Page 95 of Duke
God and Grilled Cheese
Wheeler
I don’t see the little parcel on top of my laptop until I sit down at my desk beside Mollie at the New House.
“What’s this?” I ask. It’s about the size of my hand and is carefully wrapped in the wax paper I recognize from the kitchen. Patsy will use it to wrap up leftovers for us after meals.
The parcel is warm.
Mollie shrugs, pops another Ritz cracker into her mouth, and makes a muffled sound that I interpret asI don’t know. We just got back from taking a quick ATV ride to check on the progress of the new Bellamy Brooks studio we’re building here on the ranch. It’s coming along swimmingly, and the views from its perch above the Colorado River are especially stunning this time of year.
“Something tells me youdoknow.” I carefully unwrap it, my face splitting into a smile when I see the grilled cheese sandwich inside. It’s cut on a diagonal, and when I split the two sides, the cheese oozes out in a yummy golden avalanche.
A rush of heat hits the backs of my eyes. This morning, I woke up craving grilled cheese. No clue why. Maybe because I dreamed about Aspen? My dreams have been vivid—and vividly horny—lately.
Whatever the case, I shared that info with Duke while we had coffee earlier this morning. Well, he had coffee, and I had peppermint tea, because sadly coffee has become one of the many things that doesn’t agree with me at the moment.
I fully expected him to be gone when I woke up at seven. The cowboys start their day early so I thought I’d make myself breakfast, then head up to the New House to work with Mollie.
And Dukewasgone. But when I responded to the “good morning, how are you feeling?” text he sent me at four forty-eight a.m., he showed up ten minutes later at the door in his full cowboy getup and demanded I sit while he made me tea and buttered toast.
That’s when I told him about the grilled cheese craving.
Now, several hours on, I’m wondering where the hell he found the time to make it for me.
I pay attention to everything, sweetheart.
“Aw.” Mollie runs a hand over my back. “Are you gonna cry?”
I shake my head, even as tears leak out of my eyes. “I’m not gonna cry. This is just a sandwich. I don’t cry over sandwiches.”
“I’ve been instructed to tell you that while Duke didn’t make the grilled cheese himself because there’s a lot of fences to mend before the summer grazing season begins, he enlisted Patsy’s help.”
“And Patsy would like you to know that she’ll happily make you anything you want, whenever you want it.”
I jump at the sound of Patsy’s voice. Glancing over my shoulder, I see her poking her head in the door, a wide smile on her face.
Does she know I’m pregnant too?
Does everyone on this goddamn ranch know?
My stomach clenches. It doesn’t bother me that everyone around here is knit so closely into such an, ahem, communicative community. It’s actually pretty sweet. But now everyone is going to know whether Duke and I keep the baby, and the last thing I want or need is people’s judgment.
Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of their excellent hospitality.
“You’re too freaking kind.” I quickly wipe my eyes and stand, crossing the room to wrap her in a hug. “Thank you so much. How have you been?”
“Busy but good.” She gives me a squeeze. “With the wedding coming up, we’ve got a lot on our plates. We hope you’re planning to come.”
My stomach clenches again, for a different reason this time. “That’s right! How exciting. I’ll do my best to make it. I appreciate y’all thinking of me, truly. Sally and Wyatt are so cute together. I’m happy for them.”
“Of course we thought of you.” Patsy pulls back and puts her hands on my upper arms. “You’re family, Wheeler.”
But I’m not.
Really, though, I feel more at home among the Lucky River Ranch crew—more comfortable, more seen, more taken care of—than I have in years at my actual home with my actual family.
Hi, God, it’s me, Wheeler. Question for you—can one ditch their biological family, perhaps with the exception of a younger brother, and adopt the Rivers-Powell-Luck people as their new family? Asking for a friend.
