Chapter 1 – Stevie
April
“It’s just for six months.”
“You can’t be serious, sis! First, you ditch me to get engaged to a cowboy and move to Lonestar Junction, instead of returning to our apartment in Houston. Now, you have the audacity to ask me to move there for six months to get your non-profit up and running?” I teased.
“Not just any cowboy, Stevie. Nash Cameron.”
I could hear her sigh on the other line as I imagined she was clutching her chest like one of those women on the covers of an old western romance novel. I rolled my eyes while I continued to dress for work, slipping on my black suit pants and a bright, red blazer.
“Plus, it doesn’t have to be only six months. You could move here permanently, you know.”
Laughter erupted in me uncontrollably at the thought of moving to Lonestar Junction permanently. “Not a chance in hell, little sis.”
“It’s not that bad," she whined, "The city is expanding. I’m here, and you and Wylie didn’t seem to have a terrible time at Thanksgiving when you visited.” Her voice was playful, but the mention of the time I'd spent with Wylie Cameron still caused me to draw in a long, cleansing breath.
We certainly hadn't had a bad time when I'd visited five months ago, especially when his head was between my legs instead of talking. He’d definitely known how to bring pleasure to a woman, but Wylie Cameron and I were like oil and water, we didn’t mix. Maybe oil and water was a bad analogy.
It wasn’t that we were opposites; in fact, we were too much alike.
The eldest in our families, forced to succeed in different areas of our lives while looking out for our younger siblings.
Both coping with the loss of a parent—Wylie lost his mother; I lost my father.
We both had crazy on-again-off-again exes we couldn’t shake, coped with our pain through alcohol and liked to be in control. We even donned the protective older sibling attitude.
That was the problem; we were too much alike .
There's a reason why people say opposites attract rather than those who are similar. Who wants to be around someone who acts exactly like you?
“It was just one visit, and I’d like to keep it that way,” I responded.
Jovie sighed on the other line. I could picture her twisting one of her deep brown curls around her finger, trying to think of a way to change my mind. That’s the thing about little siblings: I might give Jovie a hard time, but if she told me to jump, I’d ask 'how high?' I loved her and would do anything for her. I was genuinely happy that she was starting the non-profit of her dreams and would have loved to be a part of it, just not in Lonestar Junction.
“Stevie, this isn’t just my dream. This is our dream,” she whined, “Plus, Mom’s coming down in two weeks to plan my bridal shower. I’m starting my new job in Austin next week, and I could really, really use your help with managing everything. I’m overwhelmed.”
Damn it.
She knew exactly how to tug at my heart. The truth was, I didn’t have much going on in Houston without her living here anymore. Mom was busy with her teaching job while preparing for the end of the school year. I was working in my hospitality job for a luxury hotel chain as a manager. Things had gotten predictable, boring, and routine.
And I hated routine.
Most days, it was a struggle to find joy in the rhythm of the day. Same highways, restaurants, weekends, and sex. It was all blurring together, and I knew I needed to change things up or I’d spiral and decide to quit it all.
“Fine,” I sighed, “I’ll come, under one condition.”
“Yay!” she squealed. “What’s the condition?”
“Give me full control over the non-profit while I’m there. I’m going to have to quit my job in Houston to do this, you know?”
“You hate your job,” she retorted.
I laughed. I definitely hated my job.
“Seriously, I’m going to need this experience for my resume if I intend on getting a new job once these six months are up. Make me co-owner and chief operating officer so that I can make decisions without waiting for you and Nash to stop fucking so we can plan.”
She giggled, “Fine, done.”
“Oh, and I want a guestroom at Ashwood to myself. Preferably the one we slept in when we were little and visited grandpa and grandma.”
“You got it, sis. I’ll go make up the room right now.”
I smiled. I knew I’d give in to Jovie's demands the moment she called. I missed her a lot, and we could never stay apart for long, especially since she asked me to be her maid of honor and help plan her summer wedding. The last year that we’d been separated while she lived in Lonestar Junction was too much time apart.
“See you in two weeks, Jovie.”