Shelby’s eyes widen. “Oh, they’re gonna regret that.”
“Right?”
Matty smiles. “Now, that’s a perk.”
“I’m basically getting paid double in steak and pasta.”
Shelby laughs. “Sounds like a dream job to me.”
I sigh again. “Except …”
Matty’s eyes narrow. “What?”
“My car wouldn’t start when I left.”
Shelby groans. “Oh no.”
“Yeah.”
I sink lower in the chair. “One of the valets had to jump-start it.”
Shelby winces. “That’s embarrassing.”
“Extremely.”
Matty leans forward, resting her elbows on the desk. “That car has been on its last legs for a while.”
I immediately sit up. “Hey.”
Matty lifts a brow. “What?”
“I love that car. It’s the first thing I ever bought with my own money,” I say defensively.
I worked for Imma Jean at the café all summer, then on weekends and holidays, from the day I turned sixteen until I graduated high school, saving every penny.
Matty softens slightly. “I know. You worked your ass off for two years. And I was really proud of you. But I think you’ve definitely got your money’s worth out of that used Kia.”
I sigh. “She got me through college.”
“Exactly,” Matty says. “Four years of driving back and forth to Laramie.”
Shelby nods. “That thing deserves a medal.”
Matty folds her hands on the desk. “But it’s time to retire it.”
My chest tightens.
“I’m serious, Har.” Matty gives me the look. The one that says she’s the oldest sister and therefore automatically wise—and right. “You can use one of the ranch work trucks to get back and forth to the hotel for now,” she says.
I stick out my bottom lip like a two-year-old.
“It’s just temporary until you can figure something else out. The last thing I need is you stranded on a dark mountain road with no phone reception, especially in the snow that’ll be here before you know it.”
That sobers me a little. Because she’s not wrong. The Kia was not built to navigate the Tetons in winter.
“Can I have Blue Bessie?”
“That rust bucket? It’s a hundred years old,” Matty says.
