Chapter 40
CHAPTER 40
ABIGAIL
W aiting in a coffee shop for my sister to arrive, I watched the people come and go from the arrivals terminal while I worked. There was so much joy here and none of the tearful goodbyes found in departures.
Strange as it might’ve been, I actually really didn’t mind hanging around here until her plane got in. This was one of my favorite places to people-watch, seeing families, lovers, parents, children, and friends reunited, and even the welcoming smiles of the drivers or coworkers picking up those who had come for work.
There were hugs, and kisses, and happy tears, and warmth blossomed inside me even though Simon had left. I’d had so much fun with him in Florida, and while I was trying to keep myself from getting attached, I knew I wasn’t doing a very good job.
I kept having to remind myself that we were just having fun and that nothing serious could or would come of it, but it was getting harder and harder to imagine it coming to an end. Inevitable as it might be, it just didn’t feel like this was temporary.
Thankfully, Olivia walked down the stairs before I could get too torn up about it. I felt tears spring to my eyes. Jumping up, I dashed across the terminal to meet her, nearly sobbing by the time she wrapped her strong arms around me.
My sister had always loved yoga, but since she’d been pitching in on the ranch as well, the strength in her hugs had become the most comforting refuge. “Abs, I’ve missed you. It’s so damn good to see your face. We seriously need to start talking about making more regular visits a thing. I know you’re busy, but there has to be some kind of compromise we can make.”
“Hello? What am I? Chopped liver?” London’s voice intruded on the moment and my eyes widened, a squeal flying out of me as I separated from our oldest sister to see the youngest smirking right beside me.
“What? I didn’t know you were on that plane too!” I threw my arms around her in turn. It hadn’t been as long since I’d seen her as it had been since I’d last seen Liv, but it still felt like forever. “All the Walkers together again. How awesome is this?”
“I told you I was coming with her,” London murmured against my hair as she squeezed me tight before letting me go. “Is Dad here yet? I’m going to need to make a stop on the way to your place for proper pizza. I can’t even wait until tonight.”
I laughed. “I’ve already scheduled a delivery. Think you can wait two hours? I’ve got our night all planned out and it consists of way too much pizza, sushi, chick flicks, and maybe a few face masks.”
“Pizza and sushi?” London’s beautiful face lit up like New Year’s Eve fireworks in the night sky. “Yeah, okay. I guess I can wait if we’re going to be having both.”
Olivia wrapped the fingers of her free hand around my arm, effortlessly wheeling her sleek silver suitcase behind her. London fell into step on my other side, her sparkly black carry-on on its wheels next to her.
Back at the coffee shop, I grabbed my own things and thanked the old lady who’d kept an eye on them for me. Then we were off. I glanced at each of them in turn. “Dad had to send a driver to pick us up. He texted me after my flight got in to say he and Mom got held up somewhere. The sushi is on him, though. Can’t be mad when that’s the way he makes up for it.”
London winked at me. “Oh yes, I can, but I won’t be. I’m actually kind of glad we get to have a girls’ night with just the three of us. It’s been way too long.”
“That’s depressingly true.” Liv inhaled deeply as we left the terminal, a slow, but radiant smile spreading her lips. “Home, sweet home. Don’t get me wrong, I love Houston. I’m in love with my life there, but it’s also so good to be back.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” I spotted Dad’s driver and inclined my chin at him. We piled into the backseat and started catching up.
I turned to Olivia first, since it’d been the longest since I’d last seen her. “What’s new on the ranch? How’s it going with Charlie?”
“So well,” she gushed, her cheeks glowing pink and her eyes shiny with excitement. “I honestly never thought I could be so happy, let alone be so deliriously happy with a cowboy, but oh. My. God. It’s been incredible. It’s like I’m living in a dream.”
London grimaced. “Seriously, don’t get her started. She goes to the rodeo almost every week now.”
“I hope that’s not code for sex,” I said.
London laughed. “No, gross. And she can sing along to every country song that exists. Charlie brought her a pair of miniature horses that are just about the cutest thing I’ve seen, but they refuse to put them on social media. It’s sickening.”
“As opposed to your love-hate relationship with Liam?” I suggested.
She pretended to gag. “I don’t love or hate him. Not emotionally invested, remember?”
I laughed. “Of course, you’re not.”
Olivia sighed dreamily as she leaned back in her seat, watching the city take shape ahead of us as we drove out of the airport. “You really need to meet Pea and Nut. She’s right about how cute they are. They’re freaking adorable.”
“Pea and Nut?” I echoed with widening eyes. “Why have I not heard anything about them before?”
“We only got them this week,” she explained. “Charlie bought them for me as a surprise.”
“From a rodeo friend of his,” London chimed in. “Because I know stuff like that now. I know who the rodeo people are and I know that miniature horses exist in real life.”
“She can also tell the difference between real cowboy boots and the touristy stuff,” Liv supplied. “Liam even got her a hat. Just like Charlie did for me.”
I giggled. “Is that like a Texas marriage proposal?”
“Pretty much,” Liv said.
“Maybe, but the difference is that Liam got it for me to prove a point,” London argued lightly. “The point being that I am not a cowgirl and he’s wrong. I am going to become one just to prove my point.”
I frowned, glancing at my sister in her thousand-dollar shoes with her dainty designer jewelry strung in gold loops around her neck, wrists, and ankles. She had three studs in one ear and five in the other. All the tiny piercings glittered with real precious gems.
“Are you sure you even want to do that?” I asked.
London shrugged. “Why not? I’m already hanging out at the rodeo and Charlie’s insisting I learn how to ride a horse ‘ the proper way. ’ I might as well buy myself a lasso and get to it.”
Olivia laughed. “He’s only insisting on teaching you how to do it properly because your heel got stuck in the stirrup that one time. My husband doesn’t want my sister to die on horseback on his ranch just because she’s being stubborn.”
“Yeah, yeah. We know. He’s the best. All protective, and caring, and stuff.” London winked at me. “Personally, I’d rather talk about Abigail and Simon freaking Astor. I can’t believe you just went to Florida with the asshole himself.”
“Hey, he’s not an asshole,” I protested. “Not totally anyway. We’ve talked. He’s explained more to me about what his dad told him back then. It doesn’t erase his mistakes. He could’ve found a better way to go about it back then, but he knows that too. He owns up to it. Ultimately though, he was just a kid. We both were. He didn’t feel like he had any other options and I don’t really blame him.”
“Just promise me you’ll be careful,” Olivia said as she turned in her seat to face me, worry creasing her forehead and shimmering in her eyes. “Watching you crumble back then was horrible. I don’t want that for you again and there have already been incidents since he’s been back in your life. Is he really someone you can trust with your heart?”
I didn’t have an answer to that. Not one either of them would like or understand, anyway. “Simon’s not untrustworthy. It’s his father. No one should trust that man, but I am being careful. Promise.”
While that was true, I knew deep down that I was already in too deep. All my reminders not to get attached weren’t as effective as I might’ve hoped they would be.
After Olivia told us more about Pea and Nut and London caught me up on all the gossip in the lives of her old friends back here, we finally arrived at my house. I hadn’t known London was coming, but I always had my guest rooms made up and clean.
Both of them knew exactly where to go and we separated once we were inside to unpack, put on PJS, and then, it was sister-time. The sun was still pretty high in the sky outside, but none of us cared. We piled onto my couches just like we had when we’d spent our nights just like this when we’d been kids.
Setting my AC to cold, we cuddled up under blankets, drank wine, ate the sushi first and then the pizza. A couple glasses deep, Olivia sat up straight and looked at both of us, her green eyes suddenly brimming with cautious excitement.
“We’re not advertising this,” she started quietly, gripping her glass between her palms and flicking her gaze between the two of us. “You have to promise not to tell Mom and Dad, but Charlie and I have started talking about trying for a baby.”
I screeched and London squealed, up on her knees on the couch cushion as she clapped her hands together. “This is the best news ever. Why aren’t you advertising it? I can’t wait to be an auntie one day.”
“Same,” I agreed excitedly, feeling warm and fuzzy for my sister and her husband—and it wasn’t only because of the wine. “Are you not advertising it because you haven’t made a firm decision yet, or…”
Liv sighed. “Well, no. We’re just talking about it right now, but we don’t want to get all the parents’ hopes up, you know? Even when we do start trying, it might take a while and then there are so many risks in the first trimester. We’re just trying to take it easy and not make a big thing out of it.”
“Got it,” I said with a slight grimace. “You don’t want both moms asking you when you’re ovulating every month or filling your house with baby supplies that will just remind you of what didn’t happen while you’re trying, right?”
She chuckled but shrugged a shoulder before finally dipping her chin into a nod. “We love all of them, obviously. I doubt they’d put pressure on us, but this is just a chapter we feel like we need to navigate the beginning of by ourselves.”
“That makes sense.” London surprised me when she sat back down instead of peppering Olivia with more questions. “You’ll keep us in the loop though, right?”
“Just not too in the loop,” I teased. “We don’t need to know every time they’ve tried .”
London’s nose wrinkled, but I could see she was trying to hold back laughter. “Oh please. Have you ever heard the saying that practice makes perfect? Because they’ve been practicing, alright. Sometimes, they even practice multiple times a day. Sometimes in the barn.”
Olivia flushed and rolled her eyes. “We’re newlyweds and he’s gorgeous. Plus, he happens to be really good at what he does, so do you really blame me?”
Laughter bubbled out of me, but the wine was also making me want to share some of my more recent experiences with Simon. I didn’t do it, though. I never had learned how to talk about this stuff—even with my own sisters.
London didn’t suffer from the same affliction, but before she could say anything about it, I turned to face her. “Wait. How do you even know about how often they…”
“What are you talking about?” She shot an accusatory look at Liv. “Charlie practically lives at our offices these days, and outside of that, even when they get to the office, it’s so obvious when they got it on in the morning. They’re all glowy and giggly.”
“Charlie’s been going into the office with you?” I asked curiously. “That’s either really sweet or really creepy of him.”
Liv tossed an unused chopstick at me. “That’s my husband you’re talking about. He’s not creepy. The branch has just been doing so well that Charlie has actually been stepping in to help. Obviously, I help out on the ranch too. We’ve kind of fallen into a routine of doing it all together.”
Immediately, my mind jumped back to the situation I had going on with Simon. What would it look like for us to work together if we ever did decide to give things another shot?
Since we were direct competitors, it would be tricky, but tricky didn’t mean impossible. Maybe things don’t have to be so black and white. Maybe there is a way to make it work after all.
If a City Girl marketing exec and a full-blooded Country Cowboy could do it, then why on earth couldn’t we?