Rough Country (Tannen Boys 3)

“No. Is that good? Big? Small? I have no idea.”

He shakes his head mournfully. “See, that’s what I mean. I need to take you fishing, show you how it’s done. I’ve skimped on my duties as your uncle and not taught you things I’m supposed to.” He pauses, swallowing thickly. “I guess what I’m asking is . . . will you stay? Here in Great Falls? At the bar? With me?”

I blink, knowing what that question cost him. The man who wants to stand alone, independent to a fault and grumpy beyond reason. But he wants me to stay and help.

I nod but then shake my head. “I don’t . . . did you hear about . . . ?”

Unc’s lips press into a thin line, making the lines that foretell of his years of smoking stand out. “I know something happened with you and Bobby, and I’m damn sorry. That pretty little heart of yours doesn’t deserve to hurt, ever. But even though that didn’t go the way any of us thought it was going to, would you still move out here? I don’t trust the bar to anyone but you.” He smiles, lightening the moment. “Well, Olivia, maybe. But don’t you tell her I said that, either. Besides, you’re family, so you get dibs.”

“I don’t know. It’s all so fast, and right now, it’s . . . hard to imagine being here without him.”

“I can understand that. I love you, Willow-girl. No matter where you are, you’ll always have a place to come home to. I just hope it’s six days a week, lunch to close, with the occasional day off for fishing or whatever it is you young’uns call it these days.” He does the air-quote thing with his fingers, not bending them in the slightest, which makes me smile.

“I love you too, Unc. Let me think about it, okay?”

After Unc drops me off, I can’t keep still. He’s right. What I needed was a distraction, and he has definitely offered a big one to keep my mind occupied.

Can I officially move to Great Falls forever?

What would that look like after my short-term lease is up? I’m sure I could renew it and stay, though I’d definitely take over the rent from Mom since this time, it’d be my choice to stay.

Can I afford that? Between my wages at Hank’s and my blog profits, I definitely can and then some.

My blog. I’d been so nervous that the new surroundings would go over like a lead balloon. Who wants to see a picture of the same mountain day after day? But my following has increased with every picture of that mountain, Shayanne’s goats, Darla’s doughnuts, sunrise and sunset, and what my life in Great Falls is like. Every little detail seems to intrigue people. City life can be beautiful, no doubt about that, but country life has a different ease about it that calls to people’s wanderlust, making them wish for an opportunity like the one I’ve got. And my hits, comments, and likes reflect that.

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, as much as I’d like to wish it were.

If I stay, there will be no Bobby. The Tannens and Bennetts, people whom I’d felt comfortable with, something I so rarely feel, are furious with me.

And I’m the biggest subject of the local grapevine, either the one who ran Bobby off or who was left in his wake, depending on which version of gossip you choose to believe.

I’ll miss Mom and Dad, and Oakley too. They’re all back in the city.

It’s a big decision, one with both pain and joy no matter which way I land.

City or country?

The home I knew, or the home I’ve found?

Mindlessly, I find myself flipping through my photo files. A picture of Main Street with the sun setting—beautiful. A shot with the city nightlife vibrant and energetic—stunning. Unc’s wrinkled face smiling back at me—my heart squeezes. An old shot of Mom and Dad, taken years before Oakley and I were born—love in their eyes and innocent dreams in their future.

The next click of the mouse takes me to the pictures I took on that first day at the farm. Bobby holding Trollie, the picture I’d cropped in close for the blog so that I didn’t share Bobby with the world. He was mine, if only for a little while. Soon, he’ll belong to them all. Brody and Brutal messing around with Cooper in the light of the fire between cornhole games. Mark and Katelyn, heads bent close together, whispering something only they could hear. Mama Louise watching over the whole scene like the queen of her country castle.

And on and on. I’d taken dozens of photos that day and night.

Then, I find the photo shoot with the girls. Smiles, laughter, sisterhood in every shot.