Page 50 of When the Sun Rises
“What the fuck?” I muttered aloud, and Jackson glanced over my shoulder to read the message.
“What does that mean?” he asked, keeping his head close to mine as we started making our way out of the barn.
“I think it means I need to have a chat with Granger,” I grumbled, pocketing my phone without responding to Marcy.
“Granger? But that text said Lane and Elliot.”
I was just about to tell him my suspicions when we exited from the barn to find Dudd leaned against his rusty old pickup. He had an unlit cigarette propped between his lips, arms crossed over his chest as he stared us down with the deepest furrow between his brows. Both Jackson and I came to a dead stop as he started making his way toward us. When he was right on top of us, his eyes darted between both of our faces before he dropped a hand on our shoulders. He fixed his hardened stare on me first.
“Ain’t what I expected of you,” he started, causing a sinking feeling in my gut. “But I’m real happy for ya. You deserve to be happy, Tuck.”
Dudd turned his attention to Jackson next. “He’s a real ass when he wants to be, but don’t give up on ’im too quickly.”
Jackson beamed, shaking his head. “Don’t plan to.”
Dudd gave a quick nod, glancing between us once more before getting himself settled back into his truck and driving off.
Jackson turned his head, his wide smile still in place and a twinkle in his eye. “I feel like I just got a parent’s blessing or something.”
I rubbed a hand over my mouth and jaw, a little bit of tension that had built from Dudd’s unusual appearance bleeding out of me with hisblessing,as Jackson put it. Even after my conversation with Granger this morning, there was still a lingering fear that my men would look at me differently or lose respect over me being with an employee—that because Jackson worked for me, it would change the dynamic I had with everyone else on the farm. Whether Dudd had realized it or not, he’d just eased a small bit of that worry for me.
Pulling out my phone from my pocket, I hit the button to call my best friend.
“Tuck! Hey, man. Back from the river? Have a good time swimming around naked with your man?” Granger’s voice was light and airy with a slightly teasing lilt to it.
“Does the whole farm know?” I asked instead of answering him. Anxious energy had me rubbing along my beard once more. The scrape felt wrong, and I wished again that I could just cut it off, but the soft little hums Jackson made every time I kissed him made me think he liked it.
“Know what?”
“Don’t do that, Granger. I need to prepare myself for what I’m walking into.”
There was a short pause before Granger spoke again, his tone more serious than before. “The guys know. I felt like they had the right considering you were asking for coverage for both of you for the whole day.”
“Who else knows? Lane and Elliot told Marcy. Do my parents know?”
“No!” Granger jumped in quickly at that. “Just the guys, and I made it real clear this wasn’t to get back to your folks. That’s for you to tell them. But, Tuck, I gotta be real honest with you here. None of them were all too shocked by the news. You two have been dancing around each other since Jackson started, and the tension has been as thick as peanut butter. I wouldn’t be surprised if your folks don’t already have some sort of idea.”
I squatted down, dropping my head to run a hand over the back of my neck as I tried to process everything he was saying.
“Tuck?” Granger’s voice came through the line after a moment, none of his normally carefree attitude found in it.
“Yeah?”
“I’ll talk with Marcy. Make sure she doesn’t say something to your folks.”
“Thanks, man,” I grunted.
We gave some quick, perfunctory goodbyes before hanging up after that, and I let out a low sigh as I stared at the gravel under my boots. A gentle hand began to rub along my spine after a moment, and when I glanced over, I found Jackson squatting beside me, his brows furrowed together in concern.
“Your folks?” he asked, his eyes bouncing over my face.
“He didn’t tell them.”
The crease between his brows didn’t smooth out with that, instead, he continued to watch me before he asked, “Do you not want anyone to know about us?”
I shook my head, letting out a slow breath. “It’s not that. Part of me is relieved I don’t have to do some formal announcement or sit everyone down one by one to tell them. I just…” I swallowed roughly. “I didn’t want there to be any pressure on us. If we don’t work, I didn’t want either of us feeling like we have to force it for whatever reason.”
Even as I said the words, I knew what was coming out of mymouth wasn’t the whole truth. I didn’t wantJacksonfeeling like he needed to stay with me just because he was the first person to make me feel something after Raleigh. Sure, he kept telling me he was all in, but now that other people knew something was going on, would that be too much? Would it make the potential consequences more real to him?
