Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Hazel
After Kell gets the horses saddled for us and Bea puts on a pair of jeans, we head out on the trail. We chat for a bit about her lessons as a kid, how we both fell in love with horses, and we each share our favorite stories about trainers before we go quiet, just enjoying the view. When the trail along the river opens up to a better view of the falls, we slow down, and I direct us to a spot where we can stop and have lunch.
We get the horses set up first and then find a small spot nearby to set up our picnic. It feels good to stretch out, and there’s a nice breeze blowing through that takes the heat of the day off my skin. The lunch Kit packed us is amazing, and she even managed to put a small bottle of wine and collapsable wine glasses in here.
“Your chef is amazing. I feel like I don’t deserve this kind of lunch out on a trail.” Bea beams as she pulls out her sandwich.
“She is amazing. Always coming up with fun new things. She’s been trying to convince me to do trail ride picnics for a while. I’m guessing this is her latest lobbying.” I smile at how pretty the basket is packed, with matching napkins and containers. Each part of the meal neatly tucked into its own spot.
“I mean, this would be so romantic. With the weather like this and the view? Could you camp out here?” Bea asks as she takes in the expanse of it all.
“It’s all still part of the ranch, so we could. If we offered it to guests, it’d be a little more complicated. We’d have to set up some facilities, make it more of a glamping situation.”
“I wish Cooper and I could stay longer. He’d love this, and we could probably hike it.”
“We have ATVs too for people who aren’t big horse fans,” I mention, although I doubt the ATVs would be on his allowed list of activities near his season starter either.
“Oh, that’s perfect. Do you and Ramsey come out here much?” Bea tries to sneak a glance at me before she picks some grapes from the basket.
“Not recently. When we were younger, we used to ride out here sometimes.”
“Please tell me he did something horribly romantic like proposed out here?”
I laugh. “It depends on how you define romantic. He’s not much for the traditional sort.”
“I get it. He can be so hard on the outside, but when I found out he was married, I was so curious about you.”
A zip of apprehension climbs up my spine at that.
“Why?”
“I just imagine that with the right person, he is a complete sap. Or at least I want to imagine him that way. The hard ones falling hard. My brother was that way. But with Ramsey… I had to spend a lot of time with him, doing PR during the trial. We ha d to have him walk us through anything that could harm his image further.”
“I’m sure I was on that list.” I press my lips together as I pull one of the small turkey sandwiches Kit made out of its container.
“No. I mean… he thought you were his ex-wife at the time, but I asked if you’d be trouble. If you’d speak to the media or anything. I wanted to reach out proactively and offer any help we could on the media front, but he was adamant that we not ‘drag her into anything’ and said you wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, even if they offered you money for it.”
“I wouldn’t have.”
“The loyalty that the two of you have to each other… that’s something . I know people who are together who don’t have that kind of bond.”
I shrug. “He was part of my family before I ever fell for him. He was my brother Bo’s best friend for years, and he was always good to me. Even when I was just the annoying younger sister.”
Bea smiles as she studies my face. “When did you fall for him?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know exactly. I can’t really remember a time when I didn’t think he was amazing. I guess at some point when I was in my teens, I realized it was more than just friendship.”
“Did he start things? Tell me he did. I want to believe he was this cute, sweet kid with a secret crush on his friend’s sister. Dying to tell her but too scared to do it at first and then just blurting it out at the worst time.”
I grin at her ability to paint a picture. It’s sweet to see how in love she is—so much so that she’s painting everyone around her with the same rose-colored shade.
“Not quite. My boyfriend at the time canceled plans to go to junior prom with me at the last moment. I already had the dress, the tickets, and the plans with my friends. Everyone else had dates already. So I wasn’t just getting dumped for the dance, but I was going to have to play wallflower too. Miss all the things I was looking forward too. I was crying about it at my locker, trying not to let anyone see. My friends’ boyfriends had all these amazing plans—flowers, limos, corsages—and I was going to be the lone single girl with no one to even dance with. I was thinking about not going, but then it was junior prom. It only happens once in your life, you know? At the time, it seemed so important. You know how teens can be dramatic over those things.”
“Yeah. I was the same way though, so I get it. Ramsey to the rescue, I’m guessing?” She gives me a hopeful look, and I nod.
“So I’m bawling my eyes out at my locker, and Ramsey walks by, the senior football player and all that infamy it comes with, with his entourage of friends and admirers. He sees me wiping my tears away, and he stops and asks me what’s wrong, whose ass he ‘needs to beat.’ I was so grouchy with him because everyone was looking at me, and I was already humiliated, you know?”
“Oof. Yeah. High school wasn’t easy for me either.” I raise a brow because I can’t imagine someone as prim and perfect as she seems didn’t have it easy. I would have picked her for prom queen, if I had to guess.
“Ramsey eventually pried it out of me, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and took me with him down the hallway. All the girls were jealous as hell. And my boyfriend saw me and lost it. He started talking shit to Ramsey, and the two of them ended up outside. They both threw a few punches, and Ramsey came back in, his knuckles all bloody, and he told me he was my ex-boyfriend now, and he’d pick me up for prom at five on Saturday.” I laugh when I picture the audacity of teenage Ramsey. I suppose I should have known then how he’d turn out.
“Oh my god. I would have died for that kind of scene in high school. Straight out of a movie.”
“Right? But I tried to protest because my brother Bo was his best friend. He was the quarterback, and he wasn’t gonna be okay with Ramsey taking me out—even just for show.”
“The plot thickens.” Bea sits up a little straighter and pops a grape in her mouth.
“But Ramsey was like… ‘I don’t care what Bo says. You want to go to prom, I’m taking you.’” I deepen my voice as I pretend to be him.
“Oh god. I love it.” Bea titters as she waits for more.
“So I went home and then just completely panicked. Ramsey was always just this… untouchable older guy, you know? And now I was going to have his undivided attention, and we were gonna have to talk about things. I was going to have to wear something amazing too because he never went to things like prom. He didn’t dance, and he didn’t do school-sponsored events. Too cool for all of that. So I knew everyone was going to be watching him—watching us. Some of those girls rooting for me to fuck it up and embarrass myself. I was terrified. I stressed about my dress, my makeup, my shoes… every little thing had to be reconsidered.”
“So much pressure.” Bea nods. “I can’t imagine if Cooper had gone to my school and asked me to prom. I would have melted into a puddle.”
“Right? I wanted to feign being sick to get out of it, but then Bo came home pissed off about it, ranting about breaking Ramsey’s nose for going near his only sister. I didn’t want Ramsey to have gone through all that trouble for nothing.”
“Did you pull it off?”
“Yes. Thankfully. I called Bristol, my best friend, and she came over and saved me. I loved makeup and all that, but she was always better at it than me. She had me all fixed up by that Saturday night and managed to look gorgeous herself too. She really is magic, honestly. When Ramsey picked me up, I think he just stared for thirty seconds first.” I laugh as I think about the look on his face. “It was like he didn’t recognize me.”
Bea grins. “I would pay money to have seen that.”
“It was awkward at first, but then the more we talked at dinner and in the car… the more relaxed he was. The more we realized how much we actually had in common. And I realized how hot he was.”
“You didn’t notice that right away?” Bea looks at me skeptically. “With the dark hair and the green eyes and that jawline? The broody sort of attitude he has. That would have killed in my high school.”
“I mean, I knew he was attractive, objectively. But… you know… it was one of those things where he was Bo’s friend, and I had never really looked at him like that. He ran around with my brothers, and that was that.”
“But then you went to prom and he kissed you and happily ever after?”
I laugh, and she looks disappointed.
“No. More like we went to prom…. He danced exactly once to half a slow song because my friends antagonized him. Immediately after, he dropped me off under the watchful eye of my brothers, and then things went back to the way they were, for the most part.”
“But you ended up married?” Bea gives me a confused look as she pours another glass of wine for both of us.
“We ended up at the same college.”
“Ended up at?” Bea looks at me skeptically again, like she doesn’t quite believe that was entirely a coincidence.
“Well, it was Highland State, so not far away or anything. A good football school for him. It had a good hospitality management program for me.” Even in college, I knew I wanted to run my own inn someday.
“Uh-huh.” Bea’s brow hikes up higher. “And then what?”
“That’s a whole other story we don’t have time for.” I smirk.
“So you guys are on your third try then?”
I frown. “I don’t know about that. I’m just trying to be there for him during his parole. What he did for you and Cooper, that’s the kind of guy he is. I hate that they tried to smear him in the media. That that dead piece of shit’s sister tried to come for him and his family. It was disgusting, after everything he did stalking you, that she’d even have the boldness to insinuate anything about Ramsey.”
“Piece of shit or not, it was her brother. We all defend our family, don’t we?” Bea asks thoughtfully.
I nod my agreement on that note. I didn’t always agree with my brother’s decisions, but I usually defend them regardless. Then again, they’re not stalkers and attempted murderers.
“I’m just glad the two of you made it through all that.”
“Me too.” She gives me a soft smile, and we stare out at the view for a bit before she breaks the silence again.
“I know it’s not my place, but the way he talks about you…”
“I was wondering when you were going to start lobbying for him.” My smile fades a bit, but I try to maintain it.
“I won’t say much. I just want you to know he obviously feels differently about you. You’re something special to him, and from what I know, that’s rare for him. Everything he’s been through; I think you’re one of the few people he still trusts.”
“Yeah, well, the problem is… that only goes one way these days. There’s a lot of water under the bridge. A lot of years and experiences that have changed people. You know?”
“Could you trust him again?”
I shrug. I want to trust him again, even if we can’t make things work. I do trust him with certain things. And given I’m living on his family’s property in our hometown, I want us to at least part as friends when this is over. But it feels hopeless.
“There’s about a mile’s worth of flaming hoops he’d have to get through first.”
“I think if you told him what he needed to do, or even just gave him a hint… he’d do it. He came back here for you.”
I don’t want to argue with her. I already like her after such a short time, and even if I don’t agree with her feelings on Ramsey, I’m happy she’s in his corner rooting for him. He deserves people like that in his life.
“You’re a good friend. I’m glad he has you and Cooper out there.”
I can’t begin to explain how much pain and irreparable damage lies between us. How much of our past has seeped deep into our bones and become part of the fabric of who we are—for better or worse.
It’s not something that can be fixed with one easy conversation, or we would have tried. But I also don’t want to upset her, not when she’s so adamant about him being here to make things right.