Kaden & Keegan

Keegan Walker stared at his twin, doing his damnedest to get the man to come over to his way of thinking. Being as he’d been working on Kaden for the better part of ten minutes, it wasn’t looking good for him.

“All right. What about a bakery?”

“Coyote Ridge already has a bakery,” Kaden countered.

“Pet store?”

“No.”

“Gym?”

“No.”

“Vape shop?”

Kaden shot him a get real look. “No.”

“Thrift shop?” Of course, that had Keegan doing his rendition of Macklemore’s Thrift Shop. “I’m gonna pop some tags … only got twenty dollas in my pocket.”

A little too much twang, he thought, but not terrible.

“Stick to your day job, Keeg.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. “Fine. No thrift shop. What about an arcade?”

Kaden narrowed his eyes in that manner that spoke of disbelief combined with a modicum of concern. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. Seriously.” Keegan was serious, and he wasn’t sure how much clearer he could be. Yet Kaden didn’t seem to be on board, hence the reason he was feigning ignorance.

“Is this some sorta mid-life crisis?” Kaden questioned, his dark eyebrow lowered at a sharp slant, his incredulity evident.

“First off, we’re a long damn way from mid-life. And two, it’s a damn fine idea and you know it.”

“Oh, yeah? And who in their right mind is gonna hang out in an arcade? In Coyote Ridge?”

“Just because you’re old doesn’t mean we all are,” Keegan argued, staring at the man who was more or less his mirror image. “Have you seen the town lately? They’re finally gettin’ with the program.”

“Yada, yada, I got it,” Kaden sniped. “Ever since Rex opened the B and B, blah, blah. I know the spiel, Keeg.”

But what a spiel it was. The Double R Bed and Breakfast had been open for a year, and it had proven to be a fruitful venture in just a short time. The big, renovated farmhouse right in the heart of town had been at capacity every weekend since the opening and it didn’t appear they’d be letting up anytime soon. What more could a small town hotel ask for? Or those who had invested in the project from the jump?

Keegan grinned wide. “Damn good idea, wasn’t it? I knew that place would be a helluva investment.”

“Frog giggin’, cow tippin’, and a B and B. What more could Coyote Ridge possibly offer?” Kaden grumbled.

“An arcade.”

Kaden rolled his eyes again.

Keegan had known his brother would react this way. They might share the same DNA code, but there was no denying their personalities were polar opposite. Kaden had always been the level-headed one, the one who came up with a plan even when a plan wasn’t necessary. Keegan was more of the fly by the seat of your pants kinda guy. He tried not to take things too seriously while Kaden spent more time thinking than actually doing. And sure, Keegan could admit his brother was usually right when it came down to their arguments.

Didn’t mean Keegan agreed with his twin. In fact, most of the time they didn’t see eye to eye at all.

But…

Yes, but. Backing Rex Sharpe in the bed and breakfast had been a stellar idea if he did say so himself. And now, who was to say an arcade couldn’t bring some life to this sleepy little town? Of course, Keegan was only considering it because his true dream couldn’t be realized yet. It had always been his goal to own a ranch, but without one being available to acquire, that was unfortunately on the back burner.

“Well,” Keegan lifted his coffee mug, offered his brother a casual one shoulder shrug, “I think it’s a smart idea. Think about all the things Coyote Ridge has goin’ for it. Just in the time we’ve been here, they’ve opened a toy store and a book store, right on Main Street. I heard they’re plannin’ to expand the book store to include a coffee shop. An arcade might kick it up a notch.”

“I get my coffee at the bakery,” Kaden retorted.

“Options, Kaden. We’re always open for options.”

“No. No way,” Kaden retorted. “I’ll admit, I doubted the B and B in the beginning and it turned out all right, but I’m not at all on board with an arcade.”

“Okay, fine,” Keegan conceded. “What then? It’s not set in stone and the place is still for sale. We can snatch it up, put in somethin’ of our own.” He leaned in, lowered his voice. “For fuck’s sake, everyone else is doin’ it. Why can’t we?”

“If everyone else was jumpin’ off a cliff, would you wanna do that too, Keeg?”

He grinned. “Damn straight I would.”

Those familiar steel-blue eyes glinted with incredulity. “You’re serious? You want … Us? You and me…?” Kaden exhaled with a sigh and shook his head. “Ain’t gonna happen, Keeg.”

Keegan chuckled. He happened to enjoy getting his brother riled. Especially first thing in the morning.

“I’ll come up with somethin’,” he told his twin. “You just wait.” Although he certainly wasn’t giving up on the arcade.

Kaden challenged him back with a simple tilt of his eyebrows upward.

Keegan knew that look. Kaden thought he was off his rocker. And perhaps he was, but hey, everyone else seemed to be making their mark on this town. Why couldn’t they?

Kaden leaned back, allowed the waitress to set his plate down in front of him. “Thanks.” He turned his full attention to Keegan. “Might I remind you, we’ve got enough on our plates.”

Keegan smiled at the waitress. “Thanks, doll.” He peered over at his brother. “What? With Walker Demo? That’s gonna be our claim to fame?” It was his turn to shake his head. “In case you didn’t notice, it just kicked over leadership again.”

Granted, that was because Reese Tavoularis had moved on to the governor’s task force, another brainchild of their cousin Travis Walker. In Reese’s place, Autumn Jameson—one of Travis’s many cousins on his mother’s side—had come on board to run things. She’d been in her new role for nearly a month and to his surprise, she was doing pretty darn well. He was tempted to say she could pinpoint an issue with an engine faster than he could.

“What about the time we’re puttin’ in on the ranch?” Kaden asked.

“Key word there bein’ the. The ranch infers that it doesn’t belong to us.”

​As much as he enjoyed working on the Walker ranch which belonged to Uncle Curtis and Aunt Lorrie, it had always been a dream of his to have one of his own. And yes, Keegan was keeping his eyes open for that opportunity. If it were to arise tomorrow, he’d drop every damn thing else and follow his dream. Until then…