Ruthless (Wolf Ranch 6)

I stared at the other one who was now rolling her eyes and blushing. “Whatever,” she said, shrugging and not denying. She’d gotten knocked up in the storage room? Seriously? “By the look on her face and the clipboard in her hand, I had way more fun.”

“Probably,” I replied, not sure what to say.

“I’m Becky,” she said. “I’m Rand’s sister-in-law.”

The lightbulb went off. These were human mates of the guys from Wolf Ranch. That made Becky Clint’s mate.

“I’m Audrey,” said the blonde with glasses. “Boyd’s wife. We work at the hospital, and since we were in town still, we decided to stop by.”

I couldn’t help but smile at how… perky they were. I wasn’t sure if they were always this way or not. “Great.”

Cody waved me over.

“Want a glass of wine or anything?” I asked, walking to the bar and lifting the pass through. I held it up for Cody, and he took the clipboard from me.

The ladies had taken stools at the bar. “We’re both driving back to the ranch, so no alcohol for us, but I’m starving,” Becky said. “Breastfeeding makes me hungry all the time.”

“I heard you had a baby,” I said, putting a menu between them. Rand had told me about his family the other day as he’d worked on the electrical. He’d had to take the switch out and somehow feed modern wiring to a plug a few feet away by tugging it through behind the wall. In some spots, he’d had to poke through the sturdy plaster. It was a mess and a huge undertaking. I’d asked him after trying to pay him for his work… again, but he’d pushed me off. So far, it was only electrical supplies he’d purchased… the fuse box and a heck of a lot of wire. That wasn’t ridiculously expensive… so far. I’d get squared away with him. I would, dammit. “Lily, right?”

Becky smiled “That’s right. Audrey had a baby, too. You’ll be Aunt Natalie to both girls.”

I stepped back and held up my hands. “Whoa, not sure what Rand told you, but—”

They grinned at me. “Rand told us you were driving him crazy,” Audrey said. “Nice job.”

A waitress came to the bar and handed me a ticket. I read it then grabbed a pint glass and filled it from the tap. I glanced at Audrey as I worked.

“You want me to drive him crazy?”

She set her forearms on the bar. “Absolutely! Those guys need to work for it.”

“Can we get an order of the boneless chicken wings with the buffalo hot sauce?” Becky asked.

“And lots of blue cheese dressing,” Audrey added.

“Sure.” I went to the computer and put the order in with the kitchen.

“Besides keeping Rand on his toes, working at this awesome bar, what else do you do?” Audrey added, “I admit, I feel like I’ve known you a long time since we thought Willow was you last summer. Now you’re really here.”

A few more orders came in, taking me away from answering. A band was setting up on the stage when I finally circled back to Audrey and Becky. “Well?” Becky asked.

“Oh, um…” I’d forgotten the question. “I’ve been in school in L.A. and finished my master’s in music.”

“Awesome!” Becky said. She leaned to the side when the waitress dropped off the wings. I grabbed extra napkins from behind the counter and poured them both glasses of ice water. “Do you play an instrument or sing or—”

“Violin.”

“Really? You need to meet the Barn Cats then,” Audrey said. She pointed to the men on stage and then waved at one. Obviously, they knew each other. “They played at my wedding reception.”

The band began to play. Unlike the usual rock cover bands most bars had, these guys were fiddlers. Three fiddled, and one on bass set the deep harmony.

A forgotten memory of Uncle Adam taking me to see a bluegrass band filtered into my mind. It could’ve been these guys—they definitely looked that old. As old as my great uncle would be if he was still alive.

I smiled, both at the memory and at the music. This wasn’t the constipated concert violin playing I’d left behind. It was lively and fun. There were mis-strokes played although I was probably the only one who noticed, and it didn’t matter. The crowd loved them, and they were having a good time. There was no professor standing at the podium grading their bowing technique or the perfection of the curve of their fingers on the strings. No conductor. No grades.

Watching them made me wish I’d never gone to college for music at all. That I’d kept it as something for me. Just for fun.

Then maybe I’d still love it the way I had when Uncle Adam gifted me that first violin.

There was a lull at the bar as people made their way in front of the stage to dance, and I leaned my elbows on the bar across from Audrey and Becky.