Page 144 of Ride a Cowboy

“That was a damn fine meal.” Daniel rubbed his too-full stomach as he walked into the Comptons’ family room, surprised to find Sienna alone. Josh had arrived earlier this morning. Daniel thought he’d sensed some tension between Josh and Sienna, but he chalked it up to wishful thinking on his part. Much as it pained him to admit, Josh seemed like a nice guy.

Loud conversations from the dining room carried to them. The house was jam-packed with Sienna’s family celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday. He’d gotten to know all of her aunts, uncles and cousins over the past month, but now his head was reeling as he tried to remember the names of all the close family friends who were visiting.

“The Mothers can cook.” Sienna stressed the word mothers.

“Mothers?”

Sienna laughed. “It’s a nickname Jade gave to my mom, Leah, Lucy and Cindi. When they come together, it’s like they morph into this huge giant force that takes out everything in its path. There’s pretty much nothing that goes on in the family that isn’t discussed at length by all of them every Sunday afternoon at teatime.” Sienna used air quotes around teatime.

Daniel was confused by her gesture. “What’s wrong with teatime?”

“I’ve never seen one of them drink a cup of tea. They usually make a pitcher of margaritas or split a bottle of wine.”

He chuckled. “Your family is hilarious. Never seen a family who gets along like this one, never fighting, always having fun.”

“You say that now, but you better hope you never fall into the Mothers’ sights. There’s no subject they don’t consider themselves authorities on, and once they’ve discussed your so-called problem at length, they’ll offer endless advice. They’ve rearranged the furniture in every house on this ranch, helped plan more parties than I can count and set up way too many blind dates.”

“Wow. And I assume this drives everyone crazy.”

Sienna shook her head. “Nope. That’s the most annoying part of it. They have amazing decorating taste, create menus to die for and, while I won’t say their matchmaking record is perfect, it’s pretty damn close. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom and aunts to death. It’s just that sometimes it’s hard to accept their advice, even if you think it may be right.”

Sienna didn’t have to explain. Daniel assumed her strained relationship with Josh hadn’t just caught Seth’s attention. The Mothers would have noticed as well.

“What did they tell you to do about Josh?”

Her eyes narrowed. “How did you know that’s what I was talking about?”

He grinned. “Not that hard to figure out.”

She sighed. “It’s been suggested that I have a conversation with Josh about his intentions for the future while he’s home this weekend. They think it’s time we nailed down some particulars. And Aunt Leah is also concerned about my all work, no play lifestyle. I’m sure I have Jade to thank for getting Leah riled up about that.”

“So are you going to talk to him?”

Sienna didn’t have a chance to respond before Vicky entered the room. “There you are, Sienna. Have you seen my red tablecloth? I’d planned to put it out on the dessert table.”

Sienna frowned. “Vivi, you asked me about that a few minutes ago. I told you we don’t have it anymore. It was ruined last Christmas when Doug spilled grape juice on it. We threw it out, remember?”

Vicky nodded. “Oh, that’s right. All this cooking has me worn out. It must have slipped my mind.” Though she played it off, Daniel saw the confusion on the older woman’s face as she left the room.

Sienna ran her hand through her hair anxiously. “Damn. She didn’t remember that first conversation at all.”

“No. I don’t think she did.”

“She’s forgetting a lot of things lately.”

Daniel shrugged. “Probably just a sign of age. Didn’t you tell me she was turning seventy this year?”

Sienna glanced at the doorway where her grandmother had just left, her face pensive. “Yeah, she is. But she’s been forgetting too much lately.”

“Alzheimer’s?”

She frowned. “God, I hope not. While there have been some advances made in terms of diagnosing and treating different types of dementia, there’s still a long way to go. If it’s that…” Her voice drifted away as if she was frightened by the possibility. “I’m going to talk her into getting a checkup. There are some tests I’d like the doctor to run on her.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” he said softly before her attention was captured by something else in the hallway. Daniel caught sight of Josh putting on his coat before going outside.

He glanced at Sienna’s face. She didn’t appear too anxious to follow her boyfriend. “Looks like the time might be right for your conversation.”

“Yeah. And here I thought the chances of me getting him alone today were slim to none.” Sienna made no move to leave.

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