almost all the way to True Blue on a road, so most people loaded into vehicles and started rumbling down the gravel lane.
Some people walked.
Bishop caught up to Zona and asked, “Want a ride?”
“I’m going with Duke,” she said, looking up at Bishop. “Do you want to ride with us?”
“Sure,” Bishop said. He liked Duke Rhinehart just fine, though he knew there was something that had happened with him in the past. Bear didn’t seem to mind him, and Bishop tried very hard to only make judgments based on his own personal experiences with someone.
He climbed in the back of Duke’s extended cab truck, finding his younger brothers there too. “Howdy, fellas,” he said. “You guys lookin’ for more work?”
“No, sir,” one of them drawled. “Our place keeps us plenty busy.”
The other one nodded, his eyes round like Bishop would force him to come work at Shiloh Ridge after they finished their chores on their own ranch.
“Maybe in the summer,” Bishop said, pinning his grin in place. “If y’all have friends who need a job, send ‘em up here. We always have more work than we can do ourselves.”
“That so?” Duke asked, looking in the rear-view mirror. He’d been waiting for his turn, and he finally eased out onto the road.
“Yes,” Bishop said, already tired and summer was still a month or two off.
“I might know some guys.”
“We’ve got seven empty cowboy cabins,” Bishop said. “I’m trying to get Bear and Ranger to fill them this year. They’ll be busy with their new families, and I’m tired of working fifteen hours a day.”
He loved Shiloh Ridge, and he didn’t want to be anywhere else. He never had. He’d always seen himself working this generational land that his ancestors had cultivated and loved. He just wanted time to sleep too. Time to date. Time to watch TV. Was that so wrong?
A frown filled his face, and he looked out the window.
In a truck, getting to True Blue only took about five minutes, and Bishop got out with everyone else when they arrived. He noticed Duke coming around to Zona’s side and helping her down as she was in a pretty dress the color of evening clouds. Sort of pink, but also sort of peachy, and maybe a little gold. The dress shimmered, and Bishop watched as Zona smiled up at Duke and laced her arm through his.
They made a cute couple, and they’d been dating since just before Christmas.
Bishop himself had been on many dates since Christmas, but nothing seemed to stick. Even with the women he really liked, he couldn’t seem to make a relationship launch. Familiar frustration built within him, and he strode inside as a bit of a breeze picked up.
The Lord had heard his prayers about the weather, though he knew he wasn’t the only one who’d been praying for such a blessing. The whole Glover family had been, and it certainly seemed like the rain would hold off for a few more hours.
Bishop slowed as he neared the barn. She’d gotten a fresh coat of blue paint, and she gleamed in the sunlight. The doors had been widened, and new ones fashioned and fitted on the tracks. They could lock, but right now, they’d been thrown wide open.
A tall vase of flowers and greenery stood sentinel on either side of the open doors, with a small podium next to one. People paused there to write their names in the two guest books, but Bishop didn’t.
The scent of roses blew toward him from inside the barn, and he stepped from dirt to a wide rug that would help clean people’s boots and shoes as they transitioned from outdoor to indoor space.
The hardwood stretched beyond that, and the huge serving window Micah had suggested in the kitchen had been rolled up. Trays and plates sat there, and people moved in and out as they got appetizers and snacks before the wedding began.
The altar was immediately to his left, with the rows of chairs filling what could also be a dance floor. The middle aisle ran straight back to another set of hand-planed and hand-stained barn doors. Through those sat the dressing rooms and bathrooms, and the brides and grooms would exit back there, walk down the aisle, get married at the front, and be able to walk out the doorway where he stood easily.
It was a genius layout, really. Bishop had gotten them eighty percent of the way there.
“This place is incredible,” Ace said, coming to a stop