Page 41 of Unspoken Promises

Julia places two in the sink. “So how is my boy Gabriel doing? Or can you even tell me?”

Dad takes Ava’s plate from in front of her. “He doesn’t need that kind of privacy anymore but he still never talks about his work anyway.”

Julia is always supportive of my brother who used to be in the Special Forces and never really found a sure path forward.

“As long as he’s safe.”

A complacent laugh leaves my dad’s lips. “I’ve had to accept I won’t know either way, but he’s alive. That boy has always been aloof.”

“And you, Luis? And Ava, of course,” Julia asks, leaning against the counter. “How are you finding Echo Valley so far?”

They look at each other as if sharing some secret. I never would have expected Dad’s first friend here to be a twenty-five-year-old hacker girl. But then again he’s always gotten along with people of all ages. As a rancher, he took them in young and watched them grow into men. And I guess until a year ago, he lived with my sister. Shay lived with him all her life until only about a year ago when she moved in with Logan and turned up married all in the same day. We’re all happy for her and my nephew, Antonio, but I’m sure Dad misses her. Maybe he sees a bit of Shay in Ava.

Then again, Ava is bright sunshine, and my sister? She sure knows how to rain down if need be.

In any case, I appreciate how comfortable Ava is in my father’s presence. Maybe she feels the warmth of her uncle in my father.

“The town couldn’t be more welcoming,” Dad says. “Coming from Starlight Canyon where folks are tight, I worried it might be hard to make friends, but not at all. The opposite really. James at the bookstore already offered to tellpeople about my book club.” He rubs his hands together excitedly.

Santi puts his elbows on the table and fingertips together. “I take it you’ve joined the Smut Squad then, Ava?”

She giggles. “I just wish it could meet more than once a month.”

“I can’t read that fast,” Dad says, but with no apologies.

Santi is sly about it. “I suspect those are the types of books you like to read nice and slow anyway.”

Ava lets out a bigger laugh. “You guys could join us.” She lands her gaze on my brothers one by one, going around the table with some sort of non-verbal invitation that eventually comes to me.

But when our gazes meet, her smile gets nervously stiff, and she drops her gaze bashfully. She’s fucking gorgeous when she gets all shy.

I’ve never tried reading a spicy book but I could see them becoming a quick addiction if that woman was the narrator.

“I’ll tell the stable hands about it,” Santi says. “I’m sure you’ll get some attendance from that lot. Hell, maybe I’ll come, too. Not that I want to be talking about that kind of shit with my dad…” He reconsiders and changes the subject because whatever goes through his head is too weird to allow there for long. “Anyway… speaking of the stables… Zo, what happened the other day when you stopped gun training?”

I notice Ava’s hands ball up into fists on her lap, and she turns to me with steady eyes, and yet I know a plea when I see one.

“We were trying to concentrate,” I answer.

Ava’s fingertips relax, and she rewards me with a gracious smile.

“Well, we’ll have to work out a schedule if you two are up there more often now. I have two thoroughbreds not fit to race, so Bran’s training them as hunters to head to England before too long. They need to be comfortable with gunfire.”

“I can’t believe that’s still legal,” Ava says, not hiding her disgust.

“It’s not. But I have a few clients overseas who run kill-free hunts and they still do clay-pigeon shooting and target practice on horseback to replicate the idea of hunts. I’ll tell you, those horses have to be competent. And fearless. People think it’s hard to train a racehorse, but a hunt horse? Not every horse can do that. But Bran is incredible. Speaking of, are you still coming on Friday to the stables, Ava?”

Fucking Bran.

“Yeah. Of course.”

Julia claps her hands together. “Right. Time for dessert. Sorry about the nuts, Ava. How about some mint tea? Join me in the veg garden and we might find some late berries? I have some cream?”

Ava gets up. “Sounds great.”

“Mind if I see what you have out there?” My nosy dad always wants to see what and how other people are growing.

“Of course.”

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