Page 50 of Beat around the Bush
She rolled her eyes while Bailey set his felt cowboy hat back on his head. “You should come to the skijoring event tomorrow,” Bailey said to me.
“Skijoring?” I had no idea what that was.
“People pull skiers on horseback. They do some small jumps and try to beat each other’s times around the track,” Lettie answered.
I looked up to find Lennon watching me, waiting for my answer. Bringing my gaze back to Lettie, I said, “Sure. That sounds fun. I just don’t know how to ski.”
She smiled. “Neither do I, but it’s fun to watch. We can drink naughty hot chocolates while they do all the work.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I said.
“You ready to go, Huckleberry?” Bailey asked Lettie. She’d told me during dinner that he called her that because of a prankhe pulled that landed her ass in a bucket of huckleberries when they were younger.
She reached up to kiss his cheek. “Yup.”
“How ‘bout you, Oak?” Lennon asked.
Speaking of nicknames.
Heat crept up my neck for literally no reason at all. He’d called me that probably a dozen times before. “I’m ready.”
Lennon held the front door open for us, and Callan shouted his goodbye as we headed out the door. Brandy had left shortly after Travis went to bed for some emergency at her mom’s house, so I’d already said my goodbyes to her earlier.
We headed down the porch steps, saying our goodbyes to Bailey and Lettie as they got in Bailey’s truck.
Lennon opened the passenger door, giving me space to get in the vehicle.
“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. They won’t be offended if you say no,” he said, still standing with the door open as I buckled myself in.
“I do want to go,” I admitted. It was fun hanging out with them, and I liked seeing this side of Lennon. Who he was when he was around family and not just when he was a manager and owner of a retail store.
His brows pulled together. “You do?”
I nodded. “Yeah. It’ll be fun.”
He looked down at my shoes, a frown pulling at his mouth. He closed my door and came around, starting the engine to get the heat going.
As Lennon drove me back to my house, I stared out the window as we passed snow-covered fields and wondered if I’d said yes not because I wanted to hang out with his siblings, but to get another chance to see Lennon again outside of work.
20
Lennon
Jacey and Leo were holding down the fort at Tumbleweed Feed to allow me to have today off. I rarely had a day out of that place, so I pushed all work-related thoughts to the side. I could stress about the leasing company not emailing me back tomorrow.
Today was a day to have fun and forget about that shit.
My eyes darted to my watch for what had to be the hundredth time at this point. Oakley was supposed to show up fifteen minutes ago, and I was damn close to getting in my truck to go find her and make sure she hadn’t driven herself off the road again.
“She’s probably fine, Len. Chill out,” Bailey said as he handed me a beer.
Probablydidn’t make me feel any better.
I took the beer in my gloved hand, but didn’t take a sip.
“Women give us a run for our money, don’t they?” he asked before knocking his drink back.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Lettie?”
