Page 104 of An Endless Memory

Would my brothers or I have bought any of that when it came to our little sister?

When Ansen had made some lame excuse about taking money from our father to marry Aggie when he actually seemed to enjoy being with her, we’d still run him off the property.

Only, the ranch was mine, and I wouldn’t be running Jasper out. So I didn’t ask him.

Instead, I was sitting on one of the little-used chairs in the living room while the wind howled outside.

Chambers shuffled out from the hallway where his office was. “I’d better get going. The wind is picking up, and it’s going to kick up all that fresh snow. Roxie won’t like it if I get stuck here.”

“She knows you might try so you can watch your shows.”

He chuckled. “She got me a— What do you call those? A smart TV. Yeah, she got me one of those for Christmas. I can have my shows and my wife during the blizzard. As long as the power holds up. You good?”

I wiggled my phone. “Just worried about Lily. I doubt she’s going anywhere for New Year’s, but the same weather will go through there tomorrow. I’d like to know she’s prepared and ready.” Did she have enough food and water if the wind knocked out any power?

“You don’t know already? Don’t you two talk every day?”

We used to. I looked at my phone every five minutes to make sure I hadn’t missed a message. “She’s been busy this week.”

He blinked, then a long sigh eked out of him and he leaned against the island counter. “What’d you do?”

“Why do you think it’s anything I did?” I asked, irritated. It was something I had done. Or didn’t do.

A bushy gray brow lifted. “Lily’s a levelheaded woman, and she’s crazy about you. I don’t see her ghosting—is that the right word? It’s what my grandson says when a girl quits talking to him. Anyhow, I don’t see her ghosting you. She’s crazy about you.”

She had been. An invisible punch hit my gut. “She might be upset that I went there for Christmas because Austen pressured me.”

“That’s not how you make a woman feel special.”

“It’s because she is special that I don’t want to lead her on,” I said tightly. I glanced out the window. The sun was going down, and with the cloud cover and the wind gusts, it’d be hard to see the road soon. “Don’t you have to go?”

His expression turned obstinate, but he looked out the window. “I have some time.”

His wife wouldn’t agree. She’d have my ass if he got stranded, only I’d punish myself first. “No, you don’t. Get home before you go into a ditch.”

“I know these roads like the back of my hand.”

“But you don’t know them blindfolded.”

He didn’t move. “If I thought you were actually worried for my safety, then I’d go. But you want to get out of talking about your feelings and how you keep hiding from them.”

I ground my teeth together. “I am not hiding from them.”

“Do you love her?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“That’s not a no.”

The sound of footsteps made us both look over. Jasper emerged from the hallway, pushing up the sleeves of his blue flannel shirt. He stopped and glanced back and forth between us. Chambers was giving me a hard stare, and I was militantly gazing back at him.

Jasper held his hands up. “Shit. What’d I walk into?”

“Nothing,” I answered. “Chambers was just taking off so his wife doesn’t worry about him.”

Chambers’s mustache twitched. “Yes. I sure was. Happy New Year, boys.”

“Have fun for the both of us,” Jasper told him.

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