Elation spikes through me. It’s just the good news, right?
Who the hell am I kidding? The way my gut flips at her name on my phone screen. It keeps ringing before I realize I’m staring at it and not answering.
Hell.
I grab it up, answering. “Hey, Maggie. What’s up?”
She laughs. “Really? Congrats, Hadley.”
“Yeah, thanks.” I rub a hand behind my neck. All of a sudden, I’m fucking nervous. What’s that about?
“Still need a lift next weekend? Or are you good now that you’re rolling in sponsors and all that.” Maggie’s voice is lined with cheek. I can imagine her wide, beautiful smile under those stunning green eyes.
Lucky I’m sitting down... I run a hand through my hair. The realization of how far gone I am over this girl hits like a straight-up freight train.
“Hadley?”
“Yeah, sorry. A lift would be great.”
“Okay, good. I mean—grea—you know what, I’ll text you Friday.”
The phone goes dead.
I place it back on the table and stare at it longer than I should.
Huh.
A few hours later, I walk to the main farmhouse for dinner. Nia is cooking. Kales is home, and she is puttering around, organizing everyone as I step through the front screen door. It snaps behind me, and the girls and Mom all turn as one.
“Hey! There he is!” Their hands are up in the air, grins on their pretty faces. Kales closes in, hugging me with a slap on my back. “We’re so proud of you, Hads.”
I chuckle. “Thanks, but I have to keep the spot now.”
Nia rolls her eyes at me.
Gemma tosses the carrot she’s currently peeling. “Always Mr. Pessimistic.”
“Just being realistic. But the extra income will be good. Can finally get some things done around here.” I wave a hand around, heading to the kitchen cupboard and pulling out the almost empty bottle of Crown Royal whisky I keep here for special occasions.
I pour a nip in a glass as Mom appears by my side, a glass in her hand. I pour her a nip, and she clinks her glass to mine. “Well done, Hadley.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
We walk through the kitchen and onto the back porch.
As the screen snaps shut behind us, she lets out a shaky breath. “I was kind of hoping this would be your last year, you know. Now...”
“It’s the extra money we need to settle the debts. I won’t risk losing the ranch.”
She gives me a sad smile. “I’d lose this old ranch a thousand times over to keep you safe.”
“I’m always careful, and I know my limits.”
Molars grinding down, I tamp down the need to argue our current reality with her. This ranch has been in our family, inherfamily, for three generations. I will not be the one to let it slip through our fingers. Over my dead body are we losing this place to the stiffs in suits at the bank so they can split it up, sell it off in pieces... No fucking way.
This is our home. The one stable thing my sisters and I have in our life.
I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we keep it.
