Page 88 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

“Are you kidding?” Tate said, and he practically glowed from every skin cell. “This is amazing.”

“I forgot you’re an extrovert,” JJ said dryly, as he almost couldn’t wait to finish eating and get out of there. But he knew that wouldn’t happen because the high school graduation they were going to attend for seven people in the Walker family that day—six cousins and one of his siblings—didn’t start until three-thirty. So he still had a very long way to go before he would find himself alone in his bedroom, in the new green cowboy cabin here on Seven Sons Ranch.

Tate’s phone chimed, and he looked at it. “Oh, Ruby wants a tour of the cabin,” he said. “We can do that later, right?” He looked at JJ, who suddenly felt rough and ragged and jagged inside.

But he nodded and said, “Yep, we can do that.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Dawson flitted around his house, setting out all the things he and Caroline had prepared for the ranchers’ luncheon that day. Caroline was at work and wouldn’t be joining them. It wasn’t game night; it wasn’t couples’ night; it was a ranchers’ luncheon, and Dawson hosted it at the Rhinehart Ranch a couple of times each year.

He’d left the ranch owners’ meeting a little bit early so that he could get back and get things heated up and set out. He wasn’t surprised to see Brandon walk in a few minutes later.

“Howdy, brother,” Brandon called from the front door.

“Come help me get this salsa out,” Dawson replied. His momma made the best salsa in the world, and he breathed in the scent of tomatoes, garlic, and cilantro as he opened the jar.

He and Caroline had planned a taco bar, because Wilde & Organic had little tubs of prepared toppings to make it perfect. No prep, just a lot of opening containers and setting things out.

Ruffin lifted his head from his dog bed at the end of the counter as Dawson put the bag of tortilla chips in line. “I think they’re here,” he said.

He strode toward toward the front door and opened it. He peered out, and sure enough, Finn had arrived, and he’d brought Paul and Henry with him.

Dawson waved them all in, and they came in laughing and chatting over each other. “Just leave the door open a little bit,” he said. “And then everyone can come in when they get here.”

Link arrived with Ollie and JJ, as they were all related in some way, even if none of them shared a single particle of DNA. Finally, only sixty seconds later, Alex brought up the rear. He closed the door behind him and came into the kitchen carrying a plastic sack over his forearm.

“I got all the mint chocolate chip and all the rocky road,” Alex said.

Dawson grinned at him, went to meet him to take the ice cream, and returned to put it in the freezer. Everyone looked to him, as whoever hosted the luncheon usually welcomed everyone and set a topic for the day.

They had finished their planting at the Rhinehart Ranch, their cattle had been driven up into the hills, and they’d moved into that “easier summertime” where they watched things grow. He didn’t have a whole lot he wanted to talk about, as they’d discussed watering schedules and pest control last month

“Today.” He cleared his throat, suddenly nervous, “I thought we’d share personal news.”

The mood in the room changed instantly, and Dawson wanted to backpedal. “I mean, if you have something you want to announce. Might be fun to just have a friend lunch, not a work lunch.”

“I like that idea,” Finn said, nodding as a slow smile spread across his face. Since he’d been the one to start the game nights and the ranchers’ luncheons, a lot of men deferred to him.

“Do we have to say something?” Alex asked, his cowboy hat pushed low over his eyes.

“Not at all.” Dawson glanced around at everyone. “But I feel like no one’s been texting on the thread very much,” he said, the words just falling out of him. “And I thought maybe today could just be more easygoing, more casual.” He looked over at Link, and the man had his lips pressed tightly closed. Oh, he definitely had something to say, but Dawson wasn’t sure it would come out.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Brandon said. “Let’s get our food, and I’ll start.” Dawson threw a grateful smile at his brother and picked up a plate too. Each cowboy went through the line, using both sides of the island, to fill his plate with tacos, chips, salsa, and guacamole. They all chatted easily with each other, even JJ, who was a decade younger than Dawson and Finn but somehow managed to fit in with them at the same time. Dawson simply listened to him tell Henry how things were going at Seven Sons and that he might need a farrier to come out.

Henry said, “Let me know. I seem to come to Three Rivers often enough.”

“Yeah, how he does that with his new girlfriend,” Paul teased. “I don’t know.”

“Oh boy. Here we go,” Finn said just as Ollie said, “Ooh, Henry’s got a girlfriend?”

Henry always seemed to have a new girlfriend. Dawson grinned at him as they all took their seats at the table.

“Well, I thought Brandon was gonna go first,” Henry said. He looked to Brandon, who sat on his left.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go first.Ihappened to start seeing someone new, and it’s going pretty—well.” He took a bite of his taco, the crunch of the shell adding a final punctuation mark to his news. Dawson knew his brother, and Brandon would not say more.

Still, Alex asked, “Who is it?”

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