“Okay. Point taken.” He rose to his feet and Cami walked him to the door with a hug. Squeezing him tightly, she said, “Now go kiss your cousin, and then you can really and truly be just like your big sis.” She shut the door before hearing his indignant response. Glaring at the shut door, Asher turned and headed down the road, a few doors over.
Hunter Rydell was at home as well. Asher and Hunter were fantastically different. Hunter was finishing up his master’s degree in Business Finance at Seattle University. He’d already secured a job upon graduation, using Iris’s husband Quinn, a wealthy businessman from Seattle to help him secure a spot. Quinn was nearly forty or thereabouts and single-handedly paid for the Rydell River Golf Course. He had other holdings in Seattle and around the world. Hunter hoped to make his start off Quinn’s recommendation and build his fortune while absorbing the culture of life in the city. He wanted the city life and plenty of wealth to enhance it. Asher shuddered when he tried to imagine Hunter’s plans.
Somehow, their odd friendship of such contrasting opposites did manage to work.
Hunter was tall and thin, carrying himself with an erect and proper posture while usually wearing clothes that were far too elegant for his age. After all, he was raised on a ranch. Hunter let Asher in when he knocked at the door. They talked briefly last night at the river gathering before he ran into Daisy. Fist-bumping his buddy, he followed Hunter out to the back deck. He asked Hunter when he was going back to school and when he expected to finish. He also told Hunter about his ranch plans and asking his parents to finance it.
“Soon as I’m rich, I’ll come back to invest in it too. Deal?” Hunter said with a lazy grin, dangling his feet over the deck railing and slouching down in the lawn chair.
“Yeah, okay. Sure. Why would you do that?”
“So you can grow it bigger than any other in the state. It’ll be part of my diversification strategy.”
Asher gave him an eye roll. “You intend to be one snobby-assed, citified wuss, don’t you?”
He pretended to dust his sleeves off. “Only if I’m that lucky.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
They ribbed each other some more before a lull descended. Finally, he asked, “Do you think it would be weird if I… if I dated someone from here?”
“From River’s End? Not sure why you’d want to limit your horizons so narrowly, but it’s your choice, dude.”
“No. I mean… here, as in the ranch.”
“Really? Like who? Lillian, Melanie and the Flowers?” It wasn’t so crazy. All of those women were insanely attractive. For years Hunter called his cousins from Shane and Allison, the Flowers. Not just because of their names but Shane himself called them that too. See? Another weird connection. Familiar nicknames he always used when he referred to them.
Hunter shuddered. “You literally specified my cousins and Lillian is my cousin’s kid. Gross. I guess they’re mildly attractive, but not to date. Get a grip, Asher. Maybe a hot trip to the city is necessary before you decide it’s normal to date your own family.”
“You really consider them my family? That I am that strongly connected to them? Like blood cousins or whatever? I mean, technically I’m not since I was adopted and all. No blood relations to anyone here.”
“Legally speaking, it’s all fine. Since you got here when you were thirteen and hung out with them all. I don’t know what else to say.” Hunter tilted his head and studied Asher. “Why are you asking me this? Crap, who is it?”
Asher jolted to his feet. “No one. Nobody special. Just inquiring. I spoke to Cami and reminisced with her about Charlie, you know, your cousin, who was dating her cousin by marriage and I just began thinking…”
“You did? Who is it? Violet? Are you thinking about it because Preston bit the dust?”
He cringed at Hunter’s insensitive and premature wording. Hunter didn’t witness the tragic accident. Not like Asher who saw it clearly in high definition. Asher knew he could never feel so blasé as Hunter seemed to be about it. “Of course not. No. Just forget it.”
“Who is on your mind? You brought it up so now I can’t let it go until you tell me.”
“Fine. It’s Daisy. I hadn’t seen her for a while and when I saw her again, we talked, and I realized she grew up a lot. I just…” His words trailed off and he was cringing now. He didn’t want to tell Hunter what she said to him and regretted his admission after what it triggered in his head. Strange, slightly borderline-icky thoughts.
“Daisy? Little Daisy? Huh. I guess we never had very much to do with her.”
“No. We didn’t. She was too young, and we never hung out with her. Violet was into the horses, so she and I instantly became friends. But Daisy? Nah. Now… I don’t know.”
Hunter’s grin faded. “I didn’t know you were serious. But I guess not sharing the same bloodline matters. You didn’t meet her until you were thirteen. So of course, it’s a possibility.”
“But one you’d never imagine for me?”
“Well, it happened with your sister and Charlie. So, I guess it’s fair for you to explore the subject and prove or disprove whatever doubts you’re having.”
“That’s what Cami said.”
“Then why did you ask me? Why would you put yourself through my endless ribbing at falling for a Flower?”
“I haven’t fallen for anyone,” Asher growled. “I asked you because I hoped you might have some insight and advice. I didn’t know if I were exhibiting aberrant behavior, or it was totally gross or something worse.”
“Well, it is for me. But not if you feel something serious. I’m a blood-relation and they are my cousins, but you’re not.”
“I have no clue how I feel.”
“It must be something more than zero since you’re asking me at serious risk of never living it down.”
Asher groaned at hearing the truth. Hunter was a master at ribbing. There would be years of listening to Hunter’s comments about this. But damn if Asher wasn’t that confused with Daisy’s revelation that he invited future torture from Hunter on to himself to search out an answer. Asher left an hour later with Hunter sworn to secrecy.
Finally, with no one left to ask for help or distract him, Asher went to the source. Knocking on Shane and Allison’s front door, he waited until Shane opened the door and greeted him with a solemn hug. “How are you, Asher? I imagine this has been pretty hard on you too.”
Maybe that’s all it was. A delayed reaction to what he witnessed. A crisis-of-self, due to the sudden, extreme trauma. Asher nodded and they proceeded to make small talk about yesterday’s service and Violet.
“She’s still not wanting to see anyone,” Shane said with audible regret.
Asher jammed his hands further into his shorts’ pockets. He wore loose khakis that ended at his knees. “I get it. Yeah.”
Just then, Daisy walked up from downstairs. She tilted her head and looked away. Asher caught the blush that filled her neck and cheeks. She wasn’t immune to him and must have remembered what she said, or his unexpected appearance could not have made her blush.