Page 38 of Cowboy

“Well, I say we’ve got a project for the holidays, ladies,” smiled Claudette. “I’ll reach out to all the churches and get a list of families in need. Then we’ll know what we have to deal with. We can all contribute financially, but maybe we make it fun.”

“Fun how?” asked Erin.

“Oh, I know,” laughed Autumn. “A swear jar. A dollar for every cuss word. By my calculation these last few days, we should have close to a million dollars by the holiday season.” The women laughed, shaking their heads.

“One problem with that,” smiled Gabi, “I cuss as much as the men. That might be too hard on me. Maybe we just make it a change bucket in the office. Every time you walk by it, if you have a dollar or less, just drop it in the bucket.”

“I like that idea,” smiled Kari. “You know that most of these guys will end up dropping a five or ten. We should have plenty of money to buy the gifts by the holiday season.”

“Great, let’s get working on the planning, and we can make this happen!” said Erin with enthusiasm. She looked at the other women, then stopped. “Oh, gosh. Kate, Ajei, Soph, Gwen. This is your job now, not mine. I’m sorry, girls.”

“Don’t be sorry,” smiled Kate. “I love that you’re willing to take some of this on. We’re helping more and more at G.R.I.P., Gwen’s ridiculously busy at the studio, and Ajei’s schedule is insane. This really helps us.”

“She’s right,” said Sophia Ann. “We need you guys. Just because you’re out on the other island doesn’t mean you’re not still part of the team. We need you more than ever, and we darn sure need your guidance and wisdom.”

“Thank you for saying that,” said Lauren. “I think sometimes we’re out there with just us old gals, and we feel a bit useless.”

“That’s crazy!” said Kate. “We have to change that. There’s no reason why you can’t be here every day, helping us, contributing. What about the men? Do they feel the same way?”

“I’m not sure,” said Erin. “To be honest, they go off and do their training, meet up for breakfast, then they always seem to have something that they’re working on. I don’t think they feel it as much as we do.”

“Well, we can change that,” said Gwen.

“You know, when my grandmother decided to make the ranch something that would bring in money, she had no idea how she was going to do it. She kind of looked around her and saw what she had. Like the horses, the mountains, etc. She ended up starting a horse rental service, mountain and trail guides, that sort of thing.

“I was just wondering if this property is so big, maybe you could have the older guys start a guide service for the bayous. Or, I know Cowboy told me that you have a gym up front to train first responders and military men prepping for the next level. But what about teaching self-defense for women and children.”

“I think those are all great ideas, Autumn,” smiled Lena. “It’s getting our guys to organize it and follow through with it.”

“Well, I’m happy to help with anything,” smiled Autumn. “I’m really hoping that I’ll become part of the flight team here.”

“Of course you will,” smiled Savannah. “We’ve already determined that you can handle the smaller jets for now. Once we have you trained and get some hours under your belt, you can fly the Osprey and the bigger jets.”

“Oh, my goodness,” she whispered. “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

The women just laughed, shaking their heads. But on the other side of the room was Cowboy, staring at the woman who’d stolen his heart. He just needed to figure out why Dimitri wanted her.

“Easy.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Robbie made sure the General Store was locked up tight. Over the years, they’d expanded from a small thousand-square-foot building to now nearly three-thousand-square-feet. With the addition of the paintings, jewelry, cookbooks, and other items made by the team, they had become a destination location.

Visitors traveling into New Orleans would often make the drive down to their little neck of the woods just to shop for the amazing items created by the incredible women of VG. Of course, they didn’t know it was Voodoo Guardians. The store was just called The General Store. Pretty simple.

Things were so good, that one of Ela’s recent paintings was sold to a gallery for six-figures. The jewelry creations by Shay and the others were selling faster than they could make them.

But what everyone wanted were signed copies of the CDs with Bull, Amanda, and Mia playing together. They would often sign a limited number, release that they were available at the store, and by the time the staff opened the next morning, there was a line out the door onto the porch and into the parking lot. Top that with their online business, and they were busy.

Gwen had even started making a line of clothing more affordable for the masses. T-shirts, sweatshirts, jeans, and simple cotton dresses lined the back row. Robbie shook his head, hearing the winds pick up once more.

Grabbing all the mail from the P.O. Boxes, he saw the large box on the floor for Autumn and added it to his pile. Loading everything into the truck, he took off toward the compound.

“Where do you want all this?” he asked Luke.

“Oh, thanks, Robbie. You didn’t have to go out in this for all that. It could have waited.”

“It’s fine. I wanted to be sure we didn’t have any leaks and that the team locked the store up. We’ve got a good crew right now, but sometimes the kids forget to set the alarms. We can do it remotely, but still, I like to check things myself.”

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