“Yeah, darlin’.”
“Please talk to me,” she begs, her slim arms tightening around my torso as she hugs me tighter. “Please.”
I bend down and kiss the top of her head. With a sigh, I give in and tell her what I know she wants to hear. “I’m just goin’ through some shit, Quinn. I’m not goin’ anywhere, I promise, but I also don’t know what to do now that I’m back. I don’t want to run the ranch, and Clay knows that. The horses—that was Clay and Dad’s thing. Not mine. I’m keepin’ myself busy, but I’m also tryin’ to figure out what to do with myself now that my rodeo career is over.”
“You always loved the horses, Maverick.” She leans back and looks up into my eyes.
“I loved ridin’ them, darlin’, but all the bullshit that comes with breedin’ the next Thoroughbred champion, that wasn’t me. The old man wanted me to be part of that and I guess that’s part of why I have no interest.”
“There’s more to the ranch than that and you know it, Mav.”
“Yeah, sweetheart, and none of that is of interest to me. Clay has it handled. Drew runs this place like a well-oiled machine. I’m just pickin’ up the slack until he hires another hand.”
“And then what?”
“No clue, darlin’. Guess we can figure out that together. I might not want to take an active role in the current workings here, but I’m not going to leave.”
“What about a new role here?”
She steps out of my hold and I drop my arms. She dusts some hay off my shirt and gives me a smirk. “You don’t want anything to do with the old Davis ranch, but I think we all agree—Clay will too—that it’s a new era for the ranch. Dad didn’t want to branch out from breeding the prize winners. He was so stuck in his ways. I think that, with your help, Clay can finally make the changes that he’s wanted to do for a long damn time.”
“First I’m hearin’ of this, Quinn.”
“Reckoned as much. Look, don’t write off the ranch because of the bullshit you’re still holding on to as some sort of armor. I’ll let Clay know that we all need to sit down and have a family meeting. He’s down at the shop doing payroll, but we’ll figure out something. Let’s go to Bucky’s in town. A little business over the best damn barbeque in town is just what the doctor ordered.”
I open my mouth, but she interrupts me before I can agree.
“Keep an open mind, big brother. You might not want to hear it, but it’s time we talked about what happened with Dad after you left.”
“Not talkin’ about him.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.”
“Just leave it.”
She shakes her head, her long black ponytail whipping over her shoulder. “The last thing you need is for me to ‘just leave it,’ but I’ll tell you what . . . I’ll put off talk about Dad for a little while, not forever, but you’re going to have to tell me why my best friend is actin’ like an angry bull.”
Motherfucker.
She’s got me and she knows it, if her raised brow and smirk are any things to go by. There is only one thing that would get me to talk about that night, and if it means I can put off the talk I have no interest in having, that would be it.
“We slept together, okay? In the end, she ran out on me so I’m not sure why she’s actin’ like the wounded party here. Nothin’ else you need to know.”
Her jaw drops before I’ve finished speaking, and I swear it looks like her eyes might bug out of her head. She looks like a frog that had its air supply cut off for too long. Wide-eyed and gaping.
“You . . . you did what?” she gasps softly.
“You wanted to know what happened. We slept together. Happy now?”
“You slept together?” Her mouth is still hanging open like a puppy dog in dire need of some cool water.
“Jesus, Quinn. Don’t tell me you need more details, because that’s not happening. I don’t know what she’s pissed about. It happened and we’re both grown adults. She snuck out while I was sleeping and she’s been ignoring me ever since, so I would guess she wants nothing further to do with me. That’s all of it.” Just the thought burns my gut. She’s running scared, I just know it. No fuckin’ way she isn’t, after what I felt between us that night.
“She’s been ignoring you?”
“Are you going to repeat everything I say?”
“She snuck out while you were sleeping?”
“I guess you are,” I deadpan, picking up the pitchfork again before walking around her to put it back in the tool room.
“Holy shit,” she finally whispers after a long silence.
I shake my head, hanging the pitchfork back up with the others, and make my way to the tack room. I make a note for the ranch hand that took Dixon out earlier that his stall is ready for him after he’s done for the day.
“You . . . she . . . finally. Oh, my God! What does this mean?” Quinn calls out to me.
I toss the pen down after making the list of what he and Dixon still need before leaving the room and planting myself in front of my sister.
“Holy shit! Did you guys talk? I mean, this is pretty big—for her, at least; I don’t know about you. You’re probably used to this kind of thing, but not Leighton. Oh, my God. I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.”
“Don’t you think that maybe she didn’t say anything because, like me, this is a weird as hell chat to be having with my sister?” I ignore her jab about me being used to this. Little does she know how wrong she is.
“WEIRD?! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to have this chat?”
I take a step back, and with a laugh, hold my hands up. “Did the devil just jump in your body? You sound like you’re about two seconds from your head spinning on your shoulders.”
“Don’t act like a smart-ass now, bucko! This changes everything.” She starts mumbling some gibberish under her breath, and I can’t help the smile that grows as she starts throwing her hands up between words of nonsense.
“Seriously, little sister, I think you should just drop it. This changes nothing.”
“Delusional. Both of you. Idiots, I swear. That girl . . .” She pauses in the midst of her rant and looks at me with wide green eyes that seem to know more than she should. “You really have no clue, do you?”
“Yeah, darlin’, I’m pretty sure that’s correct since you’re makin’ no sense.”
Quinn sighs and plops down on a bale of hay. “Okay, big brother. I’m about to go against every written rule in the best-friend bible right now, but I feel like that is completely acceptable to clue you in here. Lord knows one day, maybe after the birth of your first child, she will forgive me for this.”
“Uh, who’s having a baby?”
“You are . . . well, maybe. If we can get your head out of your ass, that is. And, of course, you’re going to have to grovel and shit, but this hypothetical baby has just been waiting to be born and I will not let you two keep my future niece from me.”