Chapter 28

28

T ex put his hands around the back of his neck and squeezed. "That chord isn't right," he said, but his voice got lost among the other brothers as they continued to argue.

"I don't like how we're smashin' a three-syllable word into two beats," Luke said.

"It works," Otis said, who had been tired of defending his songs for at least the past hour. "Because it rhymes with the lyric down here." He practically punched the music stand which held the innocent pages.

Having everyone in his living room had started to wear on Tex about thirty minutes ago, when Bryce had snuck out through the front door.

He turned away from Trace and Morris, who both leaned over the music stand, both of them still arguing. He looked out the front window, but Bryce wasn't on the front step where he expected him to be.

His stomach growled, and Tex pulled out his phone to find something for dinner that night. On a Friday, he wouldn't want to sit down and eat, because it seemed like everyone in Coral Canyon went out to eat at the end of the week. He could call and order something, make the drive, and Bryce could run in and pick up the food.

If he could just get rid of everyone first. "All right, fellas," he said, turning back to the lot of them. Mav sat casually on the couch, flicking through his social media on his phone, and a powerful jolt of jealousy hit Tex. He was so relaxed, and he didn't have to deal with any of…this.

"It's time to wrap it up for today," he said. "It's almost dinnertime, and Bryce and I are going to head to town to pick up food."

"What?" Luke asked. "We can't stop now."

"This song isn't even close to done," Morris added.

The look on Otis's face at that comment could've killed Morris, and Tex quickly stepped between the two of them. "Otis," he said through clenched teeth. "Get the music off the stand."

"Right." Otis lunged for it and rolled it up in his fingers. "Tex is right," he yelled over the protests. "This isn't how our best songs are made."

Trace stepped back and folded his arms, but at least he wasn't as vocal as Luke. He did glare in Tex's direction, but Tex simply raised his eyebrows and indicated how Luke was still arguing with Otis about something that had already been put away.

Mav got to his feet and said, "I'll get the kids."

"I've got to find my son," Tex said, turning back to the window and leaning further toward it. "He's not on the front porch." He rested his forehead against the glass and twisted his head to the right, trying to see all the way in front of the door.

Behind him, everyone finally turned silent, and Tex said, "I wonder where he went."

"I know where he is," Mav said, his voice perfectly even.

Tex straightened and turned. "Where?" fell from his mouth at the same time his eyes landed on his tall son. His eyes traveled to where Bryce held hands with Abigail Ingalls, and the world went white for a moment.

When he opened his eyes, he focused on Abby. He opened his mouth to say something, but his brain was still catching up to the silence—and the fact that Abby was here.

She was here .

"Dad," Bryce said, smiling at him. He nodded to Abby. "I was just next door, and look who I found."

"Evenin', Abby," Otis said, and he gave her a side-squeeze. "It's good to see you."

"You too, Otis."

"I'm just gonna, uh, go grab my daughter."

"Me too," Mav said. "Except I don't have my daughter. I have my son, so I'm gonna grab him."

"Get mine too," Trace said. "I just need to use the bathroom."

"Luke," Otis barked from the kitchen. "Come get Corrinne."

"Oh, right." Luke high-tailed it out of the living room, and Morris took a couple of steps after him.

"Mav's my ride," he said. "Good to see you, Abby."

She nodded at him, and Tex catalogued that they'd all started to leave. He blinked and took a breath and stepped toward Abby. "You're here." He drew her away from his son and into his arms, his eyes drifting closed at the scent of her hair. She smelled like books and the air freshener in her car…and something else his brain couldn't quite identify.

"I missed you," she said. "I'm so sorry, Tex."

"Shh, no," he said. "You don't have to apologize to me."

Her arms went around him, and Tex smiled into the embrace. "I just need more time to show you that I'll support you in anything you do."

"You got it," he said.

"Tex, you're—I need you to understand." She stepped back and wiped her eyes.

He watched her, slightly confused. "Understand?"

"Yeah," she said. She pressed her palms together and then ran them up his chest. "I don't mean to come at you with all of my attitude. I've been working on listening first and reacting second. Of course I want you to build a recording studio here, so you can be here with your son and with me. I don't care how many people come to the ranch, as long as I get to come over here and kiss you."

Tex smiled down at her. "You're welcome any time, sweetheart."

"Tex, I'm in love with you." Her eyes crinkled as she smiled and then a slightly manic giggle escaped her lips. "Wade said all I'd have to do is apologize and say I was trying and tell you I love you, so I guess I've said it all now."

Tex took a moment to absorb all she'd said. Tex, I'm in love with you.

"Abby," he said, aware of all the feet scuttling along his kitchen floor, just around the other side of the wall. People started crowding into the wide, arched doorway that went into the dining room and kitchen.

"Shh," Luke said, holding his daughter in his arms. Otis had a hand on Joey's shoulder, and Harry stood at Trace's side. They all watched him.

Tex looked at his son, his eyes seeing details he hadn't before. Something wasn't right with his boy, but he stood there breathing and grinning like Tex had brought home a pair of ponies carrying guitars.

He cleared his throat, suddenly everything he wanted to say right in front of him. "Abby, I don't have much more to say. I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you marching across the crunchy grass toward me on the very first day I got back to Coral Canyon."

"Tex, I'm really going to try harder to be the support you need."

"I heard you the first time," he said, taking her face in his hands. "I appreciate that, and I want that. The truth is, I have a lot of good news, and the only person I wanted to call when I was in Nashville was you. I've been dying since I walked away from you two weeks ago. I'm sorry I did that. I'm sorry I didn't call you from Nashville. I love you, and—I yeah. I love you."

"He loves you," Bryce said, chuckling.

"He looooves you," Otis said in a mocking tone, laughing afterward.

"He so loves you," Mav said, grinning.

Tex pressed his cheek to Abby's and whispered, "This is the madness you'll have to endure." He turned her gently to look at their audience, and he grinned at them.

"He's been in love with you forever," Trace said, smiling back at them.

"I don't know how we all survived in Nashville with his brooding and longing sighs," Luke said, rolling his eyes. He grinned at Tex in the next moment, and Tex ran his hands down Abby's arms to her hands.

"Even I know Tex is in love with you," Morris said, smiling at the pair of them.

"So how many of you knew I was in love with him too?" she asked.

"I knew," Bryce said, raising his hand.

Everyone slid their eyes over to Bryce, and Otis sucked in a breath. "Boy, what happened to you?"

Tex hadn't even kissed Abby yet, but he too took a closer look at his son. He sucked in a breath when he realized the stains he'd seen earlier were actually from blood. "Why are you covered in blood?" he asked, and Bryce looked at Abby and they both burst out laughing.