Chapter 3
Carli
Friends are the siblings God never gave us.
~ Mencius
I’m a half hour early to the Nashville airport, so I pull into the terminal garage across from baggage claim and pull out my cell. My travel mug of coffee, music on the radio, and my ebook should help me pass the time. But I’m antsy with excitement to see McKenna after two months of absence.
My girlfriends and I spend plenty of time together, but McKenna fills a space in my life no other friend does.
My phone pings with her text.
McKenna: We landed. See you in a hot minute.
Carli: I’m in the terminal garage. Just walk straight out from baggage claim. I can’t wait to see you!
I try to focus on my book, but I can’t. A few minutes later, my phone rings.
“Heyyyy!” There’s something about hearing McKenna’s voice that always brings me back to myself.
“Hey!”
“I just have to grab my bags. How are you?”
“I’m good. The drive down was nice. Gave me time to sort my thoughts.”
“I’m starving. But I don’t want to eat until we get back to Waterford. I want to pop into Syd and Emberleigh’s.”
“They would send a search party out for us if I didn’t take you there on our way in.”
“Right?” She laughs. “Oooh. There’s my bag. Oh. And there’s the other. I’ll be right out.”
The line clicks and I hop out of the truck, jogging from the parking structure to the terminal to meet her.
When she appears in the double glass doors, my smile breaks free.
The antsy nerves under my skin transform into a buzz of excitement—she’s home.
Cars pass between us on the arrivals roadway, pulling to the curbside or momentarily blocking my view of McKenna as they zip by.
At the first break in traffic, I step onto the crosswalk, heading in her direction.
“McKenna!” I shout.
She looks around and then her eyes land on me. I run across to her and we throw our arms around each other, clinging and jumping as if she’s been gone for a year, not eight weeks.
Our words overlap. “Oh my stars!” McKenna says at the same time as I say, “I can’t believe you’re here.” We chatter away, our smiles and excitement drawing attention from other passengers.
“Here, let me take that from you,” I say, grabbing the handle of her second bag.
She loops her free arm through mine and we walk toward the parking garage.
“You look like an LA fashion editor,” I say, eyeing her. “But after pulling an all-nighter to meet a deadline.”
“Thank you,” she says with an amused grin. “I was going for exhausted chic.”
“You nailed it,” I say, laughing. “I’m kidding. You look amazing as ever—effortlessly glamorous and gorgeous.”
“Yeah? Well, that’s good news. The flights were less than ideal this time. I hate layovers. At least I only had to stop in Phoenix. But still. We hit turbulence, I still can’t hear out of my left ear, and the guy on my second flight snored—and not softly like your prize hogs.”
“Well, you can rest now that you’re home,” I say. “You can even nap on the drive back to Waterford if you want.”
“Are you kidding me?” McKenna nudges me playfully. “I couldn’t sleep if I wanted to. We need to catch up.” She straightens her suitcase when it wobbles. “I really need to stop hauling things back and forth between LA and Tennessee.”
“As long as you still haul yourself back and forth, I’m good.”
She’s silent for a beat and I stop in my tracks. “You are still going to be living in both places, right?”
“I am. It fits us in this season. Westley travels enough that I’m able to settle in Tennessee while he’s off to wherever his job takes him.”
“Okay, whew.” Relief loosens something between my shoulder blades. “You scared me for a minute.”
“Well, get ready for more shock,” she says, pausing just inside the parking garage and unlinking her arm from mine.
She holds her hand out and I glance down.
“What!?” My voice echoes off the concrete. “You’re engaged!”
“Yep.” She smiles. “I didn’t want to tell you over the phone.”
Heat blooms behind my eyes—joy first, light and bubbly—followed by a tiny ache I shove down before it can take shape.
“When did this happen?”
“Last week. My family doesn’t know yet. I’m going to tell them today, but I wanted you to be the first to know. You’ll be my maid of honor, right?”
“Of course! Oh my gosh! McKenna! You’re getting married! You’re going to be a wife … and a mom … and … oh my gosh. This is happening!”
She just chuckles. “I’m not going to be a mom anytime soon.”
I throw my arms around her and hug her tight.
My best friend is getting married. We’ve spent years dreaming of the day we’d both settle down.
Of course, in our childhood imaginations, we’d both stay on our adjacent ranches and our kids would be best friends.
Our husbands would too. Our future was as entwined as our hearts.
When she fell for Westley, I couldn’t have been happier for her.
But he lives in California, working for the film industry in Hollywood.
The idea of him settling in Tennessee is slim to none.
Besides, Mac won’t inherit the ranch when it gets passed down.
She’s the fifth-born in her family. She’ll get something, but more than likely, one of her brothers will end up running the ranch—if they keep it going.
I release McKenna and we smile at one another, tears of happiness streaming softly down our faces. Everything’s changing. But she’s still my person.
We pause at the back of my truck and I swing her suitcases into the bed, securing them with a tie-down.
“You are a sight for sore eyes,” she says. “You move like a rancher.”
“What does that even mean?” I ask.
“The way you just hefted two fifty-pound suitcases into that truck bed like they were featherlight. You’re a beast.”
“Um. Thank you?”
“It’s a compliment. Trust me.”
I walk over and lift McKenna’s hand again so I can really get a good look at the rock on her finger.
I stare at her ring, rotating her hand in mine. The diamond catches the light filtering in from outside, glittering in white, pink and bright yellow pinpricks with every movement.
“This is gorgeous,” I say, holding her hand up to her eyes as if she hasn’t seen her own ring.
“It really is.”
“So, tell me every little detail. How did he ask you?” I drop her hand and we walk to our sides of the truck and hop in.
I pull out of the garage and head toward I-40 East. McKenna fills me in on the whole story of Westley’s proposal.
“That’s so romantic,” I say when she finishes. “Straight out of a movie.”
“Well, he does come by his flourish for the cinematic touch honestly,” she says with a smile that softens her whole face.
“I love this for you.”
“Yeah. Me too. Who would have thought a random online stranger could end up becoming the love of my life.”
“Considering your life, it’s on brand.”
Our conversation flows from updates about our friends and ranch life to her time in LA.
We talk about her social media plans for collaborations and deals she has in the works.
An hour later, we’ve barely scratched the surface even though we talk three or four times a week when she’s away. Nothing beats being in person.
I pull up in front of Baker From Another Mother and we hop out of the truck. I didn’t tell McKenna, but all our friends made arrangements so they could be here when she arrived.
When we open the bakery door, she’s swarmed by Cass, Winona, Daisy, Syd and Emberleigh. Warm air and the scent of freshly baked pastries hit us at the same time the girls do. The chatter reaches a fevered pitch when McKenna raises her hand and announces her engagement.
“Did you know?” Winona asks me.
“Nope. She just told me at the airport.”
Everyone gushes and then McKenna says, “I’m starving. Who is going to feed me?”
“Coming right up!” Emberleigh says, ducking behind the counter.
Syd follows, and they emerge with warm savory scones and soup. We pull chairs up to one of the tables in the bakery and carry on eating and talking as if McKenna never left.
A few townspeople wander in and out, each one greeting McKenna.
Every time someone approaches the table, she tucks her hand underneath it since her family doesn’t know about the engagement yet.
If someone randomly caught wind of the news before McKenna reached the ranch to spill it herself, there’s no doubt it would spread before we even cleared our soup bowls.
“We’d better get McKenna home,” I say, wanting to linger, but knowing she’s had a long travel day already.
“Let’s get together this week,” Daisy says. “Book club at Moss and Maple?”
We all agree, and after we’ve cleared the table and given one another hugs, McKenna and I head through town, then out the road leading toward our ranches.
She’s staring out the window, a soft smile on her face. “It’s good to be home.”
“Yeah. It must be.”
“So …” she says in this particular tone I know all too well. “Any cute ranch hands hired on lately?”
“Don’t start.” I smile over at her.
“I’m not starting. Just curious.”
“Curious, huh? You’re engaged.”
“Not for me, you goose. For you.”
I smile at her, but I don’t say anything.
There’s only one ranch hand I want and he’s one I shouldn’t even be thinking about.
Even now, my pulse ticks faster just thinking of his name.
Our lives are tangled up and set in a precarious balance.
Our families are an extension of one another.
Our roles in the community are set in stone.
If we dated and something didn’t work out between us, the devastation would rock the foundations—and not just temporarily.
We’d have to constantly face one another after we’d wrecked something precious.
You don’t get to break up and walk away.
Not around here. We’d never get the chance to simply try to see if something could work between us because everyone and their brother has eyes on us.
If I so much as smile in his direction, the grandmas in town discuss it over tea.
We live in a fishbowl filled with well-meaning busybodies.
Going out to test the waters is a luxury Cody and I don’t have.
McKenna’s looking at me like I should talk about boys like we used to in junior high. How would she feel if I pulled over right now and said, “There’s one rancher I can’t stop thinking about.”?
I’ve replayed imagined scenes of telling her more times than I’d like to admit. She’d freak out with giddiness until I told her, “And, guess what? That hot rancher is your brother!”
It’s an unspoken rule that you don’t date your best friend’s brother—second only to the rule not to date your best friend’s younger sister. My brother would tar and feather Cody for even entertaining anything but chaste thoughts about me.
A sigh presses at my ribs, stealing some of the lightness I’ve been feeling ever since I spotted Mac at arrivals.
Underneath all our jokes and the implicit rules that guide my choices, there’s the one truth that stops me cold every time: McKenna and I are the bedrock of each other’s lives.
One wrong move with her brother, and I wouldn’t only risk making a mess with him or damaging the connection between our families—I’d risk losing her. And that’s a price too high to pay.
But all of that doesn’t matter because for all I know, Cody feels nothing at all.
I could be pining away for him while he’s oblivious and uninterested.
That’s a strong possibility. Those moments when his gaze lingered?
I probably wishfully imagined every one.
I’m certainly not betting the ranch on anything as uncertain as how Cody Lawson feels about me.
“Fine. I’ll wait,” McKenna says when I don’t answer. “But I’m not giving up. I’ll get all your thoughts on each and every man out here—whether I have to use cookies … or threats.”
I smile over at her. “Depends on the cookies.”
She lets out a soft, breathy laugh. “Oh, I’ll pull out the big guns. You know I make those Pioneer Woman brown sugar oatmeal cookies—with added chocolate chips.”
“You’re a cruel, cruel woman,” I tease.
“Only as needed,” she smiles, steepling her fingers and thrumming them against one another.
We pull into the Lawsons’ driveway. The front porch is filled with life—everyone’s here to welcome my best friend back home.
McKenna hops out of the truck and her mom makes her way down the stairs to pull her into a hug.
I sit in the cab of my truck, watching them.
Cody’s eyes lift and meet mine. He raises his glass in my direction, that soft smile tugging at something low in my stomach.
I tip my chin as a greeting and then I hop out of the truck to grab Mac’s suitcases.
The Lawson boys give McKenna hugs and then they converge on my F-250 like a murder of crows.
“Settle down, boys,” I say to the four giant men. “There are only two bags, and I can handle them.”
“We’ve got you, Carli,” Ethan says, ignoring my words and unbuckling the tie-down.
Luke reaches in and grabs a bag. Garrett hoists the other out over the side.
“Sorry, Chuck,” Cody says with a wink. “You can’t tame a Lawson.”
I look him dead in the eyes and say, “I wouldn’t be so sure.”
His rumbling laughter ripples through me, leaving warmth in its wake.
“If anyone could tame us, it’s Carli,” Garrett says with a wink.
Cody regards me for a moment. We stand there, eyes locked. It’s only a heartbeat, but everything else blurs out of focus—like my world clicked into portrait mode. And then he turns and follows his brothers into the house.