Chapter 15

Hunter Hammond opened the fridge, muttering, "Dip, dip, ah, there's the dip." He reached for the two square bowls—one with corn and bacon dip and one with triple onion dip—and picked them up.

"Dips," he said to his wife, Molly.

"They go on the sidebar," she said. "Where all the chips and crackers are." She shot him a look that told him he should know this, and Hunter simply picked up the glass bowls and moved over to the sidebar.

He and Molly had hosted a New Year's Eve party for the past few years, and he did know the dips, chips, crackers, and other finger foods went over here on this bar that stood along the wall that separated the kitchen from the hallway that led down to the bedrooms.

Molly had divided the main island into two halves: one for the taco bar and one for the ice cream sundae bar. They'd decided to allow their two oldest children to invite their friends if they wanted to, and both Ryder and Lisa had a couple of people coming.

The Whettsteins and their children were coming, as well as all the cowboys and cowgirls who lived here on the ranch.

"Condiments," Jane said as she entered the kitchen from the front hallway, her husband right behind her. She started taking out containers of sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, and ranch dressing.

Cord carried a huge brown box with stretched-tight plastic wrap over it, and Molly said, "Right here, Cord. Thank you."

Hunter grinned at his brother-in-law and then the neat rows of hard taco shells beneath the plastic wrap. "You ready for this?"

"I suppose," Cord said, though he smiled. "We won't stay all the way until midnight. I'm far too old for that."

Hunter laughed and stepped out of the way so Molly and Jane could work at the counter. "I'm older than you, Cord."

"Still," he said.

"Stay as long as you want," Hunter said. "Leave whenever. That's the rule, right, sweetheart?"

"Yep," Molly said. "People can do whatever they want." She turned toward Hunter. "Oh, Hunt, honey, can you go hang all the streamers from the front porch? Ryder and I got home late from driving practice, and I didn't have time."

"Where's Ryder?" Hunter asked, hoping he could get some help with the pink, green, blue, and gold streamers his wife wanted hung.

"He's doing the feeding in the family barn," Molly said.

"Right." Hunter grabbed his coat from the front closet on his way toward the porch, hoping his hands wouldn't freeze without gloves. The farmhouse faced south, which was a real blessing in the winter, but the sun had already started to set.

As he stepped out onto the porch, laughter met his ears and a black truck pulled in down the fence. Perfect. Help.

He first focused on the two men coming up the front steps. "Tucker," Hunter said. "Help me with the streamers, would you?"

"Sure." He transferred the plastic grocery sacks in his hands to Tarr's, and the other cowboy nodded as he went by.

"What did you bring?" Hunter asked.

"Cookie bites and brownie bites for the sundae bar," Tucker said. He hadn't been laughing—that had been Tarr—and Hunter peered at his younger brother.

"What's wrong with you?"

Tuck averted his eyes. "Nothing's wrong with me." He moved over to the table where Molly had laid the streamers. "These?"

"Yeah." Hunter didn't move to pull over a chair so he could hang them from the hooks he'd installed into the ceiling of the roof many, many years ago. With his own father. A powerful shove barreled through his chest, because his parents didn't live in Ivory Peaks anymore.

They'd moved to Coral Canyon at the beginning of the summer, into a more accessible house, and they'd taken everything from the farmhouse here this past fall. The drive between Colorado and Wyoming wasn't pleasant in the winter, depending on the weather, and Momma and Daddy had chosen to stay in Coral Canyon with all of Daddy's brothers. They were ringing in the New Year together, and that thought made Hunt smile.

"Am I doing this?" Tuck asked, his dark eyes firing with displeasure. "Or are you helping?"

"I'm helping," Hunter said. "But only if you tell me what's eatin' at you."

"Thanks, Daddy." He rolled his eyes, and that was so unlike Tucker that Hunter once again froze.

Tuck pulled out the first streamer—a long, curly, shiny pink decoration that Hunt knew his girls would love. He looked over to Hunter, who stared back at him. "What?"

"What? You just bit my head off for no reason."

Tuck seemed to come to himself, and he ducked his head and hid his face behind his cowboy hat. "Sorry," he muttered. "I'm just not feeling very much like partying tonight."

"Why not? You and Tarr are always the life of the party." Hunter pulled over a chair and got on it. He took the streamer from Tucker and attached it to the hook.

"I just—I—Bobbie Jo broke up with her boyfriend, and we had this weird…thing the other night." Tucker handed him another streamer, and Hunt put the silver one with the pink one before getting down to move the chair.

"A weird thing," he said, recalling his brother's crush on the blonde cowgirl who worked this farm too. Tuck had asked her out relentlessly, teased her about her boyfriend in Oklahoma being fake, and more. "And she's going to be at the party."

"Yeah," Tuck said as he lifted up a blue streamer.

"Howdy, boys."

Hunt looked down at Mike and Gerty as they came up the steps, with their baby boy in Mike's arms and Gerty's filled with an oversized aluminum foil tray. "Howdy, Hammonds," he said cheerfully.

West screeched, which startled everyone, and he flapped his arms in apparent joy.

"Yes, you tell ‘im," Mike said with a giant smile. "Say ‘hello' to Uncle Hunter."

"Eh-o," West said, performing his trick on command.

Hunter grinned and grinned, and he said, "Hello. Who's there?" back to the little boy.

"Weh—Weh," he said, and Hunter chuckled.

"He's smart."

"And he knows it," Gerty said. "Opal plays with him all day long, teaching him all kinds of things. So we obviously can't take any credit." She nodded past Hunter and Tuck. "I have to take this in before I drop it." She left, but Mike stayed out on the porch while Hunter hung another couple of streamers.

"Opal must be coming with Tag," Hunter said casually.

"Yeah." Mike turned and looked out toward the parking area as the rumble of an engine came onto the farm. It wasn't Tag and Opal, but Matt and his family.

"How are we feeling about Opal and Tag?" Hunter asked. His fingers started to sting, and he kept working to get this job done.

"Tag's great," Mike said. "We've always loved Tag. Great worker. Great with horses. He's like part of the family."

"Sure," Hunter said. "Sounds like Cord. Doesn't mean you like Tag and Opal together."

"I do," Mike said. "Listen, are Keith and Lindsay coming tonight?"

"Yeah," Hunter said as Matt led the way up the steps. "Keith's coming tonight, right?"

"Yep," Matt said. "A little later, though. They're having dinner at Blackhorse Bay with Lindsay's uncle and father. Then they'll head this way."

"How's the wedding planning coming?" Hunter asked.

Gloria perked right up. "Amazing. It's going to be spectacular." She guided her teenagers past Hunter and Mike and into the house.

"Where are they getting married?" Mike asked.

"Blackhorse Bay," Hunter said. "They're planning to buy into it once they're married."

"I heard she was selling her place," Mike said as Cord came outside.

"Going okay?" he asked.

"Almost done," Hunter said.

"Who's selling their place?" Cord asked.

"Lindsay," Hunter said. "Keith's fiancée. It's too far from Blackhorse Bay. Matt said they're looking for something closer to that."

"And they're north of here, right?" Cord asked.

"Yeah," Hunter said, noting the interest in Cord's voice. He wore it plainly on his face too. "About forty minutes…why? Are you and Jane looking for a farm?"

"Sure," Cord said. "Why not?"

"Because you own a busy mechanic shop," Mike said.

"You have a farm and you work eighty hours a week in the city," Cord shot back, grinning at Mike.

"It's Gerty's farm."

"Maybe this'll be Jane's farm."

Hunter laughed, as did Mike and Tucker, so they all knew it wouldn't be Jane's farm. No, if she and Cord bought a farm, it would be Cord's farm.

"We're already twenty minutes north of here," Cord said. "At the shop. Sounds like it wouldn't be a bad commute from the farm to the shop, at least."

"Something to look into," Hunter said.

"I'm going to ask him about it too," Mike said. "For Opal."

"Opal?" Hunter, Cord, and Tuck asked at the same time. Hunter chuckled again. "That's even more surprising than Jane, Mikey."

"She's looking for somewhere," he said. "And if she and Tag…." He didn't finish, but Tag was a cowboy through and through, and perhaps he wanted his own farm too.

Hunter got off the chair, the streamers done. "All right," he said. "Let's go see what else my wife needs done."

More people had arrived while he'd been out front hanging streamers, and the farmhouse held light, warmth, and chatter as he walked down the hallway to the overly large great room in the back. It housed the kitchen, dining area, and living room—and now at least twenty people. With more coming.

Hunter loved entertaining friends and family, so it didn't bother him one bit to find Tarr standing with Bobbie Jo and Hattie, and Boone laughing loudly with his brother, and Cord joining Mission and Gerty over by the sidebar.

Ryder had come in, and he loitered in the living room with Matt's and Boone's teens. The doorbell rang, and both him and Lisa shouted, "I'll get it!"

So it would be their friends. Hunter let them battle it out as they ran for the door, and instead, he took a folding chair over by the back door. This way, he could see whoever entered from the front door or the back, and he grinned at Ryder's friends as they came into the great room.

Tag and Opal arrived next, and she stopped just inside the room and scanned left and right. She held Tag's hand, and he seemed like he'd been hit with a wall of icy water too. They sure looked good together, and about then, Molly held up both hands and yelled for everyone to quiet down.

Opal quickly moved over to the island and put down the brown grocery sack. She extracted bottles of caramel and chocolate topping while everyone quieted. Then she fell back to Tag's side, and he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

Cute. They obviously liked one another, and they'd been dating for about a month is all.

"All right," Molly called into the house. "It's a taco bar and an ice cream sundae bar. We have plenty of chairs and seats for everyone, and we're going to eat first, and then we've got some games in the basement. The pool table is down there too, and Lisa—" She cut off as the doorbell rang again.

Lisa squawked and headed that way. Molly continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "Lisa has a balloon to pop every hour, on the hour, and we'll do whatever activity is written on the slip of paper inside."

"Can I pop the balloons, Mama?" Clay asked.

She bent down and picked him up, and Hunter's heart swelled with love at the sight of his wife holding their six-year-old. "Lisa is in charge of the balloons, buddy." She looked around, her soft gaze sharpening. "That goes for everyone. Ryder? Mason? Lisa gets to decide who pops the balloons every hour."

"Yeah, sure, Mama," Ryder said, but the boy did need to be told, and Hunter would not be surprised at all if he had to get after his son later that evening for tormenting his sister.

"Come and go," Molly said. "We're going to have a prayer first, and I've asked my husband to say it."

She hadn't, but Hunter got to his feet anyway. He grinned at everyone as he moved to Molly's side and took Clay from her. "Welcome, everyone," he said just as Britt and Lars slipped into the room. Britt brightened when she saw Opal, and she hugged her tightly.

"Thanks so much for coming to celebrate the New Year with us." He glanced to the back door as it opened and Travis walked in with Poppy and their two kids. Steele had left the Hammond Family Farm, and he worked at Gerty's place now. Hunter hadn't heard anything negative, and he hoped the young man was doing okay there.

"Hunter," Molly prompted.

"Right." He shifted Clay in his arms. "I'll say grace, and then the fun can begin." He met Tucker's eyes, noting that he stood clear across the room with Mike, Mission, and Cord instead of over by Tarr and the girls.

His heart hurt for his brother, and he said a silent prayer as he bowed his head and then started to pray vocally.