“Of course.”
“Is he going skiing?” Nate asked.
“And desert his post? Incur your wrath?” The she lowered her voice. “You know, he probably didn’t ski growing up.”
He nodded, then arched a brow. “All concerned for him, are you?”
To her surprise, she felt more excited than nervous as she protected her secret rebellion. She’d never really had one before, an actual experience her family didn’t share and couldn’t express an opinion on. And she liked it. “Look, he’s a friend who’s going through some tough times.”
Nate nodded. “You’re right. Have fun today.”
She almost let out a sigh of relief.
It was a strange day for Adam. He hadn’t realized how much he looked forward to spending part of each day with Brooke. Even if they didn’t feed cattle together, they had lunch as a boisterous group with her family, and more and more, he’d begun to feel at ease, even with her protective brothers. Yeah, he was keeping a secret, but they were all adults, and it was none of their business what their sister did.
He liked the different sides of Brooke he saw, from a woman unafraid as a bull charged her, to one who spent time on the household pursuits that her mother enjoyed, to the woman who enjoyed dressing up in pretty, figure-hugging clothes for an evening. He even appreciated her bossy side.
At lunch, Adam found out that Lou Webster, the ranch’s part-timer, had come down with the flu. Nate asked Adam to take over being “on call” for the tourists, and sure enough, every time he got involved in a chore, the bell would ring. He wasn’t too nervous about handling the team on his own because he’d been practicing. The worst was the trip he took with a couple newlyweds, so wrapped up in each other they barely listened as he pointed out features of the landscape, an ice waterfall down a mountainside cliff, several deer bounding through a far pasture. Instead, thinking he couldn’t hear them, they murmured together about their dreams of the future, the children they would have, the home they wanted to save up for.
Adam had spent the last six months without any dreams. People usually had the next goal they wanted to achieve, and he’d gotten in the habit of never thinking beyond today. He’d thought he was too damaged for a family life, but he remembered Zach’s rocks, and how he’d made sure to send them home to the boy from his father. That was a family connection he’d help make even when he was at his bleakest. Maybe there was hope for him after all.
Back at the house, the dreamy young couple strolled hand in hand to their car, and there was another parked alongside it. A man was getting out, as if waiting for his return.
“Adam Desantis? Is that you?” He came forward, hand outstretched.
Adam met him halfway to shake, knowing he looked familiar. He wore a bulky parka and jeans. His brown hair receding a bit above his temples might have made him look older but for his freckled, cheerful face.
And then the name clicked. “Deer, good to see you.”
Howie Deering Junior reddened, then glanced behind him as if to cover it up. “Haven’t heard that nickname in years. My wife will laugh. I’m not quite as fast as I used to be.”
A short, chubby woman with a toddler by her side was taking a baby out of a car seat.
Adam suddenly felt old. “Two kids, Deer? Has that much time passed?”
“I started young, I know,” Howie said. “While you were off being a macho soldier, I settled into the family real-estate business. Tame stuff, I know you’d say.”
“Tame sounds good to me.”
“Give me a sec.” Howie hustled to his wife’s side and took the toddler’s hand, then said to his wife, “Tara, I’d like you to meet an old classmate of mine, Adam Desantis. He just got out of the Marines.”
Adam didn’t bother to offer his hand to shake—hers were burdened with a wide-eyed baby who looked unable to walk yet. Tara had freckles like her husband, but bright red curly hair that the toddler had obviously inherited. His hat was falling off of his head, and he soon tossed his mittens, too.
“Howie!” Tara scolded the little boy.
Adam glanced at the older Howie, who spread his hands wide and grinned.
“My mom would have killed me if I didn’t use the family name.”
When Howie III had his hat and mittens on again, Tara smiled at Adam. “Nice to meet you. I heard you call Howie ‘Deer.’ So you were on the football team with him?”
Adam nodded. “We were both on offense, though he was much faster.”
Howie glanced at Adam ruefully. “I bet it’s the other way around now.”
Tara blushed. “With the kids, it’s so hard to find time to exercise. We both work and feel guilty for taking any time for ourselves.”