“So, is this your first time out in the country?” Father asks Eva.
“Ummm, I went away to a ranch when I was a child because I liked horses, but it was…different.”
“If ya like riding, Prim here can take ya out,” he replies back.
“Thank you,” she says with a tight smile, “but it’s been a while.”
“So, who else do you do work for?” Prim asks.
“I’m only an assistant to Ali, and she leaves me pretty booked.”
It’s only a half-lie. Yes, her schedule is always full—full of manicures, pedicures, lunch dates with people.
Eva Crosby is well-known, and the only reason she works for me is that we get along so well, otherwise, she would have been fired long ago because her work ethic is shit.
She was a party girl for several years, but when her parents disinherited her after her third trip to rehab, and she was unable to secure a wealthy husband, she figured that by attaching herself to me, it would give her access to eligible men. She’s been working to get back into her parents’ good graces, and for the most part, she’s succeeded with my help, but it’s a constant struggle for her because she has to work against her own nature, her nature being chaos.
“How long have you been working for her?” Pa asks.
“Nearly six years now.”
Prim’s brow furrows. “Why didn’t I meet you when I went to visit? Wasn’t there someone else doing her job?”
Eva clears her throat. “I was on vacation.”
Or rather, she was in rehab. She spent three months getting clean after an unfortunate night. She still didn’t learn her lesson.
“So, are you like a ranch hand?” Eva asks Garrett.
Garrett’s lips curls into a shy smile. “I suppose you could call me that.”
“There’s all kinds of romance novels written about ranch hands. The men all wear denim jackets on the cover, nothing underneath, showing off their six-packs while smooth-talking the rancher’s daughter.”
My father’s head snaps up, his eyes bulging, Garrett looks like he’s about to be sick, and Jake starts choking on his food.
“Or…the wife. Sometimes they romance the rancher’s wife.”
My mother’s mouth grows wide.
“I meant widow!” Eva corrects.
I love Eva, but by God, she’s toxic in the wrong crowd.
Father starts twirling his spaghetti like it’s his job. Jake dons of a look of deep mortification. I just want dinner to be done. Garrett eats sheepishly, barely looking up from his plate.
I mull over Eva’s words and wonder if there’s any merit to them. Could Garrett be playing me?
He’s just like every other man, no better, no worse.
I want so desperately for her to be wrong.
Eva’s brazen glances toward Garrett are setting me on edge. As much as I love her, she is not to be trusted with any man. She’s not sneaky, and she certainly won’t try to hide anything by sliding into a guy’s texts—she’ll just flat out undo three buttons of her shirt and sit on your boyfriend’s lap if it fancies her.
And I usually don’t mind. In fact, I use her as a filter. If a guy I’m seeing is stupid enough to welcome my best friend’s advances, they don’t deserve to be my boyfriend.
But with Garrett, it’s different. I know how cliché it is to say,“He’s not like other boys,”but it’s the truth. Garrett most certainly is not like other men.
He’s close with my family, a volunteer firefighter, and he put his livelihood on the line to help out his then-girlfriend.
