refrigerator. I have water bottles and meat to go in there with some ice so it stays ready for their first night. After they leave here, it’s all jerky and beans, so I make sure their first night they get some decent food, and I make the chili we take with us.”
“You make Daddy’s chili?” Colt asked, suddenly stopped, stock still.
“I try,” I said. “I never can get it exactly right, but it’s damn close. I make enough of it for everyone to have a bowl, and then I keep leftovers for my own snacking.”
Colt laughed. “Little brother,” he said, “you might be the smartest one in the whole damn family, you know that?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” I said, getting another laugh from Colt.
We finished putting things away and headed back to the ranch house to get the supplies for the remaining stops. There wasn’t a whole lot I was dropping off at each one of them, but it was enough to load up our horses a fair amount before we trotted away. Usually, I had to make the longest distance trip first and then make my way back so I kept my steed from wearing out and not making it a big long distance on the last trip, but with Colt there, I didn’t need to keep so much on my horse, and the trip was much easier on him.
We passed the barn and made our way to the creek, where the second camp was set. It was a much cruder spot, with just a firepit set up and ready for me to stock with the wood hidden under a tarp nearby, and a clearing for us to set up tents or sleep under the stars, weather permitting.
“Ahh, the creek, one of my favorite places,” Colt said.
“Me too,” I said. “It’s why I chose it for the second stop. It’s beautiful out here, but this time, they have to rough it in tents or sleeping bags. I bring the French press and the coffee with us, but they all bring their own cans of whatever they want out here and heat it up over the fire.”
“Sounds like every other night of our childhood,” Colt said.
“Yeah, but we grew up used to it. Most people who come here haven’t ever slept outside without it being within spitting distance of their house or running water.”
“Have any of the other brothers done one of these with you?” Colt asked as he dropped a box of worms and some hooks into a bin I kept by the creek. I unfolded the burlap sack with the long sticks and roll of fishing line that I used to teach them how to make their own fishing rods.
“Wade came once or twice,” I said. “Garrett keeps sounding interested in doing one but hasn’t yet. Clayton came a few times, though.”
“Funny about Clayton,” Colt said, mounting his horse again. “That girl he’s with sure has him wrapped up around her finger.”
I laughed. “Part of it is little Gabby,” I said. “That’s a cute kid.”
Colt shrugged. “It’s just nice to see a couple of us finally growing up and finding women. Especially Garrett.”
I nodded as I got on my own horse. I knew he was leading with that statement. As much as I had said I was fine with Annabelle and Garrett being together, I knew that there was suspicion from one or more of my brothers that perhaps I wasn’t. They never got over the idea that I was going to end up with her one day.
“Especially,” I said. “Him and Annabelle are really good for each other.”
Colt grunted and kicked the horse into movement. I knew what he was thinking, but I didn’t feel like going down that road. To be fair, I would have thought the same thing. Hell, I pretty much had, though I didn’t like to admit it to myself.
As much as Annabelle and I never had the kind of attraction to each other that would lead to dates and relationships, as I watched all my brothers grow older, I knew I didn’t want to be alone like they were. I wanted a partner. And if Annabelle and I hit thirty or so, I figured we’d bite the bullet and give it a shot. I wasn’t upset Annabelle was no longer an option, but I was a little sad that now I didn’t have a backup plan.
Even as I thought that, I chided myself. Annabelle was my best friend, not