Page 18 of The First Day of Breeding Season (Wildfire Ranch #4)
DREW
After twenty years, I’ve learned how to camp smart. We have top of the line portable solar panels that make it easy to bring tech with us, and keep things charged up.
It’s one of the things Brynn had shown the most interest in when I was emailing her. When I thought her name was Brian and we were going to nerd out about technology and herd management all summer.
Turns out, I was right all along, about everything but the name.
She loves the drone, and her questions are on point. Her instincts are bang on, too. She guesses correctly about tracks in the grass, helping me quickly narrow in on not just where Thor is—where I thought he was from the sounds earlier—but also where some of the herd is, about an hour’s ride away.
“We’ll saddle up and go there tomorrow. See if we can gather them up and bring them in the direction of the bulls.”
“Can’t wait,” she says, her breath a warm puff against my temple as she leans over my shoulder.
I turn and kiss her cheek.
Brynn smiles against my lips, then makes a happy humming sound.
I’m about to kiss her more deeply when my radio crackles, the first time anyone from the ranch has tried to contact us all day.
“Here.” I put the drone controller in her hands. “Have fun flying.”
While I talk to Raul about how today’s fencing went back on the ranch, I grab the cots and bedrolls and set them up.
Before we went to the waterfall, I’d have given Brynn her own sleeping space, but now that I know she’s on the same page as me about this feeling like a kind of destiny, I can admit to myself that I don’t want her anywhere but right beside me.
I set up the cots side by side, latching them together so they won’t shift apart. Then I unroll the zipped up canvas-wrapped bedding.
And then it’s time to catch the drone on its return, and dig into a well-earned meal, even if it’s basic and simple.
“This is so organized,” Brynn says, her voice full of awe as she looks at the compact dinner kit I pull out.
“Inez puts together great meals for us.” I hold up the vacuum sealed pulled pork in barbecue sauce that I heated up with a small sous vide water circulator while we were flying the drone. “This is so good on a buttered bun, with some coleslaw.”
“Yes, please. This reminds me of food from my childhood, for sure.” She looks at me with curiosity. “Did my dad know Raul and Inez, too?”
I shake my head regretfully. “No, they came to work for us after Trick bought the ranch.”
Her face falls. “Oh, I was hoping you maybe knew them from back in the day.”
I catch her hand. “I can find other people from back then. Who knew him, who can tell you stories about him.”
“Thank you.” She clears her throat, being so brave. “My mom never talked about him. I had his sketchbooks and that’s basically it. Everything that I know about him, I learned from the notes in the margins on the sketches.”
My heart slams against my ribcage. “He wrote things down? About the tattoos? Or the people he put them on?”
“Both.” A small smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. “Do you want to know what yours says?”
I rock back on my heels. “Yes. Even if it’s bad.”
She shakes her head. “It’s not bad. It’s so nice, I memorized it, in fact. It’s part of the reason I put your tattoo on my ankle. He wrote, Interesting choice from a humble and brave kid who’s going to go far in this world. “
Shit. I puff out my cheeks and swipe at my eyes. “You’re joking.”
“Why would I make that up?” She laughs softly. “I liked it because that’s what I want to do. I want to go far in this world.”
“You will. Of course you will.” I busy myself with buttering buns. “How does that square with wanting a baby?”
It takes me a moment of painful silence before I realize what I’ve just said.
I put the buns down on the stump I’m using as a table and stand up. “Brynn…”
Her face is tight and pale. “How do you know that?”
I scrub my hand over my face. “I can explain.”
She stares at me.
“There was a letter. In the folder of research material you gave me. A letter from a fertility clinic.”
She sucks in a shocked gasp.
“I didn’t realize what I was reading.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She crosses her arms over her chest and shakes her head.
“I can’t believe this. You made a big deal about my tattoo, and how I took some time after realizing you have the same one.
You were mad at me, Drew! But at that point, you knew something private, too, didn’t you?
And you didn’t tell me. You let me rub myself all over you like a cat in… in… heat. ”
She sucks in a furious, hissing gasp and backs up, stumbling over her feet.
“Brynn, wait?—”
But she’s already gone.