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Chapter Eighteen

L uke checked his jeans and boots one more time, making sure he hadn’t really gotten things messed up from the truck to the wheelchair.

“Lu, it’s lunch with Preacher and Momma. Not a wedding.”

“Shut up.” He knew that, but still…he knew from the service that, if you wanted someone to listen to you, you needed to be spit and polish.

“It’s cool. We’re just talking. Having lunch.”

A sidelong glance told him Matt was nervous, too. They had this idea… Well. It was just a shadow of an idea, but Momma and Preacher would be their first shot at explaining it.

“Uh-huh. That’s why you’re wearing a button-down instead of your Chris LeDoux concert tee.”

“It’s in the washer.”

“Sure.” He’d folded clothes this morning. He knew better. Luke grinned. “Lord, look at that ramp Preacher built. I’d need a bike gear for hills to get up that alone.”

Matty chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah, I tried to mention, but you know how he is. He gets something in his head and it sticks.”

“What? He got American Ninja Warrior and the warped fucking wall in his head?”

“Oh, dude. Don’t tell him that or he’ll be in the back pasture building us a training compound.”

Luke pondered that. “It would keep him busy for a while. Momma’d like that, I bet.”

“I can hear you, boys.” Preacher came up behind them, scaring the bejesus out of him. “Looks like I’m underdressed.”

“We were doing laundry.” Butter wouldn’t melt in Matty’s mouth.

“Uh-huh. Are y’all gonna ask for money?”

“No, sir. We might ask for some advice.” Preacher knew everyone. He could tell them who to go to for what.

“Oh, I got shitloads of that. Come on, boys. Momma! The twins are here!”

Matt grabbed his handles and started manhandling him up the ramp of ab-muscly doom.

Momma came to the door, squinting into the bright sun. “Lord have mercy, old man, I told you that ramp was too steep.”

“So, is our stoop,” Preacher shot back. “It’s temporary, any road.”

“That’s right. The crutches aren’t, I don’t think, but the chair is.” Sometime in the last few weeks, Luke had decided he was getting out of this fucking chair.

No one wanted to go to a therapy ranch where a guy didn’t try his hardest. So he’d started working it.

He was actually strong enough these days to make it out to the barn with the crutches while Matt brought the chair. He preferred using the chair with the horses, just because he’d hate to fall and startle them. Some of those guys were twitchy as all get out .

He couldn’t blame them. Some of the rescues…well, they had scars as bad as his.

“The crutches are better than you’d thought at the beginning, son. You’ll be rid of them too, at some point.” Momma was the eternal optimist.

“I sure hope so.” He let the smile come, because they loved him and they expected him to get up and fight, which was what he was doing. It was all good. “That’s a pretty dress.”

“Thank you! I bought it in town. I was being fancy for your daddy.” She rolled her eyes. “What did that get me but a pinched bottom?”

“What did you expect, woman?” Preacher scowled. “The boys were coming. Now, if you leave it on until tonight…”

“Ack. Not listening,” Matty muttered. Like there wasn’t four of them.

Momma looked pleased as punch, though, so Luke couldn’t fuss.

“We thought we’d have your daddy cook burgers on the grill, unless you boys want me to make something else.”

“That sounds great, Momma.” Matty bent to kiss her cheek once they were in the kitchen.

“Hey, baby. I love you.”

Luke grinned. Matty was the one who never left, wasn’t he? The one that fixed the roof and was there when Preacher had his stroke. The steady son who never let anyone down.

The rest of them, not so much.

“What am I, chopped liver?” Luke teased. He knew his momma would fight a lion with her bare hands for him.

“Yep. My sweet little chopped liver boy.” She laughed and bent to hug him, the baby powder and rose scent of her familiar as breathing. “You look healthy. I approve.”

“Thanks. The work with the horses has been good for me. ”

“It has.” She took his hat off to hang it upside down in the hat hanger by the back door.

Matty was in the fridge already, grabbing the tea pitcher to pour them both a glass. “Anyone else need a drink?”

“I’ll take some, kiddo.” Preacher hung his hat as well. “So, to what may I lend my expertise?”

Momma raised one well-waxed brow. “Before lunch?”

“I’ll be less greasy that way. Besides, I’ll make both boys change and help me.” Preacher sat, grinning in that lopsided way that he had now. “Spill.”

Luke looked to Matty, but Matty shook his head. “I just train horses, Lu. This is your deal.”

“I want to…shit, I want to start a therapy-type deal. A place where injured guys can come, work on the horses, work out their shit. I’m thinking about renting some property attached to our place.

” The words all came out in a rush. He was needing them to approve, to give their nod and tell him he wasn’t stupid.

Matty’d done it already, but this was his folks.

Momma’s sharp, indrawn breath made him wince, but when Luke glanced at her, she was smiling, her eyes a wee bit misty. “You’re staying here?”

“I am, yeah. I mean, we have the VA close, and I really want to try this. The horses… I think they’re really a good thing. I’d work with rescue horses, too. Be good on both sides.”

“You need to look into insurance before you do anything.” Preacher nodded, words slow, but that mind quick still. “Sure as shit, some asshat will get stepped on and will pussy off to sue.”

Matt grinned, hooking a chair to turn backward and sit once he’d poured tea. “See? I knew we needed to talk to the old man.”

“Here.” Momma got up and pulled out a spiral notebook and pen to hand him. “You’d better take notes. ”

“Yes, ma’am.” He took it with a smile. “So, insurance. What else?”

“You’ll need safe fences, a good paddock. One of them spinny riding deals with the chains and shit to make sure the horses don’t bolt.” Momma looked so pleased with herself.

Luke scribbled. Some of this him and Matty had talked on, but it was always good to have input.

They all started talking about whether he wanted this to be a day thing or more like a temporary halfway house deal. What kind of staff he’d need—nurses or therapists. How to get any VA support.

“You’ll need assistive devices, too. If we rent the Lawson place you can always use that barn—it’s got a way bigger breezeway than mine. You can rig some of those walking straps or whatever.” Matty had that glow of conquest. He was ready to take this on.

“You just don’t want strangers touching your barn,” he teased and Matt snorted.

“Our barn, and no I don’t.” Matty shrugged. “I have a lot of time and energy invested in some of those fillies, and while I have rescues, too, I would want my breeding barn to be off-limits, you know?”

“I get it,” Luke said seriously. “The Lawson place also has two houses, so we wouldn’t have to worry about an invasion.”

Him and Matt, they’d need their own space, otherwise it would overwhelm them both. He was used to lots of people, but his twin needed alone time.

Matt brightened. “That’s a plan.”

Preacher scowled. “Doesn’t that McConnell boy own the Lawson place now?”

“Yessir. We’re leasing it, with an option to buy.” Matt was firmly in Rory’s camp now. It honored him, kinda, how much stock Matty took in how well Rory treated him.

“No shit? ”

“Abraham!” Momma popped Preacher on the shoulder.

“Pardon my French. Well, good on you, boys. There’s not a lot of acreage there, but there’s good grass, and you’ll feed supplemental.”

“Yessir. I’m not looking to run a breeding program like Mr. Horse Whisperer here. I just want—” Luke stopped, feeling his cheeks start to burn.

“He wants to help. It’s cool.” Matt picked up his glass and drank deep. “How much do you think we need to start, Preacher?”

Preacher took the notebook from Luke and made some scribbles.

“Well, I think you ought to get with Hannah Keeler and ask her to write you up some grants. She owes me five hours of work, gratis. Get what you can from other sources. See what you can do about starting out with a few trained animals from some local service animal organizations. You have that many soldiers, you’re gonna need space for dogs and shit, too. ”

He looked at Matty, giving thanks that his daddy had made it through the stroke. They still needed him. All of them.

Matty winked at him, and Preacher gave him back his notebook with some tentative figures. Okay, that was more than he still had in savings, but he knew he could be dogged with the best of them.

He could do this.

He could.

“We got this, brother. You and me.”

“We do.” Fuck, he was lucky. For a second he felt gobsmacked as all hell. How had he gone from feeling put upon by the good Lord Himself to knowing that he was blessed?

Preacher grinned hugely at him before rising to grab the tray of burgers Momma handed him. “There it is. I told you, son, you’d understand someday. ”

“You did.” And he’d snarled and hung up on the old man, then texted to apologize. He hadn’t been ready, but he reckoned his daddy knew that, too.

Preacher knew everything, at least about the Man Upstairs.

Preacher clapped him on the shoulder with his free hand. “You boys change into something worky. I’ll need you in the barn after lunch, and Matty, your momma needs a gutter fixed and she won’t let me get on the house.”

“I’m on it, sir.”

“You’re a good boy, Matty.”

“I love you too, Momma. You want a T-shirt, Luke?”

“I do, please.” Every day he was more confident he could actually help instead of just sitting on his pockets and watching. “Need me to chop anything, Momma?”

“Cabbage, please. I’m making coleslaw. Potato salad’s already made up.” Momma handed him a knife and a cutting board.

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll shred carrots, too.” He did love to hear her hum and smell the good smells she made in that kitchen.