Grayson drained his coffee cup and got up to put it in the sink. “Thanks for the coffee.”

“Any time.”

He couldn’t get out of there fast enough and took greedy deep breaths of the cold air, wishing he could pretend the last ten minutes had never happened. He was far better off not knowing where his father was or anything else for that matter. And for Mike Coleman to expect his children to step up for him when he’d abandoned them… The very thought of it sparked the kind of red-hot rage he hadn’t felt in years and would be happy to never experience again.

On the ride to the family’s tree farm, Grayson tried not to think about what Noah had told him, but he couldn’t seem to let it go no matter how badly he wanted to. That their father would even ask such a thing of them was unbelievable. He wished he’d told Noah not to inform their six siblings. Let their father go straight to hell, for all he cared.

When he arrived at the tree farm stables, Lucas already had the barn doors open for him.

Grayson took a moment to calm down and get back into the right frame of mind to orchestrate a fun outing for Emma and Simone. Under no circumstances would he ever want either of them to see the rage that only his father could generate in him. He took a deep breath and let it out before he emerged from the car.

As he approached the building, Lucas came out to greet him, gesturing to the horse-drawn sleigh they kept on hand for the holiday season at the farm. He already had the horses harnessed and everything ready to go.

“You already did all the work,” Grayson said to his younger cousin.

“I can do it in my sleep,” Lucas said. “What would take you an hour took minutes for me.”

“I appreciate it.”

“You remember how to drive this rig, city boy?”

His family loved to call him that, and Grayson knew better than to admit that it bugged him sometimes. That would only encourage them. “It’s like riding a bike. Once you know, you never forget.”

“Where you heading?”

“Back to your parents’ house to pick up Emma and Simone and then to the trails in the back woods.”

“That’ll be nice today.”

“I thought so, too.”

“So… You and Emma, huh?”

“I was hoping you’d missed that part.”

“No such luck. She’s really sweet, and her daughter is, too.”

“So I’ve noticed.”

“Landon and I tried to get her to fall in love with us, but it wasn’t to be, and then Colton ruined all our fun and told us we had to leave her alone.”

Hearing Lucas had wanted Emma made Grayson want to punch the smirk off his cousin’s face. Apparently, he didn’t hide his reaction very well.