Page 44 of Alive and Wells

“It was a long day, kid. Too long of a ride for four-year-olds.” All the gruffness in Austin’s voice evaporates the moment his words are focused on her. A flurry of emotion fills my chest watching it. I’ve seen them interacting plenty of times before, and it’s always sweet—Odessa’s lucky to have so many uncles and honorary uncles looking out for her—but it’s affecting me so much more tonight.

I wonder what he’d be like with his own kids.

She thinks about his answer for a moment. “Maybe next year when I’m five?”

“Definitely next year when you’re five,” Austin says.

With a little head bob, she seems to accept that as a perfectly reasonable answer, and returns to her dinner.

“Did you take her to the falls, too?” Kate leans back in her chair.

Austin’s glass clunks heavily onto the wood table. “No.”

I look over at him, trying to figure out the sudden shift from grump to grumpier. “How can I be expected to decide my favourite spot on the ranch when you’re holding out on me? I like waterfalls.”

“The water’s hardly flowing this time of year. You didn’t miss much.”

“Really? I thought it’s usually pretty lovely still?” Kate frowns, looking over to Jackson for backup, but he simply shrugs. Rather than Austin’s overall grumpiness, I think Jackson simply doesn’t give enough of a shit to get involved in anything Kate’s worked up over. That’s why he’s always quiet.

For the rest of the meal, nobody speaks except for Odessa. She’s eager to show off a new song she made up today and tell Uncle Austin all about a family of squirrels she found by the chicken coop. Thank God for her. If this is how tense a regular dinner is for the Wells family, it’s no wonder why Austin refused to come around when his dad was here, too. The food’s great, but I’d much rather be eating KD and hot dogs on Austin’s couch again.

“Are things always that weird?” I ask the moment we’re out of the house.

“No.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

Silly me.Somehow, I thought he might be more open with me after everything that’s happened over the past forty-eight hours.

19

Austin

Familydinnersweredesignedby somebody who wants hell on Earth, I’m sure.

Kate wasn’t being malicious in bringing up the falls. She couldn’t have been. Unless she had a secret conversation with Savannah in the years since she left, there’s no way Kate knows anything about the falls. Or about the proposal. None of it matters, though, because she got into my head. There are damn good reasons I didn’t take Cecily to the waterfall, and it has nothing to do with the summer weather running it dry. I don’t need yet another reminder that I’m already in too deep with another person who’s most likely going to leave me.

Before dinner, I was looking forward to continuing what we started in the stables. After dinner, I’m so far in my own head, I just want to go to sleep.

“Are things always that weird?” Cecily quietly asks as we walk down the front steps.

“No.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

A puff of air forces its way from my nostrils. “No.”

As we approach the farmhand cabins, she says, “If you still want me to stay at your place tonight, I need to grab some clean clothes first.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, and Austin?” She stops in her doorway. “If you want me to stay, you need to cut this shitty attitude. I’m not interested in hanging out with a grumpy asshole. Whatever you’re thinking about right now—you either drop it by the time I’m back or we can talk about it.”

I’m kicking both her car tire and myself when she reappears a minute later.

“Yeah, yeah. Save the lecture about my tires.” She rolls her eyes, tucking folded clothes under her arm. “I swear I’ll get around to it.”

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