fixed.
Thankfully, Cassius had decided to stay on and work, and maintaining the few remaining cattle Tuck had left behind and giving them the lay of the land. Although Cassius was little more than a kid himself at twenty-five, he was a damn hard worker like Tuck had said. And yes, he was ornery and short tempered but oddly enough, Keegan realized he liked the guy.
After they’d gotten Tuck packed up and loaded into the U-Haul his granddaughter Erin had rented for the long trip to Wyoming, they hadn’t wasted any time. They spent their days at Walker Demo, the evenings and sometimes late into the night at the ranch. The goal had been to get the house livable so they could move in, work on it in their spare time. It took another week and a half after Tuck left for that to happen, but they’d bought some new appliances, fixed the leak in the bathroom plumbing, and hauled one of the beds from their place over temporarily. With running water, a refrigerator, a bed to sleep in, and the closing paperwork to make it theirs signed on the dotted line, they’d started on the real work: renovating the entire house from top to bottom.
It was a painstakingly slow process.
Wouldn’t have been, of course, if they’d hired someone to do the work, but Keegan wasn’t willing to relinquish that to anyone. He wanted to make a mark on the first house they owned, and their blood, sweat, and tears was one hell of a way to show their dedication.
So now, on another glorious Friday afternoon, after putting in a long day, Keegan stared out the passenger window as Kaden drove from the jobsite back to town, heading to their house.
As the scenery passed him by, Keegan’s brain ran through the day, mentally checking to make sure there wasn’t something he needed to take care of. He’d woken up in time for breakfast at the diner for the first time that week. Usually his nights were too long, and it was all he could do to drag his tired ass right to the shop. This morning he’d been invigorated, although he couldn’t quite pinpoint why. He figured it was his desire to stop moping about, allowing his thoughts to continuously drift where they didn’t belong. Not that he was succeeding at the latter but he was damn sure trying.
Once they’d gotten to the shop, he’d worked on some engines and got the news that Autumn would be bringing on a couple of people to help drum up new business. After they’d gossiped about that with Ethan for a good hour, they’d pushed out some equipment. Their final task of the day had been personally delivering a piece to one of the jobsites.
“D’you hear?” Kaden said. “That building on Main Street finally sold.”
No, he hadn’t heard. Then again, he hadn’t been paying attention to much of anything going on in town. “What’s it gonna be?”
“A spa.”
The words traveled through his headspace, then took root. He glanced over at Kaden. “A spa? Like…?” He couldn’t think of what they did at a spa.
“Manicures, pedicures, massages,” Kaden supplied.
“Oh, right.” He laughed. “Who the fuck would rather go to a spa over an arcade?”
“Women, Keeg. Women would prefer a spa to an arcade.”
“If you say so.” He wasn’t buying it, but it really wasn’t his problem, either. He had his ranch, so he had no hard feelings that someone else had purchased that building.
“You up for a night out?” Kaden prompted when he turned down the dirt drive that split their front pasture.
“Where?”
“Moonshiners.”
It wasn’t like him to have to think on it, but that was exactly what he did.
“Keeg? I know you’re—”
“Yeah, I’m up for it,” he decided just so his brother couldn’t start up with him again.
Keegan had no desire whatsoever to get into this with him. Every time Kaden had attempted to talk for the past month, it was always about Bristol. Everything in his brother’s orbit seemed to revolve around the woman although they’d had no interaction with her during that time. Keegan blamed Kaden for the fact that he couldn’t stop thinking about her, either. Kaden’s fault because he was always trying to fucking talk about her, about the shit that had gone down between them.
And damn it all to hell, Bristol was invading his brain day and night, no matter how hard he tried to exorcise her from his mind. For the past few weeks, Keegan had done little more