The Cowboy Next Door (The Cash Brothers) by Marin Thomas

won’t be home until tomorrow.”
    “You want in?” Buck nodded to the deck of cards.
    “No, thanks.”
    Buck dropped a piece of candy into the pot. “I’ll raise you one Smartie.”
    “I stopped by to check on the place,” Johnny said.
    Will added a piece of candy to the pot. “Did you think we’d destroy the bunkhouse once you moved out?”
    There were no broken furniture, dents in the walls or stains on the cement floor. His brothers must be taking their squabbles outside. “Any leaks?” Two nights ago a storm had passed through the area, dumping a half inch of rain in less than an hour.
    “The place is airtight,” Will said.
    Will had a background in construction and had drawn up the plans for the bunkhouse, and then all the brothers had helped rough-in the plumbing and electrical before pouring the cement slab and installing the metal sides and roof. His siblings had protested trading in their full-size beds for twin beds, but in doing so, they’d left space for the picnic table, refrigerator and sink at one end of the room and a small bathroom, two sofas and two chairs that sat at the other end. In the middle was a row of single beds facing the opposite wall where a large flat-screen TV hung.
    “What’s up with all the rodeo posters?” Johnny asked.
    “Porter watches that design show Dear Genevieve. He’s got a big ol’ crush on that woman.” Buck rolled his eyes. “According to Genevieve, wallpaper gives any place a homey feel.”
    “Porter wanted to put up some fleur-de-lis French crap,” Will said. “But we vetoed that and voted for the posters.”
    “The photos of raging bulls and ominous bucking stock warm this place right up.” Johnny grinned. “Where’s Mack’s band playing tonight?”
    “They’re not. Mack pulled the weekend shift at the dude ranch,” Buck said.
    Caught up in his responsibilities at the Triple D Johnny had forgotten Mack had recently hired on as a wrangler at the Blackjack Mountain Dude Ranch. “How does he like the job?”
    “He hasn’t said much about it.” Buck laid down his cards. “Four of a kind.”
    “You lose.” Will showed a full house, then swept the pile of candy to his side of the table. “How’s Shannon?”
    “She’s fine.” Not wanting to field questions about his boss’s daughter, Johnny scooted his chair back and stood. “Is Dixie inside? I didn’t see her truck parked in the yard.”
    “She’s here. Her truck’s at Troy’s garage,” Buck said.
    “What happened to it?” Johnny asked.
    Buck shuffled the deck. “Stalled outside Yuma yesterday.”
    “Why didn’t she call me?”
    Will snorted. “You forgetting she’s married? Gavin picked her up and made arrangements for a tow.”
    Johnny ignored the sharp twinge he felt at being knocked off the pedestal his sister had put him on all those years. “What’s wrong with the truck?”
    “Alternator went out,” Buck said. “Troy had to order a new one.”
    Buck had worked for the local mechanic on and off for the past five years and Johnny thought his brother should ask Troy if he could buy into his business and become a partner. Buck was a natural at fixing engines.
    “How’s the construction business?” Johnny asked Will. His brother worked for a small family-run construction company owned and operated by Ben Wallace, a former high-school classmate of Will’s.
    “Things are slow right now,” Will said.
    “I better say hello to Dixie before I take off.”
    Buck’s voice stopped Johnny at the door. “Come back anytime you get homesick.” His brothers chuckled.
    On the way to the farmhouse Johnny paused to stare at the setting sun and recalled the afternoons he’d walked with his grandfather through the groves, listening to the old man talk about the life cycle of the pecan.
    You’re the eldest, Johnny . I’m counting on you to keep these trees in the family.
    Johnny hadn’t cared about the nuts, but he’d worshipped his grandfather and had made a solemn