“Where’s Mack?” heasked.
“Over at the B & B installing some new pipe heaters in the laundry room. Every time I do laundry, they freeze. Turns out the heater wasbroken.”
“Should I go up and help him?” Hankasked.
“No. I think he’s good for now. How’s the barn comingalong?”
“Great! It’s even bigger than my dad’s old barn,” Kate said. “Thank so much for helping merebuildit.”
“You’re part of the family now. Of course we’re going to help,”Hanksaid.
Logan pulled Kate into a hug and swung her in a circle. As he set her down he said, “When you married me, you weren’t just marrying me, you were marrying myfamily.”
“I knew what I was getting into,” she said withagrin.
Hank smiled. He couldn’t have been happier for his brother. He still couldn’t believe they’d gotten married so fast, but as Logan often told him—when you know, you know. In a way, he envied them. His life had become so routine. Get up, help around the farm, go to sleep. Day in and day out. He needed some excitement, not the kind that involved an arsonist burning down the barn, but some femaleexcitement.
He flashed back to his last relationship. Gabriella Núñez. She’d been one hell of a fiery Latina. Too bad she was so obsessed with drama. He hadn’t dated in over two years. West Yellowstone was such a small town that everyone already knew each other, so he didn’t exactly have a lot of datingoptions.
But dating wasn’t a huge concern. As long as he could help fix or build something, he was happy. If love came along and hit him over the head the way it had with his brothers, then he’d consider it an extrablessing.
“Where’s Rachel, Brady, and Jimmy?” Kate asked. “Did they get back fromBozemanyet?”
“They’ll be back in a few days. Brady said they decided to stay a couple of extra nights so they could take Jimmy to see Santa at the mall. Apparently Santa called in sick today,” Madison said with asmirk.
“Since when does Santa get sick?” Hankasked.
“The flu is going around and the town’s not big enough for a backup Santa,”Madisonsaid.
Hankchuckled.
“Do we have any new guests coming in today?” Loganasked.
“The woman from New York should be arriving soon. I confirmed that her flight landed in Bozeman on time. As long as she doesn’t try to drive like a New Yorker, she should get here safely,”Madisonsaid.
“The roads are slick, let’s hope her guardian angel can keep up,” Hank said. “I’ll head up there in a couple of hours to make sure Mack isn’t burning the B &Bdown.”
“I’m the only one allowed to burn it down,” Madison said with her hands on her hips. She tried to maintain a stern face but burst out laughing instead. “Although you guys do have to admit that I’m getting better atcooking.”
“Well, when you start out that bad…” Hank flashed a shit-eatinggrin.
Madison slapped his arm playfully. “I’ll be sure to tell Mack yousaidthat.”
“Oh brother,”Hanksaid.
After Madison left, he flipped open the picnic baskets. He pulled out steaming pulled pork sandwiches, chilled potato salad, and a few beers. Kate, Logan, and Hank sat on the barn’s unfinished floor. It was a huge project, but Hank liked having a break in themonotony.
“I think we’ll get the walls done today,” Logan said. “We’ll start on the roof tomorrow depending on whether or not the stormblowsin.”
“Sounds good. What’s the plan for the floor?” Hankasked.
“We just need to sand it and finish it with some sealer,” Kate said. “I’ll work on that while you guys work on thewalls.”
“You’ve used a sander before?” Hank asked insurprise.
“No. But I’ve seen it done on television,”shesaid.
“I’ll show her how to do it,” Logan said. “She’s good with her hands, I’m sure she can handle a big powerfulmachine.”
