Page 25 of Carry Me Home
“I hate you,” I muttered.
“Yeah, but your sister loves me, and that’s the most important thing.”
I would have offered to make my sister a widow, but Zack, the youngest of the Hale brothers, loped between us.
“What the hell is going on here?” Zack demanded, pulling his mare to a stop. “I’m busting my ass out there, and the lot of you are standing around yapping. I don’t fucking think so. What are we gossiping about?”
“What’s your favorite dinosaur?” Adam asked.
“You know, that’s a good question.” Zack rubbed his chin. “I’d have to say the pterodactyl. Imagine seeing one of those swooping over the Rocky Mountains. That would be cool as shit.”
What the fuck. Everyone had a favorite dinosaur but me?
“How the hell do you all know so much about dinosaurs?” I demanded.
They looked at each other and shrugged. “Ben,” they chorused.
“All right,” Adam said. “These cows won’t vaccinate themselves.” The cows had already been vaccinated for scours four months ago, but now that they were two or three weeks away from giving birth, they needed a booster. “Zack, you’re with me. Brax and Jack, go west.”
He looked at us. “Ready?”
“Hell, yeah.” Zack grinned, excitement radiating off him.
He looked so damnawake. Like he couldn’t wait to get down there with the cows and do his job. They all did. Even Brax, who had never wanted the cowboy life, was grinning. Hell, the horses were starting to prance in place and toss their heads. They knew we were about to work them, and they were fucking eager for it.
Why couldn’t I be like that? Just do the fucking job and be happy about it.
I was an ungrateful asshole, because I looked at those fields stretched out before us with all those fucking cows, and it felt like I was digging my own grave.
“What’s your favorite dinosaur?”I asked as Janie slid a beer to me across the bar top.
Janie eyed me suspiciously. “Did Maya tell you to ask me that?”
Over the last week, it had become the best part of my day, this quick hour I spent at the Painted Cat sandwiched between working at Lodestar Ranch and Sweetie Pies. I’d grab a single beer, and we’d play a round or two of cards, if she wasn’t too busy.
“No, but she asked me mine and wasn’t too impressed with my answer.”
Janie laughed. “She didn’t like mine, either. I told her I liked the one fromJurassic Parkthat spit venom, and she said it wasn’t even real and I should know better than to trust what I see on TV.”
“Well, she told me the T-rex was basic.” It still rankled, honestly. “I didn’t even care about the T-rex before she said that. It was the only one I knew. But I looked it up.” I took a swig of my beer, then wiped the foam from my mouth. Her gaze tracked the movement, pupils dilating slightly. I pretended I didn’t notice.
I was getting good at that, pretending. Pretending we hadn’t fucked on a snowy night six months ago. Pretending I wouldn’t give my left nut to do it again.
“Apparently, the T-rex was smart as hell,” I said. “Sure, they looked a little funny, with that big ass head and puny little arms, but they had giant brains. They hunted in packs like wolves. So, you know what? Hell, yeah, the T-rex is my favorite dinosaur and I’m standing by that. Tell Maya that for me.”
“Sure,” Janie said with a roll of her eyes. “Should I add a little neener-neener-neener and blow a raspberry, too?”
“She called me basic, Janie. I’m not basic.” I leaned forward. “I’mexceptional.”
“Please don’t ask me to respond honestly to that. Your ego doesn’t need stroking.” She rolled her eyes again, but her cheeks pinked up.
Damn. I would have given her the password to my bank account to hear her thoughts out loud. My ego didn’t need stroking, but something sure did.
She propped her forearms on the bar in front of me with a conspiratorial grin and tapped the back of my hand with her index finger. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Jack. Maya doesn’t give a shit about dinosaurs.”
“What?”
“Yeah.” Janie nodded. “Maya cares about three things. Amphibians are her one true love. She also likes Princess Diana and flags, but not with the same intensity, and sometimes she forgets about Di altogether. The days when I don’t have to listen to ‘Candle in the Wind’ on repeat, those are good days. Anyway…” Her voice trailed off with a little shrug. “Yeah, she doesn’t care about dinosaurs.”
