Page 45 of Take a Chance (Blue Creek Ranch #1)

“I almost lost Isley.” Russ shook his head. “That kid was wily, I swear. He liked to climb things, so I knew he was in the hay loft. He just didn’t tell me he’d jumped down to the outside and then fell asleep in the tack room while I was in the loft looking for him.”

Mike laughed. “I remember Jenn being so fucking mad at you for losing a toddler.”

“What are we laughing at?” Bodhi asked from behind us.

“Russ losing Isley.” Crew smiled over his shoulder.

“Oh. Fuckup stories?” Bodhi asked, then came to stand next to me.

Crew nodded. “Yeah.”

“I forgot that we weren’t supposed to play with matches when I was six,” Bodhi said casually.

I gawked at him. “Holy shit!”

Mike snorted. “He managed to almost burn down the brand new barn, too.”

“And he didn’t ‘forget’ shit,” Crew added.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side!”

Crew rolled his eyes at his brother. “Not when you are an asshole or an idiot.”

“Fair point,” Bodhi conceded after glaring at him for a second. Then he turned to face me and waited until I made eye contact. “Not your fault. Could’ve happened to any of us.”

I grimaced. I didn’t know what to say.

The radio on Ennis’s hip crackled to life. “It’s six thirty-five.” Jenn. Without a call sign.

All the Harringtons made an “oops” face.

Ennis unclipped the two-way and pressed the button. “Ennis here. I’ll send them over.”

“Good.”

The sound of donkey alarm filled the evening hush outside. Then soon after we heard a car and the door opening and closing.

“That’ll be Matigan,” Russ said. “Y’all go. Ennis and I got this.”

“I’ll stay,” Bodhi said firmly. “I’ll come in later. Tell her I’m sorry.”

“Okay,” Mike acquiesced and herded Crew and me out to Bluey.

We greeted Matigan in passing, then we were off on our way to dinner. Once we were all cleaned up enough for Jenn to deem us fit to eat, we were fifteen minutes late, but who was counting. Except her.

“Daddy! What happened to the baby?” Payton ran to me as soon as I came out of the bathroom.

I’d dodged him in my dirty clothes because I was dusty as hell.

“Rowdy, who is exactly like his name, got into the paddock with the mares and the babies and somehow this one baby got hurt. Not badly,” I found myself saying. “She’ll be fine, but she’ll need a few stitches. The vet is helping her right now.”

“Stitches like Nana got when she cut her hand?” he asked, frowning.

I was surprised that he remembered, since it had happened when he was maybe three. “Exactly like that.”

“Okay!” He directed his attention to the table. “We’re having pasta and meatballs!”

“Yay!” I matched his tone.

Every adult in the room either chuckled or smiled. They all knew by now what I was feeling, and their sympathy meant a lot. They also understood me, because everyone in this room had messed up one way or another.

I tried to take comfort in that as I helped Payton with his plate.

“Why not spaghetti?” I asked as I scooped some fusilli on his plate.

“You try having ten kids eat spaghetti at the same time even once and then tell me it’s a good idea.” Jenn’s tone was one that told me this wasn’t a new question.

Everyone chuckled.

“What does that mean?” Payton asked.

“Spaghetti is messier to eat,” Mike explained. “We had a lot of kids and most of them were little at the same time. It was a circus to get everyone fed and cleaned after. Not to mention the state of the kitchen.” He whistled to Payton’s delight.

“A circus.” Payton snickered.

After dinner, Crew, Payton, and I left the house and started toward the cabins.

“Bud?” I waited for Payton to look at me. “Do you mind if Crew stays over tonight?”

He squinted a little. “Like a… an adult sleepover because you’re boyfriends?”

“Yeah, exactly like that.”

“Okay!” And off he went.

“I didn’t know you’d had that conversation,” Crew said quietly when Payton bounced ahead.

“He asked what it meant to be boyfriends.” I shrugged. “So I told him.”

“And this includes adult sleepovers?” He smiled at me, squeezing my hand that I hadn’t even realized he’d grabbed at some point. Or maybe I’d taken his.

“I mean, yes.” I stopped and turned to face him. “Just so you know, I also told him that being boyfriends can lead to falling in love and wanting to stay together forever.”

A happiness like nothing I’d seen before flared to life in Crew’s eyes. “Oh, really?”

“Uh-huh.” I leaned in to kiss him.

“Stop canoeing! I want to watch a movie before bed!” Payton yelled from way ahead of us.

I laughed and rested my forehead against Crew’s shoulder. He shook with laughter, too.

“Do you mean canoodling?” I yelled back.

“I dunno! That’s what Uncle Emery called it when Mrs. Jenn and Mr. Mike were kissing!” His voice kept getting farther away as he spoke.

“Let’s go. We can canoe later.” He tugged me into motion.

Later, after Payton was in bed, Crew pulled me into his arms and held me for a while.

I’d started to calm down during the dinner, and his embrace was just tight enough to pull me back together the rest of the way.

I was pretty sure I’d still get triggered by people like Kathy, but I couldn’t control them.

They didn’t know me, nor did they know the Harringtons.

Not for real, because if they had, they’d know nobody would ever be able to sneak their way into this family, especially nobody who was malicious in any way.

Accidents happened. I just needed to concentrate on the happy ones.