“I’m not going anywhere. My place is with Huck. It always has been.” With her head held high, she stared down her dad until he broke eye contact and turned back toward his SUV.
He paused before getting back behind the wheel. “This conversation isn’t over. You’ll regret this and come to your senses?—”
“The only regret I have is not standing up for him fifteen years ago,” she said.
I stepped over to wrap my arm around her shoulder as her dad pulled away. “You okay?”
“No, but I will be.” She offered a smile that summed up the hopelessness I could tell she was feeling inside. “Any chance you’ve got a miracle up your sleeve? I could use one right now.”
“I wish I did, Pey.” I’d have given anything to be the man she needed in that moment, to be able to put a smile back on her face and come through for her.
“I need to call another emergency meeting of the festival committee. I’ll let you know what they decide. Best case, we’ll postpone. Worst case…” Her words trailed off, and she drew in a shaky breath.
“It won’t come to that.” I pulled her against me, trying to infuse her with strength for what she was about to face. “Want me to come with you?”
“I wish.” Her cheek nuzzled into my chest. “Just be there for me later? I don’t think there’s enough cookie dough ice cream in the world to get me through the next twenty-four hours.”
“I’m sure I can come up with something better than ice cream to distract you.”
“Careful what you offer. I’m going to be ready to take you up on that.”
“It’s not an offer, it’s a promise.” I may not have spent much time around Peyton since I’d been back in town, but I knew her deep down at her core. Failure had never been an option for her. It’s how she’d always been, and it was one of the things I admired most about her. Not coming through on the festival was killing her.
“I’ll see you later.”
Reluctantly, I let her go. I would have stuck by her side all day if she’d asked me to, but since she hadn’t, there were a few things I planned on looking into. Like who was behind the offer on the fairgrounds’ land. And what ties that company might have to Harrison Winslow.
But first, I needed to make a miracle happen. The best place to start with that virtually impossible task was out at Shane’s ranch, where Levi said he’d be spending the day. Crossing my fingers that I’d find the right words to convince a bunch of guys I barely knew to come through for a relative stranger, I headed that way.
CHAPTER 10
PEYTON
I rolledover in bed and stared at the empty space next to me. Huck never came over last night. He said something came up, and he needed to do a last-minute job with Levi. I could understand helping out a friend, but he could have at least come by to give me a hug. It felt like him leaving me all over again.
I pulled the covers up to my chin and imagined what it would feel like to stay in bed all day. Usually I didn’t avoid my problems, I faced them head on and tackled them one bite at a time. But the collapse of the festival was too much. Not only had I failed myself, but I’d failed Mustang Mountain as well.
As I closed my eyes and snuggled under the covers, wishing I could fast forward into the future, my phone rang. It was probably Mayor Nelson calling to tell me they’d decided to cancel the festival altogether. When we’d finally left the meeting last night, the committee hadn’t reached a decision.
I let the call go to voicemail, not willing to face it yet. Either way, the festival wasn’t happening. No one needed me today unless they were looking for someone to blame.
My phone rang again. I should have silenced it last night.
I reached for it and gasped as I saw all the missed calls. There were messages from the mayor, from Ruby, from Brooklyn, and even one from Lily.
Ruby’s voice filtered out from my speaker as I pressed play.
“Hi, hon. This is Ruby. I’m over at the festival grounds and you’d better get yourself down here as soon as you can. You’re not going to believe what’s happening. See you soon.”
The one from Brooklyn was just as odd.
“Peyton! Oh my gosh. I didn’t think you were going to be able to pull this off, but dang, girl. Congrats on a job well done. Call me!”
Confused, I stumbled out of bed and pulled on a pair of yoga pants underneath my nightshirt. I tried dialing Huck, but he didn’t answer. If he’d been up late helping Levi, he was probably still sound asleep.
With nothing to lose, I grabbed my car keys, slipped on a pair of flip-flops, and headed toward the festival grounds. As I pulled onto the property, I couldn’t believe what I saw.
Dozens of vehicles parked at the edge of the stage area. The rubble from the fire had been cleared away and a brand new stage sat where the old one had been, even bigger and more impressive than before. Vendor booths lined the main path through the fairgrounds. They’d all been painted in red, white, and blue with banners stretched across the top of each one.
