Chapter 36
Ollie
Holy Smokes by Bailey Zimmerman
I’ve been summoned to the Wilder Ranch by Cami and Jack. I don’t know what they need my help with, but they know they’ve got it. Jack’s truck is parked by the barn, and the side-by-side is parked beside it. It’s cold today, so whatever it is, I hope we take the truck with the heat on full blast.
I kill the engine to my truck and climb out, shoving my hands deep into my coat pockets.
I’m expecting Jack to have a fence down, cows loose, a horse acting stupid, or a tractor that probably needs Poppy more than it needs me.
But Poppy’s working today, and Maggie’s got Ellie and Owen.
Jack told me to come out alone. So, yeah. I’m curious as to what they want.
I look around, and Cami steps out of the barn and smiles like she has a secret and is about to spill. Jack follows behind her, one hand on her lower back, the other holding a thermos like he’s trying to keep this casual. Like, he didn’t summon me out here, being ominous.
“Hey,” I say, nodding at them. “What’s up? Somebody die?”
Jack snorts. “Not yet.”
Cami rolls her eyes. “Ignore him and come on. We’re taking the truck.”
Thank God.
My brows pull together. “What’s going on?”
“We want to show you something,” Jack says, already climbing into the driver’s seat, “Hop in.” That’s Jack’s version of subtle.
I climb in behind Cami, and the engine coughs to life. The seat’s cold through my jeans. Cami pulls her beanie down and tucks her hair behind her ear, and I watch her hands for a second. She’s fidgety and gets that way when she’s nervous. And that’s not very often.
Jack drives us past the main barn and out toward the back of his property, the land opening up and stretching wide like it could swallow you whole—fence lines cut through fields packed with snow, with the ridges of the mountains snow-capped and mapping out the sky in front of us.
Snow sits in shallow drifts in the shade, but the sun has melted the rest down to brown grass and exposed dirt on the road we’re on.
I do miss the Wilder Ranch in some ways. But I made peace with letting it go years ago. We ride in silence for a minute, the engine rumbling beneath our feet. Jack keeps his eyes forward. Cami keeps looking at me like she wants to say something.
My stomach tightens. “Okay,” I finally say. “You’re freaking me out. What’s going on?”
Cami exhales, a shaky breath, and then she reaches over and grabs Jack’s hand. “It’s good,” she says quietly. "You’ll see.”
Relief fills me because I can handle good. I can’t handle anything that isn’t good right now. What I have right now with Poppy, Owen, and Ellie is so much better than good. I won’t take anything less than good for my family and me anymore.
Jack slows the truck and stops next to a field. The engine clicks and then goes quiet. The world goes still except for the wind.
Cami turns toward me fully, eyes bright. “You’ve always been there for me,” she says, her voice cracking a little. “You’re the best brother I could’ve asked for.”
I blink hard, caught off guard by the emotion in her voice. I look away, out at the field, because I don’t want to cry.
“I don’t deserve you,” she keeps going, and her laugh is wet. “And somehow I get you anyway.”
I swallow. “Cami. You deserve me.”
“Let me finish,” she says quickly, shaking her head. “I need to say this.”
Jack hangs his head and listens. I can tell he’s emotional, too.
“Our parents are shit,” she says, blunt as always. “They’re selfish and broken, and they hurt us, and I hate that we got that.”
I soften as she lets it all out. I know she’s upset.
“But I have you,” she says, voice softening. “And you’ll always have me. You always have. And now you have Jack. You’ve always had him, but you have him as an official brother now.”
Jack shifts in his seat, glancing at her, then at me, his throat working like he’s swallowing something down, too.
“I don’t know how we turned out the way that we did with what we had.” I shake my head, trying to shake off the emotion that is pouring over me.
Cami’s eyes shine harder. “I want you here, Ollie,” she says. “I want us to raise our kids together, be there for each other. I want Owen riding horses and doing everything that he loves. I want Ellie growing up knowing she’s loved by more people than she can count.”
My chest aches. “Kids?”
“Someday we’ll have them.” She grins, squeezing Jack’s hand, and he nods.
“And we want you to have something,” she says, voice steadier now, like she’s decided to be brave. “Not because you need it. Because you deserve it.”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I feel the air has gone out of my lungs.
Jack clears his throat. “Cami and I want you to build out here,” he says. “We want you to have your piece of Wilder land.”
I stare at him and say softly. “What?”
He nods once, serious. “I have twenty acres with your name on it if you want it.”
My breath catches. Wilder land is something I thought I’d never have. And I made peace with it. But this...this is unexpected. And far more than I deserve.
Cami squeezes my hand. “Tucker has his land,” she continues. “Jenna has hers. Weston owns the entire Granger property, which now extends to the back of the Wilder Ranch and is part of it as well. We’re building something here, Ollie. We want your family here, too.”
Jack points across the field, toward a line of cottonwoods and a faint shape I didn’t even notice at first.
“There’s a cabin out there,” Cami adds quickly. “It’s small but has three bedrooms. It’s not great, but it’s solid. You could make it work until you build something else. Or fix it up. Whatever you want. It’s yours to decide.”
My heart pounds so hard it makes my ears ring.
I look out and see Poppy and Owen here. Ellie in my arms and feel the quiet in my bones.
The peace of this place. The fresh new beginnings that it is with Wilder Ranch and Jessop Ranches combined.
We left the ghosts of the past and are building something new.
“You would do this?” I ask, voice rough.
Cami’s face crumples as if she might cry again. “I’d do anything for you, Ollie,” she says. “I love you. You’re my family.”
I shake my head slowly, trying to make sense of it. “But… it’s yours. I can’t afford this land.”
Cami’s expression turns fierce. The same look she gets when she’s defending her ranch, her people, her heart.
“Now it’s ours,” she says. “You don’t owe anything on it. It’s yours and I really hope you say yes because Weston already drew up the papers.”
Jack nods. “It was your family’s, too,” he says. “This land is meant to stay in the family.”
My throat tightens. I stare out at the field again, and all I can see is a future I never let myself imagine because wanting it felt like it could never happen. Hell yeah, I want it. I want it more than anything.
I picture a porch light in the distance on a big red barn full of animals. Kids laughing, swinging on a tire swing beneath the big oak tree over there.
I blink hard and finally look back at them. “Yeah,” I say, voice so thick it makes me choke when I respond. “Yeah, I want this.”
Cami makes a sound that’s half laugh, half sob, and she throws her arms around my neck so fast I barely have time to react. I hug her back, tight, because I don’t know what else to do with the way my chest feels like it’s splitting open.
Jack claps my shoulder with a heavy hand. “Good,” he says gruffly.
Cami pulls back and wipes at her cheeks, then punches my arm lightly. “Don’t make it weird, just take it.”
“I’m not making it weird,” I say, but my voice cracks, and she smiles at me like she sees right through me.
Jack starts the truck up again. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s go look at it.”
We drive toward the cabin, the sun feeling somehow warmer and brighter now, my mind spinning.
The cabin comes into view, and it’s rough, sure.
The porch sags a little. The roof looks like it’s seen a few storms. But this place could be ours.
I can’t wait to tell Poppy. I’ve seen her dream board, and I know she has dreamed of us having a place of our own.
She has chickens, a tire swing, a horse, and various other farm animals on that dream board.
She wants a farm. And she’s getting a farm.
Cami hops out first and walks up to the porch like she’s already picturing a porch swing. Jack checks the steps with his weight, like he’s already planning to help with repairs.
I stand back a second, staring at it. I’ve spent my whole life being the one who shows up, the one who holds the line, the one who makes sure everyone else is okay. I’ve never expected to be given anything like this. I expected to work like hell for everything I wanted.
Cami looks back at me. “Well?” she calls. “You coming?”
I nod and walk up to the porch, my boots thudding against the old wood. The door creaks open, and cold air rushes out, carrying the faint scent of old pine and dust.
I pull Cami in for another hug. “Thank you.”
Jack claps me on the back and nods.
It’s not fancy, but it’s ours. And it’s a damn beautiful start to our life together out here.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out. Poppy’s name is on the screen.
I answer immediately. “Hey.”
Her voice is warm, familiar, home. “Where are you?”
“At the ranch,” I say, looking around the cabin, the walls, the windows, the way the light slants through. “Cami and Jack wanted to show me something.”
“What kind of something?” she asks, suspicious in that way she gets when she thinks people are plotting behind her back.
I glance out the window at the field, the wide-open space, the sky that looks too big to be real.
“A big something,” I say, and my voice goes soft without me meaning it to. “Can you come out here later? Around sunset?”
There’s a pause. “Ollie,” she says slowly. “Are you about to spring something on me?”
“Maybe,” I admit.
She huffs. “You better not be pranking me. I’m tired.”