Chapter 6

  Mia

  “All right, Mia, what's going on? Why the change?” I stare across the clothes rack at Natalie. I'm so thankful that she came with me today because I would've been lost without her. She instructed the hair stylist when we got to the salon. I now have reddish brown hair with some blonde highlights, and any time I pass a mirror, I keep having to take a second look because I love it so much. Nat helped me pick out makeup, and she insisted that we sit on a stool at the department store while the makeup artist showed me exactly how to apply it. And now I have probably way too many clothes picked out to wear, but I haven’t been able to resist. I was dreading this, but it’s actually been fun.

  I’ve never done anything like this before. It's mostly jeans and shirts, but at least they're up to date and somewhat stylish.

  “Earth to Mia, come in Mia?”

  I laugh as Nat waves her hand in my face. “I’m sorry. I was lost in thought. What did you say?”

  She points at my hair and the clothes rack between us. “Why the change? I mean I love it, don’t get me wrong, I’m just curious why all of a sudden you decided to do a complete makeover.”

  "Nothing," I tell her with a shrug.

  She shakes her head disbelievingly. “I don't believe that for a minute. Something happened.”

  I look off in the distance and then back at Natalie. I don't want to ask, but I know I need to. “Can I ask you something, and you'll be honest with me?”

  Natalie doesn't even hesitate. She nods her head. "Of course I'll be honest with you. What is it?"

  “Did you know? I mean, do you know that I had a little crush on Ryan?”

  For just a second, I think she's going to act like she doesn't have a clue what I'm talking about, but finally she nods her head and lets out a breath. “Yeah, I knew.”

  I put my head in my hand. I can't believe everybody knew. I’ve made such a fool of myself. Natalie grips the stand in front of her. “Is that what all this is about, the new makeover, the new clothes? Because of Ryan?”

  I shake my head. “It's not what you're thinking. I'm not doing this for him. Maybe I'm doing it because of him. He said... forget it.”

  Her forehead creases. “He said what?”

  I hold my hands up in front of me. “Oh, let's just say he thinks I'm a frump. And I mean, I can't really blame him, I guess.”

  She starts to shake her head violently. “He said what? I can't believe Ryan said that about you.”

  I shrug my shoulders. “It's the truth. Let's face it, I don't know anything about all this girly stuff. But I can't keep going like I am. I need to move on. I know there's no chance between Ryan and me. So I need to, I don't know, date somebody or something, I guess. I definitely don't need all of the Double B Ranch knowing that I have some crush on Ryan and looking like a fool.”

  Natalie holds up a dress in front of her. “Nobody thinks you're a fool, Mia. Everybody loves you.”

  I shrug my shoulders. Sure, what she says makes me feel better. And I've always felt like I fit in at the ranch. All of the brothers have gone out of their way to make me feel like I'm part of the family since my dad moved on. But I can't help but cringe thinking about everyone knowing about my crush. Mortified doesn’t even begin to cover it.

  Natalie comes toward me with the dress. It's black, low cut in the front, fitted at the waist and flares around the bottom. “This would be perfect for the Cattleman’s Association Ball. You would be a knockout in it.”

  I take the dress from her hands, hold it up to me, and turn around and look in the mirror. It's definitely like nothing I've ever worn before. "I'll go try it on," I tell her. I grab the dress and head into the dressing room.

  "I want to see it," Nat says as I close the door behind me. When I have it on, I look at myself in the mirror and I barely recognize myself. If anything, I can't believe the person that is staring back at me.

  I look good, I think to myself.

  "Come on, I want to see it," Nat says again.

  I flip the lock on the door and walk out, and she stares at me with her mouth hanging open. “It's perfect. All we need are the shoes, and it will be perfect on you. Ryan won't know—”

  I hold my hands up to stop her. “Again, I’m not doing this for Ryan.” I really need to let it go. I need to do this for myself.

  Nat nods her head and looks at me proudly. “You're beautiful, Mia, just the way you are inside and out.”

  I can't resist reaching for her and pulling her in for a hug. King might as well have won the lottery when he met Natalie. She and Elijah have brought so much to the ranch, and I'm so happy to have a friend like her. I pay for the dress and the rest of the things that we've found.

  As we're walking out of the mall, a deep voice sounds to the right of us. “Mia, is that you?”

  I look over at the tall dark-haired man with tattoos on his arms. "Hey, Brent. I haven't seen you in forever." He pulls me in for a hug, and I put my arms around his waist and squeeze before looking up at him. I met Brent at one of the rodeos when I first got to town. Brent and his brothers all ride in the circuit and do really well at it.

  He leans back and looks down at me, his arm still around my shoulders. “You look good. It's been a while, hasn't it?”

  I nod, and I can feel myself blush at the compliment. “Thanks. Yeah, it's been a while, but I saw how you're doing in the circuit. Don't think that you weren't the talk of the town a few weeks ago when you won the championship at the Buckin’ Rodeo. Congratulations.”

  It's his turn to be embarrassed, but he shrugs his head. “Hey, would you like to go out to dinner and maybe catch up?”

  I've always liked Brent, and he's a good guy, but I know that it's not a good idea for me to go out to dinner with him.

  “I don't—"

  But before I can get the words out, Natalie elbows me in the side. “Why don't you come out to the house for dinner? You guys can catch up there.”

  I hold my hands up in front of me. Nat has no idea who this man is, and I didn't introduce him. I know it's not a good idea for him to be invited out to the ranch for dinner. “Sorry. Brent, this is Natalie, King’s wife. Nat, this is Brent McCoy. He’s our neighbor.”

  Nat just smiles and puts her hand in Brent’s. “Nice to meet you.”

  Nat still doesn’t have a clue who the man is, but I know there’s no way he would be welcome at the dinner table at the house. Heck, they’d probably try to shoot him off the property. I turn to Brent. “Actually, you know what? How about we do go out for dinner? You want to just pick me up out at the ranch later?”

  He nods his head. “Six o'clock. Does that sound good?”

  I nod. “Yes, six is perfect. See you later.” I pull Nat out the door as Brent tells us both goodbye and tips his cowboy hat.

  Natalie's mouth is hanging open as she looks at me. “Who was that?”

  I thread my arm through hers as we walk on out into the parking lot. “Oh, Nat, you have no idea.”

  She looks at me, surprised. “What do you mean?”

  “That's Brent McCoy.”

  She shrugs because the name doesn't mean anything to her. I forget sometimes that she’s not from here and hasn’t been in Whiskey Valley long. I stop walking and look at her to explain. “Brent McCoy... his family owns the ranch next to the Double B.”

  She still looks like she doesn’t have a clue. "You know, the McCoys that King and all the brothers don't get along with, the longstanding feud between the two families," I prompt her.

  Finally, it registers. Her eyes get wide, and her mouth drops open. "Oh my God. I had no idea.

  And I invited him to the ranch for dinner.” She slaps her hand across her forehead. “King is going to kill me.”

  I can't help but laugh at that. “Please, there's nothing that you can do that will upset King. It will be fine. Brent’s not coming to the ranch to have dinner. He'll just pick me up, and we’ll leave. It's not that big of a deal.” I try to calm her because I don’t want her worried, but I’m definitely a little nervous about how it’s all going to play out. The feud is a little ridiculous now, but I don’t think it’s anything that the McCoys or the Bryants have forgotten about. At least not enough to break bread together anyway.

  She looks at me skeptically. “I don't know, Mia. If there's that big of a feud, they're not going to want you to go out with him.”

  I shrug my shoulders. “It's not like that with Brent. We've been friends since I came to town. He's a good guy. It's going to be fine.”

  I look at my watch. We don’t have much time before Brent is coming to pick me up. We drive back to the ranch and carry in our packages from the car. Ryan is standing in the living room, pacing back and forth when he sees us come in.

  He walks toward me and stops suddenly. His gaze goes from the top of my head down my body and then back again. His jaw tightens. “What did you do?”

  I stumble on my feet, and Nat reaches out to grab me. She gives Ryan a dirty look. “You mean she looks beautiful, right?”

  Nat, who never has a mean thing to say to anybody, gives her brother-in-law a dirty look. Ryan’s mouth compresses into a hard line. “Right. You do, I mean, you look ... great.” He looks me up and down, and I’m glad I kept on the fitted jeans and new blouse I tried on. It’s definitely better than the worn-out jeans and tattered shirt from before.

  I’m about to fluff my hair when it all starts to come back to me. No flirting, Mia. Don’t do it. Instead, I mutter, “Thanks.”

  I keep walking when Ryan steps out in front of me. “Hey, Mia, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Natalie walks by, taking some of my things to my room, and I stop, my arms loaded down, with Ryan in front of me. He tries to grab for the packages to help, but I stop him. “I got it. What can I do for you, Ryan?”

  "Look, I just want to apologize," he starts.

  But I don't let him finish. “There's nothing to apologize for. And you know what? I thought about some of the things you said, and you're right, I was starting to dress frumpy. I hadn’t been shopping in forever.” Who am I kidding? I can’t remember ever going shopping for clothes. I’ve always just picked up jeans and shirts at the co-op. “And you're right, I probably need to get out more. So look, no harm done. If you think about it, you were just helping me out.”

  He opens his mouth to say something, and Pauline walks into the room. “Dinner will be ready in a half hour.” She looks at me and puts her hands to her mouth. “Oh wow, Mia, you look beautiful. I love what you did to your hair.”

  “Thank you, Pauline!” I turn to go, smiling at the sweet woman that’s giving me a thumbs up. "I won't be here for dinner. I'm going out. I have a date."

  As I walk out of the room, Ryan stares at me with his mouth hanging open.

  Chapter 7

  Ryan

  When Mia walks out of the room, Nat comes back down the hallway from Mia’s room. "Why does she look like that? And what does she mean she has a date?" I ask her.

  At the same time, King walks in the front door. Natalie ignores my question and heads straight over to my brother, her husband. "I'm sorry, King. I had no idea. I invited someone to dinner."

  He doesn't even act like she said anything. He leans down and presses his mouth to hers. I look away and roll my eyes. It's always been touchy-feely with them, and they don’t care who’s in the room. King pulls back with his hands on Nat's shoulder. “It’s okay. Pauline won’t mind. She always makes extra.”

  Natalie still looks worried. “No, it’s not like that.”

  King looks at her patiently; meanwhile, I’m about to come unglued if I don’t get answers soon. King just smiles at her. "What do you mean, baby?"

  Nat starts to ramble quickly, "He asked her out, and she was going to say no, and I know that she needs to get out and have some fun, so I pressured her into going out with him. I told her that they should just eat here, but then I guess she knew that wasn't a good idea, so she's going out with him instead. But I had no idea who he was."

  I grit my teeth and come over to stand next to them. "Who? Who is she going out with?"

  Nat answers me, but she's looking at King the whole entire time. She scrunches up her nose. "Brent McCoy."

  I shake my head. I'm sure that I misheard what she just said. "Wait, Nat. Are you serious? Mia is going out with a McCoy?"

  Finally, she looks over at me. "Yes, Brent McCoy."

  "Son of a bitch," I mutter, and King immediately gets on to me. "Hey!"

  I hold my hands up and shake them in front of me. "I know. I know. Eli is out at the barn, though." I stalk off down the hallway toward Mia's room. I knock once and don't even wait for her to say come in before I'm in the door and shutting it behind me. Mia is looking at herself in the mirror. She's already changed clothes and is wearing a dress that sits right above her knees and a new pair of cowboy boots. Her newly cut hair is in waves across her shoulders, and I don't know what she's done to her face, but her eyes and lips are looking at me expressively in the mirror. "You're not going out with Brent," I say.

  She laughs when she turns to me. "Yes, I am. I've been friends with Brent for years, Ryan. He's back in town and asked me to dinner. Why wouldn't I go?"

  "Because you work for me... the Bryants. You work for the Double B Ranch. That's why."

  She shrugs her shoulders like it's not that big of a deal. "You know that Brent is not to blame for something that happened 50 years ago, right? I mean, it all worked out. You have your land, they have theirs.” She stops like everything she just said makes perfect sense and I should agree. When I start to shake my head, she asks me in a cool, tempered voice, “So let me ask you this. If I go, are you telling me that I'm fired, that I’ll lose my job here?"

  She’s staring at me across the space of the room. I walk toward her and don’t stop until we're an arm's length apart. It would be so easy to reach out and put my hands on her shoulders, but instead I shove my hands in the front of my pockets. A part of me wants to tell her yes, that under no circumstances can she go. She may listen, too, but I know she’d hate me for it. "No, you always have a job here, Mia. You know that."

  She nods her head once, and I can see the relief in her eyes. "Okay, well I'm going to dinner with him. It's not like we're getting married or anything. It’s one date, and really, it’s not even a date. We’re friends."

  I blanch when she says the word married. I don't know why this is hitting me so hard, but it is. "Look," I stutter, "what I said earlier, that doesn't mean you need to do this." She looks like she's embarrassed when she stares back at me. She opens her mouth, closes it again, and I ask her, "What? Say it. You can say anything to me.”

  She swallows and lifts her chin. "I had no idea that everyone here at the ranch knew how I felt about you."

  I stumble back on my feet. What is she talking about?

  But before I can ask, she continues to talk. "I mean, I didn't know everyone knew I had a crush on you. I can imagine how that made you feel. I'm sorry, but you're right. I know you apologized for what you said, but I'm thinking it's something that I needed to hear. I'm 21 years old, and I act like I'm 50. I need to take better care of myself and go out and have fun. So yeah, even though I don't appreciate the way it was done, I needed to hear it anyway."

  "I don't... I didn't—" I start, but she holds her hand up.

  "It's fine, Ryan. I promise. I've always thought of you as a friend, and I don't want to lose that. I don't want there to be anything weird between us." She points back and forth between the two of us. Before I can say anything, there's a knock at the door, and Mia answers softly, "Come on in."

  Nat comes to the door and looks between Mia and me. She still has that worried look on her face, and I’m sure mine matches hers. "Uh, Brent is here."

  Mia grabs her purse and phone and starts to walk out. I put my hand out and grab her wrist to stop her. She stops and looks down where my hand is resting on her arm. "Mia," I start.

  She shakes her head and looks at me almost painfully. "It's all right, Ryan. I promise you and I are fine." She pulls her arm from mine and walks out the door, and I stand in her room completely stumped.

  I want to go stop her. I don't know what this urgent need inside of me is, but I don't want to even think about her going on a date with someone else, and what does she even mean that she had a crush on me? I never knew she had a crush on me or even thought of me that way, but the longer I stand here, the more I know I can't let this happen. I need to talk to her. I all but run from the room and out the door, but already they're gone. Standing on the front porch of the Bryant home, all I see is a trail of dust as Brent McCoy drives off with Mia in the passenger seat of his big F450 truck. Fuck, what am I going to do?

  Chapter 8

  Mia

  "Are you sure everything's all right?" Brent asks me for probably the fifth time. We drove into Whiskey Valley. After a drive around downtown, we stopped at Buster's Steak House for dinner. It's one of the only places that you can get a really good steak. Dinner was good, and we talked easily enough, but I kept fading in and out, thinking about Ryan. I want to slap myself on the head. Why do I do this to myself?

  "Yes, I'm fine. I promise," I tell Brent.

  "King didn't look too happy about me being on his ranch, but at least he didn't try to stop you from going out with me."

  I shrug my shoulders. "Yeah, I don't think King cared much. Ryan, on the other hand..."

  I let my voice trail off, and Brent looks at me questioningly. “Oh yeah, did he have a problem with us going out to dinner?"

  I try to keep my voice steady. “I think he has a problem with anything I do. I already heard it from him earlier today when I helped the vet out with one of the new horses. And then again, when he found out I was going on a date with you." I get lost in thought, thinking about Ryan. He's so confusing, and I can't help but wonder what is crossing his mind. He's never seemed to care what I've done before, but all in the matter of one day, it's like, that's all he wants to do is worry about what I'm doing.

 

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