“Why?” she asked, the question sounding exceedingly dumb.
“Because you want to do something. So, I say we do something.”
“What? Castrating pigs in traffic cones?” A lesser appreciated skill, she was sure.
“No, I was thinking maybe not castration. But what if we did a basic blacksmith demonstration?”
They weren’t pros exactly, but they had basic ironworking skills and all the tools for it. Her cousin Jake was the one who did real accomplished blacksmithing stuff—it was what his dad had done on the side. But they had everything they needed for it at the ranch. “Do you think people would like that?”
“Sure,” Logan said. “It’ll be a cold day. We’ll do stuff with fire and hot iron. Basic stuff. Let’s make some horseshoes.”
“Okay,” Rose said.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Pansy said. “And no one has done it at the parade before. We can set you up far enough away from the booths that you won’t light anything on fire, but close enough that people can meander down once they get cider and chili and all that.”
“Great,” Logan said.
“Now we just need to get all the other details finalized. Barbara wanted to have the parade at night this year. But I kindly pointed out the people might not want to stand out in weather that cold. Plus, we don’t want it to be past the Girl Scouts’ bedtime. So we’re going to keep it separate from the tree lighting.”
“Does she just change things for the sake of changing them?” Rose asked.
Again, she wasn’t sure why this was bothering her so much. Except perhaps that it underlined the way things were moving and shifting in their family.
Moving on.
“I’m sure if you asked her that she would say no. Though sometimes it feels like it.” Pansy sighed. “But you know, she does a lot for the community, and I’m grateful for her. I’m really not mad.”
Rose was unmoved. “I’ll be mad for you.”
She took another piece of bread, and shot Iris a sly glance. “You made sourdough. Is that the same recipe you shared with Elliott?”
Ryder frowned. “You shared a recipe with Elliott?”
“She did,” Rose said, giving her brother a furiously triumphant look.
“I did,” Iris said, measured. “He’s nice.”
Again, her sister’s tone sounded imbued with faint praise, but whatever. Iris was like that. She was cautious. Not one to show a great, outward display of... Well, much of anything. In Rose’s opinion, her sister was one of the most delightful people in the world. But she did do her best to keep that information a secret that could only be given to a privileged few.
Iris was just reserved. It was how she was. It wasn’t because she was snobby or anything like that. Iris had been forced to grow up far too early. Again, a sliver of guilt worked its way between Rose’s ribs, and made it difficult to breathe.
Pansy was more even-tempered than Rose, but Pansy was stubborn and tough and couldn’t have faded into the background if she’d made an effort. Rose had a bad habit of speaking and acting before she thought, and found that she rather enjoyed making the comment nobody else would. It seemed like a little bit of piss and vinegar ran in the family.
It made Rose wonder how much Iris had pushed down so that she could be the mature one. The one that took care of things.
“Color me shocked,” Ryder said. “I figured you’d storm out of the bar and tell Rose where to shove it.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Iris said.
She wouldn’t. That was the thing. Rose would. Pansy would. Ryder would. Iris wouldn’t.
But surely Iris wouldn’t let Rose run over her, either. They were sisters, and Iris could tell her whatever she needed to. Anyway, she didn’t have to send the recipe to him.
“Elliott,” Emmett said from his end of the table. “Is he the guy that does the water stuff? He came by the school a few weeks ago to install a new system. I dunno, something about expanding and needing more... I quit paying attention.”
Emmett went to school on the Dalton ranch. The Daltons were West’s family. His other set of half siblings. Apparently, Hank Dalton had bastard children littered around the country. West was one of them, and had only connected with his family a year or so earlier. But it had all worked out in the end, since his half brother Gabe had started a school for troubled youth, and his half brother from the other side, Emmett, was a little bit of a troubled youth.
“Yes,” Rose confirmed. “That’s him.”
Emmett snorted. “Okay.” West elbowed him. “Sorry,” the kid said.
“Can we stop talking about it now?” Iris asked. “I would much rather plan parade things. We only have a couple of weeks.”
So they discussed parade business. And it wasn’t until dinner was all finished and Rose had gone up to bed that she realized it was Logan who had jumped in and made sure she had something to do that she was excited about.
That made her think of his eyes again.
His eyes. And all the things he’d said to her earlier.
She didn’t want to lose this bet.
Just considering losing the bet had her feeling...wrong.
She stripped off her clothes and walked into the bathroom that connected to her room, turning the shower on. She had never been half so grateful to wash the day off her body and she couldn’t quite say why. Except that there was a general, strange electrical current running beneath her skin and she couldn’t figure out the source.
So she did about the best thing she could think of. She didn’t think about it at all. She scrubbed herself clean, got dressed and flung her tired, battered body into bed.
And if her dreams were full of blue, she chose not to remember them when she woke up.
CHAPTER SIX
NOT ONLY HAD he gotten himself roped into this whole parade thing, but thanks to the fact he hadn’t been able to stop himself from jumping in to save
