Page 132 of Rough Ride

Johnny raised an eyebrow at him. “Why, Elijah. I would never rub anything in your face.”

“Who’s Elijah?” Billy asked.

“That’s what we call Eli when we’re trying to get under his skin,” I explained to the boy.

“Oh,” he said, treating it like it was averyserious topic.

“Don’t act like strangers,” Sawyer barked. “Dig in.”

We passed the food around and caught up on each other’s lives. Even though we lived less than an hour from Fort Worth, Liz and I rarely got a chance to see each other. We were both so busy with our lives. Now that the ranch was finished, though, I wanted to have them visit more often.

Travis and Liz raved about the steak. And when I bit into my piece and moaned happily, Eli sulked like a child.

But when I pulled my phone out and discreetly texted him something scandalous under the table, he grinned like a boy who had just learned he was getting two Christmases.

“We brought ice cream for dessert,” Liz said when the meal was over. “Local, fromMelt. None of that Bluebell nonsense.”

“That ice cream is what I miss the most about living in Fort Worth,” I sighed.

Liz cleared her throat.

“Other than my best friend Liz, I mean,” I quickly added.

She nodded once.

“Should we get dessert now?” Johnny asked. “Or show everyone the surprise?”

Billy and I perked up and asked, “There’s a surprise?” in unison.

“Been working on it in the barn for the last month,” Sawyer answered.

“It’s from me, too,” Eli insisted. “I designed it.”

“And I did all theactualwork,” Sawyer said, jaw clenching.

I turned to Johnny. “And you knew about this?”

He smiled warmly. “It was kind of my idea. Two years in the making.”

Eli hopped up and took my hand. “Dessert can wait.”

All of us left the table and walked out to the barn. Dusty trotted alongside us, wagging his tail happily while licking at Billy’s hand, which was probably sticky from dinner.

One half of the barn was a workshop where Sawyer tinkered and repaired everything on the ranch. I rarely came in here—I was still scarred from the brown recluse incident. There was an object leaning against one wall, maybe twenty feet long, covered by a white sheet.

“So that’s where one of my bedsheets went,” I muttered.

“We had to keep it covered up. Just in case you wandered in here.” Eli stood at one end, and Sawyer stood at the other. “Ready?”

Together, they removed the sheet.

It was a rusted iron metal thing, curving like a rainbow from one end to the other. It was difficult to make out in the dim light of the barn, but my breath seized in my lungs when I read what it said:

SKY EYES RANCH

The name was wrought in iron, welded to the arching frame.

Emotion overwhelmed me as I stared from the sign to my three happy cowboys. We had been discussing what to name the ranch, but hadn’t come up with any good options yet. Or at least, that’s what they had led me to believe.

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