Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Ruby
Horses grazed in the pasture by the barn closest to the house. Red and white chickens darted around on the other side by a cute shed. The shop doors were thrown open and camp chairs dotted the cement slab in front.
I was accustomed to being around the Baileys. Each one of them was essentially my boss, and after the first few months of employment, the worst of my timidity had worn off.
Today, it had roared back in full force.
Wynter pushed her pale, loose braid off her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here. I always wanted to get to know you outside of work, but I don’t get to the Bozeman office like I used to. Now that I’m split between home and my office here, I don’t see you much at all.”
“It is nice here,” I agreed. I liked my coworkers, but the Bozeman facility didn’t have the hominess of the Bourbon Canyon location. It made sense. Copper Summit was a family company, and it had all started here.
“Are you sure you don’t mind working the wedding? You’re a guest. I told Tenor I didn’t want to dominate your time off.”
“Not a problem at all.” Even if Cara and I were close, I wouldn’t mind. “I look forward to it, and I even have some ideas. My email is ready to send tomorrow.” I didn’t want to dominate her off time either.
She tapped a finger on her can of root beer, her expression curious. “Was turning the wet bar into content your idea?”
“No?” Damn. I couldn’t sound more guilty. The last thing I wanted to do was overstep my place or make my boss feel like I’d outmaneuvered her. “I might’ve mentioned it, but it was in conversation only, when I was just rattling off ideas.”
She cocked her head. “You don’t do that with me.”
“I...” I swallowed. “I want to do what I’m told.”
She patted my shoulder. “I promise I’m not scary. I need to hear you rattle, and I want you to be comfortable saying, ‘Wynter, listen.’” She sighed. “In fact, when Tenor pulled up the numbers, I realized I’d been remiss. Our family is tighter than ever, and it’s coinciding with our numbers dropping. We’re coasting and we can’t afford to do that forever. So please, don’t just email. Give me a call. Tell me all your ideas.”
“I will, but you might regret it,” I said lightly, but inside I was squealing.
“I might regret it if I don’t listen.”
She didn’t hold my talk with Tenor against me, and she wanted to hear more. This weekend had somehow gotten even better.
Summer approached us, a loose dress swirling around the tops of her boots. Jonah had their son in his arms and was talking to Teller by the two grills.
More than one grill. Mom had tried a small electric grill once. She’d started a fire and dumped a potted plant on it to extinguish the flames. We’d tossed the grill after that.
Summer smiled. “You get something to drink?”
I lifted the same kind of root beer Wynter was drinking. “Yes, thank you.”
Tenor’s presence had been requested by Lane and Cruz inside the shop and I hadn’t wanted to follow like some little girl who couldn’t be alone. At least with the two younger Foster brothers, I wasn’t the youngest adult.
“How’s it been?” she asked, care lacing her voice. “With Tenor?”
Autumn saw us and started for us. She tugged on Scarlett’s arm as she passed where she stood with Tate. I didn’t know Tate’s wife well. She was a quiet school teacher who worked with Autumn. But being married to the eldest Bailey was close enough to having a say over my job. Nerves lit up in my stomach. I took a small sip of root beer. Too much and I’d belch in front of everyone. It’d be like burping in a job interview. I’d already gotten the social media manager job. Now I needed to sell myself as Tenor’s significant other.
“Don’t start with the good stuff before I can hear,” Autumn said as she drew near.
“I ditched Sawyer with Gideon when I saw you all gathering.” She grinned at me, unashamed. “I won’t call Junie so she can eavesdrop. We have some decorum.”
Wynter giggled. “I was trying not to pry.” She elbowed Summer. “So I’m glad you asked.”
“There’s nothing to say.” Other than the time I got myself off in his bed. Or last night when he’d read part of a sex scene. My cheeks grew hot.
Summer snickered. “Oh, this is really going to be good.” She held up a hand, looking green around the gills. “Not too graphic, please. He’s our brother, and I don’t want to lose my appetite.”
I smiled. What would it have been like growing up in such a big family? Having so much support that everyone was in your business? I was grown and Mom stayed out of my personal life. She was there if I needed her, but she wasn’t there .
Next week, she was going camping again with Daniel.
“We’re still learning each other.” That was true without giving them details, or worse, lying about how there was nothing but unwanted chemistry between me and their brother. “He’s an incredibly private man.”
Autumn nodded. “I couldn’t believe he ventured back out into the dating world. I was so happy to see it was with you. I trust you with his heart.”
Her words touched me while adding a heavy amount of longing. His heart was untouchable, and he’d set a boundary last night. The least I could do was respect it. So, yes, they could trust me with him, but also, they didn’t have to worry. Tenor could enforce his own limits.
“I’ll do right by him.” I smiled. “I promise.”
Wynter gave me an appreciative grin. “That’s the thing, Ruby. We’re not worried and you can’t imagine how relieved that makes us. He’s been so guarded since—” She pressed her lips together.
“Katrina?” I asked.
The sisters nodded.
“The fallout was devastating,” Summer answered. “He took the breakup really hard.”
“I don’t think it was the breakup,” Wynter clarified. “Not by itself. I think she said worse things about him than that asshole from high school ever did.”
The other sisters’ nods were solemn.
My heart went out to a young Tenor. “I’ve heard a little,” I admitted, “and it’s just awful. Both with his bully and his ex. Tenor’s been the best... everything... ever. I’ve never felt so special.” Nothing about my claim was a lie.
“When you find the right guy,” Summer said, “you’ll be his center.”
“Yeah.” The word gusted out of Autumn. Her dreamy smile dug its way into my brain.
When you find the right guy, you’ll be his center.
Didn’t that sound amazing? To be someone’s first thought and priority? Someone that I could be myself with? Someone who would get over himself to have me?
Too bad my life wasn’t a book.
Tenor
“I’ll be honest,” Teller said, moving hot dogs to the higher rack on the grill, “I thought you would’ve scared yourself off from Ruby by now.”
I handed him the plate of hamburger patties to put on next and checked on Ruby. She was standing with Wynter and Autumn. Were they talking about Copper Summit stuff, or about me?
“Why would you think that?” I asked more to stall him than to talk about the dark-haired woman I wanted to sidle up behind and wrap my arms around. I’d press a kiss at the nape of her neck and?—
“She might actually get to know you. Can’t have that,” he finished sarcastically.
I hated that I knew what he meant. “She doesn’t care about Warhammer.”
Teller gave me a duh look. “No one should.”
I lifted a shoulder. I should’ve mingled with Gideon and Myles. Or helped Tate chase after his kids with Scarlett. To be fair, Tate was probably trying to watch Scarlett’s ass as much as their kids.
Jonah took a drink of his cherry lemonade. “What about Warhammer? What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing.” Teller gave me a pointed look. “But his ex thought it was childish.”
Jonah’s forehead creased. “You could be into creepy dolls. Who cares about a game?”
“It’s that it wasn’t just a game,” I said. “It’s that I read the books, I collect the models and paint them, and I go to weekly game nights. With my units packed in nice cases. All while still living with my parents, at the time.”
Jonah had known me when I was more open about my hobby. By the time I had dated Katrina, he’d become a reclusive mountain man. He didn’t know any of the story.
“You sound like you’re defending her,” Teller said, his lip curling with disgust.
“I’m not.” I appreciated his support but pretending she’d solely been in the wrong didn’t help me. I had intentionally hidden that part of myself from her. She’d felt duped. “Most women aren’t going to want their partner to be that invested in something else on top of the relationship and their full-time job.”
“How are you balancing it now?” Teller asked.
“I paint and she reads.” It had been one night and I spoke as if we’d had our routine down for years. A little spear of want went through my chest.
“Still doing the game nights?” Jonah asked.
I nodded. “Wednesday nights. That’s when she works at the bar.” I didn’t mention that it was pure coincidence.
Jonah shrugged. “So it’s that easy.”
“We’re only dating; we’re not married.” That had been Katrina’s argument. What will it be like when we’re married? You sold me a lie. You’re a lie.
I was a lie. Then and now.
“Or...” Teller tossed the burgers on the grill. “Ruby’s not a superficial prick who only thinks of herself and her image and she doesn’t see you as another accessory.”
“Katrina was a superficial prick.” Didn’t mean she’d been wrong. Besides, it hadn’t just been her telling me I was a dud. My family had stood up for me against the asshole from school and his friends, but he’d said the same thing. I was a loser without my family backing me up. Then there’d been the girlfriends before Katrina, telling me they wanted more, they expected me to be different, and why wasn’t I more like Teller or Tate. Thoughts of all of them made me itch to be closer to my pretend girlfriend. “I’m gonna check on Ruby.”
She was chatting with Wynter when I walked up. I looped my arms around her waist, glad to have an excuse to touch her. Had to make this look legit. If only it wouldn’t be indecent to slide my hands down those bare legs of hers. Her flimsy skirt went past her knees, but the way it swayed with her hips was hypnotic.
She cast a surprised look over her shoulder but smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi yourself,” I said as if I hadn’t talked to her a half hour ago.
Wynter smirked. “Is this how sappy Myles and I were?”
“You still are,” I shot back.
Myles came up behind his wife and tucked her into his side. He had a lemonade in his other hand. Mama must have their little girl, Elsa. She was always in grandma heaven during these gatherings.
Myles handed the lemonade to Wynter. She took a big drink and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. His eyes crinkled at the corners as warmth infused them. He swiped at her lower lip with his thumb.
“Exactly,” I said.
Ruby giggled and hooked her hands on mine. “It’s so sweet. I always wanted that.”
Wynter winked. “I think you have it.”
Ruby stiffened under my hands, and I commiserated. Our goal was to look legit, but moments like this felt too fucking real.
Mama came out the back door of the house with a giant bowl in one hand while holding Elsa on her hip with the other. Both Myles and I jumped to help her.
He waved me off. “I got it.”
“Ten bucks says she’ll give him the bowl, not the toddler,” Wynter said as she watched her husband jog across the gravel stretch between the house and the shop.
“I’m not taking bets I’m going to lose,” I said.
“Hey, Wynter,” Ruby said, “there’s one more thing on Monday I wanted to talk to you about. I’m just mentioning it so I don’t forget. I don’t want to bombard you with work stuff on a weekend.”
Wynter waved off her words. “Technically, I brought it up first. Bombard away.”
Ruby’s grip on my hands tightened. “So, um, last weekend I was at Flatlanders Prohibited.” She glanced back at me. “For research purposes only.”
“I wanted to prove that she’d get hit on,” I said because Wynter would dig for the story.
“So you took her to Flatlanders?” Wynter screwed her face up. “You could’ve taken her to Broken Oar. What a waste of potential Flatlanders is.”
“It’s not terrible.” Ruby’s answer was light and sweet, much like her. Flatlanders was run-down and poorly managed. “But I took some pictures, and I sent them to the bartender, Allen... since he gave me his number.”
A low growl left me, and Wynter snickered.
“They must’ve made it back to the owner. She wants to pick my brain, but I want to clear it with you. I only planned to give her general tips for increasing social media engagement and help her brainstorm.”
Wynter’s expression turned doubtful. “She? Madison?” Her gaze lifted to mine. “You think Allen sent her the images instead of going to Scooter?”
Ruby pulled away to study each of us. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Madison is the owner’s sister,” I explained. “She doesn’t live in town, but she’s moving here. Allen might’ve bypassed Scooter because he wants a job and Scooter is running Flatlanders into the ground.”
“Does Madison know you work for Copper Summit?” Wynter asked hesitantly.
Worry infused Ruby’s eyes. “I don’t know. I forgot that they don’t know me.” She grimaced. “They think my name is Rue.”
I placed my hand on her lower back and stroked her with my thumb.
“You’re free to meet with her,” Wynter reassured Ruby. “But she might not want to talk with you once she learns you’re on Team Bailey.” Wynter winced. “That’s how she’ll see it.”
“I can go with you,” I offered. “Just in case she gets mean.”
Wynter shook her head. “Madison’s not mean. She’s... defensive. Her mama and daddy hated the Baileys. Now Scooter owns the bar and hates the Baileys. Madison was a year ahead of me in school and she had nothing to do with me or my sisters.”
“Maybe I do need reinforcements.” Ruby leaned into me. “I’ll tell her who I am first and see how she reacts. If she wants to meet, I’ll be back next weekend.” She glanced back at me as if asking for permission.
The idea she might skip a weekend unsettled me. “Yeah, you will,” I growled.
Wynter groaned. “Yep. I can see it. Myles and I really were incorrigible.”
“You still are,” I replied. “ All of you.”
“Well, now you’re included.” Wynter squinted at the grill where Teller chatted with Lane and Cruz. “Now we just have to find someone for Teller.”
“Teller doesn’t want to be found.” Teller could be married tomorrow if he wanted to be. There were plenty of willing tributes in town.
Wynter didn’t take her eyes off our brother. “Wilna’s hunting for him. I bet she’ll convince him to be a bachelor.”
I laughed. “No.”
Ruby looked between us. “Wilna?”
“She runs the bachelor auction.” Wynter propped her hands on her hips. “The fate you saved Tenor from. But I don’t think Teller’s going to be so lucky. I’d bet a hundred on it.”
“I’m going to take that bet.” I dug out my wallet and flashed Wynter a hundred.
Her face turned smug. “You’re on. I’m going to ask the others if they want in.”
“You guys are betting on Teller?” Ruby asked.
“I’m betting on Wilna,” Wynter said. A kid called out and she twisted her head to find Myles and Elsa. “I’d better see if she’s hungry.” She started walking away. “Let me know how it goes with Madison,” she called over her shoulder.
Ruby turned into me. “I’m glad you weren’t in the bachelor auction. I never could’ve outbid anyone.”
“I would’ve paid someone to bid on me for me. I’d have cashed in my retirement.” I shuddered. “The deal between us benefits me too.”
“Glad I could help. So how are we fake dating next weekend?”
“Let’s go to Curly’s.”
Her smile fell. “You don’t have to.”
I took her hand. “I want to. Others are going to talk, and I’m not that insecure kid anymore. I have to quit acting like it.”
“If you want to back out before then, I won’t take it personally.”
“I won’t back out.”
Her lips curved up. “It’s a date, then.” She touched the tip of her nose and winked.