Page 117 of When We Burn

“He’s been married to the ranch lately. I know he’s stressed out, but he won’t ask for help. It’ll do him good to let loose for a while today.”

We park near the Snow Ghost pub, and once I get Birdie’s hat and gloves on her, we take the sleds out of the bed of the truck and trudge over to the area they’ve marked off for sledding.

We aren’t the only ones up here.

“How many runs have you taken?” I ask Blake and Brooks, who are laughing about something as we approach. The snow is still falling up here, and it’s damn cold, but it feels good.

“None yet. We’re waiting for the peanut,” Blake says, smiling at Birdie. “How do you feel today, cupcake?”

“Good. I want to sled.”

“The princess has spoken,” Brooks says.

“Where’s Beck?” I ask.

“Not here yet,” Bee says as she steps over to us, a hot beverage in her hands. “He said he’ll be here in a little while.”

“Why are you drinking that when we’re about to sled?” I ask her.

“You’reabout to sled. I’m going to watch.” Bee grins.The woman grew up on a ranch, but you’d never know it. She’s all about fashion and anything that keeps her clean and off a horse.

She’s a girly girl.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

“Hold my purse,” Dani says, passing it to Bee, who slings it across her body. “Let’s do this!”

Dani grabs a sled, takes Birdie by the hand, and leads her over to the hill.

All four of us stand side by side, watching as my girls sit on the sled and then belly laugh as they fly down the snow.

“That’s cute.”

I turn at the sound of Beck’s voice and smile. “There he is. Yeah, it’s fucking cute.”

“I’m going with them,” Brooks says, and we all, except for Bee, follow suit.

For the next hour, we play in the snow. We throw snowballs. We make snow angels.

We laugh.

God, we laugh a whole lot.

“Smile,” Dani says, holding her phone up to get a picture of Birdie and me sitting on the sled. “Got it.”

Finally, Birdie looks up at me and says, “I need hot chocolate.”

“I think we all do,” Dani says. “Let’s go to the lodge and have some. What do you think?”

With nods all around, we make our way to the parking lot to shed some layers and put the sleds in the trucks, and then walk up to the pub where we order around of hot chocolates and then take our drinks to a lounge with views of the snow and the mountains.

Dani, Bee, and Birdie have settled on a couch, cuddled up together, talking and drinking their hot chocolate.

And the sight of Birdie snuggled up to Dani makes my heart ache in a great way.

“So, what’s up with you, man?” Brooks asks Beckett. “I’m surprised you came up here.”

“I’m swamped.” He rubs his hand over the back of his neck. Beck is built like the rest of us. Well past six feet, with the Blackwell dark hair and eyes. He’s the only brother with a beard, but it works for him. “I’ve had machinery issues, a sick cow, a coyote got into my chickens?—”

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