Page 25 of Ashes of the Past
“Come on in,” I say to Joanne, gesturing for her to follow me. “Nick, one of the ranch hands, is out back with Dad, working on the grill for our Sunday lunch. I’ve got all the fixin’s inside, and they’ll need to be pulled out.”
“I can’t impose,” Joanne says.
“Do you need to get home to Rick?” Jack asks, referring to her firefighter husband.
“No, he’s on shift until tomorrow morning.”
“Then, you’re having lunch with us today,” I tell her with a shrug. “Come on, all the ranch hands are eating lunch with us, too. The kids are playing. Let them burn off their energy for a while longer.”
She bites her bottom lip, her eyes flitting to her brother’s. “My brother is having lunch with you guys, too.”
“All the ranch hands do.”
“I have work to get done,” Jack says at the same time as I do.
I turn around and pin him with a stare. “All work stops for the Sunday meal. It’s a weekly tradition that my grandma started, and it won’t change because of you.”
His eyes go wide for a second and Joanne snickers. He nods without saying anything and then turns to go back out to the barn.
“We’ll stay.” Joanne smiles before she turns to watch her brother go into the bar. “I knew you two would hit it off.”
“We havenothit it off.”
“It’s just playful aggression,” she says teasingly. “It’s beautiful.”
I roll my eyes as we go into the house. “It’s really not. The only nice thing about him is you and your mom.”
“He wasn’t always so angry,” she sighs.
“Life has a funny way of doing that to people.”
The two of us move about the kitchen, pulling out the fruits and vegetables to cut up and finishing up the deviled eggs and the potato salad. There’s a sausage and cheese dip in the crockpot that the kids keep running in to try as well.
“What were you and my brother talking about when I got here?” she asks.
“He fired Lane today.”
“No shit?” she gasps. “That was a long time coming, right? He’s always been a cocky little jerk.”
“It was, but he made more problems for me than I care to think about right now.”
“Hopefully, he really leaves for the circuit like he’s telling everyone.”
“Let’s hope. The less I have to be around him or Clay, the better my life is. It’s better for Liv, too.”
The kids come back inside the house, and I look at Olivia. “Hey, can you go out and bring these plates out to Popo and Nick?”
She nods, taking the plates and scurrying out the back door with the other two kids in tow to where the guys are grilling. A few minutes later, they return carrying plates of burgers, brats, hot dogs, and even a few steaks.
“Why did your grandpa call you Brynn?” Ava asks. “Isn’t that your mom’s name?”
“He forgets sometimes,” I reply softly. “Hasn’t your mom ever called you by the wrong name?”
“Yeah, sometimes when we’re in trouble, she says all of our names, even the dogs, before she gets to our name,” Bret laughs.
“He’s not wrong,” Joanne giggles.
Olivia’s eyes flit to mine knowingly, and I feel a pang of sadness. She’s a smart girl, and I’m sure she’s starting to see changes in her grandfather, too.
