CHAPTER ONE
Jamie
“I’m standing in cow shit, Paige.”
“You are not. It’s probably just dirt.”
“I’m looking at it. It’s on my boots. My pretty pink, four-hundred-dollar boots you made me buy and I absolutely could not afford.”
“Jamie—”
“I wanted a spa day. I asked for a spa day. A cucumber mask and a man named Sven massaging my feet. That’s a reasonable birthday request. That’s what a normal best friend would have bought me. Not this. Not exile to the dusty, humid armpit that I called Texas.”
Paige snorted. Not a polite snort. A full, unrepentant, this-is-exactly-what-I-expected snort. “Honey. What you need is a cowboy rubbing your clit.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. A horse somewhere in the distance made the same sound Paige had just made, as if in agreement with my crazy, unfiltered friend.
“I need a refund,” I said.
“I paid for the trip, girlie, and there are no refunds.” Paige paused, and I knew what was going to come out of her mouth before it did. “Honey, a woman only turns thirty once.”
She said it lightly. What she meant was heavier than that, and we both knew it. What she meant was—your twenties are behind you, the clock on wild and reckless is now ticking louder, and if you’re ever going to do something inadvisable and spectacular for no reason other than because you can, the window is closing fast. We did not say that out loud. We didn’t have to.
“I hate Texas.”
“You’ve been there four hours.”
“Three. I took some wrong turns.”
“Of course you did. Now call me tonight when you’re all settled in.”
“If I survive.”
“You’ll survive.” I could hear her smiling.
I sighed, ended the call, standing there on the gravel drive of Wild Vista Ranch in Rosewood, Texas. I had to admit the ranch looked like the perfect getaway, but I still hated Paige for forcing this birthday present on me. Even though I loved her.
I got my luggage from the trunk of the car and went to check in. I tried to ignore how perfect the wraparound porch, rocking chairs, and big barrels of flowers were.
Lucinda and Carl Davis greeted me at the front desk with big, warm, friendly smiles. It would have been a plus for any other guest arriving, but it just made me feel worse because I honestly didn’t want to be there.
They walked me through everything—dining times, activities, the layout of the grounds. I nodded and made the right noises while privately deciding how I was actually going to spend the next week of my life. Books. Fresh air. Sitting very still somewhere pretty and trying to figure out what came next. I wanted quiet space and absolutely zero activities.
“You are in cabin six.” Lucinda pressed a metal ring into my palm. It held an old-fashioned key and a small leather cutout ofTexas. “Down the main path, past the corral, second fork to the left. You can’t miss it.”
It was almost dusk by the time I got moving, the path lit by low solar lights. The boots—the expensive, beautiful, now-compromised boots, no matter what Paige said—were still a little stiff on my feet despite having worn them every day for the past two weeks to break them in. I ignored all the flowering plants and the play of shadows as I walked to my cabin, my mind was still running through the conversation with Paige.
A cowboy rubbing your clit.
I was a city girl. Libraries, coffee shops, and concrete. I didn’t do animals. I didn’t do barns or bugs or anything that required the word rustic as a selling feature.
As if she could read my mind, Paige called again.
“I just got checked in. I’m walking to my cabin.”
“I know, but I’m excited for you. So much to do. This is exactly what you needed, bestie.”
“What, the shit on my boots?”
