Page 85 of The Backup Bride Proposal

“Shit, you scared the hell out of me, boy.” His grandfather flipped the light on in the kitchen and glared at him. “Thought someone had broken in.”

“Sorry, no. Just me.”

Grandpa let the dogs in and fed them breakfast. He fixed a cup of coffee and took a seat across from Kane at the kitchen table. “Trouble sleeping?”

Kane shrugged. “Just got up early.”

“Tell me what’s got you worried.”

He knew his grandpa would keep digging until he talked. “Just worried about seeing Dad today and wondering what’s going on with him. But it’s probably nothing.”

“Maybe.” Grandpa took a swig of coffee, then continued. “Maybe it is somethin’. Won’t know until we see him and get a feel for what’s up. You might wanna be prepared for him not wanting to talk about it, if there is somethin’ going on.”

“Yeah, I get that. It’ll be good just to see him.”

“It will. Been too long.”

Donna came in, followed by Tess, then Mae came downstairs, and suddenly the kitchen bustled with activity and conversation about anything and everything except Kane’s dad. He pushed thoughts of his father to the side and ate his breakfast, then headed outside to work.

Work would get him through, keep the anxious thoughts at bay.

Mae was working inside with Donna today. Donna had actually asked for help, which was highly unusual. Mae had told Kane she was delighted to do some cooking prep in advance of Thanksgiving, so he’d do his thing outside.

He fed horses, saddled them, cleaned stalls and worked up a hell of a sweat. Time flew, and before he realized, it was past lunchtime.

Which meant it was time for a sandwich. He went to the house, up the steps, and heard laughing. He smiled listening to Mae’s lilting laughter.

Obviously they were all having fun. He liked how perfectly Mae fit into his life on the ranch, and how easily his family had accepted her. That had a lot to do with who she was.

He opened the door, hoping to join in on the good times, then stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his father sitting at the table, surrounded by Donna, Mae and Tess. Surprisingly, his father was the one laughing the loudest, swiping a tear from his eye as he kept laughing.

Mae looked up and grinned. “Kane. I was wondering if you were going to come in for lunch.”

His dad looked over at him and gave Kane a smile. “Hey, son.” He got up and came around the table to embrace Kane in a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”

Kane returned the hug. “Hi, Dad. How are you?”

“Couldn’t be better. How about you?”

“Doing well.” He looked around. “Mom come with you?”

“Oh, well, no.” His dad shifted from one foot to the other, a clear-cut signal that he was uncomfortable with the conversation. “She’s…uh, spending Thanksgiving with your auntSerena. They haven’t caught up in a while so she really wanted to see her. They were going to go antiquing over the holiday weekend.”

Now that sounded more normal—or at least normal for lately. “Uh-huh.”

“Your dad’s been telling us about some of his travel experiences,” Mae said. “Some of them are very amusing.”

“Really.” His dad hadn’t told him anything at all about his travel experiences lately, mainly because their phone calls never lasted more than five minutes.

“Sit,” Donna said. “I’ll fix you something to eat.”

Kane grabbed a chair at the table and sat, his dad sitting next to him.

And then his grandfather walked in and his dad stood right up.

“James,” his grandpa said to his father.

“Hey, Dad.” They hugged and then Grandpa sat at the head of the table. Tess gave him a look and Grandpa let out a couple decent coughs.

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