Midnight Thunder(INCR) by Vicki Lewis Thompson

Colorado?”
    â€œOh, they’re pretty enough, but these feel like home.”
    It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if that meant he might be moving back. But that was a loaded question. Instead, she resorted to a weather comment, always a safe topic. “It’s a beautiful day.”
    He glanced up at the blue sky dotted here and there with white puffy clouds. “It is. Good weather seems weird when you have a crisis. Seems like it ought to be raining.”
    â€œI’m glad it’s not, with sleepy people driving around.”
    â€œI know you’re worried about that, but don’t be.” He started off toward the cabins again. “I’ll be okay from here to the airport, and I can always put Damon behind the wheel once he gets here.”
    â€œYou should definitely do that.” She fell into step beside him. “Unless he’s been up all night, too. Maybe I should drive you.”
    â€œNo. Much as I appreciate the offer, I’m not being chauffeured to the airport to pick up my bro. That would be lame.”
    â€œOkay.” She doubted he’d ask Damon to drive, either, but at least having a passenger should help keep him alert. Cade liked to think he didn’t need any help, ever. That had been part of the problem when she’d been focused on wringing a commitment out of him.
    They approached three tidy log cabins grouped in a partial semicircle in a meadow about thirty yards from the main house. In the center a ring of wooden benches surrounded a fire pit that had seen many cookouts. A shared washhouse behind the cabins had kept the plumbing costs down, although Lexi hadn’t envied those boys having to go out there in the winter. But all the boys had acted as if trudging through the snow to wash up had been a test of their manhood.
    â€œSure brings back memories.” Cade paused again to look around. “It’s too quiet, though.”
    â€œI know what you mean.” She fished the key out of her pocket and walked over to the first cabin in the row, the one Cade, Damon and Finn had claimed soon after it had been built. “I asked Herb and Rosie if they’d ever thought of renting these so they wouldn’t sit empty, but they didn’t seem interested.”
    â€œThey might reconsider. Apparently they took in those other horses because they hated to see the stalls unused.”
    â€œSo do you think they’re finding retirement too tame?”
    â€œCould be.”
    â€œKnowing them, that’s not so surprising.” She left his duffel outside and opened the door. The air was a little musty but not bad. The amenities consisted of two sets of bunk beds, four built-in desks, each with a lamp, two dressers and one closet. Cowboy-themed curtains hung at each of the four windows, but otherwise the room had no decorations.
    Lexi opened a window and let in some fresh air. The last time she’d been in here, a couple of weeks before she and Cade had had their epic fight, the walls had been covered with posters, framed photographs and a nonworking neon Budweiser sign Finn had found at a yard sale.
    The Thunder Mountain Brotherhood, as they’d dubbed themselves, had stayed on at the ranch after graduating from high school. They’d realized how much Herb and Rosie needed them to work with the younger kids. Cade had taken courses in equine behavior at Sheridan’s community college, while Damon had apprenticed with a local carpenter and Finn had enrolled in online business classes until he was old enough to train as a bartender. But most of their free time had been devoted to helping Rosie and Herb.
    Cade left the basket of linens on the front stoop next to his duffel and brought in the vacuum cleaner. “It’s a little stark, isn’t it?”
    â€œWell, nobody’s lived here for years.”
    Cade gazed around at the bare walls. “Even though I knew it would be like this, I somehow expected to come in