Page 51 of Barn Burner
Absolutely not.
21
Jesse
November rolls around, and with it comes the cold weather. The trail ride bookings have dwindled down, so I’ve been out in the fields working the cattle. The only good to come from the early hour wake-up calls is being able to speak to Brayden while he’s on the East Coast.
He left for a week-long road trip a few days ago, visiting Toronto, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Washington, and Nashville. I have every one of his games written down on the calendar in my kitchen, something that my brothers like to tease me about, but I ignore them. Knowing Brayden’s schedule helps me try to be as available as I can be for him. I watch every one of his games, too, only now I watch them on my own at my house instead of with my family in the main house.
I don’t need them witnessing how emotionally charged I am when it comes to Brayden. Every time he scores a goal and that damn song plays, I swear he looks at the camera and winks. I know it’s probably just my mind imagining things because it’s not like Brayden knows what camera is on him, but it’s fun to watch him.
While I’d do anything to talk to him more, him being away has given me the opportunity to get a lot done without any distractions. Like today, I’m not in the fields working the cattle as I need to try and fix the roof of the barn that I’ve been putting off for almost a month. The weather forecast is predicting snow tonight, so it needs to be fixed to prevent the heat from escaping and the horses from getting too cold. I’ve spent the morning gathering the materials and retrieving the ladder and tools from one of the utility sheds, but I need to find Cooper before I start, too, as he mentioned helping me out.
Deciding to stop for lunch first, I head back to the main house and find Angela in the kitchen. She’s been cooking for us since I was a child, and she’s almost like a second mother to us. Her husband used to work alongside my dad up until arthritis caused him to retire, and no matter how many times we tell Angela she doesn’t need to cook for us anymore and to retire herself, she swats the suggestion away like a fly.
“Hey, Angela,” I say quietly, heading straight for the coffee machine to pour myself a cup.
“Hello, Jesse, how are you doing?” She smiles over her shoulder as she continues to stir what smells like her signature chicken and vegetable soup.
“Good,” I reply. “Gettin’ cold out there now, though.”
“It is. I thought it was time to bring out the soup.” She lifts the ladle, and the sight of the steaming broth causes my stomach to rumble.
“It’s always the first sign of winter when your soup makes an appearance.”
She chuckles, then points over to the oven. “There’s some rolls in the oven, too. Could you be a darlin’ and get them out and put them on the rack for me?”
Nodding, I move to the sink to wash my hands, then retrieve the rolls from the oven. I transfer them onto the cooling rack,and as I put the tray on top of the stove to cool down, my phone vibrates in my pocket. Pulling it out, Brayden’s name and the selfie photo he assigned to his contact card flashes on the screen. It’s him posing shirtless in my brown leather cowboy hat, sticking his tongue out between his teeth and winking at the camera.
It makes me smile every time I see it.
Sliding my thumb across the screen to answer, I bring my phone to my ear and smile as Brayden’s voice filters through.
“I miss you,” he says the second the call connects, and I chuckle under my breath.
“Hello to you, too.”
“Hey. What are you doing? Can I see you?”
I glance over at Angela to find her watching me with a soft smile on her face. “Yeah, I’ve just come in for some lunch. Let me move out the way.”
“Ohh, what has the lovely Angela made today?”
“Chicken and vegetable soup with rolls.”
“Damn, I miss those rolls. I miss all her cooking.” He sighs wistfully. “Do you think if I asked her to make me a batch, I could freeze them?”
“Uh, maybe? I can ask her.”
I head out of the kitchen and make my way up the stairs to my old room. Closing the door behind me, I take a seat on the twin bed, then hit the button to switch to video call. Moments later, Brayden’s sleepy face fills my screen. He’s lying on his side in bed, a pillow crease lining his other cheek like he’s just woken up from his pre-game nap.
“Hey.” He smiles.
“Hey, you. How’s Nashville?”
“S’okay,” he says around a yawn. “We got in pretty late from Philly, and I haven’t left the hotel yet.”
“I don’t know how you do it. Playing games back-to-back.”
