"Why not?"
"Because dreams require hope, and I'm fresh out."
I push off the counter and move a little closer. Not too close, just enough to make sure she hears me.
"You're not out of hope," I tell her. "You're just tired. There's a difference."
"Is there?"
"Yeah. Tired can be fixed with rest. Hopeless is permanent. And you're not hopeless, Nicole. You're here, alive, making it through each day. That takes hope even if you don't see it."
Her eyes glisten with unshed tears. "You always know what to say."
"Not always. Usually, I say the wrong thing and piss people off. Ask Colt."
That earns me a watery laugh. "Colt's just sensitive."
"Colt's a pain in my ass is what he is."
"You love him."
"Doesn't mean he's not a pain in my ass."
She's fully smiling now, tears forgotten. Good. I'll take her smile over her sadness any day.
"What about you?" she asks. "What are your dreams?"
Keep the ranch running. Keep my family together. Find a way to make you see me as something other than Colt's older brother.
"Simple stuff," I say instead. "Build something that lasts. Make Frank proud. Maybe fall in love with someone who actually gives a shit about keeping promises."
"Girl who cheated?"
"Yes."
"What was she like?"
"Blonde. Pretty. Ambitious." Everything Nicole isn't, except the pretty part. Nicole's fucking gorgeous and she doesn't even know it. "Thought she wanted the same things I did. Turns out she just wanted the ranch."
"She wanted Promise Ranch?"
"More specifically, she wanted what she thought the ranch could become. Luxury guest ranch. High-end tourism. Development opportunities." I shake my head. "When she realized I'd never sell or change it, she found someone who would give her what she wanted."
"That's awful."
"It taught me something important. Taught me to wait for someone who wants me, not what I can give them. Someone who understands that some things matter more than money or status or whatever the hell else people chase."
"Like family."
"Like family," I agree. "Like keeping promises to the people who believed in you. Like building something real insteadof something that looks good on the surface but has no foundation."
"You're going to make someone very happy someday," she says quietly.
If that someone is you, I'll die content.
"Maybe," I say. "If I ever stop being married to this ranch long enough to notice anyone."
"You notice things. You're probably the most observant person I know."
