“I heard you and Brandon fighting a few days ago,” I admitted. “I thought it was time to make a push. I’m sorry, maybe I should have talked to you or Brandon before Clint.”
“You were in the barn?” he asked, and I nodded.
“I won’t deny that I’m bored as hell here,” he said. “I don’t think you did wrong, or I wouldn’t have accepted Clint’s offer, but I’m pretty interested in why you suggested it.”
“I want things on this ranch to go as well as possible, for… well, forever,” I said.
“You’re set on sticking around?” he asked.
I nodded, sharply.
“Good,” he said. “Come help me figure out what the hell Clint has been doing with mail.”
Even with Will settling into his new role well for a few weeks, I was still edgy and uncomfortable. Nowhere near closer to making a decision about my future, or what I wanted from it.
Hanging out on a r
anch one lazy afternoon, I walked over to Brandon, leaning on the fence watching the sheep mill about.
"Is this a private party?" I asked, "Or can anyone join?"
He looked over his shoulder and grinned at me. "Well, I wouldn't say just anyone, but you're welcome to pull up a piece of fence, sweetheart."
I leaned on the fence and joined his sheep observation for a few minutes, enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze.
“Can I ask you something personal?” I asked.
He hesitated, but then flashed me a grin, and nodded. “You apparently can rearrange my boyfriend’s life, I think you can ask me a question or two. Might not answer, but I won’t get in a twist over it.”
“Are you… Are you okay with me saying something to Clint?” I asked. “I wasn’t sure whether or not it was my place, but I did it anyways.”
“At first, I was pissed,” he said. “I didn’t think it was, as you say, your place at all. I bitched about it to Will for two days.”
“Ouch, sorry,” I said.
“Nah,” he said. “After I calmed down, I realized that Clint wouldn’t have let you say something like that if you weren’t setting up to be a big part of his life, and that makes it your place. It’s just been me and Clint and Will having a say around here for a long-ass time, but if Clint is ready for you to have a voice, Will and I better make room for that.”
“Is that okay?” I asked.
“It is,” he said. “With Will, too. You’re a nice girl and we like having you around. Clint had to find someone eventually, before his pecker crawled away to find someone who would treat it right whether Clint liked it or not.”
I laughed out loud. “That’s the best way I’ve ever heard someone talk about needing to get laid.”
“I have quite the way with words,” Brandon agreed. “Now, go ahead, ask your nosy question, I’m pretty curious now.”
“Clint’s told me a little about your family,” I said. “Do you talk to them now?”
He shrugged.
“I see my momma just about every Christmas,” he said. “Not the actual Christmas Day, that’s for the kids who aren’t a disgrace, but sometime around the end of December, we have lunch together and she tells me about my nieces and nephews I’ve never met, and I tell her about Clint and the ranch, and neither of us mention Will, and that’s enough for one year.”
His voice was slow and even, but his hands clenched a little on the rail, and I saw the tension in his shoulders.
I wondered why he went at all, and then I wondered why I visited my own mother.
“So, Clint’s parents were,” I paused, “Not that way?”
Brandon shook his head.