Love All Out - The Complete Series (A Stepbrother Romance) Read Free Page B

He took a long drink of his tea and ignored my scowl.
    “Perfect,” Daddy agreed. “Matt, you can take an extra day off once Renee’s completely trained. Willow, I told Renee to be here at the house by eight a.m.”
    “Okay…” I agreed grudgingly. “I’ll be ready for her.”
    “Great,” Daddy said, beaming at me. “I really appreciate the way you’re handling this, pumpkin. And just wait and see, in a few weeks you’ll wonder how you ever lived without her.”
    I sincerely doubt that.
    I pushed my chair away from the table and stood. “We should be getting back to the barn. We still have to exercise the stallions and the Fosters are bringing their mare out this evening. I need to make sure that the paddock is ready.”
    “And I need to check the cattle and ride out to the Mustang pasture,” Daddy added after rinsing the plates.
    “Thanks again for lunch,” Matt said as we made our way outside.
    “Thanks for helping Willow see reason,” Daddy joked.
    “Can we give you a ride to the stables?” I asked as Matt climbed into the driver’s seat.
    “Thanks, but I left Rosco down at the stock barn last night. I’ll drive through the cattle pasture and then go saddle him up. It would be helpful if you could drive the truck back this afternoon.”
    “I’ll drop Willow off at the stock barn when I leave for the day,” Matt offered.
    “I’ll leave the truck at the stables,” I added.
    “I don’t know what I’d do without the two of you,” Daddy replied with a grin. “Have a good night, Matt. Willow, I’ll see you at dinner.”
    Daddy slid behind the wheel of his beat up farm truck and set off for the cattle pasture.
    “I can’t believe James Parker’s mom is going to be working with us!” Matt squealed, sounding uncharacteristically feminine. “It’s going to be so amazing… do you think he’ll visit her here?”
    “I don’t know,” I replied with a frown. “I’m more concerned about how well she’ll take direction from us. I hope she doesn’t show up and try to take over the place.”
    Matt stopped the ATV in the middle of the driveway and turned to me with his full attention. “Willow, I know this is hard for you. I have to admit, I’ve loved it being just you and me for the last year. But your dad is right. If we’re going to make it to the races and handle everything that comes along with that, we need someone we can trust to take care of the horses.”
    “And if neither of our horses place and business doesn’t boom after the Derby? What then?”
    “If we don’t need her after racing season is over, I’m sure Cole can move her to another barn. It’s not like you have a shortage of them,” he teased, gesturing around the landscape.
    Matt was right. The ranch was more than big enough to utilize an extra set of hands. The left side of the property was occupied by the Mustang and Quarter horse pastures, along with the massive stock barn. The main house was in the middle of the land, with the thoroughbred barn, stables, and supply barn in front of it. The staff cabins sat behind the main house and the right side of the property was all cattle pasture.
    “I guess you’re right,” I relented. “In fact, I’m going to assume you’re right. I’ll treat this like a temporary situation. It’s the only way I’ll be able to get through tomorrow. Renee better know her place when she shows up though. I get that she’s older than us, but this is our barn.”
    “If you want, we can piss in all the corners and mark our territory before she gets here,” Matt teased.
    I gave him a good natured slap on the shoulder. “Very funny. Let’s get back to work. We’ve got tons of things to do, and now we need to clean the barn on top of everything else… our office too. The last think I want is for Renee to show up and think we’re sloppy and unorganized.”
    “But we are sloppy and unorganized,” Matt laughed as he put the ATV in drive.
    “Maybe so, but we don’t need to