Smooth-Talking Cowboy

“What?”

“Riding bulls into your midthirties. My back was ready to quit way before I was.”

There was a lot of money to be had in the rodeo as long as a man was good at what he did, and as long as he was smart with the money he made. Wyatt Dodge was smart. “Good thing you gave it all up to become an interior designer at your dude ranch,” he said.

Wyatt snorted. “You hungry?”

“Starving.”

“If you want to head on over to the mess hall there’s some leftover chili in there.”

The food situation was another issue they were actively working to sort out. Wyatt had been searching for a cook that could provide an authentic dude-ranch-type experience, but could do it in an elevated kind of way. At least, those were the words that he had used. That was another thing that Luke was fine with as it was.

Luke didn’t particularly like change.

He didn’t think the place needed to change. He’d spent his childhood entertaining himself. Riding his bike outside alone for hours, and when the weather was bad, inside watching old Westerns on the classic movie channel.

He’d always wanted to be a cowboy. A man who lived for the land. Who lived for honor and riding off into sunsets.

Then he’d moved to Gold Valley and found that dream at Get Out of Dodge. Now he felt like it was slipping away, along with his place in it.

Silently, he followed Wyatt into the kitchen, got down a bowl and filled it up with a good measure of chili, then piled a bunch of cheese and sour cream on top. Then, the two of them walked back out into the empty dining room and took seats at one of the long tables.

The benches weren’t the most comfortable seats, it had to be said, but it was familiar. Home, as far back as he liked to remember.

The doors opened again, and in came Bennett, followed by Grant, Wyatt’s younger brothers who had decided to go all in on the ranch when Wyatt had started this reinvigoration process.

“I’m starving,” Grant said. “Chili?”

“What does it look like?” Wyatt asked.

“Like you got up on the wrong side of the bed,” he returned.

“Don’t ask stupid questions of a man who has been up since before dawn.”

Bennett snorted. “You’re always like this. Don’t go blaming a lack of sleep. Anyway, this is your venture, jackass. The rest of us are just along for the ride.”

“No one made you come. You got on the ride.” Wyatt spread his arms wide. “Get off at any time.”

“Right,” Grant said, “because there were a field full of options available to me.”

All of the Dodge brothers had spent their lives working the ranch in some capacity or another while supplementing their incomes with other work over the years. Grant had gotten married at eighteen and had taken a job working at the power company, where he had worked his way up over the years, needing a place that provided benefits because his wife had been sick.

He had carried on working there even after Lindsay had died. But when Quinn Dodge had remarried and retired abruptly a year ago, and Wyatt had decided that it was his time to try and give the ranch new life, Grant and Jamie had both decided to go all in with him.

Bennett, on the other hand, had a thriving veterinary practice working on ranch animals. But still, because he was his own boss, working with his friend Kaylee Capshaw, he did get to determine his own hours, and that meant he was able to invest time and a decent amount of money into the ranch.

Also, the fact that they had their own vet was damned helpful.

As for Luke, for him it had always been Get out of Dodge. But the more it changed, the more the Dodge children took control, the more he realized it had never really been his.

“Hey,” Wyatt said to Grant, “you had a desk job. A lot of men would like a desk job.”

“Yeah, those men have never had one,” Grant said drily, moving to the dining room and heading toward the kitchen. Bennett followed close behind.

“You keep giving them a hard time and they are going to mutiny,” Luke commented.

Wyatt lifted a shoulder. “They won’t.”

That was Wyatt all over. Sure of his place in the world. Sure of his authority.

Bennett and Grant returned and took their seats at the table with their bowls of chili.

“I’ve got vaccinations in a couple of hours,” Bennett said. “So, if you have anything you need me to get done, now’s the time to ask.”

“What’s that for?” Grant asked, “Rabies?”

“Scabies,” Wyatt said, “probably.”

“I’m not going to dignify that with a response,” Bennett said.

“Why?” Luke asked, figuring it was time to join in the harassment of the youngest Dodge brother. “Is it something worse? A below-the-belt issue?”

“Vaccinating a litter of puppies,” he said.

“You coming out drinking tonight?” Wyatt asked. The question was directed at Bennett. “Because you really should. Considering you’re a free agent now.”

“You never harass Grant about being a free agent.”

Grant let out a harsh breath. “Because I’m not really.”

“You should,” Luke said to Bennett. Eager to smooth over that momentary rough patch. That was what he did. It was why people liked him around. “You can come, too, Grant. At least just because there’s alcohol.”

“Not my thing,” Grant responded.

Luke wasn’t going to press it. In his opinion, it was time for Grant to move on. Lindsay had died eight years ago. Of course, that was an easy conclusion for him to draw, since he had never been in love before. He didn’t know what it was like to lose someone he felt that way about.

He had lost his mother, but that was different.

“Since when is beer not your thing?” Bennett asked.

“I like to do my drinking alone,” Grant answered.

“That’s concerning,” Wyatt said.

Grant lifted a shoulder. “I’m concerning. That’s not a newsflash. Anyway, you guys go out. Drink. I’m going to go home like an old person and sit in front of the TV.”

Luke didn’t see the appeal in that at all. But then, he wasn’t a huge fan of solitude in general. He found that the louder it was, the less he had time to think. And he liked that. In general, he preferred to drink or fuck until he fell asleep. Because the alternative was to lie there and let memories chase around in his head like rabid foxes.