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AUDREY

“ M om, I swear I heard screaming last night.”

“Piper, it’s not something you have to worry about here. We’re safer on this ranch out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Gavin and his ranch hands, than we ever were in the city. I Googled it, and what you heard was a coyote.”

“We’re in Texas, Mom.”

“I know, and they are everywhere, even in the south. They’re not only in the West as you’d initially believe.

They howl at night; it’s this whole thing .

I’m telling you. Look it up and you’ll feel better.

” I don’t remember hearing coyotes from the last trip, but we all slept extremely well that visit, from being exhausted.

Gavin kept us busy and on our toes, so when our heads hit the pillows each night, we were all out like a light.

I managed to sleep late on more than one occasion, which is practically unheard of since having kids and working garners my attention first thing.

“I want to see the snakes today, can we?” Lincoln pipes up, and it takes everything in me not to groan.

These snakes are going to be the death of me if he doesn’t lose interest soon enough.

If my son has his way, he’ll put them all in a Ziplock bag and take them home with us.

I shudder at the thought with an exhale, praying this doesn’t become a bigger thing.

“Linc, I told you; those snakes are not friendly. They will bite and poison us if we get too close.”

“I thought you said we were safe here,” Piper inserts, brows raised.

Raising my hands, I placate, “Okay, we’re safer if we avoid the snakes. Not only because of the poison, but for my sanity.”“We could bring them some rats, then they’d eat the rats and not us.” My son rationalizes, and my daughter squeals.

“No rats! My God, Mom, please handle your son!”

Turning to the side, I manage a private eye roll from them both before heading for the kitchen.

We typically have a full-time chef on duty, but coming here, we left all of our staff behind.

The kids must learn how to survive without the help of someone at their whim.

However, I sure could go for something decadent and full of chocolate.

Maybe I’m pregnant already? Unlikely. Gavin’s sperm is potent, but I doubt I’d be feeling cravings already.

Although they could happen faster since this will be the fifth time for us to have a baby.

“Has anyone seen River today? His door’s closed, but this is late in the day, even for him.”

Piper shrugs, turning back to FaceTime her best friend.

She immediately begins talking about how we have a pack of coyotes outside, and how it would be amazing if they had puppies.

My daughter doesn’t seem to realize that those wild animals would not let her near a single one.

It’s amazing how she went from being momentarily terrified for her safety to the possibility of puppies, but whatever.

She’s no longer freaking out, so I call that a win.

“River ate cereal with me when I got up. He helped me with the milk.”

He’s such a good kid, which only makes me question it more when he acts like the black sheep amongst his peers so much.

Don’t get me wrong, he had loads of friends and the girls practically glued themselves to his side, but he didn’t want any of it.

It’s probably the main reason why they all wanted to be him or date him.

“That was nice of him. Did he mention what he was doing today?”

He nods. “Working the ranch. He had loads of chores to do today. He wasn’t excited or anything, but he said it’s what a man does.”

I bite my lip to stop myself from smiling, keeping my expression serious. “Indeed. A man takes care of his chores. Speaking of, how about you get your boots on and we’ll see if we can take a ride on one of the ATVs to check on the horses and cows. I’m sure your help would be appreciated too.”

He immediately jumps up and down, pumping his arms, screaming, “Yeah! I want to drive!”

“We’ll see about that.”

“I did it last time.”

“I know, Linc. We’ll see what the guys say. If it’s okay with whoever is around, then you can drive again.”

“Oh yeah! This is my favorite!” He yells excitedly and takes off to the room he’s staying in.

He comes out moments later wearing shorts, a cowboy hat, and boots.

No shirt. Nothing like the cute polo and dock shoes wearing little boy I’m used to.

After our last visit, where Lincoln declared Gavin and the other men the coolest people ever, he was adamant about bringing a cowboy hat and boots with him this trip.

The swim shorts and no shirt while wearing them, however, is all Gavin’s doing, as on the last trip, it was his signature attire when we were hanging out at the pond.

“Let me grab my beach hat since the sun is crazy down here.” We’re northerners, so this heat is something else.

I thought I knew hot, especially being at the Cape cottage with our sailboat, I’ve suffered more than one sunburn, but I was fooling myself.

I could cook dinner on a rock outside here; it’s so dang hot right now.

I’m in my room, floppy, oversized beach hat in my hand, when my phone pings with an incoming call. “Just a second,” I yell out to Lincoln. “Don’t go anywhere until I’m ready!” I swipe accept, as John’s name flashes against the background.

“You’re at that ranch, again?” He says immediately, without bothering with a simple hello like civilized people.

“Excuse me? How about saying hello, or good afternoon? I won’t tolerate rudeness. If this is how it will be, then you need to communicate with me through our lawyers.”

He scoffs.

I hear Hazel in the background, and my heart clenches, having my baby so far away from me right now. I wish she were here already. “Will you put Hazel on FaceTime, please, so I can see her?” I ask.