Page 79 of The Life We Left Behind

Cade leaped in the air with a cheer, fist-pumping as he landed. “Let’s do it!” Val yipped in excitement and danced around his feet like she hadn’t just sprinted out to one of the pastures minutes ago.

Booker laughed as Cade started to do a weird little dance, shaking his head at his antics. “Let me pull Doc’s tack off, and I’ll join you.” He glanced at me in question, and I nodded happily.

I wouldn’t begrudge Booker getting to know his nephew. Cade was an amazing kid, and Booker was family. Or at least the part of my family that I wanted my son to know.

“Cade and I will pull out the quads,” I told him, seeing one of those rare Booker smiles that seemed to becoming habit today.

The two of us jogged over to the barn with Val on our heels as Booker finished up with Doc. Cade rushed inside, looking around like it was the most interesting place he’d ever been. In reality, it was just a dusty old barn with a haystack, some equipment I didn’t really know much about, and a tarp covering what we were looking for.

I grabbed a corner and pulled it off with a flourish while Cade ooh-ed and aah-ed like I’d done something impressive and then laughed again.

The sight of the five old quads struck me in the chest. It had been a while since I’d taken mine out. Booker used his all the time, and Dex might have had reason to use his, but the other two had probably sat here unused for nearly a decade. Not that you’d know it from looking at them. They were all in pristine condition. Surprisingly so.

“My grandfather bought these when me and my brothers were around your age. This was his ranch, and he left it to Booker when he passed. The four of us would tear around hereall summer with our friend Dex.” I smiled sadly at the few happy memories I had as a kid. This ranch had always been a refuge for us. Booker the most. He was the only one out of the four of us that wanted to be with the animals. It was why our grandfather had left the ranch to him, and none of us had minded. Booker was a part of this land. It had been obvious since we were all old enough to see it.

Cade looked at the quads again and then turned to me. “I have three uncles?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, Xander and Gage haven’t been home for a long time, though. Hopefully, you’ll get to meet them soon.”

I had no idea how true that was, but I’d do everything I could to make it happen. Especially Gage. I wanted my brother to come home. He didn’t have to run anymore, and he deserved to know that.

“I’ve…erm, never ridden one of these before,” Cade said nervously as I grabbed the handles of Booker’s quad and released the brake to wheel it out of the barn.

“Don’t worry, you can ride with me,” I told him. “I think your mom would kill me if I let you loose on one of these solo.”

He laughed then because we both knew exactly how true that was.

I’d just got my quad out of the barn and was showing Cade how it worked when Booker jogged over to us with a grin on his face that I hadn’t seen since he was a kid.

“You ready for this?” he asked.

“Race you to the creek?” I suggested slyly.

We hadn’t done this since we were kids, and Booker laughed at the suggestion. It didn’t stop him from agreeing, though.

“Last one there has to do the grilling,” Booker said as he climbed on the quad and turned over the engine. Val sat down and watched us cautiously. I could see her practically vibrating on the spot. If Booker was going to work, she would have beengoing with him, and there wasn’t a better game around if you were a ranch dog. “Val, stay,” Booker barked.

Her ears lowered, and she wandered back into the barn. I could already feel Cade getting ready to go after her.

“Don’t worry, she’s going to find a shady spot and nap the rest of the morning away,” I told him, which seemed to make Cade instantly feel better.

Both the quads rumbled to life as I mirrored his move and then glanced down at Cade who was sitting between my arms. “You okay?”

“Hell yeah!”

Part of me thought I should chastise him, but the excitement and happiness radiating around the three of us was something I hadn’t felt since I was a kid.

“Then let’s smoke his old ass,” I cheered as I twisted the throttle, and the quad shot across the ground as Cade cackled in glee.

Booker’s laughter followed us as I heard him take up the chase, and we turned the corner of the barn, heading for the creek at top speed.

My face ached from the constant smile I’d had on my face for the last three hours as I watched Booker fire up the grill in front of me. I knew he’d let us win. I’d had to slow down at one point for fear that Cade was going to bounce off the quad. He didn’t quite have the hang of standing to absorb the bounce of the shocks just yet. But Book had never once taken the opportunity to fly past us.

It still counted as a win, though, and even though Cade had been gracious enough to tell him that he could maybe win next time, we could both see how happy the kid was.

Booker was showing Cade how the grill worked as I brought the food out that he’d put together this morning while I was vacuuming his immaculate lounge. There was no way he didn’t have a cleaner, and I was starting to think I might need their name because, damn, they did good work.

“Mom’s here!” Cade cheered at the same time that I heard the car driving down the gravel driveway toward the house. Val yipped in excitement, bouncing around with him. She’d barely left his side since we got back on the quads. Something told me the two of them were going to be inseparable whenever Cade was at the ranch.

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