Page 64 of Eighteen Bowties and Counting

“Sounds great.” He grinned at her, his flirty cowboy persona in full force. “Come kiss me good-bye, little bird.”

Charlotte did love kissing him, and she’d been doing it plenty while he’d been sick. So she crossed back to him and let him gather her into his arms to kiss her. “I can’t wait to make you mine,” he whispered, his lips catching on hers.

And because Charlotte wanted that too, she said, “I can’t wait for that either.”

Then she left him to rest, and she took Pepper and Ruby out to the stables with her, where she went down every aisle and sang to every horse about how she and Beau were going to get married someday.

Once they’d all heard her songs and lullabies, she pulled out her phone and texted Felicity about her and Beau coming to dinner in a couple of weeks.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Beau reached into his closet and pulled out the two-by-four holding all the bowties he’d worn to various weddings here on the ranch.

He’d actually been to a lot more—all the Glover Family weddings, the Walker cowboys. He’d been to their weddings too.

“So many weddings,” he said. “So many memories.” They flooded his mind, and all of them were good, as if God had washed away the bitter and jealous feelings Beau had endured during some of the ceremonies, dinners, parties, and dances.

“Beau,” Bennett called, and Beau twisted toward his bedroom door.

“In my room.”

Bennett entered several seconds later, by which time Beau had put the row of bowties on the bed. He looked away from it and toward Bennett. “Hey, brother.” He hugged his best friend and together, they looked at the wedding wear.

“What’s goin’ on here?” Bennett asked.

“I’m getting rid of the bowties,” Beau said. “Every time I open my closet to get dressed, they mock me.”

“I thought you and Charlotte were getting serious.”

“Yeah.” Beau nodded, his smile starting in his soul before it reached his face. “We are. Real serious.”

Harvest had come and gone, and they’d survived him stumbling home late and getting up early. They’d done the sunrise live-stream together a few times, and Charlotte had done it for him three more times, simply to give him another hour of sleep.

“I’m going to town to get the ring this afternoon,” Beau said. “And I don’t want these here anymore.”

“Then let’s get rid of them.” Bennett reached for the first one and plucked it from the board. “And you got her a ring?” He gave Beau a side-eyed look that broadcasted his surprise. “That’s huge, Beau. Really huge.”

“Never bought a diamond ring before,” Beau acknowledged. He started picking off the bowties from the other end of the board, the more recent weddings. Ben’s wasn’t on here, as Beau hadn’t had space for it, and he didn’t want to display a token of another wedding he’d attended as a single man.

It only took a minute to get all the bowties off the board, and he crammed the ones he’d collected into Ben’s hands. “You do it.”

“What do you want me to do with them?”

“I don’t know. Don’t we have some trash to burn on the ranch today?”

“Not with the fire danger being in the red,” Ben said. “You know what, Beau? This is easy. They’re trash, so we put them in the trashcan.” He turned and left the bedroom, and while he was gone disposing of the bowties, Beau removed all the tags and pictures marking which wedding belonged to which garment.

When Ben returned, all he had was a two-by-four, and Beau knew what to do with that. He gave the tags and pictures to Ben, and they left the bedroom, Beau carrying the long board. Charlotte had gone out to the stables already, so she wasn’t there for his bowtie cleansing, which was just fine with Beau.

He’d barely wanted Bennett to come, but he’d asked him to come over for a little “housekeeping,” and to go pick up Charlotte’s ring with him. Somehow, even as a forty-year-old, Beau needed a little hand-holding with the purchase.

Plus, he’d gone with Ben when he’d bought Ellie’s ring. It felt fitting, and like what Beau wanted to be doing. They’d get lunch first, then head to the jewelers, and Beau had told Charlotte that he and Ben were going to lunch and picking up ranch supplies.

They had to do that too, so it wasn’t a lie.

He watched Ben toss the tags in the trashcan in the kitchen, and then they took the board out to the barn where they kept scrap lumber. Beau dusted off his hands and looked at Ben. “Well? Ready?”

“Yes, sir.” Ben grinned at him and threw his arm around him. “I can’t believe you’re getting married.” He laughed, and Beau knew he wasn’t teasing. It really just was joyful.

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