at the barn for a long moment, his face uncharacteristically somber. “You’re right. I’m being an ass. It isn’t your fault.” He let out a breath. “We’re good, okay? No hard feelings, we had a great time together, and we’re still friends.”
“Are you sure?” Julia asked hesitantly.
“Absolutely.” He offered her another smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “If I don’t see you before you leave, Julia, take care. I’ll keep in touch about how the work is going.”
There didn’t seem to be anything left to say. She opened the door of the truck and stepped down. Kaiden didn’t even wait for her to close the door, but reached across and did it himself. He turned the truck in a circle and headed back down the drive with a final wave, which felt very final.
Julia stood where she was way longer than necessary, with some stupid hope that he’d turn around, come back, and agree with her that what they had together was way too important to let go. But he wouldn’t do that, would he? They’d both made it abundantly clear they had no chance of a relationship, and the awful thing—the really awful thing—was that they were both still one hundred percent right.
Chapter Sixteen
By the time Kaiden had done his chores, apologized to Danny, and taken a much-needed shower he was late for dinner. He arrived at the table to find the rest of his family including his father eating chicken casserole. Jeff looked like some kind of survivor grimly clinging to a piece of driftwood, but at least he was upright and apparently mobile.
“Hey.” Kaiden nodded to him. “Glad to see you up and about.”
“Did you find the Garcia girl?”
“Yeah, the tire and the spare on her dad’s truck went flat, and she had to take shelter in one of the hunting cabins up there.” Kaiden went to get the extra iced tea out of the refrigerator. “I ended up using my spare on her truck so we could get back.”
His dad waited until he took his seat and helped himself to a plate of food. “Took you that long to change a tire?”
“Nope, it was too dark to see when I got up there and starting to rain so I did it this morning. I followed the truck back to the Garcia place to make sure she made it home.” Kaiden kept his gaze on the glass as he poured himself some iced tea.
“So where have you been all day?”
“I took Julia into Bridgeport. She had an appointment. I didn’t think her dad’s truck was going to make it.”
“There’s no need to interrogate him, Jeff. I told you where he was.” Leanne leaned over and took her ex-husband’s hand. “He’s not a child.”
“He still works for me. I have a right to know where he is, when he’s leaving his chores for his brothers to do.”
“It’s not a problem, Dad,” Danny spoke up. “Kaiden did all my stuff when I was at college the other week. It all comes out even.”
Kaiden set his fork down and slowly looked up at his father, unaccustomed anger churning in his gut. “If you really think I’m not pulling my weight around here, why don’t you just fire me?”
Danny put his hand on Kaiden’s arm. “Kaiden . . .”
“Maybe I should.” Jeff met his stare head-on. “I sure don’t like your attitude right now, Son.”
“Then let’s consider it a done deal, shall we?” Kaiden looked around at the stunned faces at the table. “We all good with that?”
Adam frowned. “Hell no, we aren’t.” He turned to their father. “What’s wrong with you? You’re out of commission, I need all the help I can get to keep this place running, and you’re firing your own son?”
Jeff shrugged. “He’s the one who suggested it. I’m just following along.”
“Then maybe you could tell him you’d like him to stay?” Adam suggested. “Make him feel like he’s a valued and appreciated member of our family?”
“If he doesn’t know that by now, there’s nothing I can say to convince him otherwise.” Jeff shrugged. “He’s had a bee in his bonnet ever since that Garcia girl turned up, and because he’s too much of a wuss to do anything about it, he takes it out on me.”
“Bullshit,” Kaiden snapped. “My problems with you go back way longer than that. And, by the way, she’s not a girl, she’s a woman, and she has a goddam name.”
“Look,” Adam said in a calm voice. “I don’t know what’s going