CoCo shared a chuckle with Rian and then heard the kitchen timer go off. She popped up from the chair and rushed to get the pie out of the oven. She was even more excited now that dessert would be the pie she made from scratch. She’d never been so excited about pie.
Rian went to feed the cattle and CoCo enjoyed a lingering stare at Rian’s retreating backside. She’d never tire of that view...
Oh, girl, you’re just digging yourself in deeper with each passing day.
She ignored the tiny voice and focused instead on the tantalizing scent of baked apples filling the kitchen. Rian was right; baking was relaxing when you finally got it right!
20
AS LUCK WOULD have it Adeline and Warren went out to dinner that night, leaving the brothers and the girls in for the night, but that was okay, since it gave them a chance to visit without censoring their language for Adeline’s sake.
CoCo had become more comfortable around Laci and was now pestering Laci for intel that she could use against Rian, which he wasn’t sure he should encourage, but it was worth it to watch CoCo’s face light up when Laci started dishing.
“Oh! Should I share the time you got yourself in a right pickle with Merry Pritchard?” Laci teased, causing Rian to blush. Of all the stories, not that one! At his obvious discomfort CoCo nodded vigorously, egging Laci on. “Okay, well, as you might imagine, Rian was quite the little charmer in high school. He had all the girls chasing after him, wanting a piece of that Dalton pie, if you know what I mean.”
“I can imagine,” CoCo agreed, laughing. When Rian rolled his eyes, she said, “Aw, is someone embarrassed?”
“I probably should’ve mentioned that Laci is a pathological liar,” he quipped. “She gets away with it because she’s famous and all but don’t believe a word that leaves her mouth.”
Laci gasped playfully in mock outrage, looking to Kane. “Are you going to let him say things like that about me? The nerve!”
“Well, you have been known to spin a tale or two,” Kane said with a glint in his eye telling that he was kidding. “But go on, because I love stories where Rian gets what’s coming to him.”
“Merry’s dad nearly skewered me on a pitchfork!”
“What’d you do with his daughter?” CoCo asked.
“Nothing she didn’t want,” he said, his ears heating. “And besides, she chased me for weeks! I practically had to peel her off with a spatula!”
“Merry did have a singular attachment to Rian, which I never understood, but it was hilarious to watch,” Kane said.
“Yeah, totally hilarious,” Rian grumbled.
“Annnnnyway,” Laci said, clearing her voice to continue her story. “Rian thought it would be a good idea to take his stalker, I mean friend, out on a date, which then turned out to be a make-out sesh in her driveway. And you can imagine how that didn’t end well when Merry’s dad caught them.”
“What were you doing making out in her driveway?”
“It was late. I figured the old man was asleep. It seemed a calculated risk,” he answered sheepishly. “Besides, if anyone was the aggressor, it was Merry! She practically ripped my shirt in half!”
“Aw, poor Rian. Attacked by desperate high school girls,” CoCo said, not the least bit sorry for him, although her eyes twinkled with mischief. “I’m sure you were the victim.”
“I was,” he insisted, looking to Kane. “C’mon, man, back me up!”
“Sorry, no can do. No one forced you to date Merry. I told you at the time it was a bad idea and if old man Pritchard hadn’t been intent on putting your liver on the end of his fork, I would’ve let him give you some lumps because you needed a whack on the head at that time.”
“Yeah, well, thankfully, I got away but Pritchard knew we were staying at the Bradford Ranch and followed me.”
Laci hooted with remembered laughter. “Oh, yes! And if fire could’ve shot out of his eyeballs, Rian would’ve been a scorch mark on the grass. But Kane and Warren came to his rescue, settled old man Pritchard down with an apology from Rian and an express promise that he wouldn’t come within twenty feet of Merry ever again.”