Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
“Extra things?” Blayze asked. “Like what kind of extra things?”
“Well,” I said as I set my napkin down on my empty plate. “I loved horses, and we had a 4-H club.”
“What’s a 4-H club?” Blayze asked.
“It’s sort of like a club for people who love animals and raising animals and showing them,” I replied.
“Showing them?” Blayze asked.
“Abort. Abort! Abort this now!” Tanner said in a whispered voice as he hit me on the leg.
I glanced back at him with a confused look.
“Trust me, Lincoln will have your head on a plate if you don’t stop now.”
“Daddy, what does it mean to show an animal in 4-H?”
Tanner closed his eyes. “Shit. It’s too late. The seed has been planted and is taking root.”
I turned back and looked across the table at Brock who had his fork frozen in his mouth. Lincoln stared at me with a not-so-happy look on her face.
Without even thinking, I reached down next to me and grabbed Tanner’s hand. “Oh no. Oh. No. The pregnant one is giving me the death stare,” I softly said as he squeezed my hand.
“Don’t worry, I have lots of places on the ranch we can hide you for a few days.”
I snapped my head to look at him. “Are you serious?” I asked with a laugh that was more filled with fright than humor.
He nodded with a somber look on his face. “Do you not see the way Lincoln is boring her crazy mom eyes into you right now?”
Slowly, I turned back to see her doing just that. Clearing my throat, I tried to fix my mistake. “Well, it’s when older students, much older students, like high school age, um, they get an animal and then raise it. Which is a very difficult thing to do. They have to get up early in the mornings, and by early, I mean way before the sun gets up. Then they have to brush them and feed them and then walk them.”
“Walk them? Like a dog!” he said, getting excited.
“You are losing it, Timber!” Tanner whispered as Lincoln cleared her throat.
“No! No, not a dog. Dogs are not allowed in the 4-H. So, anyway, it takes a lot of work, and they have to give up a lot of time with their friends and it’s super hard. It takes away from a lot of play time. Then they take them to the rodeo, and people bid on them.”
“What happens, then? What is bidding?” Blayze asked me. His blue eyes reminded me so much of Tanner, and I couldn’t help but wonder what type of little boy he had been. Did he get into trouble a lot? Was he a good student? Did he flirt with girls at the age of six like his nephew did?
“Well, people say how much they’ll pay for the animals, and the person with the highest amount wins the animal. Then they take them home,” I said.
Blayze looked down at his plate, his facial expression tight as he thought about it. “Why would you want to do all that work, miss play time with your friends, and then sell the animal?”
I looked around the table to see if anyone would jump in and help. Not one person said a word. No one besides Lincoln was even making eye contact. Even Kaylee seemed to be enjoying the hole I had dug myself into.
“You’re on your own with this one, Timber,” Tanner said. I even looked over at Dirk, who had joined the family after church and slipped into a spot at the table without so much as a raised brow. Surely, he would help. If only to annoy Tanner.
“Don’t look at me, doll,” came his answer.
I sighed. “That is a good question. I wouldn’t recommend doing it. At all. It really isn’t any fun for boys.”
Blayze nodded his head, then looked at Brock and Lincoln. “Put me down for no 4-H, Mommy and Daddy.”
Lincoln grinned. “Done.”
I leaned back in my chair and sighed. Tanner leaned over and whispered against my ear, “It may be wrong, but that totally turned me on.”
With a quick motion, I grabbed my glass of wine and hid both my smile and the blush I knew was splashed across my cheeks.
The craziness that was Christmas Eve started the moment we walked into Stella and Ty Senior’s house after dinner. Stella made a mad dash to her room to change for movie night. Everyone was meeting at the house for a movie marathon. Everyone except for me and Tanner.
Stella wasn’t the only person to quickly run to her room and change. I slipped into a pair of yoga pants, a sweatshirt and threw my hair up into a messy bun on top of my head.
As I made my way through the kitchen and toward the mud room, I was stopped in my tracks by my cousin’s voice. “Where are you sneaking off to?” Kaylee asked.