Page 49 of The Wayward Son

A few more miles down the road, Sawyer pointed out the driveway to the inn and Jade made the turn, then parked next to J.T.’s truck. They left the truck and pulled their coats closed against the wind as they walked to the porch. It was blowing sideways and picking up snow from the ground, swirling it into their faces.

J.T. opened the door before they could knock. “Come on in and get out of that wind.”

They went inside and Sawyer closed the door. “Shit, it’s getting bad out there. We probably shouldn’t stay too long.”

Joey came from the kitchen with Finn right behind her. She smiled at Jade. “Jade! So good to see you again.” She gave her a hug, then motioned toward Finn. “This is Finn.”

Jade smiled at Finn. “So nice to meet you, Finn. I’m Jade. I knew your mom and dad a long time ago.”

He looked up at her. “You don’t look that old.”

She laughed. “Well, I guess it wasn’t that long ago. We were all just kids at the time.”

Joey took her arm. “Let me show you around.” They headed for the living room and J.T. looked at Sawyer.

“Beer?”

“Yes. I’ve been on the tour.”

They headed for the kitchen and J.T. got two beers from the refrigerator and handed one to Sawyer.

“Your eye’s looking better.”

“I can almost see out of it. And I can take a deep breath without too much pain.”

“That’s always a good thing. I’m glad you’re done damaging your body.” He took a drink and looked at Sawyer. “You haven’t changed your mind, have you?”

“No. My mind is made up. I’m here to stay. I just need to go back to Missoula to empty out my apartment. Unless Jade needsit. I’m not sure what her plans are. I offered to let her stay there as long as she needs to.”

“You’re ready to become a cowboy and embrace the cows?”

Sawyer leaned against the counter. “I’m not going to be embracing any of them. But I’ll chase them around, round them up, and lasso a few now and then.”

“Good man. Have you told Dad?”

“I haven’t had a chance.”

Joey and Jade came into the kitchen and Jade looked around.

“Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful. You’ve done a wonderful job.” She admired the freshly painted cabinets, and the refinished counter tops. “You did this all yourself?”

“It was a bit of a team effort.”

J.T. shook his head. “She did seventy-five percent of it. I just picked up a paintbrush now and then.”

Joey smiled at him. “And helped me remove the old wallpaper in the living room.”

Jade laughed. “And you’re still married?”

“It was quite the test. But we passed. We hired out a couple of things. But I wanted to do as much of it myself as I could.”

“You’re going to do great here, Joey. Castle Springs doesn’t get many tourists. But with the right advertising, you could bring them in.”

Sawyer raised his hand. “Hold on. Don’t go inviting too many tourists to town. I like it just the way it is. And so does most everyone else around here.”

Jade looked at him. “Since there are only six guest rooms. It won’t be an overwhelming amount of people coming to town. And I imagine the restaurants in town wouldn’t mind a few extra customers now and then.”

Joey took Jade’s hand for a moment. “When this damn storm passes, can we get together and brainstorm a little? I’d love to hear your ideas. I don’t know the first thing about runningan inn. I just knew I wanted to do it. And I was hoping I’d get enough business from the locals with visiting relatives and such.”

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