13. Trey

THIRTEEN

TREY

“Hey, Maureen, is my sister-in-law around by chance?” After Sienna got out of the bath, we ate breakfast together on her back porch. She moved two chairs closer to the railing, I propped my feet up, she went to do the same, and I maneuvered her legs until they were in my lap. It didn’t take much to eat a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. Our coffees were on the ground, making it easy to stay where we were without having to get up for anything. Sienna kept her eyes peeled for the family of raccoons that has taken refuge underneath the porch. Amos threatened to trap and move them. The bleeding heart Sienna is, she put her foot down and told her brother she’d hog tie him if he even tried.

Sienna won the battle, probably not the war, especially if they start getting into the barn where all the feed and hay is stored. I kept my mouth shut. Knowing my woman, she’d get my mom involved, and we’d all hear her wrath. We finished our breakfast and coffee, and since I re-dressed while waiting on Sienna to get out of the bath, all I needed to do was put my boots on and get out the door. A damn impossibility with Sienna being bare beneath her bathrobe. One tug on the tie, and I’d have seen her smooth skin, lush tits, soft belly, full hips, an ass that I can grip with two full hands, and that’s hardly touching the surface. The only reason I didn’t take things further when I kissed her goodbye is I saw how she walked, the slight limp, and the twinge of her lips, and not the lips I want to bury my face in, either.

“She’s in her office. Let me give her a call.” Maureen has worked at the clinic before Tallulah took it over. My sister-in-law loved working with her before and always told her she’d have a position as long as Tully is working. The complete overhaul of this office took all of us brothers, her family, and a few contractors. In the end, it all worked out for the best. Tallulah’s office always has a steady stream of patients, and she gets more call-outs to farms than she can handle. Probably why she’s hired two more veterinarians. Dean about lost his shit when she worked fourteen days straight, the earlier days of her taking over. He understood Tully needed to get her feet on the ground, but he hated how it wore her out and left little time for everything else in life .

“Appreciate it.” I half-heartedly listen to Maureen talk to Tallulah. They talk for less than a minute before the clicking of the phone ends the call.

“You’re good to go on back.” A quick nod and a scan of the area shows me there aren’t any people in the waiting room. Shit, she must be on her lunch break, which makes me feel like an ass. The least I could have done was pick her up some food on the way over. My brother is going to give me hell for this. Maybe I’ll offer to go pick up some lunch for her if she has enough time.

“See you later, Maureen.”

“You will. Might not be today. I’m going to head out for a bit.” She gets up from her seat, grabs her bag, and damn, I feel like more of an ass having disturbed her lunch too.

“Sorry for the interruption.” The least I can do is apologize.

“You’re good. Lunch starts now for me. The doc gets a few more minutes, but I’m not worried about it. She pays me well.” Maureen winks and grabs her jacket. I take that as my cue to head down the hallway to Tully’s office. Back when the old coot owned this place, he had his up near the front. I’m pretty sure it was so he could hear every last conversation. Tallulah is the complete opposite. She prefers the quiet and downtime between patients. Can’t say that I blame her. A small town of Arrowleaf has a fuck of a lot of cackling hens and gossip mongers. I highly doubt she wants to hear what others have to say or what they do on a daily basis.

“Hey, stranger, haven’t seen you here in a while. Everything okay?” Tully greets me when I’m less than halfway down the hall. The door is open, and she’s surrounded by stacks of piles.

“Hey, Tully, think you might have a fire hazard on your hands.” I hit the doorway, and since there’s one chair without paperwork, I take the seat.

“We’re going paperless. This is the result of years of paper files. Sad to say, this is the tail end, and unfortunately, it gets messier as the days go by.” Tully pauses, grabs her drink, and takes a healthy sip.

“All’s good. I believe you have a Border Collie Sienna brought in?” I ask.

“Bucket? Yep, he’s here. Eating like a champ, loves to play fetch, and all of the ladies and gentlemen love him.”

“His vet bill, I’m paying it. Sienna doesn’t know I’m here. I’d appreciate if you kept that secret between you and me.” Tallulah isn’t expensive, but she isn’t cheap either. Shit is going to be steep no matter how you look at it. I’m not sure what Sienna is doing in the way of work besides helping on the farm, and with her not being open about it, the last thing I can do is bring up the subject of me following her. I’m not ruining my chances of sleeping in her bed. Fuck that. I just got her back .

“Funnily enough, I had a similar conversation with Sienna myself. Though, I told her if she didn’t pick up the bill, Dean would have. Then Momma Catherine and he would fight over the cutie. I did not see this coming at all. Though, it seems my husband hasn’t been very forthcoming. When did this happen?” My sister-in-law won’t let this go, which means she’ll have another secret to keep, and that’s a tall fucking order.

“Depends how deep you wanna get into it. Amos obviously doesn’t know, but it goes back, all the way back to the summer she graduated.”

“Wait a damn minute. Are you saying you’ve kept this quiet and nobody has ever known this entire time?” Tallulah picks up a pen, twirls it with her fingers, and continues, “You and Dean are a lot alike, huh? I shouldn’t be surprised. Yet I am.”

“JW is the only one who so much as has an inkling. Amos isn’t here this week, and I’ve fucked up in the past.” I shrug. “I wanted better for her than a broken-down cowboy who still needed to get his shit together.” Back then, chasing the next high and jackpot at the rodeo consumed me. Sienna never had a problem with me riding bulls for competition. In fact, she’d be front row and center watching me. Still, she deserved to live her life, and even with our age difference, she needed someone a hell of a lot more stable than I was.

“I’m sure Amos will appreciate that at some point. In the meantime, I’ll be praying for you.” Tully jokes, but she’s not the only one. I’m a selfish bastard and am doing the same for myself. I don’t want a rift between Amos and Sienna. Still, I already know our friendship will go down the pisser as soon as he figures shit out.

“Gonna need them. About the dog?” I don’t want to keep her from eating or doing whatever it is she does when the building is empty.

“I’ll send you the bill and stay silent. Unless she comes out and asks, then I won’t lie for you,” Tallulah says. I nod. That’s all I can ask of her.

“Sounds like a deal to me. You want me to grab you something from the diner?” I ask, standing up.

“Nope. Dean cooked enough food last night for an army. I’m eating leftovers. I’m on call tonight, so who knows what time I’ll manage to make it home. The new vets help a lot, but I feel like with the way Arrowleaf is growing, we’re going to need about four more and a bigger office.”

“Pretty sure it’s not growth, sweetheart. I imagine it has something to do with Arrowleaf having a vet that’s worth a damn. You put your name on the new hires, and they know you won’t let anything happen to their animals.” I state the truth. There hasn't been a huge growth spurt in our area for years. New people will come, buy an old timer’s farm who has passed away, and think they can make a living off it. They don’t realize the time and work it needs. Nine times out of ten, they sell, and it’s to a local rancher, then they head back to suburbia.

“You might be right. Thanks for the offer for food. If you happen to stop by Whisked Away, I wouldn’t turn down a sweet treat.”

“I can do that. Sienna asked for something herself earlier this morning. I imagine Mae has something huckleberry, right?” I ask.

“If she doesn’t, it won’t take her long to whip something up, though if you want to keep your secret safe for a little while longer, you may want to keep Sienna’s name out of it.” I arch my eyebrow. “Yeah, JW has totally told her already. Damn, that girl can keep a secret. I’m impressed.” Tallulah and I have a laugh, then I bid my goodbye, offer to lock the door to the office, and head on out.