Page 6 of Wrangling Hearts
“She’s not a hellion,” Gran said, chin lifted high. “She’s just on her own path, and we’ll be here when she comes home.”
Louise snorts. “At least the lawyer stays in touch. Did you ask Savvy what she thinks? What did Emmett say?”
I shook my head. “No, not yet. And Emmett gave his usual response, leaving it all on me.” Knowing she’d say the same thing as Emmett, I hadn't even bothered asking Savannah. She was busy being a big-time lawyer in Dallas anyway.
“I think you should do it, honey,” Gran said. “I’ll watch Charlotte while you work on it.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “I don’t know…” I’d feel terrible dumping Mama on Gran while I went after something thatmight not even work out—probably wouldn’t work out if the McLeods were involved.
Louise slapped a quarter on the table, making me jump. “Heads, you do it. Tails, you don’t. This is how I’ve made every decision I wasn’t sure about—including husbands. It works.”
Staring at the quarter, I knew I’d have to follow through with whatever it said. These old women wouldn’t let me back out if it said heads. “But what if I don’t get the partnership? What if I spend all this time on it and nothing comes out of it?”
“Then you don’t get it,” Louise said as if it were that simple. “Life goes on.”
“And you can say you gave it all you got.” Gran rubbed my back in support.
Heart thundering, I nodded. “Okay. Flip it.”
We watched the coin twirl in the air, and I knew as I watched it drop to the table, I’d apply regardless of what it said. I’d already given up one dream; I refused to give up another. I wouldn’t let anyone, not even Beau McLeod, get in my way.
Louise smacked her hand over the quarter. “Ready?”
A wave of determination came over me. “Forget the coin—I’m gonna do it.”
“Oh, wonderful!” Gran clapped, beaming.
Louise nodded with approval, looking like the cat that ate the canary. “And that’s the magic of the coin toss. It tells you what you really want. Now get out of here, kid.”
I kissed them both on the cheek and left the diner feeling invigorated, but I always did after spending time with Gran and Louise.
Once home, I submitted my application, feeling nervous but excited. It felt like I was doing something for myself for the first time in eight years. I knew it’d be hard work, but the calluses on my hands were proof that I knew how to give something my all.
Whether I’d end up competing against Beau or not didn’t matter. I’d fight like hell to win—but I couldn’t lie: it’d feel damn good to beat his arrogant ass.
2
Beau
The sun was barely over the horizon, but the air was already hot and thick by the time I stepped out of my cabin. I breathed it in, letting my family’s legacy settle deep in my lungs. Circle M stretched out before me—a thousand acres with happy, beefy cattle that had supplied my family with an income for the last six generations.
But I wanted more.
There was something to be said about being raised by a man who went by Mount, as in the abbreviation for mountain. It meant he cast a mighty big shadow, a shadow that I had been living in and trying to claw my way out from under for the past thirty-five years.
I had yet to be successful.
I tried everything—being a good son, a good brother, a good student, a good cowboy, a goodperson. I came up with ideas to streamline herding and ease the burden my father and his ranch hands endured. I went to college and majored in agricultural studies to maximize our land’s potential.
It didn’t seem to matter—nothing I did pleased Mount.
And man, if I wasn’t fucking exhausted by it.
I technically ran things now, but my father still tried to pull the strings from his walker that he refused to use half the time. If it weren’t for Anna forcing him into retirement after he fell from his horse and shattered his hip, he’d probably still be in charge.
Thank God for bossy little sisters and fathers who were totally wrapped around their fingers. All she had to do was shed a single tear, and he gave up after I had been trying for weeks.
The herd was moving slowly this morning, lazy and content. I fired off my drone to get a better look at the pastures, even though I’d ride out there to double-check myself later. It still amazed me that technology like this existed and was making its way into ranching, but I’d never rely on it completely.
