Page 29 of Solitude

“Alright, ladies,” Cole interjects, arms spread out like he’s breaking up a fight between the two of them. “That’s enough.”

Matt punches him in the arm again.

It’s at that moment that Holden Wright, one of the many ranch hands, bursts through the kitchen door with a grin on his face and a small chick in his hands.

“Look who I found!”

Matt stares at Holden for a solid thirty seconds, hands on his hips, before he sighs and pinches the bridge of hisnose. “Why would you bring that into my mama’s kitchen?”

Holden falters, mouth opening and closing. “But… Well, it’s the chick we were lookin’ for.”

Dropping my dough, I round the counter with a smile and a coo. I don’t touch the little thing, but I make little grabby fingers at the chick as it cheeps nervously in Holden’s hands. I look up at the man and grin.

“She’s so little.”

Holden returns my smile, dropping her lower toward my face. “She was stuck behind one of the feed buckets. I don’t know how she got there.”

I poke my bottom lip out. “Aw, how scary, huh?”

“I didn’t expect you to be here,” he says, clearing his throat as he looks down at me. “Are you usually here on Saturdays?”

“When I can make the time.” I flourish a hand toward the rolls and towards the cupcakes. “I like to help Beth whenever I can, even if it’s sporadic.”

Beth grabs my shoulders, squeezing happily. “And she’s a huge help now that she knows how to boil water.”

Cole gives a full body shiver. “Yeah, that was a scary time in all our lives.”

“Hey!” I glare at him across the room. “If it’s that scary, stop eating the things I make.”

Calvin snaps his head up from where he’s wandered over to the cupcakes I moved to the table. His mouth is full of cake as he speaks, “Ya heard that!”

“Will you guys leave the cupcakes alone?” I snap, flappingmy hands at Calvin to shoo him away from the table. “I only made a small batch.”

Cole shrugs. “They’re for us, anyway.”

“It’s supposed to be dessert, you pig.”

“Oink, oink.”

Beth chuckles and begins gesturing at the door. “Okay, that’s enough. We need to finish up in here without you lot eating everything and pestering us.”

Calvin huffs. “Pestering?”

“Yes, pestering. Get out. All of you. Go back to the barns for all I care.”

“I need to go get Blake another pair of boots anyway. She’s harder on those things than the guys are,” Matt says, kissing his mom’s cheek before heading towards the door. He grabs Holden by the shoulders and spins him around. “As for you, put that thing back with its mother and stop bringing livestock into the house.”

Holden tucks his hands close to his chest and starts out of the room with Calvin on their heels.

Holden calls over his shoulder with a sweet grin. “Good to see you, Winnie.”

And then he winks at me.

I know it has to beatme because he’s looking straight at me and specifically addressed me. Maybe he has a twitch? Cole meets my eyes and raises a brow.

“What?”

He purses his lips. “Holden? Really?”

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