West of Forever (Heartstone Ranch #1)(102)

“Lark!”

I smile and open my arms to give her a big hug. “Hey!”

She squeezes me back and stares up at me. “Did you watch the show I told you about?”

“I did. You’re so right—she should never have picked that brother.”

Sadie, Tristan, and I have had several outings together. We went to dinner twice last week, and then earlier this week, I took Sadie for a mani-pedi, just us girls. One of the things I told Tristan was important to me was having my own relationship with Sadie.

We share a love of chickens and horses, but I want her to know me, and I have a lot to learn about her.

However, if there’s anyone in this house who is completely on board with our relationship, it’s her.

“Seriously, I hate him.”

I agree. He’s selfish and stupid, but then the heroine just couldn’t help herself. I wonder if I was ever that dumb. Then I remember—I definitely was that dumb.

“Can we not talk about this again?” Tristan asks. “The two of you are driving me batshit crazy with this show.”

I grin. “Listen, you like football. We like complicated teenage drama shows.”

“That’s right, Dad. This is your lot in life,” Sadie says, backing me up.

He must hate the two of us together.

I know he’s really going to hate when I finally have the conversation about Sadie getting back on Cloud. Lord knows he’s going to lose his mind when I reveal I’m riding him tomorrow.

Which is probably why I haven’t told him.

He knows I’ve been cleared to work with the horses again, and I did some groundwork today, which he was so not excited about, but he’s learning he can’t protect everyone he loves from life.

It’s baby steps.

Tomorrow I plan to take a big one.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tristan says with a sigh. “Let’s go inside and have lunch.”

Sadie glances at me. “Don’t worry. Dad threatened them all this morning. Everyone will behave. Well, with Grandad, we can never be too sure.”

I imagine him sitting his sisters down and how that must’ve gone.

I know all the Stone girls. I’ve grown up around them—you can’t live in this town and not run into each other—we just were never friends.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I nod once, take Tristan’s hand, and smile. “Let’s go.”

We walk in, and Tristan’s house is so much like mine it’s almost funny. The layout is similar, there’s a living room right past the entryway, and it has a huge cathedral ceiling with windows on the entire side. There’s even an old recliner that sits in front of the television and a couch to the left.

We walk farther into the kitchen, where his sisters are all standing around the island. Where my house hasn’t been touched in a million years, it’s clear they recently upgraded at least this room.

The stove is huge and sits against the back wall beneath a beautiful range hood with intricate scrollwork along the top. The island seats at least six, to the side is a breakfast nook area with a round table, and where we have a wall that separates our dining area, they tore it down and brought in more formal seating.

The conversation stops once they see us, and then Fallon puts down the vegetable she was holding and comes to me. “Lark, I owe you an apology.”

I shake my head. “No, you don’t.”

“No, please,” she pleads. “I was wrong. I blamed you, and you definitely didn’t have anything to do with the situation. Please accept my apology.”

“Of course,” I say quickly. “No harm done.”

She glances at her brother and then back at me. “There was, but I appreciate the forgiveness. Welcome to our home.”

“Thank you.”

After Fallon steps back, Harper and Veronica approach. We say an awkward hello, they ask about how I’m feeling, and we do our best to make small talk. The three of them go back to cooking, and Tristan wraps his arm around me, pulling me to him. “You’re doing great.”

I look up into his brown eyes and grin. “They’re all being very kind.”

“They don’t want to find themselves without a house.”

I snort a laugh. “Tristan, you can’t make them like me.”

“No, but I can make them be nice.” He is completely out of his mind.

Still, they are being nice, and I appreciate it.

“Where’s Pop?” Tristan asks after a few more minutes.

Honestly, he’s who I am the most concerned about meeting. The stories my father has told about Clyde Stone are enough to make me want to run. He’s ornery, once punched my dad—allegedly—and has undercut my farm in so many instances that my family often blames him for our struggles. Sadie, on the other hand, paints a very different version of him.

I’m hoping he’s like she describes.

Veronica looks over. “He said he was going to get the eggs.”

“We got the eggs this morning,” Sadie explains.

Tristan lets out a long groan. “Harper…”

She huffs. “I’m going, I’m going. I don’t know how this is my damn job.”

“Because you volunteered,” Veronica says as she stirs the pot and then turns to me. “When we knew Pop couldn’t run the farm anymore, everyone got a job. Harper was to manage Dad as well as the accounting and front office.”