Page 50 of Wrangling Hearts
He grinned. “Who knew you’d turn out to be such a sap?”
I looked down at my lap, laughing. “Not me, that’s for damn sure.”
The call went about as I expected. They were shocked, tried to change my mind, and offered different incentives, but I rejected them all.
“Listen, I know you’re blindsided, but you want your company to thrive? Then you need Claire Hayes and Golden Bridle. I know it’s small and not what you had planned for this expansion, but she has more drive than anyone I’ve ever met, and not choosing her would be a massive mistake.”
“Well, thank you for your time, and we’ll take your advice into consideration. You’ve left us with a lot to think about,” Trent said.
Once I hung up, I felt a weight lift. Free for the first time in my life. I wasn’t chasing after an expectation. I wasn’t trying to prove myself. I wasn’t looking for anyone’s approval. I was just living for myself. Completely limitless.
Now all I had to do was wait for Claire.
15
Claire
The house had never been so clean. I’d spent the last four days deep cleaning. Like, on hands and knees with a toothbrush kind of cleaning. It was the only thing that truly calmed me aside from racing, and I needed all the stress relief I could get.
All I’d been able to think about these last four days was Mama, the Cavendish partnership, and Beau.
Mostly because two days ago, Preston Hollis grew some balls and did, in fact, call me again. He said he had ‘inside sources’ confirm that Cavendish was going with Beau. Then he proceeded to offer me just under a million dollars for Golden Bridle as it stood, so that I could “walk away with my dignity intact.”
Emmett had to stop Delilah and me from hunting him down and lighting him on fire after that.
No matter how hard I tried to forget it, his call had lingered, working its way beneath my skin like a splinter I couldn’t remove. He somehow knew about my debt, about Mama’s medical bills, about everything. But Sterling Hollis’s reach went far, and Preston was a little bootlicking minion for his power-hungry grandfather, so I shouldn't have been surprised that he had used that reach to go down the psychological warfare route.
I was surprised, however, that it was kind of working. But that was only because if Cavendish didn’t choose me, I’d have no other option but to cave.
On the bright side, Savannah came in late last night, still wearing her suit from work. She hadn’t been home for more than a weekend since she left for college, and it showed. I sent her out to go feed the horses, and she skipped down the stairs in a Lululemon set and stark white shoes. And that wasaftershe did her at-home Pilates.
Delilah and I had a nice giggle about that.
We had been glued at the hip since we submitted our proposal in case we got the call from Cavendish, and it was nice to have someone constantly around I could share all my thoughts and fears with. I’d never had that before. I thought that was what I was building with Beau, but I hadn't heard from him. He was probably just as anxious as I was, but a text letting me know he didn’t hate my guts for fleeing the other day would’ve been nice.
I was helping the hospice nurse dress Mama when someone started running up the stairs. “Claire! OhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGod,” Delilah screamed, waving my ringing phone around.
All the air got sucked out of the room as I snatched it from her hand. “What if this is it?”
“Answer it and find out, or I will!”
With shaking hands, I accepted the call. “Hello?”
“Hello, is this Claire Hayes?”
My heart nearly flew out of my chest. I grabbed Delilah’s hand, squeezing hard. “Yes, this is Claire.”
“Hi, this is Trent with Cavendish Equestrian Academy. We met last month when I came to view Golden Bridle with my colleague.”
“How’s your shin? I gave Vincent a good talking to after that.”
He laughed. “It’s fine, thanks. I’m calling to let you know that, after careful consideration and a glowing endorsement, we would like to offer you the partnership on behalf of Richard Cavendish.”
A choked sob left me, and I looked at Mama. She was watching me with tears in her eyes. “Are you serious?” I rasped, my voice shaking.
More laughter. “Yes, I’m serious. We believe that your veteran outreach program can make a positive impact in the community, and if you were to accept, we would like to start the process of creating a satellite location immediately.”
I waved mine and Delilah’s hands around, silently screaming. She started jumping up and down next to me, tears in her eyes. “Yes, I absolutely accept. Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me.”
