Page 38 of If You Loved Me

Little did she know that I had no intention of allowing her anywhere near my children—if and when I had them.

But knowing the influence my parents had in this town…it could be life changing for my career. Their support could mean the difference between me reaching my goals or not. I’d worked so damn hard. Since I was eighteen, I had a vision for what I wanted my life to be, but there was always an obstacle in my way, preventing me from reaching the next level.

This could be it. The opportunity I needed to start landing big accounts. To become a true wedding cake designer.

Ranger. His name clanged through my heart like a lightning strike. In such a short amount of time, he’d become someone important to me. More than just an adolescent crush. Ifeltthings for him that I’d never felt before.

I bit the inside of my cheek, weighing the options in my mind. I knew there was no way she’d let me think about it.My mother had always been ruthless in her negotiations. This time was no different. If I let her walk out of my kitchen, the offer would no longer stand.

“Okay,” I said quietly. “I’ll meet him.”

“And give it a good effort?”

“Yes.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

“Wonderful.” The way her face lit up made my heart ache because I wished she would look like that from watching me pursue my dreams instead of doing her bidding.

“I will refer your number to him and we will talk soon, dear.”

I didn’t have the strength to say anything more and as I watched my mother walk out the door, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d just made a deal with the devil.

Chapter 16

Ranger

The tune singing past my lips was a familiar one. A whistle rendition of a song my mother used to play for Callie Rose and me on her guitar.

It had been a long, long while since I allowed myself to remember those times with anything but hate and sorrow in my heart. But Sarah…she was opening up something inside of me that hadn’t been visible to anyone in years. That glimmer of hope. The smallest kernel that had kept me going all these years.

When I rounded the bottom of the staircase into the kitchen, I found Miles and Callie Rose staring at me with confused looks on their faces.

Miles’s brows bunched together, creating an angry caterpillar above his eyes. “Were you justwhistling?”

I didn’t miss how Callie Rose elbowed him in the ribs before she said, “I think hell just froze over.”

I shot them both a bird. “Busybodies.”

Callie Rose snorted. “Um, you’re the one coming in here all chipper which, by the way, is completely unlike you. So forgive us if we’re a little confused.”

I glowered at my little sister. “Shouldn’t you be glad for your brother when he’s in a good mood?”

The stool she sat on squeaked as she rotated her seat, following me with those piercing eyes as I made my way to the coffee pot. “Yeah. Sure. But usually when something shifts like this it means there’s trouble on the horizon.”

Setting the coffee pot back down I turned to face her and I saw the worry written on her face. My mood immediately soured. Not because of her prying, but because I hated that my sister had experienced such pain in her life that she struggled to let a good thing happen without worrying about the other shoe dropping.

Miles must have sensed the tension because he gulped down the remainder of his coffee before saying, “I’ll see you at the barn.”

“Actually,”—Callie Rose held up a hand—“I need some help with the chicken coop before he heads out.”

Miles simply tilted his chin at her in acknowledgment before heading out. She was the woman of this house and despite Miles and I being more than twice her size, she kept us both in line. Held us together. When she spoke, we listened.

I knew the conversation wasn’t over, even when she hopped off the stool and made her way out the front door. I ate my eggs straight from the pan before I grabbed my black cowboy hat off the wrung and stepped into the biting cold.

One of the roosters let out a loud crow on my approach to the coop. Callie Rose was already herding some of the hens to a smaller holding pen. With the morning light hitting her face, she looked so much like our parents. Our mother’s button nose and bright hazel eyes. And her long black curls were a match for our father’s. Something clanged in my chest, but I shoved it aside as she righted herself and looked over at me.

“So, I take it your date went well?” Her breath clouded in front of her.

“It did, yes.”

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