“And if she’s not?” he asked, head stuck inside the fridge in search of pickles he didn’t think he had.
“She doesn’t love Peter,” Ronnie pressed. “Trust me. He’s a boring corporate type. Talks too much about himself. Threatened by her success. You know the deal. If they’re not broken up already, well, you’ll take care of that pretty quick. Always seems to happen that way when Reese comes to Starlight. Kind of makes you wonder, huh?”
Hudson found an unexpected jar of dill pickles and searched for an expiration date before he let his sister in on their discovery. Ronnie squealed in delight when he presented them to her, saving him from responding to her last comment. He tried not to squirm when she dipped a dill pickle right into his fresh canister of peanut butter, making a mental note to buy a new one. Jed would be in for a shock if he didn’t.
“Peter,” he mumbled.
“He’s a non-issue. You’ll see.” Ronnie went through three more peanut butter-dipped pickles before she replaced the lid and wiped her fingers clean. “Now let’s go over the important things.”
The screech of the front screen door reminded Hudson that his first order of business was to replace it. The whole ranch had come cheap, to include the very outdated house. It was a solid build, but it hadn’t seen a single update in at least two decades. He’d witnessed Reese work miracles, but even this was beyond her skill set. A whole home remodel in a week without a crew?Impossible.
“Hey, Ronnie,” Jed Livingston greeted, heading straight for the fridge and helping himself to a soda. The kid was an unexpected blessing on his new ranch, even if the circumstances were slightly complicated. “How’s Cami?”
“With any luck, she’s giving her dad a lot of grief right now so she’ll nap when I get home.” Ronnie let out a laugh, rubbing small circles over her baby bump. “I swear that kid went from crawling to running. There was no walking involved.”
“I wonder where she got that from,” Hudson said in a mumble.
“Here.” Ronnie shoved a couple of stapled sheets of paper at him, no doubt harder for the comment.
“What’s this?”
“An itinerary.”
“Excuse me?” Hudson asked, reluctantly unfolding the papers.
“You saw nothing,” Ronnie said to Jed, pointing a stern finger.
Jed held up his hands in surrender. “I’m just a ranch hand. Speaking of, I’m going to check on the horses.” He swiped an apple from the counter—Ginny’s favorite. “Need me to do anything before Reese gets here?” The kid was trying so hard, but his smirk was impossible to hide.
Jed, not so much a kid anymore as a legal eighteen-year-old adult, knew all about the matchmaking plan. Since he lived with Hudson, Ronnie insisted hehadto know so he could help out. Help out with what, Hudson never asked.
“Just muck out the stalls and give them water,” Hudson said. “Give Lucy a good brushing.” Of the two horses he received with the ranch purchase, he felt certain Reese would take to the blind white mare. He wanted Lucy looking her best when they met.
“Look at it,” Ronnie said, nodding at the itinerary after Jed headed back outside. “Look it over. The time for questions is now.”
Hudson skimmed the bullet-pointed items and ignored the paragraphs of text, shaking his head with more vigor after each one. None of them had anything to do with home renovations. “I thought you were slammed with your latest flip. When did you have time to put this together?”
“I am slammed.”
“But you had time to not only list a picnic, but pick out what I’m supposed to bring? Down to the chocolate-covered strawberries and thebrandof pinot grigio?” Everything about this screamedtrying too hard. “Ronnie, this is too much. I’m not doing this. Any of it. I’m doing it my way.”
“That is a road map to Reese’s heart,” Ronnie said, poking Hudson in the chest with a forceful finger. “You have to show her that the things she loves in Chicago can be found here, too. Show her that she’ll be happy in Starlight if she chooses to stay.”
“You want me to make a deep-dish pizza, fromscratch?” Hudson grumbled, regretting he ever told his sister how he felt about Reese in the first place. He was a terrible cook, good at making only two things: scrambled eggs andfrozenpizza. “Can’t we just order in?”
“I included the recipe. All you have to do is follow it.” Ronnie’s phone dinged, summoning her attention. Hudson instantly went stiff, wondering if Reese was pulling into town. He wasn’t ready for this all-or-nothing plan to start. “She’s here,” Ronnie said, confirming it.
“I still think I should’ve picked her up from the airport.”
“No, she always drives herself.” Ronnie quickly typed out a response. “The last thing we need is her suspicious of the plan. She’s like a wild horse. We don’t want to spook her.”
“Because bringing a bottle of wine on a picnic won’t do that.” Hudson rolled his eyes, but it didn’t stop his pulse from doubling as his anxiety climbed. Reese was in Starlight.Right now.Whether she realized it or not, they’d be spending an entire week together. She’d be staying here, with him. Glued to his side as they worked on a year’s worth of home renovation projects in a week.
“Trust the plan,” Ronnie said sternly, returning to the living room in search of her purse. “Meet us at the Starlight Grill at six thirty. If you have chores to do, make sure you shower and change. Wear that cowboy hat. She loves that.”
“Yes,Mom.”
At the door, she stopped. “And Hudson?”
