Chapter 21
MAGGIE
The fire was dying down, throwing just enough warmth against the cool night air settling in around us. Ruby had passed out in Blaire’s lap half an hour ago with marshmallow and chocolate dried on her face and crusted on her little hands.
Blaire cradled her against her chest, rocking her gently and threading her fingers through her hair.
Sutton sat next to me, her legs curled up under her, a book open in her lap, but her eyes traced the fire instead of the page.
“Have you and Colt decided on a wedding date yet?” I asked, and Blaire’s eyes flicked up to mine.
“I think next spring.” Her finger trailed over Ruby’s nose. “The ranch will be in full bloom then, and I couldn’t imagine getting married anywhere else.”
I nodded. Ella’s wedding was in two weeks, and I was going to have to go back to Alabama for it whether I wanted to or not. I was furious with her, but she was still my sister.
“Do you think y’all are going to have more babies?”
“Colt wants a whole baseball team.” Blaire chuckled. “If it’s up to him, I’ll spend the next decade barefoot and pregnant.”
I smiled at that, watching the easy way she held Ruby without thinking about it. “You’re a good mama.”
Blaire’s foot found mine and nudged it. “You gonna tell me what’s been going on with you, or are you just gonna keep pretending Alabama didn’t happen?” Her tone was light, but her gaze was steady.
I poked at a coal with a stick, watched it spark and fizzle down, and my stomach twisted. “Family shit, you know?”
Blaire only nodded, her eyes never leaving me. “I do,” she said softly. “But you and I are each other’s family now, remember?”
I nodded and my fingers twisted in the edge of my sweater. The word family sat so heavy in my chest I couldn’t breathe around it, but Blaire had never made me earn my place. Her friendship, her love, was the easiest thing in the world.
Blaire leaned forward until I had no choice but to meet her eyes. “You don’t have to go back if you don’t want to, Mags.”
“She’s my sister,” I murmured. “It’s her wedding. Of course, I have to go back.”
“Still doesn’t mean you have to go,” Sutton said gently and I looked over at her. “You’re allowed to say no, Maggie.”
“You’re also allowed to say yes.” Blaire added quietly. “To things you want, to things you don’t think you deserve.”
I didn’t answer right away. I just looked back at the fire. I felt their eyes on me, and I wanted to make some joke so the ground wouldn’t feel so shaky beneath my feet. Something that would make them both quit looking at me with so much pity.
But Blaire didn’t let up. “Is it about Hunter?” She pressed. “Does Ella know?”
“What isn’t about Hunter?” I laughed as I shook my head. “But no. She doesn’t know. Ella and my father let me know that she wants to be taken off the loan for the bakery, and she wants me to buy out her share.”
“Okay,” Blaire said hesitantly. “So what does that mean?”
“It means that I have two weeks to figure out what I’m going to do.” My foot bounced against the ground. “I talked to the bank earlier this week, and I don’t have enough collateral or consistent cash flow to do it on my own.”
Sutton looked over at me, eyes wide and soft, and Blaire actually cursed under her breath, careful not to wake Ruby.
“So I can either close the bakery or ask my dad for help.”
“Like hell,” Blaire’s voice held every bit of venom I couldn’t seem to find in myself, and my face went hot, my eyes stinging before I could blink it back.
I dug my nails into my palms and tried to breathe.
“You built the bakery with your own two hands. Don’t you dare let your piece-of-shit father swoop back in like some hero just so he can control you. You don’t need him.” She reached out, taking my hand in hers, and squeezed.
Blaire knew. She had her own father, her own particular brand of damage.
We were a matched set, the two of us, and we had more daddy issues between us than should have been legal.
“Unfortunately, I do.” I squeezed her hand in return. “I know I should have said something. I kept thinking I’d figure it out, and I didn’t want you to worry about me.” I looked at Blaire then turned to Sutton. “And I didn’t want you to worry about not having a job.”
Sutton snorted out a laugh. “Girl, I am adaptable. I will figure something out. We all will.”
“She’s right,” Blaire said, and I looked back over at my best friend. “But you should have told me. You don’t have to handle all this shit alone.” She shook her head, and I could see her mind turning. “We’ll go to the bank on Monday.”
“What? No.” I pulled my hand from hers and stood, too anxious to sit still. “I’m going to see what I can figure out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out. My mama left me a lot of land on the farm.” Blaire tucked Ruby tighter against her. “I can use part of it as the collateral.”
“No.” My hands shook as I turned to face her. “You’re my friend, Blaire, and I don’t want to owe you.”
“You wouldn’t owe me.” Blaire narrowed her eyes. “You’re not a debt to be collected, Maggie. You’re my family.” Her voice was sharper than I’d ever heard it, a clean line drawn in the dirt. “Tell me you wouldn’t do it for me if the roles were reversed.”
“Of course, I would, but—”
“I love you, Maggie, and that’s not something you have to earn. You know that, right?” She cocked her head the tiniest bit, studying me. “No matter what they’ve made you feel. You’ll never have to earn it with me.”
“I know that,” I whispered, and I tried to sound convincing. Did I know that?
“Good.” She settled back in her chair and adjusted Ruby so she was lying on her other arm. “So we’ll go to the bank on Monday, but I need you to grab me a couple of those marshmallows and feed them to me. My arm is numb as hell.”
I barked out a shaky laugh as I reached for the bag.
I fished out three marshmallows and tossed one to Sutton first. She caught it, grinning as she popped it into her mouth.
Blaire opened her mouth dramatically, and I held a marshmallow out for her.
She took it instantly then looked up at me with a grin on her face.
“I love you,” she said around the food.
“I love you too.” I exhaled slowly and turned back to Sutton. “And about your brother. I owe you an apology.” My hands fidgeted with the bag, twisting plastic until the marshmallows were squished inside.
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes. I do. He’s so amazing, and I didn’t mean to lead him on.” My pulse jumped. “It wasn’t fair to him, but I didn’t know what I wanted. I didn’t…”
“But she’s in love with Hunter,” Blaire finished for me.
I closed my eyes and ran my hand over my face.
“I mean… I’m pretty sure Brody figured it out at the rodeo, and men barely pay attention to anything.” Sutton laughed, and I groaned. “He told me the two of you talked. It probably did him some good. You got to humble a man every now and then.”
“Brody doesn’t need humbled.” I shook my head. “And I was not in love with Hunter at the rodeo.” They both gave me a look that told me they didn’t believe a word of what I’d just said. “Okay, well. I wasn’t obvious about it.”
“Maggie, my love, the only way you could have gotten any more obvious is if you started humping his leg.”
We all three lost it. Sutton nearly choked on her marshmallow, and Blaire had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from waking up Ruby with her cackling. Laughter spilled out of me until my cheeks ached, and I felt so much lighter than I had before.
“You realize that you’re turning into June, right?” I asked Blaire just as the sound of voices came up from the river.
“Who’s turning into June?” Colt’s voice preceded him out of the dark, boots scraping over the rocks.
Colt, Hunter, and McCoy came up from the river with their fishing poles and gear, and I kept my eyes on the fire.
I could feel his gaze on me, and every part of me went tight. He put down all his stuff near the picnic table, and I glanced up, meeting his eyes.
Blaire lifted her chin, grinning up at Colt as he kissed. “Me apparently,” Blaire said as she rolled her eyes.
“Lord, help you.” McCoy shook his head and sauntered to his ten, dropping his tackle box near the entrance.
Colt leaned down and wrapped his arms around Ruby, pulling her out of Blaire’s lap and into his chest. He pushed her hair out of her face before he looked down at Blaire. “You ready for bed?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, already reaching her arms up in a long stretch the moment Colt lifted Ruby from her lap. “Goodnight, ladies.” She padded over to the tent and unzipped it, holding the flap open for him. “See you in the morning.”
Sutton yawned, stretching her arms high overhead before leaning forward to toss the last of her marshmallow into the fire. “I’m going to bed too.”
“You rooming with me?” McCoy asked, kicking off his boots outside his tent. “Or are you going to squeeze in with Hunter and Maggie since she can’t share a tent with me anymore.”
He winked at me, and I rolled my eyes.
“She was never going to share a tent with you.” Hunter’s voice came from behind me, and then his hands were on the back of my chair. He stood behind me, close enough that I could feel his warmth cutting through the night air.
“I swear to God, McCoy,” Sutton said, already heading toward his tent, “if you so much as breathe on me, I will cut off that impressive dick Hunter told us about.”
McCoy’s mouth twitched. “Don’t worry.” He held the tent flap open for her. “I can die happy just knowing you think my dick’s impressive.”
The fire popped, shooting sparks up into the dark as Sutton stepped into the tent and McCoy followed after her.
“I would love the opportunity to impress you with it though,” I heard him say from inside the tent, followed by a loud thump, and then, “Ow. What the—okay. Okay, that’s fair.”
I pressed my hand to my mouth, trying not to laugh too loud. When I glanced up at Hunter, he was already watching me with a small smile on his lips.