Chapter 10
Beau
A gainst my better judgment, I waited thirty minutes before knocking on Madison’s door. Kat had said that she was going home, and I assumed that meant Bliss, but I was hoping she might have stopped here to talk to Maddie first, and I could catch her and figure out exactly what went wrong.
Maddie opened the door and invited me in, but Kat wasn’t there. When I asked if she had talked to her, Maddie told me that the last time she saw her was before they left the arena. That would have been earlier in the evening.
I didn’t stay long. I kicked myself for not getting Kat’s number. That should have been the first thing I did. Without it I had no way of getting a hold of her, and it didn’t feel right to ask Maddie for it. I suppose I could have asked her to call, but I didn’t want to hear Kat’s voice secondhand. I wanted to talk to her myself. I wanted to know that she was alright and home safe. Hell, what I really wanted was her here with me.
My next stop was my sister’s room. Daphne knew something wasn’t right the instant she opened the door and ushered me in. I paced back and forth as I told them about Devon and the fight, for lack of a better word, that Kat and I had before telling them how she ran off. I need to know why she left. Did she really not want to be with me that much? Had Devon been right? Maybe she knew I wasn’t good enough for her too, but she didn’t know how to say it.
“I really fucked this up, and I don’t know how to fix it.” I shook my head.
“Well.” Daphne dragged out the word. “We might have helped.”
I stopped and looked at them. They both looked about as guilty as they used to when we would sneak ice cream out of the test freezer as kids.
“What did you do?”
“We thought we were helping.” Hailey’s voice went a little higher, a sure indicator that she had done something wrong. At least something she thought was wrong.
“We told her about how you had a crush on her back in high school,” Daphne said.
“You what?” I stumbled back despite standing still. “Why would you do that?”
“Like Hailey said. We thought it would help.” Daphne shrugged. “We thought if she knew how long you have liked her, then it might win you points.”
“It was sort of like we were your wingmen.” Hailey’s smile was tight. “You know. Running interference or whatever.”
I shook my head. “That isn’t how it works,” I told them. “You’re my sisters. You don’t get to be wingmen.” I emphasized the word men at the end. “And you definitely don’t tell a secret like that.”
“But why is it a secret?” Daphne asked. “Everyone in town knows how you feel about Kat, except apparently Kat. You hit on anything in a skirt not related to you. You have liked her since puberty. I don’t understand why it took faking an engagement to get you to actually make a move.”
“It’s complicated.” I scratched at the back of my neck.
“Why?” She kept on. “It isn’t like either of you has been in high school for years. You’re not still the jock that is too stupid to pull his head out of his ass and ask out the bookworm. I don’t get what’s so complicated about it.”
“Right. You don’t get it.” I turned and went back to pacing.
“Then explain it.” God, she wouldn’t stop. “Is it because Dad told you to man up and ask her out?”
“No.”
“Is it because of your reputation?”
“Maybe.”
“Then fix it.” She argued. “Tell her the truth.”
“I did.”
“Then keep telling her.” She pushed. “If you really want her, then tell her over and over until she believes you.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why?”
“Because.” I curled my fingers tight.
“Because why?”
“Because she deserves better than me,” I shouted.
The room went so quiet that I couldn’t even hear any of us breathe. I kept my back to them. I didn’t need to see the expression on their faces. Either they agreed, which would kill me, or they would feel sorry for me.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it.” I spun around at the fire in Hailey’s voice. She sat up on the bed staring at me as if she was about to push me into the wall like she did when I was six and tried to flush her doll down the toilet.
“What?”
“You are a Wynters.” She stared me down. “What the hell would make you think she deserves better than you? As if there is someone better than you.”
I blew out a breath. I loved my sisters. They could be one hundred percent pains in my ass, but besides the occasional fights and sibling jokes, they were the best. I should have known they would take my side. There has never been a moment where they didn’t.
“I know I’m a Wynters and that we own half of Bliss Haven, but what do I have to offer her? Me? Personally? What do I have?” I asked. “Hell, I can’t even get a sponsorship that isn’t my family or some company you roped into doing it.” I pointed at Hailey. She had been handling that since she graduated from business school. Before that, it was Dad.
“If I lay all my cards on the table, then I am still that boy from high school,” I admitted. “I still live at home, my big sister handles my finances, everyone thinks I’m screwing around like I don’t know how to keep it in my pants, and how many times does Dad remind me that riding isn’t a long-term career? If he or you, Hailey, tell me one more time that I need more in my life besides the rodeo, I just might scream.”
“Kat is smart and beautiful, and she deserves someone who has a stable career. Someone that she can talk about all the books she reads with and who can take her out without someone hitting on them right in front of her and expecting him to be interested.” I still couldn’t forget that hostess and how jealous it made Kat.
“She should have someone like an accountant or a doctor.” Devon was an ass, but he had been right. How long would it be before Kat realized she could do so much better than me being gone half the year riding around the country?
“I love her enough to want her to be happy.” I had never said the words, but they felt more right than anything in my life. Even the rodeo.
“She could be happy with you.” Daphne came over and reached for my hand. “You aren’t the same guy you were in high school.” She smiled. “I’m your sister, so take this with all the love that entails, but you were a little shit in high school.”
“What?” That had not been what I thought she was going to say.
“It’s true.” She nodded. “Like we loved you 'cause you are our baby brother, and we would have kicked anyone’s ass for you, but honestly, neither of us really liked you.”
I looked between her and Hailey, who was sitting on the bed nodding.
“Are you serious right now?” I didn’t know what to say.
“Pretty much.” She kept nodding. “You were always trying to prove something and none of us could figure out what,” Hailey added. “You would walk around like you were running shit, you were mean, and as far as keeping it in your pants. God, Mom was beside herself with worry that you would fuck up and make her a grandma before you turned eighteen. Not that any of us wouldn’t have been there for you if you had, but when you graduated from high school and then college without a kid, we were all relieved.”
I couldn’t believe any of this. I had never been irresponsible in the past. I knew how to protect myself and whoever I was with. The idea my family thought I would have a kid without planning it kind of hurt. I knew accidents happened, but I also knew if it had, then I would have stepped up.
“We don’t know if it was the rodeo or going away to college or what, but somewhere between both graduations, you calmed the hell down,” Daphne said. “Maybe you just grew up, but you stopped trying to be big man on campus, and you also stopped trying to get every girl in bed. Sure, you never learned how to stop flirting, but mom stopped slipping condoms in your luggage every time you left for a trip.” They both laughed.
My eyes had never been so big. “She did not.”
“Old man Davis had to think Mom and Dad were going at it non-stop for the amount of condoms she bought for like three years straight,” Daphne spoke through her giggles.
“I think he sent Father Richards over to check on them once,” Hailey added. “And we aren’t catholic.”
I remembered the priest coming for dinner, but I didn’t know that was why. I flopped down in the chair beside the desk in the room. My mind on overdrive.
“My point isn’t to make you feel bad or make fun of you. It isn’t like it’s Tuesday.” Daphne joked, kneeling beside me. “My point is for you to see that you have grown into a good man who any woman would be lucky to have.”
“And we not only love you because you’re our little brother, but we like you too.” Hailey came over and joined us.
“Bliss Creamery doesn’t sponsor you because you’re family. We sponsor you because you’re good.” She smiled up at me. “You’re like incredibly good, and I’m not going out and finding other companies. They contact me.”
“Really?” All this time, I thought she had to chase down all the other sponsors.
“Really.” She nodded. “The only thing I do is negotiate the money and time. Everything else is because of your riding. I actually have sponsors lined up for months and some waiting for a spot.”
“As far as having a stable career, this is your career.” Daphne squeezed my hand. “You will always be a Wynters which means farming and ice cream are in your blood, but riding is what gives you purpose. It’s what you were meant to do.”
“And when Dad and I mention having more in your life, we aren’t talking about the business.” Hailey shook her head. “None of us have missed how you still stare at Kat all these years later.”
“You’ve known you were going to marry her half your life.” Daphne smiled. “Now that you’ve faked your way into being engaged, don’t lose her now.”
They were right. I’d be a fool to let her go, and if there was one thing a Wynters never was, it was a fool.