Page 17 of Untruly With You

“Probably not,” I agree. “I’ve been googling country phrases, and that one really stuck out.”

“The crass ones always do. Well, I’ve been gone so long I might need a refresher.” One side of Sutton’s mouth lifts. “What are some others?”

“Let’s see…” I size him up. “I’d say you’re looking finer than frog’s hair. But you look as nervous as—oh, what was it—as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

“Not bad, Rodriguez. What other research have you done?”

“That’s as far as I’ve gotten. So, you need to help me. I need a crash course on the Davis family.”

Sutton sinks onto the floor, leaning back against the bed, a faraway look in his eyes. “Let’s do that another day.” I open my mouth, but he must already know what I was going to say, because he adds, “I promise we’ll talk about it. I’ll get you caught up. But tonight, I want to pretend that our trip to Montana is just a celebratory one. I don’t want to think about my brother or my ex. And I especially don’t want to think about my father.”

“Deal.” I sit beside Sutton and turn the TV on, scrolling through our options. “But we have to watch a movie that will give me some kind of insight into cowboy living.Brokeback Mountain,Tombstone,Legends of the Fall—”

Sutton coughs. “Legends of the Fall?” His mouth spreads into a disbelieving smile. “Do you know the premise of that movie?”

“Not really. But I know it takes place in Montana.”

“In it, brothers fall in love with the same woman,” Sutton says, raising his eyebrows at me.

“A bit too close to home, then,” I say, clicking my tongue.

“A bit. How aboutThe Man from Snowy River?” Sutton suggests, dropping his gaze to his hands. “I haven’t seen it in years. But it’s a cowboy movie. And it was my brother’s favorite.”

I search for the movie with the remote. “I’m surprised you would want to watchhisfavorite movie tonight.”

“Not Wells,” Sutton says, his voice a near whisper. “My older brother. Duke.”

“Oh,” I say, matching Sutton’s quiet tone. His brow furrows low. Sutton has never mentioned a second brother. “What’s he like?”

Sutton shakes his head. “I’ll tell you about him anothernight. Not right now.”

Sutton was sotired last night he fell asleep on a pile of blankets on my rug thirty minutes into the movie. He didn’t even wake this morning when I prodded him with my finger, so I wrote him a note telling him I would return with a meal. In a surprising turn of events, Dad invited me and Mom out to a “family breakfast.”

“How’s Sutton?” Dad asks, his mouth downturned in anticipation of bad news.

I already told them about the upcoming wedding.

“Sutton is doingamazing. He just got a job offer yesterday at his dream publishing house, where he’ll be an assistant editor for children’s and middle-grade books.”

My parents’ faces are the perfect representation of how I feel. Their eyes widen, glinting with delight, and the creases that were forming between their eyebrows soften.

“Aaaand,” I say, fanning my hands out like a cheerleader, “I just agreed to do some freelance work for this amazing indie magazine,Wonderings. If all goes well, they could hire me on full-time.”

“Laine!” they shout in unison, mirroring each other’s disbelieving expressions.

“It’s perfect, because if I get hired to write for them full time, I’d have fresh assignments constantly, which would really hold my attention. Guess what my first assignment is?”

“You’re doing an article on thecoolestEnglish professor at NYU,” Mom says, deadpan.

Dad nudges her. “No, it’s going to be on the most talented—and criminally underrated—playwright in the city.”

“Solid backup choices,” I say as the two of them argue over who is more deserving of a magazine feature. “But I’m actually going to be writing articles all about the culture of West River, Montana!”

“Sutton’s hometown?” Dad asks.

“Home of Mr. Cowboy,” I affirm. “We’re leaving for Montana this weekend.”

Mom raises her eyebrows. “You’re going to the wedding?”

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