Austin blinked at Dylan and then Shane. “She has what?”

“A boyfriend,” Dylan said.

“Our mom?”

“Yes,” Shane said, sitting at the bar with a cup of coffee. “She’s bringing him for Christmas.” He returned to the notebook that he carried everywhere with him. It contained everything about the ranch, and he studied it, added notes to it, and stapled things inside constantly.

Austin wasn’t sure how to feel. “How long have they been dating?”

“Six months.” Shane scratched out another sentence and turned the page. “She didn’t say anything at Thanksgiving, because she wanted it to be about us and the ranch.”

Of course she did. Austin knew his mother to be the most selfless person on the planet. Still, he couldn’t quite imagine her holding hands with a man, or wanting to go through another relationship when her first marriage had ended so disastrously.

“What’s his name?”

“Brian?” Dylan guessed, pulling open the fridge and pulling out the milk. A carton of cream joined it, and Austin gestured that he wanted Rice Krispies with cream too.

“No, it’s Barry,” Shane said without looking up.

“Is it?” Dylan got down two bowls with a shrug. “It starts with a B, I know that.”

Austin wanted to tell them about his date with a woman whose name started with an S, but he didn’t quite know how. He had to say something to get the truck and get off the ranch that night. Unless Shay could drive….

Dylan slid him a bowl overflowing with Rice Krispies, and Austin started pouring cream and then milk on them, enjoying the way they talked back to him. “So, I’m going into town tonight.” He cleared his throat, hoping maybe that would do it. Be enough. No explanation needed. “Can I take the truck?”

“I’m using it,” Dylan said. “Hazel and I are going to the Christmas Spectacular at Sunshine Farms, remember?” He spoke of his fiancée with ease, and Austin wondered if he’d ever be able to do the same with Shay.

“We need another vehicle,” Austin said, frowning into his cereal.

“What do you need it for?” Shane asked. “You could ask Robin to borrow hers.”

Robin had a nice truck that cost more than Austin even wanted to think about. His face heated and he stuffed his mouth full of the popping cereal to give himself a few seconds to think.

Might as well tell them…they’re going to find out soon enough.

He swallowed. “I, uh, well, I have a date.”

Shane finally lifted his eyes from the notebook and Dylan let his milk drip, drip, drip back into his bowl, his spoon frozen in mid-air.

“A date?” Dylan asked. “With who? You haven’t been off the ranch in months.”

“I go to church every week,” Austin said. Seriously, was him going out with someone that big of a deal? “So yeah, maybe Robin would let me borrow your truck? I’ll ask her.” He looked at Shane and shoved another huge bite of cereal into his mouth, suddenly keen to finish eating and get out of the kitchen.

“She’s already out on a job,” Shane said. “You can text her.”

Austin reached for his phone, but Shane was faster. He swiped it from its spot on the counter between them. “After you tell me who you’re goin’ out with.”

“Come on.” Austin rolled his eyes. “I go out with plenty of women.”

Shane and Dylan exchanged a glance. “Not for about a year, I believe,” Shane said.

“You’re keeping track?”

“Someone has to.”

Austin huffed out his annoyance. “I’m not a baby,” he said. “I’m thirty-three, and I can go out with whoever I want.”

“You sure can,” Dylan said with a wicked grin. “We just want to know who she is.”

“Was I this annoying when you started dating Hazel?”

“Yes,” Dylan said. “You both were, if you’ll recall.” He gave his brothers pointed looks, and Austin couldn’t really argue with him.

“You have to promise not to be weird about it,” Austin said, like that would help at all. Shane and Dylan would tease him mercilessly, just as they had with every girlfriend he’d ever had.

Girlfriend.

The word felt half-right and half-wrong in his mind. Shay wasn’t his girlfriend—not yet.

“Why would we be weird?” Shane asked. “I’ll be happy for you. Hopefully it’ll work out.” He sounded sincere, and Austin saw the genuineness in his eyes too.

“All right.” He drew in a deep breath. “It’s Shay.”

Silence cloaked the kitchen. Dylan finally said, “Shay, as in the woman who dislikes us because we bought her ranch out from underneath her?”

“Did she tell you that?” Austin asked.

“It’s obvious,” Dylan said. He narrowed his eyes and peered at Austin like he could see through bone and skin to his brain beneath. “What have you two been doing in the equipment shed all these months?”

“Working,” Austin said quickly, glancing at Shane and looking away. “Talking.” That heat filled his whole body now, and he was sure he was flushing. “I asked her to dance at your wedding. She refused.”

“How many times have you asked her out?” Shane asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I don’t know,” Austin said. “Four maybe.”

Shane stood and drained the last of his coffee. “Hey, at least it didn’t take you three years to get her to say yes.” He flashed Austin a smile and said, “You can take Robin’s truck. I’ll text her.” He set the phone down beside Austin and headed out the back door to get to work.

Dylan finished his cereal in silence, and Austin was glad for it. Just when he sensed Dylan was about to head out too, Austin asked, “I’m not making a mistake, am I?”

“Why would you think that?”

“Well, she works here. What if I screw things up and it makes life difficult for all of us?”

“She’s definitely been prickly,” Dylan said. “But if she said yes to a date with you, you must be doin’ something right.” He put his bowl in the sink. “Don’t worry so much about it. Go with your gut.” And with that, he left Austin alone in the homestead, wondering if his gut wanted more cereal or if it was telling him to get out to the silos so he and Shay could start decorating the ranch for Christmas.

Shay showed up on the front porch of the homestead instead of allowing Austin the chance to collect her from her cabin.

“Hey,” he said, sitting next to her on the top step. “You could’ve come in.”

“I was early.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. She wore it down again tonight, the blonde streaks catching the winter sunlight and reflecting them. Her smile revealed straight, white teeth and a happy glow about her that Austin had rarely seen.

They’d worked in the equipment shed for only an hour that afternoon, then she’d gone out to mow a field somewhere. She’d showered, obviously, and she wore her glasses again tonight.

He reached out and touched them. “No contacts?”

“I got some hay or something in my eye this afternoon. It hurts.” She carefully wiped her forefinger beneath her right eye.

Sure enough, it looked redder than the other one. “Is it okay?”

“Feeling better now,” she said. “But I didn’t want to wear my contacts.” She hugged her knees, bunching up the floral fabric of her skirt. “I’m dressed okay?”

Austin’s throat felt like sand. “Yeah, of course.” He wore jeans and a black polo under a leather jacket. She looked bright, beautiful, and fun while he could be riding a motorcycle to a bar.

“Am I dressed okay?” he teased, wondering what she thought of the cowboy-biker look.

She grinned as she ran two fingertips along the brim of his cowboy hat. “This would be better in black, with this particular look.”

Austin stood, reaching down to take her hand and help her to her feet too. “I have black.”

“I know. I saw it at the wedding.” Her eyes glinted like gems, and Austin worked hard not to lean down and kiss her before they’d even gone out.

His mother had counseled him never to kiss a woman on the first date, but Dylan had kissed Hazel before they’d even gone out. Of course, they had spent several days together out in a cabin, so Austin assumed they’d talked plenty before the actual kissing.

“Should I go grab it?”

She shrugged. “Sure. If you want.”

He wanted to be who she wanted, so he said, “Give me a minute.” He took her in the house with him and left her in the living room with the single couch while he took the steps leading upstairs two at a time.

He knew right where the hat was, and he pulled it out of the box in the top of his closet, his heart thrumming a steady pulse in his neck. “Calm down,” he told himself. But it was hard to find that inner peace. He’d been dreaming of a date, of dinner, of dancing, with Shay for six months. Okay, only five. It was still a long time, and he was sure he was going to go back downstairs and find she’d fled.

With that panicked thought in his mind, he practically sprinted back to the living room to find her sitting on the couch, studying her fingernails. “Ready?” he asked.

She stood, the nerves in her expression not quite evaporating before she met his eyes. “Yeah. Ready.”

Austin laced his fingers through hers deliberately, enjoying every thrill and spark at the way her hand fit in his. “I’m glad you said yes,” he said, not trying to make his voice sound like he’d swallowed cotton. “Do you have a favorite place in town?”

“Yeah.” She hesitated. “You won’t like it.”

Austin led her toward the front door and outside. “Why do you say that?”

“Most men don’t.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Every time I go there, it’s all women eating with their kids or girlfriends.” She paused as he opened her door and stood back so she could climb in Robin’s high-end truck. “You’ll definitely stand out.”

“I’m with you,” he said. “Of course I’ll stand out.” He gave her a smile that felt flirty on his face, and her blush confirmed it. “And a place without other men to steal you away from me sounds great. What’s this place called?”

“The Soup Kitchen.” She watched him for a reaction, but Austin couldn’t give her one.

“Never been there.”

“The whole menu is soup. I love soup.”

“Soup it is, beautiful.” Austin helped her into the truck and closed the door before heading around the back. Truth was, soup wasn’t his favorite food. But he didn’t care. Not even a little bit. He’d eat cardboard if it meant Shay was sitting across the table from him, that gorgeous hair cascading around her beautiful face and shoulders, telling him things about herself he didn’t yet know.

In fact, as soon as he buckled his seat belt and got his bearings in this unfamiliar vehicle, he said, “Tell me something about yourself I don’t know.” He put the truck in reverse and backed away from the garage before setting the truck toward the main road. He’d bumped the minute or two down the dirt lane before he realized Shay hadn’t said a word.

He stopped before turning and looked at her. “Shay?”

“I’m trying to think of something.”

He chuckled, a bit of nervous energy entering the cab. “I don’t know hardly anything about you,” he said. “It can’t be that hard.”

But still she didn’t say anything.