Chapter 57
CHAPTER 57
OLIVIA
C onference week felt like it dragged on and on after Charlie had left but finally it came to a close. My father, mother, sisters, and I stood on the stage at the farewell lunch, my family a solid wall of support behind me as I thanked all our attendees for taking the time to be here with us this week.
“We know it’s not always easy to be out of the office and effectively out of commission for a full work week, no matter where you’re going or why you’re away.” I smiled at the sea of faces in front of me, not even able to see them all for how many people were packed into the hall—and that was excluding the people following via the livestream. “Ultimately, however, we hope that what you learned and experienced here has made it worth it and that you’ve got some practical, helpful information to take back with you.”
I looked out at the crowd, genuinely astonished at the amount of people we’d had through these halls this year, and grinned. “That’s it from us, folks. Please have a safe trip home and we hope to see you all back here again for another action-packed week next year. Thank you and goodbye.”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, the crowd was on their feet, cheering and clapping, and the pride, joy, and sense of fulfillment that blossomed inside my chest was so powerful that I felt tears pressing at the backs of my eyes. We’d just put on the best event we’d ever had, and I was so freaking proud of us for how well it had gone down.
My mom slid her hand into mine as we all left the stage together for the last time until next year. “This has been quite a week for you, darling. I can’t tell you how proud I am of all three of my baby girls. Dad hasn’t been able to stop talking about it either.”
I released her hand to sling my arm around her waist and pulled her into a sideways hug. “None of it would’ve been possible if we didn’t know we always have you two behind us. I’m going to miss you so much, Mama.”
“I’ll miss you too, baby.” Her voice quivered a little as she slipped her other hand around me to pull me into a full hug, holding me tight and rubbing a hand up and down my back.
“I wish you were coming to Texas with us. Are you sure you don’t want to come, even just for a few days?”
She sniffed quietly and inhaled before she shook her head, gently releasing me and looking into my eyes. “I’ll be right here if you need me, honey. A phone works wonders if you’re missing someone. Besides, I have to help your grandmother put together a campaign for the whales. Or something like that. Maybe it was monkeys?”
I groaned through a teary chuckle. “Mom!”
She winked at me. “What? After a while, all these causes of hers seem to bleed together. She sits on far too many boards. I’ve been trying to convince her to slow down, but I’m afraid she’s not at all interested just yet.”
Abigail came up to us then, tears shimmering in her eyes as she opened her arms. “God, I’m going to miss the heck out of you. We’ll talk, okay? I want to come down there to visit as soon as humanly possible.”
I stepped into her embrace and closed my arms tightly around her. “You better, or we’re coming to fetch you. Help Mom and Grandma with the whales, alright? Or the monkeys. Whatever it is.”
“It’s the pandas ,” she murmured against my ear with exasperation thickening her tone. “Don’t worry, I’ve already got a few ideas for them. Now I just need to get them to listen to me the first time around instead digging in their designer heels on their own plans.”
I giggled and gave her one last squeeze. “Good luck with that. I’m a phone call away, you hear?”
She saluted me after stepping out of the circle of my arms. “You got it. Get back safe and stay in touch.”
“Of course,” I promised, slinging an arm across London’s shoulders as we turned to walk away. My baby sister was sniffling softly, her huge sunglasses already on her eyes even though we were still inside.
Knowing she was upset and didn’t want anyone to know about it, I held her close and led her to our waiting car. The rest of our crew—Dad included—and I were all heading directly back to Houston. When we’d first booked our flights, we’d contemplated spending the weekend here as well, but in the end, we’d known how important it was to get back as soon as we could.
There was an entire branch full of staff who hadn’t all been able to come out for the conference and London had a meeting set up with them this afternoon to convey some of the more important information that had come out this week. Liam was seeing a potential new client and I had a date.
Sort of.
Charlie was picking me up from the airport and I was super excited to see him. I’d been planning on going back to the office, but Anderson Ranch was still my biggest client and he’d said he needed my help with the fundraiser for which he’d been called back early.
It was business and pleasure all nicely wrapped up into one sexy cowboy of a package. On the plane, Dad seemed a little bummed and I went to sit next to him, touching my hand to his arm once we were airborne.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “It’s okay not to be. It even would’ve been okay if you wanted to stay behind with Mama for a few more days.”
He patted the back of my hand before he shot me a tired smile. “Perhaps I should have, but I’m already in the air. There’s no turning back now. Besides, soon enough, I’ll be there so much that she’ll tire of having me around.”
I smiled. “Well, I’m sure you’ll feel better once you’re back in the office. I hear there’s a pretty interesting potential new client coming in to meet with Liam later. Maybe you should join them and show him the five-star treatment.”
“I’ve got a meeting with the auditor as well, but maybe I will after that,” he said, glancing at me. “What about you? What have you got planned when we get back?”
“Charlie is picking me up from the airport.”
Dad’s head cocked, a slight furrow appearing between his brows. “Oh? That’s a little odd. Why?”
Crap . “We’re on crunch time to plan for the fair happening at the ranch. I need to get all the information as soon as I possibly can so I can start building promos, planning, and booking vendors. We’re doubling as event planners for this one too, remember?”
“Right,” he said slowly. “I remember. I see your point. I just didn’t realize there was so little time, but leave it to you to dive straight into another big event.”
I chuckled, engaging him in small talk to distract him before we did a few crossword puzzles together. If I was being honest, my own heart was heavy too. As excited as I was to see Charlie, it really hadn’t been easy leaving Abi and my mom behind again.
Once we’d landed, we collected our luggage and I felt some of the sadness ease at knowing we were back. Dad hugged me goodbye once I had all my things. “Good luck, darling. Let me know if Jack and the family need my help with this.”
“Will do, Daddy,” I promised, waving my goodbyes to the others before I raced out of the terminal to find Charlie waiting me a little ways down.
My heart squeezed in my chest at the sight of him, back in a T-shirt and jeans, his hat on his head and his scuffed, brown leather boots on his feet. Those blue eyes were glued to me as he strode over to meet me halfway, smiling as wide as I’d ever seen him do when he reached me.
“I have missed you, Cowgirl,” he murmured. “Welcome home.”
I looked over my shoulder real quick, but when I realized Dad and the others were still inside, I lifted myself up on my toes and kissed his cheek. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Cowboy. Thank you for coming to pick me up.”
“Wild horses wouldn’t have kept me away.” He took all my bags without asking, carrying them to his truck and stowing them securely in the back.
When I pursed my lips at him as I opened my own door, he laughed, pausing next to me to brush my hair behind my ear with one gentle finger. “I’ve even missed this. Now get in. If your Daddy asks, you have to have something to tell him about why I had to be here to get you.”
“He already knows about the fundraiser,” I said as I settled in the soft leather passenger seat and buckled up.
Charlie jogged around the front of the truck and jumped in, and we were on the road less than a minute later. “Yeah, it sounds like it’s going to be a fair. We’ve had our first meeting with George, who looked awfully familiar, but I still don’t know why, and they want a Ferris wheel and all that stuff.”
“Maybe you’ve worked with him before?” I suggested, but Charlie shrugged and shook his head.
“Nah, I don’t think that’s it.” He shot me a quick smile, elbow resting on the window and his grip light on the wheel. “I don’t know. It was weird, but besides that, I’m pretty excited about putting on a fair. We used to go a lot as kids.”
“It does sound like something that’s going to be super fun to organize,” I said. “We didn’t go to so many fairs growing up, but I’ve always loved planning big events and we’ll make sure this is one for the books. You said it was for the benefit of local farmers, right?”
“Yep. We’ve got a meeting with the NPO early next week to iron out the rest of the details, but so far, I have a basic idea of everything they’d like to include and we know when it’ll be taking place.”
“Well, we’ve got a lot to do before we meet with them.” I grinned at him as the adrenaline started pumping through my veins all over again. “Let’s go to the ranch and start thinking through where we want to set everything up.”
Charlie groaned. “I thought you might say something like that. Can we at least stop to grab some takeout for a late lunch? There’s a spot out by the stream I’d really like to show you. We can eat there and do some planning at the same time.”
I reached out to cover his hand with my own. “That sounds great. You also owe me a proper kiss hello, Cowboy. That smile of yours is beautiful, but I’m pretty sure you can do a little better than just that.”