“I don’t know. He looks fierce to me.”
Luke made the turn to head back to the house. “Oh, I didn’t say he couldn’t get mad, and once there, he’s got one hell of a temper. But it takes a lot to light his fuse.”
She liked that he stood up for his brother. She watched the scenery roll by. “It’s a really big ranch, Luke. Amazing that your brother handles it all.”
“He manages, and he’s got a good crew.”
“Do any of them live on the ranch?”
“Ben does, and a few of the guys have rented some property on the ranch. A couple live along neighboring land. We’ll hire a few extra hands during busy parts of the season. Our cousins will come help out then, too.”
She cocked a brow. “Just how many McCormacks are there?”
He laughed. “Just me and Logan and our youngest brother, Reid, but he lives in Boston. And we have a few cousins sprinkled around here and there.”
“Yeah, you mentioned Reid earlier when we were looking at photos. I don’t know much about him.”
“He hightailed it out of here after high school, scholarship to Yale in hand. We don’t see him much.”
“Yale? Nice. What does he do?”
“He’s an architect. Ranching wasn’t ever his thing. He was always the brainy one.”
She leaned back in the seat. “Oh, and I suppose you and your brother were the dumb country boys?”
“Not exactly, but Reid—now he was smart. Always the studious type. Logan and I used to make fun of him because he always had a book in his face. Logan would be plastered to our dad’s side, learning everything there was to know about ranching.”
“And you?” she asked. “What were you doing?”
“Down at the pond, fishing, trying to stay out of trouble and get out of doing any work.”
“I can’t imagine you got by with that.”
“Uh, no. My dad had a sixth sense about his sons. He always knew where we were.”
She laughed. “I can picture that. Though usually it’s the mothers who have their thumbs on top of their kids.”
Luke’s smile disappeared. “Yeah, she wasn’t much on keeping tabs on us. She was usually busy in the city, shopping with her friends or going to her exercise classes.”
Emma sensed the bitterness in that statement. “You didn’t get along with your mother?”
He didn’t answer for a few minutes. “She wasn’t much into having kids.”
“Yet she had three of them.”
His lips curved. “Yeah, she complained a lot about how hard she had to work at exercise class to keep her figure, and how having us boys had messed it up.”
Ouch. What mother would blame her kids for that? “She blamed you for the way her body looked?”
“Sort of. She still had a great body, always watched what she ate and worked out all the time. It was like an obsession with her. I think having me and my brothers freaked her out.”
“You would think if having children bothered her as far as her body image, she would have stopped after Logan.” When he shot her a look, she touched his arm. “Though I’m glad she didn’t, of course.”
His lips curved. “Yeah, me, too. Anyway, she wasn’t the best mother. She did the barest minimum, and then after my dad died, she remarried almost right away and hightailed it off the ranch and out of Oklahoma.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Dead serious. She always hated this ranch, hated being tied to it and couldn’t wait to get away from it.”
And from her sons? Something he hadn’t mentioned but surely felt. She squeezed his arm. “I’m sorry, Luke.”
He shrugged. “Don’t be sorry for me. She isn’t missed around here. My dad was the one who was always there for us. He’s the one who’s missed.”
“I’m sure he is. It seems like he was a great guy.”
“Yeah. He was. He was always hands-on with us. Taught us about ranching, but the important things, too, like focusing on our education, how to act like a man, how to be polite, how to treat a woman.”
His father could have been so bitter, saddled with a woman who hadn’t wanted to be with him. And yet he’d obviously raised respectful sons. Luke was warm and affectionate, and had been there for her when she needed him. And they weren’t even dating.
“I’m sorry I never got the chance to meet your dad.”
He smiled at her. “He would have liked you. Mainly because you like his ranch.”
She laughed. “I do like his ranch. I like your brother, too.”
“Eh. He’s prickly. He’s just on his best behavior today because, one, he’s trying to impress you, and two, Martha would kick his butt if he was rude.”
“I might like to see you two brothers go at it.”
“The real fun is when Reid comes to visit.”
“You don’t pick on him, do you?”
He pulled up in front of the house. “Not more than a lot.”
When she gave him a look, he said, “Come on. Tell me you don’t pick on your little sister?”
She unbuckled her seat belt. “I see her so rarely that when I do, I’m so thrilled that I spend all my time worshipping her.”
He arched a brow. “I find that hard to believe. It’s the nature of siblings to argue. When was the last time you saw your little sister?”
She had to think about it for a minute as she climbed out of the truck and met Luke around the front of it. “Probably a year and a half ago. I was still living in South Carolina and she came to visit me. Molly is . . . interesting.”
“Now there’s a word.”
She shoved at him. “Hey, it’s a compliment. It means she’s quirky.”
“Sure it does. Is that like fixing a guy up on a date with your best friend and telling him she has a great personality, when in reality it means she’s a real dog?”
“No,” she said with emphasis. “That’s not at all what it means. Molly’s gorgeous, smart, and fun.”
He took a seat on the porch steps. “But?”
Emma sighed. “She has secrets.”
“Who doesn’t?”
“She left town after high school, and won’t come back home. And no one really knows why.”
They started walking down the dirt road. “Not even you?”
“Not me. Not my parents. No one.”
“Do you think something bad happened in Hope to make her leave?”
She tilted her gaze up at him. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve asked her time and time again why she won’t come home, but she says she craves adventure and new places, and she’s afraid if she comes back home she’ll never leave again.”
“But you don’t believe her.”
“Not really. Though she does move a lot. Every three to six months it’s a new job in a new city.”
“It might just be that simple, Emma. Some people are born wanderers, never setting down roots. They enjoy the thrill and adventure of new places and new experiences.”
“Maybe you’re right. I just worry about her.”
He put an arm around her. “We always worry the most about the people we care about. Does she seem happy?”
Emma had to admit she liked Luke’s arm around her shoulders. “She does.”
“Then I wouldn’t worry so much.”
She stopped. “You make it seem so simple. In my head, Molly is so complex and mysterious.”
He laughed. “Well, I remember her and Carter together. And that was a long time ago. And that ended kind of abruptly.”
“It did. Which was also mysterious. Has he ever said anything to you about her, or about why the two of them broke up?”
Luke recalled the conversation he had had with Carter last week. “No. Carter hasn’t said anything about Molly. I guess it was just a high school romance that ran its course.”
“That’s what Molly said, too.”
“So maybe you’re looking for some wild mystery that isn’t there, and your sister just likes to travel.”