“How about you practice that wild streak and sleep nekkid?”

“Does that mean there’s a chance you’ll wake me up with your mouth between my legs?”

“I can pretty much guarantee it.”

She threw the nightgown behind her.

He laughed.

They slipped beneath the sheets together and she admitted it’d be nice sleeping skin to skin with him all night.

Carson’s lips brushed the top of her head. “I don’t ever want you to think the passion between us is a thing of the past. It might not be as urgent as it once was, it may’ve grown and changed and ain’t as frequent as either of us would like it to be, but sugar, it’s still there. It always will be if I got anything to say about it.”

“I remember you told me once that you’d still want me when you were a hundred-and-five-year-old man. At the time I thought that was sweet. As well as vaguely creepy.”

“I meant it. I still mean it. There are folks who think a grandma and grandpa havin’ a hot sex life is creepy, but I don’t give a damn. Let them think we’re whittlin’ and knittin’ in our spare time. Only we’ll know that we’re wearin’ out the mattress and testin’ out the sturdiness of all the furniture in this old house.”

“Guess we’d better remember to start locking the door during the day.”

She hated that the memory didn’t fade to black like in the movies. Her head screamed as she pushed against the tide, her hands blindly reaching out to hold on to the moment only to spiral back down into that void again.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Hospital, Day 5—afternoon

“Of course you’re bringing him cookies,” the nurse said. “That’s pretty much been his diet. You’re good to go in.”

Carson watched as Chassie Glanzer came around the corner, holding a paper bag.

She smiled and passed it over. “I’m sure you heard what’s in here.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty quiet up here.” He peeked inside. “These are gigantic. What kind are they?”

“Rancher cookies. They’re a mix of chocolate chip and oatmeal with butterscotch chips, peanuts and M&Ms. They’re a favorite in our household.”

“I can see why. Thanks, darlin’, now supper is covered.”

“I’ll be honest; I wish I wasn’t bringing them to you at all.” She sat next to him. “Any news from the docs?”

“Nope. Still the same.”

“I figured. India has kept me updated.”

Usually Keely passed on news to her West relatives. “Indy stopped by. But she wasn’t bearing cookies.”

“Trust me, Uncle Carson, if she had you wouldn’t want to eat them. I love her, and she has many talents, but cookin’ ain’t one of them.”

“That description fits me too.” He set the bag aside. “How’re the kids?”

“Healthy, first off, or I wouldn’t be here. Enjoying the summer. They’re pretty involved in 4-H. It sucks we had to start our own club since no one wanted us in theirs. But with Colt and Indy’s kids and ours, and now the Anderson triplets from up the road wanting to join, we’re making inroads.”

“It sucks that you gotta make inroads at all. People oughta mind their own business and not worry about what someone else is doin’ behind closed doors.” While he didn’t understand two guys wanting to be together, he also didn’t understand why half the damn couples in the county were together either.

Chassie leaned her head on his biceps—a very un-Chassie-like reaction. She’d always been a sweet and shy girl, thoughtful, kind, nothing at all like her ass**le father. If she’d acted anything like Harland West, Carson would’ve put his boot down and kept Chassie far away from Keely.

“I’m sorry,” Chassie whispered. “Sorry this happened to Aunt Carolyn and sorry that you’re goin’ through hell.”

“In the words your generation are so fond of, it sucks all around.”

She laughed softly and sniffled.

He couldn’t deal with her tears—which he suspected were as rare as Keely’s, so he changed the subject. “What’re your men up to?”

“Getting ready to turn the bulls out. They’ve remodeled my goat pens into an actual barn and they’re putting the finishing touches on it, and I gotta say, it is awesome. My men made sure everything is state of the art.”

“I’ll bet they did. Colt brags on you all the time, about how successful your products are.”

“Colt is sweet and currently one of two of your kids who ain’t on my shit list.”

“Who’s the other one?”

“Carter. Them two are the only ones…” She shook her head. “Not my business or my drama. Anyway, you and Aunt C oughta swing by our place sometime and check out my new goat grotto.”

“I promise we’ll do that when Carolyn is feelin’ up to it.”

“I love how optimistic you are about her recovery.”

“I refuse to accept that she won’t recover.”

“In all the years my mom was sick, I never heard my dad say anything like that about her. I hated that he’d pretty much accepted she was gonna die.”

“Behavior he learned from your grandfather Eli West,” was all Carson said.

Chassie glommed onto that comment. “I know some of the backstory about why the Wests and McKays feuded all those years. But it was always more personal between you and my dad. Why?”