A Creed in Stone Creek - Linda Lael Miller [84]
“Matt Creed,” Matt responded, gazing wide-eyed up at Brody.
They shook hands solemnly.
“The rodeo,” Steven said, “is still three weeks away.”
Brody swung his ice-blue gaze to Steven. It was unnerving how much he looked like Conner, though it shouldn’t have been. They were identical twins, after all. “Don’t you worry, Boston,” he said, in a slow drawl, tucking in his shirt. “I’m not here to stay—just passin’ through.”
“How come he calls you ‘Boston,’ Dad?” Matt wanted to know.
“I’ll explain later,” Steven said, ruffling the boy’s hair and handing him the key ring. “You’d better go let Zeke out of the bus. He’s probably crossing his hind legs by now.”
Matt glanced once more at Brody, eyes full of curious interest, then dashed off toward the bus.
Once he and Steven were alone, Brody folded his arms. “Quite a spread you have here,” he said.
It might have been a jibe, considering the state of the house and barn, but Steven didn’t know for sure, so he let the comment pass with a quiet, “Thanks.”
“Look,” Brody said, rubbing his chin, which was bristly with dark gold stubble, “if you want me to hit the trail, just say so.”
Steven laid a hand on the front fender of the truck, and he smiled as youthful memories rose in his head, brightly colored and glowing around the edges. “You’re welcome here, Brody,” he replied, “and you damn well know it.”
Brody grinned again. “When did you get married?” he asked, with a gesture toward Matt, now bounding out of the bus behind the sheepdog-bullet that was Zeke.
“I didn’t,” Steven replied.
Brody arched one eyebrow, and his eyes danced. “I see.”
“No,” Steven told him, slapping him on the back to head him in the direction of the bus, “you don’t see. And where the hell have you been all this time?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MELISSA, JITTERY WITH SILLY, schoolgirl thoughts of what she would wear to the dance on Saturday night, decided as she left the office to steel herself and stop by the B&B to look in on the guests. Ashley would be back from Chicago soon, and Melissa wanted to be able to say she’d tended to business.
She smiled as she maneuvered the roadster out of the parking lot behind city hall. The breeze was fresh and the afternoon sunshine was glorious, and Melissa was glad she’d left the top down on the roadster that morning, even though the wind was playing havoc with her hair.
When she reached Ashley’s place, there was a familiar SUV parked in front of the garage door, and Melissa’s spirits rose even further at the sight of it. Ashley and Jack and little Katie were back from Chicago, at last.
Melissa parked hastily at the curb, maybe a shade too close to the fire hydrant, and barely remembered to grab her purse before dashing across the sidewalk, through the front gate and up the porch steps.
Ashley opened the screen door, grinning from ear to ear, two-year-old Katie balancing on one hip.
They were so different, Melissa and Ashley, that strangers were always surprised to learn that they were twins. Melissa’s hair was dark brown, and she preferred to dress for success, while Ashley, a delicate blonde, generally wore pastels, gauzy skirts and ruffled things.
Their eyes, though, marked them as sisters, because they were precisely the same shape and the same shade of blue.
They hugged, Ashley’s embrace one-armed because she was still holding Katie, and Melissa’s eyes burned with happy tears.
“You were gone way too long,” Melissa accused, when they were inside the entryway.
Katie, blond like her mother but with her dad’s dark eyes, strained toward Melissa, who gladly took her and planted a noisy kiss on one pudgy—and slightly sticky—little cheek.
“And that goes for you, too, Missy,” Melissa told her niece.
“We missed you, too,” Ashley said. She was barefoot, wearing white shorts and a matching top that showed off her light tan, and her hair was tumbling down from its Gibson-girl do in a way that was almost a signature. “Follow me to the kitchen,” she said, and turned.
Melissa followed, carrying Katie and looking