Chapter 46

CHAPTER 46

SLATE

M y phone chimed with a text and I smiled at the picture Jess had sent me. She looked so damn beautiful, her face bare of any makeup and her curls loose for a change. I wondered if that meant someone else had done her chores for the afternoon.

Usually, at this time of day, she was out on the farm, her hair pulled up so it wouldn't annoy her while she was?—

Dear, sweet Lord of the Rings, I'm so screwed.

I'd barely been gone twenty-four hours and I was already eager to get back to her tomorrow night. All I could think about was kissing her, and holding her, and hearing her laugh, and?—

"Earth to Slate," Mira said, breaking me out of my thoughts. Giggling, she cocked her head at me. "Whoever that message was from must be pretty special to make you go so cross-eyed and smiley."

Logan smirked. "It's a girl. I bet it's a girl."

I groaned. "How long is Beau going to be asleep for again?"

"A couple of hours at least." Mira grinned at me. "Leaving us plenty of time to grill you."

"Who is she?" Logan asked, not leaving any room for doubt about the assumption he'd made.

Mira sat under his arm, staring at me expectantly now that baby Beau was asleep in his nursery. So far, they'd both left me to bond with him, only chatting lightly and getting me caught up with everything that had been going on in the city while I'd been gone, but it seemed like now that they didn't have him to distract them, the spotlight was on me.

The sliding doors in the living room were open and the incessant buzz of the city was providing a background noise that made my ears ring. I never thought I'd miss the mooing, but I'd take the sound of cows and the smell of manure over the hum of traffic and stench of exhaust any day.

"Slate?" Mira asked again, frowning when I refocused on her. "Are you alright? You don't have to tell us about the girl if you don't want to."

I laughed. "It's not that. I'm sorry. I keep getting distracted by the noise around here."

Logan frowned. "What noise?"

"Just the sounds of the city, I guess. I think I've gotten used to the silence on the farm."

"Speaking of the farm," Mira said, eagerly leaning forward. "How's everything going at Merrick Meadows? Beau will be down for long enough that you can finally give me a proper update. You've been suspiciously quiet since you've been out there."

"I haven't been suspiciously quiet." I scoffed. "I've spoken to you plenty of times."

"Uh, no. You've spoken to me two or three times in six weeks. Do you have any idea how much oil there is yet? How far has the crew gotten? Do you think it's going to be worth all the effort they've put in?"

My eyes widened and Logan chuckled, giving me a shrug. "This is on you, bro. You're the one who's been missing in action. Do you know how many times she's asked me these questions? Like I should know."

"Well, you should know," she retorted with a playful sniff. "You could've tried calling him. I figured that if I asked you enough times, you would call him. It's not my fault you didn't catch the hint."

"I caught the hint, but I told you he'd call us when he had any of this information."

"He's right. I would've called you if there was anything to say, but there really isn't much. The crew is working hard, but their assessment isn't complete yet. Jess about had a coronary when Oden made that offer, but then the sabotage happened and Doug refused it."

"Do we know who's responsible for the damage yet?" she asked.

"Nope. Jess is convinced it's Oden. She even got into an argument with him about it in town the other day, but to be fair to her, he must've followed her there. He was waiting when she left the post office and then he tried to force her into his car."

"Shit." Mira's eyes flew wide open. "Is she okay?"

"Would I be here if she wasn't?" I countered.

She frowned. "Why wouldn't you have been here?"

"I never would've left if she had been hurt. That also kind of counts as something important that I might've mentioned to you, but Jess insisted that I come. She told me not to worry about the argument she got into."

"You know, every answer you've given me so far has circled back to Jess," she said thoughtfully, chuckling as a light went on in her eyes. "It actually sounds like you're falling for the country girl. Are you?"

Logan grinned. "Didn't you hook up with her at our wedding? Holy shit, she's the girl, isn't she? The one who just put that stupid smile on your face and made you all googly eyed."

I shot him a look, but Mira's eyes narrowed as she glanced back and forth between us. "Hang on a second. Jess never told me that! Did you guys really hook up at our wedding?"

"Why would she tell you that she hooked up with your brother?" Logan asked, still amused. "In my experience with you two, that's not something siblings usually like to talk about."

"So it's true?" she asked, turning to stare at me. "You got it on with my bridesmaid? Could you be any more of a cliché?"

I grinned, shrugging. "How did you know, Logan? I know for a fact that I didn't tell you either."

"Yeah, but I saw you two together that night. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on when you've been there yourself."

Mira elbowed him in the ribs and he winced. Chuckling, he wrapped his arm around her again and pulled her into him. I groaned as I shook my head at them. "I still don't want to think about you being there, but yeah. I did get it on with a bridesmaid and you know what? It might've been the best night of my life."

Surprise painted her features. Then her head slowly lowered to one side, but unlike the way I'd reacted when I'd found out about her hooking up with my friend, she didn't seem to be pissed off about it.

"The best night of your life, huh?" She glanced at Logan. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged. "Again, not the kind of thing you guys talk to each other about. The last time the three of us had to deal with a hookup that happened at a wedding, it didn't exactly go down so well. Forgive me for not wanting a repeat of that drama, especially when you already had to worry about work and the baby on the way."

She sighed, but eventually, she nodded and slid her hand into his. "That's not a bad argument, actually. Next time though, tell me. I don't want to be the last to know."

"You're not the last to know." I settled back and scrubbed my hands across my jaw. I'd shaved once I'd gotten home to my house, but I regretted it now. The short beard had grown on me more than I'd realized. "You're actually the first to know. Outside of Jess and myself, obviously, and maybe her friend, Sophie. I'm not sure how much she knows."

Mira chuckled, giving me a knowing smile when she turned to face me again. "She must've freaked all the way out when you showed up at her farm."

"She did, but we worked it out," I said. "So far, we've managed to work it out every time."

She blinked a few times. "Every time? How many times has she freaked out and what have you done to make her do it? Jess isn't the type who just freaks out for no good reason."

"Is it a good enough reason that her whole world is changing?" I shot back at my sister, feeling defensive about not only Jess but what I felt for her. "Her dad almost sold the farm, Mira. Her brother wanted him to do it. That farm is all she?—"

My sister put her hands up like she was surrendering, and Logan burst out laughing next to her. "Relax, dude. She just wants to know if her friend is okay."

"She's fine," I said sharply, then mentally replayed the last minute or so. "Shit. So that happened. I'm sorry and you're right. She's not the type to freak out easily, but there's a lot going on out there right now. A lot of it has been unexpected. In fact, most of it has been."

Mira's lips pinched together as sympathy shone from her eyes. "I know the feeling, but if you guys are together now, I hope you're supporting her. I sent you there to help them, not to steal her heart and sell her farm."

I pursed my lips at her and Logan rolled his eyes. "Would both of you please just relax? Do you see now why I didn't say anything? This family and wedding hookups, man."

My sister suddenly giggled. "Okay. We're being ridiculous. You're not wrong, but seriously, Slate. You're supporting her?"

"Of course, I am. I'm trying to, anyway. Realistically, selling might be their best bet at the end of the day." I dropped my head back on the sofa and stared at the crisp white ceiling overhead. It seemed wrong somehow, like it was too clean.

Mira let out a long, audible breath. "I told her way back at the beginning that it might work out that way, but things were so up in the air back then that I don't think she actually realized it might really come down to it."

"It's been an emotional ride for the whole family," I said, thinking back on the arguments she'd had with her brother and the way Jeanie had been looking so tired all the time. "I wish there was something I could do to speed up the process, but the crew is working as fast as they can. It took us a couple of weeks to get them out there. The sabotage cost us a few days. There's just nothing we can do now but wait until we know how much oil there is."

Logan grinned, pumping his eyebrows at me like a douche. "In the meantime, you get to kiss it all better for the country girl, huh?"

I flipped him off, but then laughed. "Something like that."

"Is it serious between you two?" my sister asked curiously. "You said it was the greatest night of your life, but you've been living with her for six weeks. Are you guys together or is it just a fling?"

"It's not just a fling," I said decisively. "The way I see it, I got a second chance with her in Firefly Grove and let's just say I don't know if I'm built for city living anymore."

Both of her eyebrows arched. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I think I might owe you my firstborn, sis. I'm going to marry Jess Merrick one day and possibly live happily ever after on a farm somewhere."