Colorado?â
âOh, theyâre pretty enough, but these feel like home.â
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. âItâs a beautiful day.â
He glanced up at the blue sky dotted here and there with white puffy clouds. âIt is. Good weather seems weird when you have a crisis. Seems like it ought to be raining.â
âIâm glad itâs not, with sleepy people driving around.â
âI know youâre worried about that, but donât be.â He started off toward the cabins again. âIâll be okay from here to the airport, and I can always put Damon behind the wheel once he gets here.â
âYou should definitely do that.â She fell into step beside him. âUnless heâs been up all night, too. Maybe I should drive you.â
âNo. Much as I appreciate the offer, Iâm not being chauffeured to the airport to pick up my bro. That would be lame.â
âOkay.â She doubted heâd ask Damon to drive, either, but at least having a passenger should help keep him alert. Cade liked to think he didnât need any help, ever. That had been part of the problem when sheâd 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 hadnât 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.
âSure brings back memories.â Cade paused again to look around. âItâs too quiet, though.â
âI know what you mean.â 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. âI asked Herb and Rosie if theyâd ever thought of renting these so they wouldnât sit empty, but they didnât seem interested.â
âThey might reconsider. Apparently they took in those other horses because they hated to see the stalls unused.â
âSo do you think theyâre finding retirement too tame?â
âCould be.â
âKnowing them, thatâs not so surprising.â 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 sheâd 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 theyâd dubbed themselves, had stayed on at the ranch after graduating from high school. Theyâd realized how much Herb and Rosie needed them to work with the younger kids. Cade had taken courses in equine behavior at Sheridanâs 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. âItâs a little stark, isnât it?â
âWell, nobodyâs lived here for years.â
Cade gazed around at the bare walls. âEven though I knew it would be like this, I somehow expected to come in
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