Page 41 of Sweet Like Whiskey

He trails off, and I cut in. “There’s no rush. We’ve got the extra vehicles. Might as well make use of them.”

His lips turn up the tiniest bit. “Thanks, Jackson.”

I grunt. “Uh, Edna?”

His expression shifts to part fondness, part mischievousness. “Mhm. She was a good ol’ girl. Pretty, too.”

“Never took you for a cougar hunter.”

Ash’s mouth opens slowly. “Jackson Darling,” he says, causing a jolt ofsomethingto hit my gut. “Two jokes in one day. You better watch out. I hear they’ll revoke your grump card for that.”

“My…” I shake my head and grunt. “Jesus. Get going already.”

He laughs, hopping up into the truck. “See you at dinner?”

Nodding once, I step back.

He gives me a two-fingered salute and shuts the truck door. The engine rumbles to life a second later, but Ash doesn’t pull out. He rolls down the window instead. “Hey, Jackson?”

“Yeah?”

He rests his arm on the open window frame, looking me square on. “I’ve had homes, but I’ve never feltat home. I know it doesn’t make sense, but here? In this place? I feel at home. So I’m not running. I’m not going anywhere, okay? And I know there are no guarantees in life, but when it comes to this? I’d really like to find out what the two of us could be. Because I think it could be something. Something good. I hope you’ll give us the chance to find out.”

I nod stiffly, at a loss for words. This man isn’t Otto. Whatever parallels they may share, Otto was never this transparent with me. He never left me knowing, without a shadow of a doubt, where he stood. Wherewestood.

“This weekend, I’ll have some free time,” I say, my heart doing its best to beat right out of my chest. “Wanna go trail riding?”

Ash’s smile is slow. Serene, almost. It’s a lazy afternoon spent outside with nothing but the sun above and the dirt below.

It’s scary how familiar that smile feels.

“Yeah, Jack,” he answers. “I’d love nothing more.”

“All right then.”

He inhales a breath and lets it out. “For the record, you’re wrong. You might just be the sweetest man I’ve ever met.”

With that, Ash rolls up his window, backs out of his spot, and drives off down the dirt road, leaving me staring after him. I stare until the dust settles.

The rest of my afternoon passes in a blur of activity. It’s not until nearly six o’clock that I realize I haven’t seen my youngest brother all day. Remi is naturally quiet, always has been, but that’s not the same as beingabsent.

He doesn’t respond when I text, so I head to the main house, peeking into the dining room first. Dinner is laid out, and a few of the ranchers are seated already, as well as my dad, but no Remi. Ash gives me a smile when he sees me in the doorway, but I hold up a finger to let him know I’ll be a minute. He nods, looking a little concerned by whatever he sees on my face.

Heading upstairs, I make my way to Remi’s room. The door isn’t shut, but I still knock once before easing it open the rest of the way. As I’d worried, Remi is lying in bed, the lights off and his drape drawn shut. Colton is with him, sitting against the wall, his hand soothing over Remi’s back. There’s a pillow in front of Remi’s face.

“Migraine day?” I ask Colton, knowing Remi won’t be wearing his processor right now.

Colton nods, frowning. “Bad one.”

“Does he need a new ice pack?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” I say, easing back out of the room and heading downstairs. As I’m pulling an ice pack from the freezer, Ash walks into the kitchen.

“Hey, everything okay?” he asks, grabbing a pitcher of water from the counter.

“Remi has a migraine,” I tell him.

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