Crushing on Love (The Bradens of Peaceful Harbor, Book Four) (13 page)

Rex took off his hat and ran a hand through his thick black hair. “Shannon’s only here a few weeks.”

There it was, the real reason Rex Braden was parked beside him.

“Yup.” Steve crossed his arms, holding Rex’s stare. “She’s a big girl, Rex.”

“She may be, but she’ll always be my younger cousin.”

“Then, if anything, you should be proud that I’m the man taking her home at night.” Steve opened his truck door and nodded to Rex. “See ya around, buddy.”

He drove to his parents’ house to pick up the box of things his mother had set aside for him, wishing he was back home with Shannon. She made everything brighter, and right now he could use a little sunshine.

He pulled up to his modest childhood home and found his parents on the front porch swing, each reading a paperback. He smiled as he ascended the porch steps. His father had worked two full-time jobs Steve’s whole life. He was an agricultural engineer, and he ran their family ranch, working from sunup until well after sundown seven days a week. Sometimes he wondered if his father had worked so much to keep his mind off of the guilt he felt over breaking Hal’s trust all those years ago. When his father had retired from his corporate job several years ago, he’d continued running the ranch full-time. That was around the time Jade and Rex had gotten together and the feud between the Bradens and Johnsons had come to a head. He was glad the feud was over and pleased his father had come to an agreement with Treat, who’d bought two hundred acres of his land, enabling Steve’s parents to hire the help they needed so they could finally slow down and spend more time together.

“Hey, Ma.” Steve leaned down and hugged his mother’s slim frame. She smelled like home cooking and unconditional love.

She gazed up at him with a warm smile. His mother had the skin of a thirty-year-old, smooth and radiant. Her brown hair was now streaked with a few silver threads, the only indication of her age.

“Steven, what’s that look in your eyes? You look…
something
.”

Thinking about his morning, he said, “Pissed off, maybe. Mack and Will are selling their parents’ property, and I was hoping to convince them to put it into conservation, but they need the money.”

“It’s tough, making a living these days,” his father said. Earl Johnson was a serious man. Steve couldn’t remember a time when his father wasn’t working, organizing, or giving him or Jade a mini-lesson in something.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll figure something out.”

“Have you talked to Treat?” his father asked.

When Steve was younger, his father had hoped he’d take over the ranch, but Steve’s dreams were too big to be contained to a few hundred acres, and his father had eventually accepted his decision. Knowing Steve wasn’t interested in ranching, he’d also given Treat the first right of refusal for future sales. That had taken away worries about his parents’ land eventually falling into the wrong hands.

“Not yet, Pop. I wanted to talk to you about that.” They didn’t often talk about the forty-year feud that had shadowed their lives.

“Son, what happened all those years ago had nothing to do with Treat.” His father’s face went serious. “Hell, the whole damn mess was my fault.”

His father had made a hasty decision in an effort to try to save their family’s ranch. He’d bought horses from a backhanded, cheating thief who had hurt Hal’s wife. It didn’t matter that he’d done it because he’d seen no other way out, or that he’d been too prideful to ask Hal for money. He’d wanted to make it on his own, and he’d made a bad decision. When he’d finally come clean about it, it had cost him his best friend and his reputation.
Good intentions only go so far
. One hasty decision had put a cloud over their heads for decades.

“No, it wasn’t,” Steve argued. “It was both you and Hal, and you know it.”

He’d never blamed his father, even though he’d been the one who had made the dirty business deal. The feud had been a two-way street—a battle of pride between two men who had been best friends and had turned their backs on each other—that, along with a misguided relationship, reinforced how unpredictable humans were.

“Maybe so, son, but what I did sparked the feud in the first place.” His father blew out a long breath. “That’s all water under the bridge now. It’s behind us, and should have no bearing on any business decisions you make. Treat’s a good man, and if he is able to help preserve the history and land of Weston, you know darn well he will. It’s worth a conversation.”

Steve ran a hand through his hair, wishing for the first time that he had endless funds to take care of things like this on his own.

“Steven,” his father said thoughtfully. “I raised you to be a prideful man, but don’t let that pride stand between you and what it is you want to achieve. I know how much this town means to you. Think about it; that’s all I’m suggesting.”

“It’s not your job to save Weston, honey,” his mother said.

Sure feels like it
. “I can’t just sit back and watch a development come in and take over, expanding our roads, ruining the environment, and worse, demolishing the land.”

“You never have been able to sit back and watch the world change.” His mother’s gaze softened. “I’ll never forget the Save the Creek program you started in fifth grade. Remember that?”

He smiled with the memory. “Yeah, I remember. They wanted to put a bridge over Kings Creek.”

“You started the effort that stopped that course of action,” his mother said proudly. “I think that was when you made up your mind to make a difference. When you realized you actually
could
.” She reached up and touched the ends of his hair. “That’s the year you stopped letting me trim your hair. Some things never change. Like a mother’s ability to read her children. It’s not anger that I see in your eyes, Steven.”

“Come on, darlin’. Give the boy a break about all that.” His father rose to his feet. He was a burly man, standing eye to eye with Steve. He opened his arms and embraced him.

Steve was two hundred and fifty pounds of sheer muscle. His father was down to two hundred and eighty pounds of steak, potatoes, and anything else he could get his hands on. He’d shed a few pounds after a health scare at Rex and Jade’s wedding, and Steve knew it was a daily battle for him. The man loved food like he loved the mountains.

“Your sister was here earlier,” he said quietly beside Steve’s ear. “Your mother thinks you and Shannon Braden are going to be an item.”

Steve wondered what Shannon had told Jade the other night at Buckley’s. Then again, knowing the way Shannon nearly burst with excitement over everything, she’d probably called Jade on her way out this morning. He scrubbed a hand over his widening smile.

“She’d be right,” he said, and sat in a rocking chair beside them. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, and clasped his hands together.

“Oh, Steven!” His mother squeezed his hand. “I knew it. I just knew it.”

“Ma, it’s very new.”

“Only to you, sweetheart,” she said. “We have all been waiting with bated breath for you to get your head out of the trees and see that incredible woman for what she is.”

Steve shook his head. “Do I want to know who the ‘all’ are that you’re referring to?”

“This is Weston, son,” his father said. “You might be better off asking who
isn’t
included.”

“Great, just great.” His sarcasm was born of sheer habit. He sort of liked knowing whoever they
all
were already pictured them as a couple.

“Oh, honey, please.” His mother shook her head. “You might live up on that mountain, but Weston roots run deep, and all the people who have loved you since the day you were born just want to see you happy.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that. It’s all happening pretty fast. You guys might have seen it coming, but I sure didn’t. One day I was going about my life just fine, able to put her in this untouchable place in my mind. And the next?
Bam!
She occupied my every thought.”

His father laughed. “Son, when you find the right woman, she doesn’t saunter into your life. She invades it, silently and effortlessly, like air or steam, and before you know it, she’s taken up residence in your heart,” he said with a thoughtful gaze. “
That’s
how you know she’s your forever love, like your mother is to me.” His father reached for his mother’s hand and gave it a loving squeeze.

“First of all, there’s no ‘forever love’ here, Pop. And are you really okay with this?”

He recognized the shadowy look in his father’s eyes. He’d seen it his whole life. It was the stern look that made him sit up a little straighter and say things like
sir
and
ma’am
.

“Son, I’ve made my share of mistakes, and y’all paid the price for the biggest of them all. I’m sorry for that, but that’s all in the past. I love Rex Braden as if he were my own flesh and blood, just as he loves Jade. And whomever you fall in love with will be treated the same.”

“Oh, Earl,” his mother said softly, and pressed a kiss to his thick shoulder.

“I didn’t say anything about love,” Steve said.

“You didn’t have to, dear.” His mother stood and smoothed her pretty fitted dress. “Come on, I’ll show you where I put that box.”

Steve followed her inside. “She’s only here for a few weeks, Mom. You need to temper your expectations.”

She led him into the kitchen, where there was a box marked S
TEVE
in big black letters, beside a plate of corn bread—Steve’s favorite. He reached for a piece of corn bread and took a big bite.

“Mm. Delicious.”

“I’ll wrap some up for you.” She wiped a crumb from his whiskers and searched his eyes. “Honey, I don’t have any expectations. Only you and Shannon can decide what’s right for the two of you.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you look like this.” As she wrapped the corn bread, she said, “It’s your expectations I worry about.”

“I don’t have any long-term expectations. At the end of her assignment, she’ll go back to Peaceful Harbor, and I’ll miss her, but I’ll carry on, doing what I love. Fulfilling my life’s passion.”

As he lifted the box, he wondered if his mother heard the lie as blatantly as he did.

AFTER VISITING HIS parents, Steve headed up the mountain in search of Shannon. She’d told him which habitats she was visiting today, making her easy to track down. She was sitting on a rock outcropping humming as she wrote in her notebook. She had her earbuds in, and in an effort not to scare her, he went down the ridge and came up in front of her.

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. She squealed and jumped to her feet.

“Grizz!” She threw her arms around his neck, sending him stumbling backward. He held her tight as he found his footing and got them onto solid ground, then pressed his lips to hers.

“Miss me?”

She took out her earbuds and said, “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too. How’s your research going? I’m pretty sure you’re not going to see much facing this way.” He motioned toward the view of the mountains in the distance.

She sighed and handed him her notebook. He scanned what she’d written.

“Career options?” The rest of the page was blank. “Looks like you’re well on your way to becoming a stargazer, Butterfly.”

“Exactly.” She sank down to the rock, and he sat beside her. “I have no idea what to do or even where to start.”

He set the notebook beside them and held her hand. “Tell me what you enjoy doing.”

“Easy. Kissing you.” She smiled brightly.

He laughed and kissed her again. “Great answer. What else?”

She shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t love it up here. I was just thinking about how I’d love to crawl inside this mountain and experience it from its depths. See the heart of it. I know that sounds weird, but there must be energy inside it that you can feel, right? How could there not be? I mean, just look at all this
life
around us.
That
would be cool.”

“Hm, that would be, but I’m pretty sure that’s not a job. What else might you enjoy?”

“There’s not much I
don’t
enjoy. I like research, but I’m having a hard time with the solitude. And I want to do more than just research. I know it’s important, but I want to make a bigger difference. I want to be
doing
more, and doing it with people. But I want to still have my hands in the rest, because I love, love, love nature.”

“That’s great. So you know you want to do more. Like what?”

“No clue.” She opened her backpack and took out one of the cookies he’d bought the other day. She broke it in half and handed him a piece. “Right now I feel like eating this cookie. I think it’ll get my brain working.”

He pulled her in for another kiss. “I have a feeling your brain is always working. What about teaching?”

“I don’t think I want to be confined to a classroom. Or an office, for that matter. And I think I’d go nuts staring at a computer all day.”

“Have you thought about working in the forest service? Forest service techs work outside, but they work with partners. Or how about working at a nature center or a museum? There are outdoor education programs like nature and science camps for kids and teens. That could be fun. Or work as a lab manager directing and doing research in a university lab.”

“I take back what I said about this not being in your bailiwick. You really know your stuff. In ten seconds you came up with more options than I have all day.”

He draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her against his side. “Please tell me you haven’t been sitting here all day by yourself. I would have come home sooner.”

“Okay, I won’t tell you that, but you should know there are either packs of dogs or coyotes way over there on that ridge. They could have been goats. I couldn’t really tell.” She barely slowed for a breath before pointing across the ravine. “And there’s a hawk that’s been hanging out by those cliffs all day. I saw it snag something, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Probably a rabbit. I felt bad for whatever he got. I hate seeing that circle of life, but at the same time, it was awesome. I’ve never seen a hawk capture its prey before.”