Page 252 of Things Left Unsaid

I hitch a shoulder. “I’m not saying you’d win but sure.”

“In this instance, I told him to go and spend some time with Cole and to stop with the passive-aggressive comments to me. He can do that anytime. Whereas he barely sees Cole.” He shoots me a look. “You haven’t eaten anything.”

“I’m fine.”

Imayhave left it longer than I should to eat because of how crazy the day’s been, but I know my limits. Still, I appreciate his care as he hands me a cheeseburger in an oat bran bun.

“It’s the special ketchup,” he assures me, and that it’s in my bread with my ketchup makes the burger better.

I know he cares, but this is like a food-shaped hug. And it tastes great.

As I eat, he asks, “Everything okay with Mum? I saw her come up to you.”

“Sure. She’s being nice.”

“Glad to hear it,” he says darkly.

I arch a brow at him. “You couldn’t expect her to warm up to me. Not when she didn’t know if I’d be sticking around.”

The ‘hiss’ of beef grilling and the ‘pop’ of hot dogs roasting are louder than his next words: “And are you?”

My smile is wry. “You know you don’t have to ask me that.”

The warmth in his eyes would be enough to keep me toasty on a cold winter day.

“A husband likes to check in.”

“Consider yourself checked in.”

“For how long?”

“At my hotel? At least, say, forty years.”

He clucks his tongue. “Fifty would be better.”

“Every rancher nickels and dimes.”

“It’s in our blood,” he agrees with a wink. The ‘our’ has me smiling at him. But he nudges me with his elbow. “Would you mind checking on Callan?”

“Why?”

“I don’t want him to start an argument with Cody and Cole. They’re bickering so one is incoming.”

My man has eyes in the back of his head, I swear.

“He’s on your side—” I raise a hand to stop him from arguing. “Of course he is. Don’t answer that. He’s mad. You broke his trust.”

“I know, but I’d prefer him to air our dirty laundry later and not in front of yourgrand-mère,” he says with a sad chuckle.

“I dunno. You’ll make her a very happy woman if you do,” I sing.

His mouth curves into a sheepish grin. “I wouldn’t ask you to be their referee, not when Cole’s so, well,Cole, but?—”

“You don’t have to say another word.”

With a wink, I pop onto tiptoe and kiss his cheek. As I drift over to his brothers, I grow aware that mine hijack Colt because he immediately bursts out laughing. I’m glad—he deserves the break in tension.

His siblings, surprisingly,aren’ttalking about arson, insurance fraud, or anything related to Colt’s fears.

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