottage a couple years ago so Mallory could take my room since Gramma Grace took the twins’ room. Landen and Tripp still live there, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they move out soon, too.”

“Sounds like a full house.”

“It always is. Gramma Grace moved in four years ago after my grandpa passed. She and my momma are always cookin’ and bakin’ for the ranch hands. Don’t be surprised if my mom invites you for lunch or, rather,insistsyou come over. Sunday night is family supper where all five of us are required to be there, no exceptions. My brothers are usually still hungover from partyin’ the night before.”

“That’s what they’re supposed to do in their twenties. Then in their thirties they’ll pay for it with achy knees and heartburn.”

I bellow out a laugh at the image. “They’ve been workin’ on the ranch for most of their lives. I’m still surprised none have broken their necks yet. They used to jump off the barn roof onto a trampoline with the rest of them waitin’ to counter-jump them so they’d go flyin’.”

“Christ.” He shakes his head with a laugh. “Surprised your mom hasn’t had a heart attack raisin’ them.”

“Me too.”

I watch as Fisher goes through the motions of cleaning Shelby’s hoof when Mallory shows up with Serena Mae—Ayden’s daughter, who’s two years younger than Mallory. Momma waves goodbye as the girls run toward me.

They each wrap their arms around me, and I smile. “Miss Swift’s waitin’ in the groomin’ stall for y’all. I’ll meet you there in a sec.”

When Mallory first moved here, she fell in love with the quarter horse and promptly named her after her favorite singer. No one could deny her whatever she wanted after the death of her parents, so I trained her and taught Mallory how to ride.

Once they’re out of earshot, I step closer toward Fisher. “I’m gonna text Jase and find out why he didn’t tell me you moved here.”

“Be prepared for the honest truth,” he warns.

“Everyone deserves a second chance, Fisher.”

“We met for breakfast this mornin’, and he barely spoke to me. He didn’t mind chattin’ when it came to him helpin’ me buy my house, but now it’s like pullin’ teeth to get more than a few words outta him.”

“He’ll come around,” I say, attempting to sound reassuring, even though I’m not sure if it’s true.