Hard Rain Coming by Juliana Stone

Author:Juliana Stone [Stone, Juliana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781988474724
Publisher: Juliana Stone Publishing Inc

Chapter Fourteen

Dallas was a decent cook. He could make a mean breakfast out of next to nothing, but aside from that, his culinary skills were limited to simple recipes. Stew, chicken soup, that sort of thing. Which was why dinner at the main house was always a treat. The feast that Rosie prepared for the Bridgestones was next level. In his opinion, the woman could give Gordon Ramsay a run for his money, without the potty mouth, of course. Rosie had strict rules for her kitchen. Always wash hands and no cursing.

As Benton predicted, Ryland was a no-show, though Nora kept things interesting. She more than made up for any awkward silences between him and Vivian because she was one hell of a chatterbox. Heck, he was pretty sure she’d been born talking.

First, she’d wanted to sit beside her Auntie Viv, and then insisted Dallas sit across from them next to Benton. Her doll Velvet sat next to him. Then she proceeded to talk nonstop about a number of things, from the kittens in Dallas’s mudroom to some snake named Eddie at the Pullman ranch, and she finished up by giving them an overview of her newest favorite nature show on Emperor penguins.

Honestly, he had no idea a girl her age had so many words inside her. By the time dinner was done, his head spun from all the information she’d passed on, and he volunteered for cleanup so that Benton could get his daughter upstairs and showered and ready for bed.

Which in turn left him alone with Vivian, who, unlike her niece, hadn’t contributed to the conversation at all.

“You’re quiet tonight. Everything okay?” he asked, feeling he should start the ball rolling. Which, in and of itself, was odd for Dallas—normally, he liked the quiet.

“Of course,” she answered, getting to her feet. “I’m just a little tired, is all.” She grabbed the dirty dishes from the table and took them over to the sink to rinse, while he cleared the rest of it. The air was thick and heavy with things unsaid, and Dallas wasn’t sure how to navigate his way through.

“It’s been a few days,” he said, tossing the scraps into the garbage before leaning against the counter a few inches from Vivian.

She took a plate from Dallas and looked up from underneath her lashes.

“Since we…” He raised a cocky eyebrow. “Hung out.”

“I’ve been working.” Vivian loaded the dish into the machine. “A lot.”

Okay. That surprised him. “Yeah?” He handed her the rest of the plates and grabbed a cloth to clean the table. He was more than a little curious. “What is it that you do exactly?”

She popped in a pod and started the dishwasher, then turned to him, a half-smile on her face. Free of makeup, she looked like the girl who’d stolen his heart when he was seventeen. It was crazy, really. Life had left some lines on his face, but she looked as if she’d just stepped out of a memory, with her hair up in a messy bun, skin soft and glowing.

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