Page 24 of Eighteen Bowties and Counting

Dots lined up to create a picture, and Charlotte’s smile widened. “Oh, of course. I literally moved in yesterday. I don’t know anything about anything yet.”

“You will,” Juliette promised. “Soon enough.” She sat up straight in her seat and slid her hand down the silver fabric of the dress she wore. “You got moved in okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And how’s Beau doing?”

Charlotte opened her mouth to answer, then found she didn’t have one. “I…don’t know. How should he be?”

“He and Ben have been best friends for years,” Juliette said as she peered behind her to see if the wedding procession was about to start. “They’ve lived together forever, right up until Beau moved into the foreman’s cabin. I’d expect him to be moody.”

“Moody?”

Juliette looked at her, and Charlotte honestly didn’t know what else to say. “Yes,” Juliette said. “You know how cowboys are when their worlds get shaken up. They go silent. Then they get mad over silly things.” She smiled and giggled and shook her head. “My boys do the same thing, though I keep telling them there are other ways to work through your emotions.”

Charlotte smiled too. She nodded too. “Oh, I get it. Sure, of course.” But she hadn’t seen Beau acting “moody.”

Of course, she hardly knew Beau Peterson, so she certainly wasn’t the best judge of his behavior. Thankfully, the wedding started, and she got to her feet to see Bennett leading the way down the aisle.

A bit odd, slightly off-script, but he wore a smile the size of the great state of Texas, and he led only cowboys. No women. No pairs. Just Bennett surrounded by cowboys.

Beau was second in line, and that told Charlotte where he ranked in his best friend’s life too. Mason had talked about Beau plenty, as they’d stayed friends since their days together in college. But seeing him with Bennett was a whole new ball game. He clearly loved his friend, and when they reached the altar, Beau grabbed onto Bennett and hugged him hard.

No one tried to get him to step back. He faced Charlotte, and she watched his mouth move as he whispered something to Bennett. The other cowboy nodded and hugged Beau back just as hard.

And she knew then that while this wedding was an amazing thing, a beautiful union of two people who loved each other deeply, it also cut like a hot knife. This was something separating Beau from someone he loved, and while they both knew it would be okay, it wasn’t right now.

She couldn’t look away from him as Beau finally let go and shuffled out of the way so the other men could congratulate Ben. Only a minute later, the men started making their way onto the first three rows, and Beau spotted her, fixed his bowtie—the eighteenth one he’d worn for a wedding here at the ranch—and made his way toward her past Garth and his teenagers.

Charlotte didn’t know what to say to make things better. Sometimes words simply didn’t do a good enough job. So she linked her arm through his and stayed standing while the most gorgeous bride in the world strolled down the aisle to her forever cowboy.

As she sat and Beau slid his hand into hers, Charlotte acknowledged that part of her getting a new job and moving out on her own included finding someone to love the way Ellie obviously loved Bennett.

She forced herself not to look at Beau, but she couldn’t stop her mind from spinning questions like, What if it’s Beau Peterson? What if he could be your knight in shining armor? Your Prince Charming? The cowboy who sees you, accepts you, and loves you no matter how many times you faint or how stubborn you are about training horses?

What if it’s him and you’ve already met him? What if? What if? What if?

Chapter Nine

Beau kept his eyes wide open as he danced with Charlotte. Ben’s wedding had been perfect from beginning to end, and he was glad for his friend. Truly. He wanted to sink into the apple blossom scent of Charlotte’s hair and drift lazily back to their cabin together, but he had a bigger, more knowing audience than would allow him to act like he had in his younger years.

He didn’t want to be that twenty-something anyway.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked as the last notes of the song faded.

“Are you?”

“Yes,” he said honestly. “We’ve been here long enough. Ben won’t care.” He turned to find his friends, and thankfully, they were only a few paces away. He went toward them and wrapped both Ben and Ellie into the same hug. “Love you guys. We’ll see you when you get back from New Orleans.”

They weren’t going far, nor for long, as neither of them had much money. But Beau couldn’t remember a day out of the last eighteen years that he hadn’t seen and talked to Bennett. Tomorrow would be the first one.

His emotions clapped like angry thunder, and Beau couldn’t wait to leave the public eye. He just wanted a silent cabin without lights on and a really good hamburger.

“Love you, Beau,” both Ben and Ellie said, and then he faced Charlotte again. She said her more formal good-byes, and they left the party. He took her the back way in front of the barns and stables to their cabin, and he said nothing along the way.

He loosened his bowtie the moment he got behind a wall separating him from everyone else on the ranch, and he had it off and his shirt unbuttoned by the time he reached the steps. At the porch, his jacket was coming off, and the moment he stepped inside, he felt like he could breathe again.

He walked toward the hall, semi-forgetting he wasn’t alone until the door closed behind him. “Oh.” He turned back to Charlotte, his shirt untucked and undone and his hands full of his jacket and tie. “I’m going to go shower.”

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