“We are?” he asked, only to have my mother wave him off.
“Would you mind riding with Tanner?” Mom asked again.
Timberlynn smiled politely. “I don’t mind at all.”
“Great! We’ll see the two of you there.”
I held my arm out for Timberlynn, and she took it without a second thought.
“Save me a seat, Miss Timberlynn!” Blayze called out as he walked away, his hand in my mother’s.
She glanced back over her shoulder and replied, “I will, I promise.”
As we headed over to my father’s truck, I chuckled. “Seems Blayze has high hopes that his hat is still in the ring.”
Timberlynn giggled and shook her head. “He is such a sweet little boy. Did you see him singing that hymn? He was practically shouting to the heavens.”
I smiled. “Yeah, he’s a special little man.”
“He’s a lucky little man to have such a loving family. Parents and grandparents who love him, and of course, you and Ty.”
“Yeah, he’s blessed. We’re all blessed to have parents like my mom and dad. When they love, they love fiercely. It’s a Shaw trait, really.”
Her eyes met mine as we came to a stop at the passenger side of the truck. “I can see that. I mean, it’s obvious how much your family means to each other. And I didn’t believe for one minute that Brock and Lincoln needed your folks’ help in the truck.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. “She isn’t subtle, is she?”
Timberlynn laughed. “No, she isn’t.”
“She cares, that’s all. I hope you don’t mind her butting in.”
“Not at all,” Timberlynn said as she allowed me to help her up into the truck. I shut the door and jogged around to the other side, climbed in, and started up the engine.
“It’s pretty obvious how much your family loves and takes care of one another,” she said. “That’s not something I’m used to at all.”
“Yeah, it’s nice when they’re not all trying to meddle and butt into your life.”
“I guess that’s fair enough.”
“There isn’t anything we wouldn’t do for each other, though. Family or not. That’s the funny thing about love. It looks past all the faults, forgives easily, and has a way of changing people.”
Timberlynn stared at me for a moment or two before she sighed and looked out the window. “Well, some of us haven’t experienced that type of love, so…”
I took her hand in mine and kissed the back of it, breaking the intensity of the moment and causing us both to laugh.
“Okay, that must be bred into you guys!”
I winked. “Must be.”
Timberlynn Holden didn’t know it yet, but she was about to experience that type of love…and a hell of a lot of it.
Chapter Seventeen
TIMBERLYNN
Christmas Eve Dinner
Laughter.
It was something that was in abundance with the Shaw family. Even at a fancy country club filled with uptight, rich people, this family seemed to be at ease. Not one of them seemed to have a care in the world.
“Does the whole family belong to this country club?” I leaned over and asked Tanner.
He laughed. “Yes. Hard to believe, right? A bunch of ranchers belonging to a country club.”
I shook my head. “No, it just doesn’t seem like your dad or Ty—hell, even Brock—would fit in here.”
Tanner leaned in closer and the smell of his cologne filled the air around me, causing me to take in a long, deep breath. I’d missed that smell more than I had wanted to admit. “You’ll find this hard to believe, but my granddaddy formed this country club.”
“What?” I asked, surprise in my voice.
“Yeah, he and one of his good friends. Of course, back when they started the club it was mainly just a place for the guys to go and play some golf and some poker, and God knows what else they did. Granddaddy’s best friend was the one with the money to back it all, pretty much. Granddaddy did put in a good chunk, though, and my father is still part owner to this day.”
“No!” I said again, peeking over at Ty Senior. He looked ready to crawl out of his skin. He kept tugging on his tie and asking Stella if he could take it off, to which she simply glared at him and said no.
“They had the golf course designed and built before they even had the main building started. Then it became a place for Howard to entertain his business partners, and less of a place for them to escape and sit and smoke cigars and hit a few rounds of golf.”
“So