Heartless (Chestnut Springs, #2)(57)

Worse things have happened to me in my life.

Luke immediately tells Rhett how he’s going to ride bulls when he grows up. Rhett and I exchange a look, knowing that Cade would probably keel over if this ever really happened.

“Do you know much about this team penning stuff?” I ask Jasper, tipping my chin down to the ring.

He nods. “Yeah. I’m actually not bad at it myself. We all practiced a lot as kids.”

“Really?” My brow quirks.

“You don’t grow up at Wishing Well Ranch and not learn how to pen and rope and cut and toss a lasso.”

“Well, shit.” I lean back a little, wrapping my hands around one knee. “Color me impressed, Jasper Gervais.”

He chuckles, eyes crinkling at the sides—which does nothing but remind me of Cade.

That’s where the similarities end though. Jasper is quiet, but there’s a gentleness about him. He’s introspective. There are things that weigh on him. Years behind a bar has honed my eye for people who carry invisible weight. He strikes me as . . . sad, maybe?

“Do you know anything about it?” he asks, eyes focused on the big dirt ring. There’s a pen with a bunch of cows at one end and a smaller pen nearby.

“Not a damn thing. I ride fancy jumping horses.”

“Okay, so basically a team of three will ride in. Those thirty cows all have numbers on them—three sets of ten—and the judge is going to call a random number. Then they’re going to separate the three cows with that number out and herd them down into the smaller pen on the opposite side.”

I nod and turn my lips down. “Okay.”

Jasper huffs out a soft chuckle. “It’s the rider’s job to predict how they might slip away. Bet you’re thinking that doesn’t sound so hard. But cows are pretty smart, and they like to stick together. Trickier than they look.”

I laugh at that. The cows look pretty cute to me with their big wide eyes and round wet noses.

“You’ll see them in real action when Cade pulls the cows up in a couple of weeks.”

“Oh?” I tilt my head.

“Yeah. Did Cade not tell you? It’s like a big family get-together at the ranch. We work all the cows. Get them vaccinated, check them over for fall—even though Cade is out there checking on them almost every damn day. Then there’s a big meal. Music.” He shrugs, staring back out over the ring. “It’s fun.”

“That sounds fun. Too bad Beau is away.”

A smile tugs at Jasper’s lips. “Yeah. It’s never quite the same without the class clown. But I think Violet is coming back. I don’t think you’ve met their sister yet. You’ll like her. She’s a fancy racehorse jockey. But it’s a surprise for Harvey, so keep that on the down-low.”

I wink at him. “We’ll unite in our fanciness, then, huh?”

Rhett must have overheard us because he says, “Jesus. You and Summer and Violet all together is going to be terrifying. Toss in Sloane? It’s going to be a mess.”

Jasper freezes for the briefest moment. “Sloane is coming?”

“Yeah, Vi told me the other day. She’s picking her up at the airport.”

Jasper covers whatever that physical reaction was with a chuckle. “Yeah. That’ll be quite the combo.”

“Who is Sloane?”

“Our cousin,” Rhett says right as Jasper says, “Their cousin. My friend.”

“Dude. You’re my brother. She’s our cousin. Don’t be weird about this. We’re too old for that shit.” Rhett shakes his head.

“We’ve stayed in touch in the city. You know that. I’m not related to her. She’s a good friend.”

Rhett rolls his eyes. “I don’t care about your last name, Jas. You’re an Eaton boy, like it or not.”

Jasper’s cheeks flush a little and his lips curve up. “I like it just fine, little Eaton.”

My head flips between them as they snipe back and forth. “Good god. You guys are adorable together.”

“Sloane is really pretty,” Luke announces when he surfaces for air out of his giant bag of mini donuts.

“Oooh.” I nudge my shoulder at him. “Does someone have a crush?” The boy rolls his eyes but his cheeks flame.

I bite back the laugh threatening to slip out. Luke doesn’t need me making fun of him about this, no matter how badly I want to.

The guys poke at Luke’s little shoulders until his ears turn red.

“She’s pretty, Lukey. No one denies that. Right, Jas?”

A little tendon in Jasper’s jaw twitches, but he nods and smiles all the same.

“Look!” Luke points to the area behind the metal gates. “There’s Dad!”

And there he is . . . warming up and looking sexy as hell. Shoulders held tall. Black hat. Black shirt with silver snaps. Black chaps. Black boots. Even Blueberry matches him.

“I wonder if he has a favorite color?” I ask to a chorus of laughs.

“He looks like Cowboy Batman,” Rhett says.

“Ooh. I like Batman,” Luke agrees while nodding.

Jasper chuckles. “He looks nervous is what he looks like. I told him I could show him some mental exercises I like to do before a game, and he told me to”—his fingers pop up in quotations—“take my soy-boy-woo-woo shit back to the city.”