Page 55 of Roads Behind Us
“Dick,” I said under my breath, and Pepper huffed and trotted off to the opposite side of his pen. “So, Tulsa and Blue, huh? Should we plan a horse weddin’?”
Rye laughed. “I’m sure Athena would have a ball with that, but maybe the celebration should be for somebody else?” He speared me with a look, and I knew right then that he knew what I’d been up to last night with Bea.
“Don’t start, and I know you and Athena are in cahoots. Don’t you even try to deny it.”
He slapped a hand to his chest in a surprised, “who, me?” gesture. He said, “I’m happy for you, man.”
“It’s not— She’s not— Just mind your business.”
“Okay, okay,” he said, chuckling.
“How’d you know? Shit. You don’t think Athena knows, do you?”
“Naw. Don’t stress. Your bedroom’s right above the livin’ room, and I was up. Had a weird dream at one thirty last night. I popped in my earbuds, but it still took me a good twenty minutes to get back to sleep. Man, I can’t wait to get into the new house. Sleepin’ in the barn ain’t the picnic you might imagine, and it’s a pain goin’ back and forth between here and Aubrey’s place, but listenin’ to you havin’ sex is so not my idea of a good night’s rest.”
My face had to be red and hot enough to start a fire. “Can we change the subject, please?”
“Yup, but here’s another whopper. My dream was about Candy.”
Seriously? “We both dreamt about Candy then,” I said. “What’d she say to you?”
“You ask that like you think I had a conversation with a dead person in my dream.”
“I did. I always do. It feels like it’s really her.”
“Yeah, it’s weird you say that ’cause that’s how I felt too. All she said was ‘Help him,’ and she told me she likes the barn and Tulsa. Oh, and she brought up the time we all got drunk and I ran through one of my dad’s barns naked and got bit on the ass by a mare.” Rye let out a throaty chuckle, but then he pursed his lips, pausing. He stared at me, and I knew there was some kind of bromance check-in coming. “There somethin’ you need help with, buddy?”
“I don’t think so. I mean, besides, you know, cookin’, workin’, and child rearin’.”
“You’re doin’ just fine with all that stuff on your own. Maybe a little bit slower than usual.” He eyed me. “This is a weird conversation.”
“Agreed,” I said. “I’m changin’ the subject. So I was lookin’ at the plans last night for the cabins and outbuildings. What do you think about addin’ a boat house in the spring? Guests will want lake activities. Fishin’ and maybe paddleboats? The lake’s not huge. Not big enough for speedboats, but we can definitely do kayaks and canoes. Maybe a big party pontoon boat?”
“Great idea.”
“And Athena thinks we should have a little concession stand in the rec hall to sell, like, ice cream cones and chips and stuff in the summer, and trail mix and hot chocolate in the fall. She said, ‘Think summer camp but posh and less invasive.’”
He laughed. “Boy, your kid sure is smart.”
Yeah.” I nodded, looking past my house to where Lee Lake lay. I missed my early morning swims, but the water would be too cold now anyhow.
Fall was in full bloom. The Aspens stood up tall, like yellow crayons in a box. Against the backdrop of the blue morning sky, the tree line and mountains beyond looked more like a painting than they did real life.
“I like it,” I said. “We’re not gonna be all-inclusive, and the guests will probably make the majority of their food in their cabin kitchens or they’ll eat in town, but just to have somethin’ extra, especially during the peak seasons. And remember we talked about offerin’ guided horseback tours and hikin’?”
“Yeah. I talked to Presley about it,” Rye said, referring to his friend and his dad’s former cattle boss. “Obviously, he won’t be doin’ the horseback tours. We’d get sued if we unleashed him on guests, but he said he knows a guy who could handle that operation. He’s a seasonal cowboy, travels around to different ranches, but Pres thinks he might settle down for the right job.”
“Cool. You know, we’ve got the barn and the cow shed, but we’re gonna need another barn and a bunkhouse. My dad’s old barn is good for equipment storage, but not much else. If this little cattle endeavor of yours pans out, we’re gonna need a lot of things.”
“Yeah, and your inn idea wasn’t a bad one either. Maybe that’s somethin’ we can add later. We’ve got the land for it, for people who do want all-inclusive getaways.”
“I was thinkin’ about that too. I’ll ask Bea about it. She’ll have an idea about how long somethin’ like that would take to build.”
Rye tapped his chin. “And if she were the one in charge of that build…”
“What?”
“She’d have to be here to oversee it all.”
