“That’s fine, what did you have in mind?”
“Well, I asked around the ranch to find out what the best trail ride was, and—”
“You didn’t ask me?”
“No, because I wanted to present you with my finished plan. I didn’t want to involve you in themakingof the plan.” She smiled. It was so cute he... couldn’t look away for a second. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“I’ll tell you what, Rue. Let’s try this for spontaneity. I’m going to choose the route that we ride. Okay?”
She lifted her nose, and looked down toward him suspiciously. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“Luckily, I didn’t ask you.” He took his cowboy hat off his head and plunked it down on Rue’s head. She looked up, and the hat lowered over her eyebrows. Then she frowned. “This is sweaty.”
“I was working hard.”
“I was too,” she said. “I did make you dinner.”
“You did not. We can go to the farmhouse.”
“No. I did,” she said.
“That was sweet, kid. Thank you.”
He went into the kitchen to find a lasagna, and who the hell is mad to find a lasagna? Not him. So he sat across from her at the table eating lasagna and garlic bread and tried not to think about how his life felt like the same life that had been a couple of days ago but in a different font. The same elements, somehow completely rearranged to make something entirely different.
“Got some good news today,” he said, dragging his garlic bread through the remaining sauce on his plate.
“Oh yeah?”
“Landry and Fia are having a baby.”
Rue looked up at him, her eyes glassy, and he wondered if it had actually been insensitive to tell her that. She clearly wanted a baby. But then she smiled. “I am so happy for them. After... after everything.”
“Yeah. I know. It’s good. They deserve it.”
“That’s... It’s really wonderful.” She patted her eyes.
“I think it’s going to take a lot for Daughtry to talk Bix into having kids.”
“Well, I guess everybody handles the hard stuff they’ve been through in different ways.”
“That’s the truth.”
Like Rue trying to plan her way into being wild. And Justice just... cutting ties with caring about much of anything. He held on to his family, and he held on to Bix. That was about it. You couldn’t control other people. There was just too damned much she couldn’t control.
And when you loved too many people you were open to manipulation.
So Justice kept things free and easy, and he was happy that way. Minimal ties, minimal everything. Just the way he liked it.
Now, the ties he had were intense, but he knew how to manage them. And that was what it all came down to. Control. He knew Rue. He knew what she was going to do. And he was going to choose the damned trail they were going on. He would take her up Cracker Jack Mountain; there was snow up there. The pine trees would look exceptional. It would be a good long ride, and she would get a good view. It was a mountainout on the property so they could just ride down a trail to get on that one, rather than loading the horses up into a trailer and driving somewhere.
Yeah. That’s what he would do.
He would pack them a lunch. He would get Fia to do it. Well. She was pregnant. So maybe one of her sisters would do it. But if the food came from the Sullivan sisters it would be great.
“Let’s head out about ten tomorrow.”
She looked at him, faux innocence sparkling in her eyes. “Super early morning, Justice.
