Page 13 of Sweet Beginnings

The voices got louder and deeper, and Preston remained silent on the sidelines. She and Preston were the only two who hadn’t even tried to get a word in edgewise for the last twenty minutes. Growing up, she always felt she understood Preston better than his brothers. Didn’t hurt any that he’d held a soft spot in her heart since she was six years old, fell off the rope swing, and splashed in the storm-high creek. She’d been more scared than in danger, but at only ten years old, Preston had been the one to dive in and rescue her. Her first experience with a knight in shining armor. Now, she could almost feel the turmoil churning inside of him and wished she could do something, anything, to make this all better.Anything. That one word rattled around in her thoughts and like a sudden bolt of lightning, the idea struck her.

“Excuse me.” Sarah’s politeness fell on deaf ears. “Hey y’all,” she shouted a bit louder.

Preston’s gaze met hers, and with the cutest little smile, he stuck his fingers in the edge of his mouth and let out an ear-piercing sound. When the room fell silent, his smile grew and he waved his arm in her direction, giving her the floor.

Still looking out for her, his assist made her smile. She turned to face the siblings. “I think I can help.”

Preston shook his head. “We already said we can’t take your money.”

She sucked in a breath, crossed the room, stood toe to toe with Preston, and chin up, leveled her gaze with his. “Then take me.”

Preston blinked—twice. He had to have heard Sarah wrong, and if he hadn’t, there had to be a much more sensible understanding of her words than the thoughts ricocheting in his overactive imagination.

“Excuse me?” From the expression on everyone’s face, Jill had just spoken for all the Sweets.

“Okay. Maybe that didn’t come out right. What I mean is if one of you needs to marry in a hurry, needs someone willing to go along with this charade—because it is a charade—for a whole year, and make it believable to your mom and the town and bank, then it makes sense for one of you to fall for a friend.”

Rachel bobbed her head. “Friends to loversisa common trope in romance novels.”

“Trope?” Carson looked at his sister as if she’d just announced she was marrying an alien.

“Common premise in popular books,” Preston explained. “Like innocent wrongly accused.”

“Ah.” Carson nodded. “Makes sense.”

Sarah nodded at Preston for the correct explanation. “According to town gossip through the years, Jill had one foot in the church when she dated Bobby Prescott, but then she smartened up and since Bobby’s wife is pregnant with baby number four, he’s not a good candidate for this plan.”

“Dodged a bullet there,” Jill muttered.

“And Carson, you’ve made discretion an art form. If you’ve ever hooked up with anyone in this town, it’s the biggest secret since what happened to Jimmy Hoffa.”

Carson lifted one side of his mouth into a mischievous grin and Preston could almost see Sarah considering just how many secrets did their brother have.

“Unless I can convince Jimmy Henderson to leave sunny California, which I doubt will happen since he swore never to set foot in this God-forsaken town again,” Rachel sighed, “then I’ll probably have to start from scratch too.”

“Which leaves us,” Preston spoke softly as if that would make what he had to say less jarring, less absurd.

They’d never been an item. Not even close, but ever since her senior prom, the idea had been in everyone else’s mind. A handful of chaperones had mentioned what a lovely couple they made. Of course they probably said that to every one of the kids. His mom had gone out of her way to point out what a nice girl Sarah was. How well she fit into the family. Except she was just finishing high school and he was about to move onto his first full-time job.

Shifting her gaze from her brother to Sarah and back again, Jill shook her head. “You two are really considering this, aren’t you?”

“It could work.” Preston shrugged, unsure of who he was trying to convince. “There’d have to be a little juggling and finessing, but we could probably buy some time on a few of the debts, enough to get the first monthly allowance.”

“Will it be enough?” Carson asked.

“A stop gap. We’ll need to put all ranch earnings back into the kitty.” Basically, they’d be back to working for their mom for room, board, and love.

“I’ll see what I can borrow.” Carson let his booted foot slide off his knee and thump on the floor. “If we can pay the debts back quickly, the interest won’t be the end of the world. Especially if it saves the ranch.”

“So,” Jill slapped her hands on her jeans, “if you guys are all agreed this is the best plan, I’ll be a team player, go along, but I want it on the record that if this blows up in our faces, I thought before, and still think, it’s a crazy idea.”

“Noted.” Carson smiled at his sister.

“Who’s going to break the news to Garret and Kade?” Rachel raised one brow at her siblings.

Preston exhaled. “If Sarah and I are going through with this, telling Garret can wait till his vacation is over. Poor guy spends most of the year dealing with classrooms of junior high tweens, he deserves time. Kade can wait till we figure out all the details.”

Jill spun around to face Sarah. Concern warred with intense determination. Determination was winning. “You do realize what you’re volunteering for?”

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