Page 87 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

“There you are,” Grandma said, and she bustled over to JJ the moment he walked in the back door.

He hugged her back, because he loved his grandma with everything he had. “Hey, Grams.”

“Oh, it’s so good to have you back,” she gushed. “I hate it when you grandkids leave.”

“Well, here I am,” he said. “At least for the summer.” He spotted his grandfather sitting in the living room, and JJ moved away from Grams to go say hello to him.

Grandpa had a hard time getting off the couch these days and walked with a cane or a walker, so JJ sat next to him and said, “Hey, Grandpa.” He gave him a side hug and let his grandpa press a kiss to his forehead. “How’re you feeling?”

“Doing all right,” Grandpa said, though his voice had definitely become older and more gravelly. He moved slower, and while JJ had worked on a ranch his whole life and had seen the life cycle and he knew that new things became old and then died, he still didn’t want to lose his grandfather.

At the same time, his daddy was in his early fifties now, with Uncle Rhett sitting close to fifty-five, and his grandparents were pressing up against eighty.

“You got all settled in?” Grandpa asked.

“I sure did,” JJ said. “Me and Tate want to come see the mini donkeys as soon as we can.”

Grandpa lit up at that and said, “Anytime, JJ. You just text me when you’re leaving here, and I’ll meet you at the pasture.”

“Okay,” JJ grinned at him, and then turned his attention to the kitchen when Daddy raised his voice and said, “All right. Everyone’s here. We’re gonna go ahead and get started.”

He looked around the room at everybody, and it was full to capacity. “We’ve got tables set up in the front den,” he said. “And out on the deck, though it is kind of hot and windy today. But then there’s a table here and there’s a table in the living room. We counted chairs twice. There’s somewhere for everyone to sit. No lap sitting.”

He looked over to Hattie and Emily and said, “Did you hear me, girls? No lap sitting.”

“No lap sitting, Daddy,” they parroted back and then giggled together.

JJ wondered how his father put up with so much sometimes, but he found himself smiling as Daddy shook his head.

“We’re celebrating a lot of graduations today,” Daddy said. “And the fact that JJ is home with his best friend, Tate.” Tate raised his hand and waved around to everyone, and JJ could only imagine how overwhelmed he might be.

As JJ sat on the couch with his grandpa beside him, everyone listened as Daddy ran through the fried chicken feast that he’d made for lunch that day.

It felt like God had opened up his soul and poured His heavenly light right into JJ’s mind. He absolutely did belong here.

JJ questioned whether he should even return to Amarillo State next year at all.Why go back?he wondered.

He thought about it during the prayer when he should have been listening to the blessing on the food and the gratitude poured out by Uncle Wyatt.

He just wanted to know the path to take through his own life. He wanted to be able to see it for miles and miles ahead, the way he had as a kid.

It felt like the moment he’d become a senior in high school, that road had been broken up and twisted and turned, and JJ had suddenly had no idea what to do with his life. He’d stayed on the ranch for two more years after he’d graduated, saving money, working, babysitting for Ollie and Rory, and even doing a church service mission before he settled on going to college.

“Amen,” chorused the house, and JJ lifted his eyes, a twinge of guilt flowing through him that he’d missed the prayer.

“JJ! JJ!” someone yelled, and he turned just in time to see Lara running toward him. Rory’s middle child never went anywhere without running, and he barely caught her as she launched herself into his arms. “You’re back! You’re back!” She grinned at him and pressed her nose to his. “Are you going to come watch a movie with us later?”

“Sure thing,” JJ said, his smile real and wide for the first time in months. “And you know what? Maybe you can come tomyhouse and watch a movie with me.”

A look of wonder came over her face, and she wiggled to get down. “Mama! Mama!” she yelled. “Can I go to JJ’s and watch a movie?”

Rory looked at her like she’d spoken another language, and then she glanced over to JJ. “What?”

JJ smiled and shook his head. It didn’t matter. He could come pick up the kids anytime. He would take them to the pool or the park, or they could come to the ranch, and he’d show themthe honeybees. He’d teach them how to plant carrots and peas, and he’d show them all the horses. Rory spent a lot of time up at Shiloh Ridge Ranch too, as her mama had married a Glover, so the kids had no shortage of opportunity to be outside and around animals.

JJ got up, filled a plate of food, and naturally gravitated towards sitting next to Clara Jean. Tate came to his side and sat by him, and the bubble of comfort around JJ expanded.

“You surviving?” he muttered under his breath to Tate.

---