Billie looks up at me, tears leaking out of her eyes left and right.
“Aw, baby, come here.” I fold her in my arms and bury my face in her neck. “That sucked. It was also the right thing to do.”
“I just… I’m soangry, Ry.”
I chuckle. “You and Colt are definitely related, and you’re definitely more alike than you think.”
“You mean he’s awesome and open-minded and one hell of a barrel racer? Because that’s not the Colt I know.”
“Hey. I’m the one who’s supposed to be using humor as a deflection.”
Billie pulls back, shaking the hair out of her face. “Aw, baby, you were so good at that for a while there. Glad that phase is over.”
“Mostlyover.”
“I’ll take it.” She puts a hand on my cheek. “Thank you. Everything you said was perfect.”
“You’re perfect,” I reply. “I don’t get how I can be more obsessed with you than ever, while simultaneously feeling like I’ve been drawn and quartered with an especially sharp cattle hook.”
That makes her laugh, and the ache in my chest lifts. “This shit hurts, huh?”
“We knew he wasn’t gonna love the idea right off the bat.” I lean in to kiss the corner of her mouth, tasting the salt from her margarita. “We asked for time. Now we just gotta show him that we mean business.”
Billie nods. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.”
Still, her eyes brim with sadness when they meet mine.
“C’mon. How about I play some guitar? You wanna sing for me, darlin’?”
“Yeah.” She smiles, but it doesn’t touch her eyes. “Yeah, I’d love that.”
CHAPTER 25
Evil Plan
BILLIE
“I didn’t know brainstormingsessions came with reposado.”
Watching Mollie sip her paloma, I grin. “Since y’all won’t let me pay you for your expertise?—”
“Why would we?” Ava takes a seat at my kitchen table. “We’re family. This is delicious, by the way.”
I made a batch of palomas earlier, figuring it’d be a fun twist on the margaritas we had at the shower. To make a paloma, you mix tequila with some grapefruit juice and a squeeze or two of lime. Then I top it all off with Topo Chico, a sparkling water staple here in Texas, and serve it with a salted rim.
The resulting cocktail is boozy, not too sweet, and deliciously refreshing.
“And this is what family does. We help make each other’s dreams come true.” Sally turns from the sink, where she’s been squeezing an extra lime into her cocktail. “Did you really prepare a sales deck and everything?”
She motions to the thick packet of paper in the middle of the table.
Taking a deep breath, I square my shoulders and nod. “If I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do it right. Full transparency, I didn’t know what the hell a deck was until Beck told me I needed one.”
Bless him, my brother patiently walked me through the process of creating a presentation deck in PowerPoint. Lucky for me, my brother got tons of experience making decks thanks to his entrepreneurial endeavors in the hospitality space. It took me two weeks and more tears than I care to admit to draft my own, but I finally had thirty slides outlining my concept: an on-site animal therapy program at the ranch that caters to children and adults of all ages. The program would employ handlers, social workers, and therapists, plus an administrative professional and a community liaison.
Beck holds up his glass. “You need real ammo if you’re gonna convince Dale Wallace to let you quit your job. Just helping you cover your bases, B.”
“I appreciate that. Really, I appreciate all y’all lending a hand.” Shit, now I’m getting emotional. “I mean, look. There’s so many of us we can’t even fit at my table.”
