Page 98 of Brim Over Boot
There’s a beat of silence in which Remi squeezes my arm again, and then Jackson grunts, nodding as if he expected as much.What now?
“Colton dear,” my mom says, her hand going to her chest. “You nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought you might be dying.”
“No, uh, just bi,” I answer, a little dumbfounded.
My dad nods several times. “Huh,” is all he says.
“Welcome to the club,” Jackson puts in.
“Congratulations, sweetheart,” my mom adds. “Does this mean you’ll be introducing us to the man who’s been leaving bite marks all over your neck?”
“Oh myGod,” I groan, scrubbing my neck harshly, as if that could erase the evidence of Noah’s bruises. “No. Nuh-uh. That’s not a thing. We’re not talking about that.”
My mom only smiles, my dad snickering.
“Y’all are the worst,” I mutter, even as my chest fills with something that feels suspiciously like warmth.
“Doing all right?” Lawson asks, the first time he’s spoken up.
“Yeah,” I tell him and the rest of the family. I meet Remi’s eye, and he gives me an encouraging smile. “It’s been a surprise, and I’m still tryna figure out a few things. But I’m good.”
Jackson reaches across the table, giving my hand a squeeze in a show of supremely uncharacteristic affection.
“Shit,” I realize. “I forgot about Ash.”
“I can give him the news,” Jackson offers, to which I nod.
“So,” my dad says, slapping the tops of his thighs. “Who’s making lunch?”
Conversation starts up again, the lot of us saying goodbye to Lawson even though we’ll surely see him this evening, my dad putting in thatenchiladas sound good if anyone would be so inclined, to which my mom suggests my dad get on it.
And all the while, there’s a smile on my face. Maybe I do still have some things to figure out when it comes to a certain farrier here in Darling.
But I couldn’t have asked for a better family by my side.
Chapter 28
Noah
“Check.”
I grunt, eyeing the board.
My uncle sits back in his chair, hands folded over his stomach. “Is it serious?”
“Walt,” I warn.
“I’m allowed to ask about it,” he says primly. “I’m your family. And he’s been coming round for a while now.”
I shake my head, reaching for my rook before finding a flaw in my plan and setting my hand back on the table. “I shouldn’t be surprised you noticed.”
He snorts. “No, you shouldn’t. You two kept sneaking around like teens. Confident like teens, too, thinking you wouldn’t be caught.”
“I wasn’t tryingnotto get caught,” I respond. “I was just…trying to be discreet.”
“For whose benefit? Mine?”
I sigh. “Partially,” I admit. “But also…for his.”
